Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Facing EAST
Saturday, June 21, 2014
The Lawrence Imagining
On Sunday, June 29th Lawrence will be one of seventeen cities across the country that help launch the new U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) with an interactive event we're calling an "Imagining." It will take place from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at Stidham Union on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University. The event is free and open to all, young and old, who are passionate about Lawrence.
Our Imagining will be a vibrant, arts-infused gathering in which we envision Lawrence's ideal future and identify creative tactics to get there. Part performance, part facilitated dialogue, part celebration, this first Imagining will bring together diverse groups of artists, organizers, and community members to imagine what our neighborhoods (and the world) might look like in the year 2034, when art’s transformative power has been fully integrated into all aspects of public life.
Conceptually, our Imagining will be inspired by fellow time-travelers like H.G. Wells, L. Frank Baum and Doctor Who, meaning we are in the design stage of building a time portal – really. Those who come to our Imagining will leave 2014 behind as they enter our handmade portal that transports them to the year 2034.
After finding their bearings in the future, groups of imaginers will work together to explore how Lawrence has been transformed after twenty years of being infused with the vision of the USDAC and probably a few ways in which that vision fell short and other interests prevailed. In order to report back to us, in the present, they’ll fashion time capsules that go in reverse, each of them placed inside a larger vessel (a giant seed or message in a bottle?) that will be transported back through the portal to the here and now.
You are encouraged to join us for this unique journey.
Find out more about the USDAC and all of the Imaginings here - http://usdac.us/imaginings/
And the Lawrence Journal-World article here.
Our Imagining will be a vibrant, arts-infused gathering in which we envision Lawrence's ideal future and identify creative tactics to get there. Part performance, part facilitated dialogue, part celebration, this first Imagining will bring together diverse groups of artists, organizers, and community members to imagine what our neighborhoods (and the world) might look like in the year 2034, when art’s transformative power has been fully integrated into all aspects of public life.
Conceptually, our Imagining will be inspired by fellow time-travelers like H.G. Wells, L. Frank Baum and Doctor Who, meaning we are in the design stage of building a time portal – really. Those who come to our Imagining will leave 2014 behind as they enter our handmade portal that transports them to the year 2034.
After finding their bearings in the future, groups of imaginers will work together to explore how Lawrence has been transformed after twenty years of being infused with the vision of the USDAC and probably a few ways in which that vision fell short and other interests prevailed. In order to report back to us, in the present, they’ll fashion time capsules that go in reverse, each of them placed inside a larger vessel (a giant seed or message in a bottle?) that will be transported back through the portal to the here and now.
And the Lawrence Journal-World article here.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Astra Arts Festival mural project in Independence, Kansas
At the beginning of July, I'll be in Independence, Kansas working on a new mural for the first Astra Arts Festival.
Supported in large part by an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, this new festival will compliment the community's other two well known annual gatherings, Neewollah (think Halloween backwards) and the William Inge Theater Festival. Included along with our mural project (and another mural by the graffiti artist Gear) there will be a full ten days of events that span music, theater, literature and the visual arts.
A big thanks goes out to Karla Prickett who contacted me about the project. Karla, who has been doing amazing things with the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission for years, also helped coordinate a mural I did there in 2010 called "Waiting in the Wings."
The Astra Mural Project began in earnest this March when my partner Ashley and I visited Independence to host introductory community meetings and brainstorming sessions. They were held at the Public Library, an original Carnegie Library that has been expanded and adapted to serve contemporary needs. It's a wonderful place, recognized by Library Journal and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012 as the best small Town Library in America.
Joined by our project manager Donna Rothgeb, mural apprentice Rachel Unruh and a host of local residents, we discussed and drew, wrote and presented, eventually coming up with enough material for at least ten murals. Among the many attributes of Independence mentioned were the countless features of Riverside Park, Little House on the Prairie, Independence Community College, former Governor Alf Landon and Independence's long tradition of community festivals. After a couple more visits to narrow down our theme and gather some fantastic drawings from students at Jefferson Elementary School, we began putting the design together back in Lawrence.
Rachel visited Lawrence in mid-June as I was putting the finishing touches on the final design and the color study was just beginning. On June 19th we met back in Independence with the design team for final approval. They gave the design an enthusiastic the thumbs up, so we're on our way!
Supported in large part by an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, this new festival will compliment the community's other two well known annual gatherings, Neewollah (think Halloween backwards) and the William Inge Theater Festival. Included along with our mural project (and another mural by the graffiti artist Gear) there will be a full ten days of events that span music, theater, literature and the visual arts.
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| The mural wall at the corner of Pennsylvania & Laurel |
A big thanks goes out to Karla Prickett who contacted me about the project. Karla, who has been doing amazing things with the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission for years, also helped coordinate a mural I did there in 2010 called "Waiting in the Wings."
