"9-11," assemblage
Char Brown

“Blue Man and the Wind,” oil
Christina Lamoureaux

“Cows on a Hill,” oil
Steve Dudek

“Metamorphosis I,” batik
Char Brown

Photograph
Steve Dudek

"Ink Spot," oil
Christina Lamoureaux

For more information, contact Megan Benitz, 620-792-9342.

June 4, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke
                                                                                                        
Shafer Gallery Exhibit Showcases Work of Advisory Committee Members
           
Three Barton County artists who serve on Barton County Community College’s Shafer Gallery Advisory Committee are exhibiting their work at the gallery now through June 29.

Char Brown, retired Great Bend High School art instructor, is exhibiting her works in batik, weaving, oil painting and assemblage. Steve Dudek, Barton art instructor, is showing several of his paintings and photographs, and Christina Lamoureaux, Hoisington High School art instructor, has included many of her prints and paintings.

The exhibit will end with a closing reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 29. The artists will be present to talk about their work. In addition, Lamoureaux will add a musical narrative with her songs, accompanying herself on guitar.

Brown retired after 25 years in the teaching profession. She says she was “born into art” since her father was a fine artist and commercial artist from England. Much of Brown’s art speaks of her home state of Colorado.

She earned a teaching degree in art from the University of Northern Colorado, and before moving to Great Bend, she taught at Rapid City, S.D., and Northeastern Community College in Nebraska, where she was a member of the Northeast Artists Club, exhibiting, selling and donating her art. She also illustrated a book and was founder of the Nite Owl Artists, also exhibiting with that group. In Great Bend, she was active in Art Inc. and Cottonwood Fiber Guild.

In addition to serving on the Shafer Gallery Advisory Committee, she is a member of the Barton County Arts Council Board of Directors and serves the council as visual arts director.

“I love to capture beauty with color, depth and texture, and to express thoughts, moods and humor in different mediums,” she said.

Many of her works in the Shafer exhibit are batik, an art form originating in Indonesia. Natural dyes are used with a wax resist on natural-fiber fabric, she explained. Dyes are applied and the dye goes where the wax has not been applied. She paints the dyes on the fabric with a brush, and later irons out the wax. Brown and her husband, Chuck, have developed a lighting system for exhibiting her batiks, placing low fluorescent lights behind the batik for a glowing effect.

Dudek has been an instructor of art at Barton County Community College for 31 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and master’s degrees in arts and fine arts from Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Ill.

He is a member and past president of the Kansas Watercolor Society. In addition, he is a past president of Kansas Painters West and past board member of Art Inc., a no longer active organization of artists in Great Bend and the surrounding area. His work is exhibited in several galleries, including Kansas City, Mo., Hutchinson, Wichita, Topeka and Hays.

Dudek’s watercolor was the subject of an article titled “Harnessing the Power of Nature” in the summer 1995 issue of American Artist magazine. In September 1996, he was featured in a 30-minute television interview about artwork and teaching techniques on Smoky Hills Public Television, Bunker Hill. He has exhibited his work and received awards in numerous regional, state and national exhibitions.

“I have always been intrigued by nature – it’s beauty, power, uniqueness and its danger,” he said. “Even though my works are realistic, I consider them more impressionistic, because I allow myself the freedom to experiment with form, and I use color arbitrarily to express myself more forcefully.”

Lamoureaux, a Kansas art educator and artist now teaching art at Hoisington High School, presents a lyrical celebration of visual symbolism in her prints and paintings. She integrates her processes in printmaking, particularly lithography and marbleizing, with her unique drawing and painting style.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from Marymount College of Kansas and a master’s in printmaking from Fort Hays State University. She has received many juror’s awards, and selections of her work are displayed in museum collections.

Along with her visual works of art, Lamoureaux has developed her talents in song writing and playing guitar, which add a unique narrative to the visual experience of her art. She presents a progression of her works of art with storytelling and song in workshops for elementary and high school groups and churches.

In 2000, she created a mural at 20/20 Optics in Great Bend depicting a Hispanic scene with gestural roller applications. She also created the large mural painted on a brick wall in downtown Hoisington representing scenes from Hoisington’s history and the neighboring Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge.

The Advisory Committee Exhibit, Part II, is set for July 7-Aug. 17. All Shafer Gallery exhibits are presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The gallery is closed on Saturdays. For more information, contact Shafer Gallery director Megan Benitz, 620-7920-9342.