friday, august 29. 2003
news
the university daily kansan
5A
Old cigarette machine vends art
By Alex Hoffman
ahoffman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A cigarette machine has made a comeback in Lawrence, but its slots are filled with art.
The vending machine at the Social Service League Store, 905 Rhode Island St., sells pieces of art small enough to fit in a normal cigarette pack, which are placed in the machine's slots, and the cost for the art doesn't result in empty wallets.
The concept, called "cheapart", is giving old machines across the country a facelift.
Customers can choose among art from 20 contributing Lawrence artists. The cost for a pack of art is $5.
Courtney Kublen/Kansan
"For most people, art's not cheap," said Jean Ann Pike, manager of the store. "This makes it affordable to everybody."
Pike said she sold nearly 200 pieces since the introduction of the machine in July. Some money came back into the artists' hands, and the rest went back to the League.
Pike said she found stories about Clark Whittington, an artist from Winston-Salem, N.C., who first started to convert cigarette machines into art vendors. He calls them "art-o-mats" and it piqued her interest.
"When I read about it I thought, 'What a hot idea,'" Pike said.
To begin the project, Pike needed to find an old machine. The Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St., donated one to the store.
Pike and volunteers at the League cleaned it up, peeled
away stickers of bands that appeared at the lounge and made a cheapart sign to make it look presentable.
The art ranges from paintings to photographs to jewelry. Although Pike asked a couple of artists she knew to contribute, news spread through word of mouth for people with a creative streak to put their talents to use.
Anna Glynn took photos of scenic, postcard-like views of Europe and made magnets from them.
Bob Gent specializes in glasswork and Pike asked him to contribute some items. He said it wouldn't have been hard to make glass art at a reduced size, even though most of his work is not that small. But he already had an alternative in mind.
"It was literally a bag of pins and rings I already made," Gent said. "It just wasn't that fun to sell."
Now, there is a home for the jewelry that Gent made a year or two ago.
"I'm probably going to go to a party and see someone wearing my earrings and it will put a smile on my face," he said.
The League also gets help with cheapart from unlikely sources. Barbara Hogue, a volunteer at the store, said a woman started to drop off empty cigarette packs every week. Pike recently received a package from Atlanta and was excited because the League did not get packages often. She opened it up, and all it contained was cigarette packs.
An old cigarette vending machine was converted by the Social Service League Store, 905 Rhode Island St., to dispense artwork from local artists instead of cigarettes. For $5 a customer can purchase artwork ranging from glass earrings to photographs.
"In't that a hoot?" she said.
"I've never met the person in my
life."
The cheapart display is one of many projects for the League, which has served Lawrence since 1863. One of its most important projects is providing eye examinations and glasses for children, though Pike would also like to see
the cheapart concept grow aroundtown.
"I'd love to have another machine or two," she said. "Wouldn't it be nice to have one in a coffee shop?"
— Edited by Dave Nobles
Minor emphasizes Jewish culture
By Meghan Brune
mbrune@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Faier, a Kansas City senior, is one of three University of Kansas students to declare a Jewish studies minor.
Last fall the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences added the minor.
When Heather Faier graduated this year, she will follow many down the hill, but her degree will be one of the first of its kind.
The University of Kansas was one of the only universities in the region without an organized Jewish studies program.
"IIf the University is going to be one of the premiere universities in the country, it needed to have a Jewish studies minor," Daniel Breslauer, religious studies professor said.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City, Ohio State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder have some level of Jewish studies program, Breslauer said.
Faier is taking Breslauer's Jewish History of Judaism in the West this fall. Faier said she had taken Hebrew and Jewish literature
courses, and the minor was the next natural step, though few people were aware of the minor, she said.
"We're a small group, but we will grow," Faier said.
For the past 10 years, a Jewish Studies Committee has worked on a proposal for the minor.
Two years ago, when the proposal for the minor was approved, these related courses were pulled together in the time table.
"Jewish studies has been informal at KU," Carl Strikwerda, Associate Dean of the College said. "The minor finally gets a focus for students."
Strikwerda has worked closely with the committee and said he was pleased to see the minor as the result of their hard work.
Strikwerda, who teaches a Holocaust in History course, said Judaic studies was not limited to the religion department. Art history, English, American studies and sociology departments all have courses related to Jewish studies.
Breslauer said the minor was spread over many departments for a specific purpose.
"Jewish Studies is not only
religious practices and the study of what we think of as typical Jewish people," Breslauer said. "You have to know the cultures in which Jews lived."
Cheryl Lester, chair of the committee and professor of American Studies, said the development of the minor was welcomed because of the students' interest in Hebrew.
"Hebrew is the fastest-growing language studied at KU," Lester said.
As many as 80 students have enrolled in these classes each semester.
A student interested in the Jewish studies minor must take two years of Hebrew or Yiddish and 15 hours of approved Jewish studies courses from at least three different departments. This requirement is unique to the University of Kansas.
Jay Lewis, executive director of the KU Hillel Foundation, said he thought the minor made the University more attractive to incoming students.
Lewis said he talked to students and parents who considered the Jewish life on campus before choosing a university.
has at the University, the better, Lewis said. He said he would be happy to see a Jewish studies major in the future.
"I see the minor as the first step in the whole process," Lewis said.
Breslauer said the addition of a major depended on funding and faculty. His goal for the present is to spark students' investigative nature, Breslauer said.
The more presence Judaism
"I hope students have a sense of the historical and contemporary ways human beings express themselves through the variety of ways Jews have in the past," Breslauer said. Endowment funds now
Endowment funds new professorship The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently received a large gift to fund a Modern Jewish Studies Professorship.
KU Endowment will make the announcement of the gift sometime next month, said Carl Strikwerda, associate dean of the college.
"We could hire someone in a number of departments," Strikwerda said.
Strikwerda said that the search would begin this year, but that a new professor will not start any sooner than August 2005.
- Edited by JJ Hensley
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