The Astra Mural Project began in earnest this March when my partner Ashley and I visited Independence to host introductory community meetings and brainstorming sessions. They were held at the Public Library, an original Carnegie Library that has been expanded and adapted to serve contemporary needs. It's a wonderful place, recognized by Library Journal and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012 as the best small Town Library in America.
 |
| Riverside Park Fun-Ful slide |
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| Fun-Ful playground equipment catalog |
Joined by our project manager Donna Rothgeb, mural apprentice Rachel Unruh and a host of local residents, we discussed and drew, wrote and presented, eventually coming up with enough material for at least ten murals. Among the many attributes of Independence mentioned were the countless features of Riverside Park, Little House on the Prairie, Independence Community College, former Governor Alf Landon and Independence's long tradition of community festivals. After a couple more visits to narrow down our theme and gather some fantastic drawings from students at Jefferson Elementary School, we began putting the design together back in Lawrence.
 |
| Rachel Unruh at work on the color study |
Rachel visited Lawrence in mid-June as I was putting the finishing touches on the final design and the color study was just beginning. On June 19th we met back in Independence with the design team for final approval. They gave the design an enthusiastic the thumbs up, so we're on our way!
Friday, May 16, 2014
Kansas Prairie Chicken
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| Home(less) on the Range, spraypaint stencil, 2014 |
In an effort to rid Kansas of all who get in their ideological way, Governor Brownback and Secretary of State Kobach have recently set their sights on the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, going so far as to file suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which has listed the bird as "Threatened" due to its diminishing habitat.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
My mom, grandma and Betty Friedan
Note: This was first published in lawrence.com on January 20, 2006
Last Sunday my mom phoned me, and with a flustered and excited tone to her voice said, "You're not going to believe it, there's a picture of your grandmother in the New York Times today!" My grandmother past away in 1980. She was not a public person, and as far as we know, photographs of her appeared only once in a newspaper or magazine during her lifetime. So, unless she had led a secret life unknown to the family, we had a pretty good idea what the source of the photo in the Times must have been - Occupation: Housewife
"Occupation: Housewife" was an eight-page photo essay that followed the daily routine - from breakfast in the morning, cleaning the house, doing laundry, entertaining guests, to putting the kids to bed at night - of an American housewife (my grandmother) and her family. The article, which appeared between a spread for Tyrone Power and Betty Grable's new movie "A Yank in the R.A.F." and photos (that terrified my mom, then age four) of a child victim of Nazi bombing, was published in LIFE magazine on September 22, 1941.
When I asked my mom about how LIFE chose her family, she recalled; "LIFE wanted a 'typical' American family for the article. Kankakee, Illinois, where we lived was in the Midwest, and at the time was growing fast. The reporter and photographer went to the owner of the Ford auto agency in town, Romy Hammes, to see if he knew of such a family. Romy felt his family was too wealthy for what they were looking for, so he suggested us since we lived only a couple of blocks away from him on Cobb Boulevard." Sure enough, the photo was taken directly from the LIFE article, with one very obvious photo-shopped alteration. In the original photo, my grandmother is shown "picking-up" in the living room. Around her are carefully staged props: a carpet sweeper, dust mop, trash bin, and some papers strewn across the floor. She is bending over the couch. Above her, in an oval frame, is a painting of a stern looking man with an Abe Lincoln beard. This was my great, great, great, great grandfather John Ward Amberg. The Times photo is identical except that, in place of the portrait of Grandpa John, there is a photo of Betty Friedan, author of "The Feminine Mystique."
The article by Patricia Cohen that accompanied this 'photo illustration' was titled "Today, Some Feminists Hate the Word 'Choice'." My grandmother would probably agree, because in both cases, in LIFE and in the Times, her image was used to illustrate stories that were not of her choosing. After some consideration, my mom decided to write a letter to the editor, that would explain her relationship to the photo and how it had originated in LIFE. Below is her letter, which appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday, January 18th
To the Editor:
I agree that issuing marching orders to women today is "not helpful." To try to label women is an act of futility, making them one-dimensional when in fact most women's lives are complicated and change with time and circumstance. But I was most taken with the photograph accompanying your article, because the woman portrayed cleaning her house was my mother, Jane LeValley Amberg. As noted, the photo was taken by William C. Shrout for LIFE magazine and was originally published September 22, 1941, in a feature article titled "Occupation: Housewife." My mother was unhappy with the published article, because she was portrayed as a "typical" American housewife who cared only for home and family. Not mentioned was the fact that, with no college degree, she was also a voracious reader and a committed liberal Democrat who cared deeply about national and international issues. Our first TV was bought so that she could watch the Army-McCarthy hearings. Sixty-five years after the Life article, women still struggle with the rigid, one-dimensional labels of "stay-at-home moms" and "women who work."
