Please note, exhibition dates and opening receptions are subject to change over the next month.
Lasansky Collection: Works So Large You Can Stand Six Feet Apart
May 29- June 21, 2020
Amy Clampitt
May 29-June 21, 2020
Soo Hostetler: Childhood Fantasy
July 7 – August 16, 2020
Opening Reception: Sunday, August 15 from 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Soo Hostetler, Associate Professor, Graphic Design, University of Northern Iowa / USA
Childhood Fantasy presents the artist’s rediscovery of the beauty of Korean folk art. Hostetler’s conceptual theories of design are rooted in the popular themes of Minhwa art forms developed during the late Joseon era (1392–1897). Hostetler creates modern expressions of Minhwa-style by interpreting the traditional symbolism of the characters through her own imagination of narrative storytelling and through using digital technology. In her work, the written messages are drawn from the artist’s memories of Korean fairy tales and her cultural heritage. To portray an innocence of mind, visual and written messages are delivered through the eyes of a child. Using nonverbal structure enhances the perceptual capabilities of the human mind and spirit. There are two important elements that support and contribute to this unique visual approach. First, a narrative form of poetic storytelling is presented visually and conveys human emotions. Second, a morphological structure of illustration is developed to portray magical dimensions of symbolism that demonstrate the power of visual communication. Soo Hostetler is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at The University of Northern Iowa.
Also on view A selection of two animations by Soo Hostetler are on view in the Dresser-Robinson Gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Floral Doors uses kinetic typography to symbolize the beauty and meaning of floral ornamentation of Buddhist halls, and expresses how the artist found the truth of life through Buddhism. The animation Festive Geometry is inspired by Mozart’s Piano Sonata K.333, which reveals evidence of the Golden Section in its structure. Throughout the work, Hostetler applies the harmonious elements influenced by the Golden Proportion.
Effigy Mounds by Scott Robert Hudson
July 7 – August 16, 2020
Opening Reception: TBA
Paintings in this exhibition were inspired from Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument. In the words of the artist, his hope was by re-configuring the arrangement of the bird and bear mounds, he might arrive at a series of modern pictographic symbols. The black characters could only be revealed and exist by the rearrangement of these specific prehistoric forms.
As a native Iowan, for the artist, Effigy Mounds is the most interesting and beautiful corner of the state. Walking among the mounds, one is aware that it is a sacred burial ground of Iowa’s early inhabitants. It is a reminder that our early-settler ancestors are a chapter in a long story of this landscape.
For more information on the artist, visit www.scottroberthudson.com.
Stonehenge Series by KC Franks
July 7-August 16, 2020
100 Days: Kate Brennan Hall
September 2020
Opening Reception: TBA. Join us for shrubs and snacks!
This exhibition features works from the daily practice of Kate Brennan Hall. Kate’s second installment of a 100 day project (creating original art every day for 100 consecutive days and posting it on Instagram) opened up many avenues of exploration that she’s been wanting to investigate: patterns, portraiture, poetry and more. She’s ready to roll up her sleeves and see where it will lead.
Creativity ebbs and flows. As a professional illustrator and printmaker Kate has enjoyed the challenges of deadlines and the parameters of projects from clients. But longevity as
a maker means that it’s important to keep going back to that feeling from childhood that led to all of this—the act of playing and experimenting without an end goal in sight: just pure exploration.
Kate Brennan Hall is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art + Design where she focused on illustration + printmaking. She has worked with clients such as Target, Mastercard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Airlines, and Doubleday; she has exhibited her work in Europe and the United States. Her current projects including working on product lines for the home that feature funny dogs & cats along with many other designs. The main theme of her work is this: she seeks to elevate the ordinary & necessary things that awaken us to the beauty all around us.
Hard Won – Not Done
Original Illustrations by Gary Kelley
September 2020
Opening Reception: TBA. Join us for shrubs and snacks!
This exhibition features the original monotype and pastel illustrations created for a 19th Amendment commemorative calendar made by the award-winning Cedar Falls-based artist Gary Kelley, also featuring writing by Cydney Kelley.
“The Hard Won-Not Done” calendar portraits celebrating a century of Iowa women voting was a truly inspiring project for me. Visually, I wanted to create narrative portraits… of Iowa women who had an impact on the annals of our state. As an artist, I was inspired by the wide variety of their stories offering me a range of art styles, mediums and history to work with. Thanks to my daughter Cydney, a writer, for helping me with the choices, the research, and for creating the biographies in the calendar. And to Doris Kelley and the late Barbara Brown for making it all happen. Also to Veridian Credit Union and Sarah Corkery.” Gary Kelley, March 2020
Marjorie Nuhn
September 17-October 29, 2020
Opening Reception: TBA
This exhibition features works of Marjorie Nuhn’s work from the permanent collection, which has been assembled through generous gifts from James and Meryl Hearst, her brother Ferner Nuhn, and many others.Marjorie Nuhn was a well-known regional artist based in Cedar Falls. She studied under Adrian Dornbush at the Stone City Art Colony, attended the Chicago Art Institute, and spent time in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Guatemala and Antigua. This exhibition is the first retrospective since her death in 1988, and brings together works from local and regional collections, both public and private.
American artist Marjorie Nuhn (1898-1988) is known for her loose, lively watercolor paintings of cities and landscapes of the American Southwest in addition to scenes of her home state. Born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nuhn graduated from Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa, and went on to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the Chicago Art Institute, and most notably, Grant Wood’s Stone City Art Colony in the summers of 1932 and 1933. Nuhn’s first exhibition of paintings was mounted at the Cedar Falls Woman’s Club in 1933.
She went on to exhibit at the Artists Union, Chicago (1938), the Santa Fe Art Museum, New Mexico (1940), the Taos Art Gallery, New Mexico (1940), the Alma Reed Gallery, New York City (1941), the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa (1943-1953), and the Terry Art Institute, Indianapolis (1952).