monday, september 8, 2003
news
the university daily kansan 3A
K-State art displayed on campus
By Alex Hoffman
ahoffman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas may compete against Kansas State University on the playing field, but the two rival schools are working together in a more artistic way.
Sean Smith/Kansan
Daniel Hunt, associate professor of sculpture at Kansas State University, and Ryan Lamphers, K-State senior from Lee's Summit, Mo., set up an exhibition show in KU's art and design building Saturday morning. The show opens Sept. 7 and features sculptures from K-State students.
K-State students' artwork is on display at the University's Art and Design Gallery until Sept. 26.
Daniel Hunt, associate professor of sculpture at K-State, and the students, unloaded the pieces Saturday morning. Once everything was inside, Hunt constantly shifted the pieces in the large room for the best sight lines.
"I tried to put together a diverse exhibition by idea and media." Hunt said.
Abby Taylor said the sculptures achieved Hunt's goals.
"They are narratives of the human form and the human condition," said Taylor, Overland Park junior and student curator at the gallery. "Which is always good, because you can always take away more from pieces like that."
Matt DeFord's two pieces, "Due Process #2" and "Press Forward," are on opposite ends of the gallery. Both are vertical, wood structures with fabrics wrapped around the top and share the idea
of climbing steps. He carved steps in "Press Forward" and made free-swinging steps in "Due Process #2." DeFord, a graduate student at Kansas State, wanted to make it look like an unfinished process.
He said the art was similar to reaching a particular point and realizing that there was more to go. DeFord faced problems of concept and structure while working.
"Just as the pieces change as you're building them, they kind of become a process in and of themselves of exploring," he said. "You don't know how it's going to end or how it going to turn out sometimes."
Hilary Wahlen noticed drips of plaster on her concrete sculpture, "Thalidomide Tree," and she scraped it off with a pocket knife for some finishing touches. The inspiration for the sculpture came from standing in line at a store with her daughter.
"This woman in front of me in line had a physical deformity which was severe and I was really worried that my daughter was going to blurt it out," she said. "It was just really interesting to watch and look at this woman."
The woman was born with the effects of thalidomide, the drug
known to cause defects during pregnancy. She had ball-shaped fingers instead of normal ones. In Wahlen's sculpture, concrete balls take the form of a cupped hand. The base resembles a tree trunk.
Besides wood and concrete, artists used bronze, iron and galvanized steel in their art.
Hunt hoped Kansas State would be able to host an exhibit of KU students' art in the future because of the good relationship between the departments. He said he shared similar teaching philosophies to John Hachmeister, associate professor of sculpture at the University.
"I have some students apply for graduate school at KU, and John has some of his students apply for graduate school at K-State," Hunt said.
It was the first time DeFord had been inside the Art and Design gallery at the University.
gamble at it, "It's a neat opportunity," he said. "I always love being able to display my art. It's fun that they have us come to do this."
The free exhibit began yesterday and features 14 sculptures by 10 undergraduate and graduate students.
Students share food, heritage
-Edited by Erin Riffey
By Johanna M. Maska
jmaska@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Red Corn brothers share more than a name.
Ryan, Jon and Studebaker shared heritage, food and friends at the First Nations Student Association barbeque yesterday afternoon.
The First Nations Student Association, or FNSA, began in 1991 to celebrate a varied culture of more than 500 Native American tribes
Ryan Red Corn, Lenexa senior, is a co-president of the group. He is the oldest of four brothers from the Osage tribe that came to Kansas in 1989 from Pawhuska, Okla., a Native American encampment.
Red Corn said the encampment's culture was deep-rooted with traditional dances every June, hand games for birthdays and events and week-long funerals
Lenexa's culture wasn't exactly the same, but in the difficult move, he learned a value of his culture
Red Corn's cooking talent was on display: an Osage peach dish with butter, sugar and red hots
The recipes have changed since pre-U.S. expansion. Now, Red Corn said, typical Native
American tood is based on the ingredients available at the government established stores.
Red Corn said he joined FNSA to find more people like him.
Olivia Standing Bear, Pawhuska, Okla, senior, has similar roots. She is Osage, Lakota and Sloux, but grew up with Osage traditions.
The feeling of family on a large campus is one of the reasons Standing Bear values FNSA. She is also proud of the community education the group provides.
education the group There is confusion with Native American heritage, she said.
Whether they assume Native Americans should wear Poechontas-style braids or that reservations are a groups of tee-pees, Standing Bear said many people base their knowledge on popular culture.
Those stereotypes are one thing FNSA works to combat
But they don't just work with other Native Americans. FNSA has members from all ethnicities who are interested in learning more about American history.
FNSA will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the lounge of the Multicultural Resource Center.
Tagging monarchs give researchers information, answers
Edited by Ashley Marriott
By Amber Byarlay
abyarlay@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Keeping millions of monarch butterflies migrating each year takes time and effort. A University of Kansas program has spent 12 years gathering information to keep them moving.
That is why Monarch Watch
"If you want to conserve something you have to understand it," said Chip Taylor, head of the Monarch Watch program and insect ecologist.
nas worked with the public to tag the butterflies.
The program held an openhouse Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. It will have a tagging event 7 a.m. to 11 a.m Saturday at the Baker Wetlands.
Organizers will offer nets to people to catch the butterflies and will also teach how to tag them.
The University's tagging program is the largest program east of the Rocky Mountains. Sarah Schmidt, program assistant, said
Monarch. Watch would send about 300,000 tags to people.
Christy McCormick, crew member and Lawrence senior, said that 200.060 tags had been sent out by Saturday's event.
The organization only sends tags to people east of the Rockies because monarchs live in two groups. One group remains west of the range while the other stays to the east.
Scientists are not sure why the butterflies do this and that is one question the program is trying to answer. When an insect is tagged.
information about the tagging location and tag number are given to the project's members. This information is then entered into a database.
To survive the winter, Monarchs will fly south into Mexico where temperatures will stay around 50 degrees.
The butterflies will roost in trees in the Mexican forests. In many of these forests, logging is now illegal.
Schmidt said that creating the sanctuaries left natives that had been logging those forests jobless.
"Kids are great at it because they have little fingers."
Sarah Schmidt Program assistant
Many of these natives now collect the tagged butterflies and send the information to the University. Schmidt won Monarch Watch gave $5 for each collected tag.
gave us for each conference We pay locals in Mexico to find them because they spend a
lot of time and effort finding them." Schmidt said.
Schmidt said the $5 was comparable to 50 pesos, or a daily wage in the country.
Schmidt said that many schools participated in the program.
"Kids are great at it because they have little fingers," Schmidt said.
To tag the butterflies, people need to contact the program to get the stickers and data sheets.
- Edited by Erin Riffey
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