Pamela Loewenstein Lawrence, Kansas
Last Sunday my mom phoned me, and with a flustered and excited tone to her voice said, "You're not going to believe it, there's a picture of your grandmother in the New York Times today!" My grandmother past away in 1980. She was not a public person, and as far as we know, photographs of her appeared only once in a newspaper or magazine during her lifetime. So, unless she had led a secret life unknown to the family, we had a pretty good idea what the source of the photo in the Times must have been - Occupation: Housewife
"Occupation: Housewife" was an eight-page photo essay that followed the daily routine - from breakfast in the morning, cleaning the house, doing laundry, entertaining guests, to putting the kids to bed at night - of an American housewife (my grandmother) and her family. The article, which appeared between a spread for Tyrone Power and Betty Grable's new movie "A Yank in the R.A.F." and photos (that terrified my mom, then age four) of a child victim of Nazi bombing, was published in LIFE magazine on September 22, 1941.
When I asked my mom about how LIFE chose her family, she recalled; "LIFE wanted a 'typical' American family for the article. Kankakee, Illinois, where we lived was in the Midwest, and at the time was growing fast. The reporter and photographer went to the owner of the Ford auto agency in town, Romy Hammes, to see if he knew of such a family. Romy felt his family was too wealthy for what they were looking for, so he suggested us since we lived only a couple of blocks away from him on Cobb Boulevard." Sure enough, the photo was taken directly from the LIFE article, with one very obvious photo-shopped alteration. In the original photo, my grandmother is shown "picking-up" in the living room. Around her are carefully staged props: a carpet sweeper, dust mop, trash bin, and some papers strewn across the floor. She is bending over the couch. Above her, in an oval frame, is a painting of a stern looking man with an Abe Lincoln beard. This was my great, great, great, great grandfather John Ward Amberg. The Times photo is identical except that, in place of the portrait of Grandpa John, there is a photo of Betty Friedan, author of "The Feminine Mystique."
The article by Patricia Cohen that accompanied this 'photo illustration' was titled "Today, Some Feminists Hate the Word 'Choice'." My grandmother would probably agree, because in both cases, in LIFE and in the Times, her image was used to illustrate stories that were not of her choosing. After some consideration, my mom decided to write a letter to the editor, that would explain her relationship to the photo and how it had originated in LIFE. Below is her letter, which appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday, January 18th
To the Editor:
I agree that issuing marching orders to women today is "not helpful." To try to label women is an act of futility, making them one-dimensional when in fact most women's lives are complicated and change with time and circumstance. But I was most taken with the photograph accompanying your article, because the woman portrayed cleaning her house was my mother, Jane LeValley Amberg. As noted, the photo was taken by William C. Shrout for LIFE magazine and was originally published September 22, 1941, in a feature article titled "Occupation: Housewife." My mother was unhappy with the published article, because she was portrayed as a "typical" American housewife who cared only for home and family. Not mentioned was the fact that, with no college degree, she was also a voracious reader and a committed liberal Democrat who cared deeply about national and international issues. Our first TV was bought so that she could watch the Army-McCarthy hearings. Sixty-five years after the Life article, women still struggle with the rigid, one-dimensional labels of "stay-at-home moms" and "women who work."
Pamela Loewenstein Lawrence, Kansas
Saturday, April 26, 2014
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
It's a great honor to have been selected as one of the founding Cultural Agents for the new U.S. Department of Arts and Culture. Later this summer, Lawrence, KS will help launch the USDAC with a major event - stay tuned. Here is our declaration -
WE, THE PEOPLE, DO HEREBY CREATE
WHEREAS
access to culture is a fundamental human right;
culture is created by all and thus should represent all;
cultural diversity is a social good and the wellspring of free expression;
a deep investment in creativity is critical to cultivating empathy and social imagination;
art and artists are powerful forces for accomplishing social change and strengthening social fabric;
access to culture is a fundamental human right;
culture is created by all and thus should represent all;
cultural diversity is a social good and the wellspring of free expression;
a deep investment in creativity is critical to cultivating empathy and social imagination;
art and artists are powerful forces for accomplishing social change and strengthening social fabric;
WE, THE PEOPLE, DO HEREBY CREATE
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE
TOGETHER, WE CREATE.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
The Rocket Grants Rocketeer
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| Charlie Mylie, 2012 |
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| Drew Roth, 2013 |
Unlike past years, my task was to create one or two images that represented the spirit of the program as a whole as opposed to illustrating all of the individual projects. Initially I was drawn to the idea of giant space rocket engines and the engineers who design and maintain them - so magnificently complex and cool looking. Later I recalled my own memories of rockets and how I propelled them to fly on missions far far away as a kid (one of my first memories is being awakened by my dad in the middle of the night to watch the first moon landing).
And of course there was the jet pack, my dream and desire ever since I saw the James Bond movie "Thunderball." This was probably the most direct symbol for the lift-off the grants program can provide artists, and it turned out to be the one that the Rocket Grants folks wanted me to develop. I worked it up from a quick sketch to this spraypaint stencil. In the final image, a Rocket Grantee takes off over the skyline of Kansas City captivated by a v-shaped arrow of migrating geese heading south.
The Rocketeer premiered in February and since then has appeared in a growing number of unexpected places...
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