Erika has been a Humanities Kansas speaker since 2007, researching and presenting nuggets of awesome from around Kansas. Here’s a short overview of topics, which usually leads to even more story-finding and sharing:
Women Wonderworkers: The Self-Made Worlds of Visionary Female Artists
Mary Nohl embellished her Lake Michigan property with a series of interconnected concrete curvilinear forms. Truck driver and preacher Inez Marshall started sculpting large blocks of limestone after breaking her back in an accident. Grandma Prisbrey’s Simi Valley bottle village presents the challenge of preserving visionary art sites in a fault-prone area. Laura Pope Forrester paid tribute to local and national heroes in her sensitively sculpted concrete vignettes surrounding her mercantile in rural Georgia. This presentation examined their inspirations and motivations, the work itself, and the afterlife of overlooked and underappreciated sites after their makers have passed.
Mary Nohl embellished her Lake Michigan property with a series of interconnected concrete curvilinear forms. Truck driver and preacher Inez Marshall started sculpting large blocks of limestone after breaking her back in an accident. Grandma Prisbrey’s Simi Valley bottle village presents the challenge of preserving visionary art sites in a fault-prone area. Laura Pope Forrester paid tribute to local and national heroes in her sensitively sculpted concrete vignettes surrounding her mercantile in rural Georgia. This presentation examined their inspirations and motivations, the work itself, and the afterlife of overlooked and underappreciated sites after their makers have passed.
Tricky Business: Exaggerated Postcards of William H. “Dad” Martin and Frank D. “Pop” Conard
These two pioneers of the printing business took the trials and tribulations of Kansas culture as their inspiraiton, creating elaborate ‘trick’ or ‘exaggerated’ photo postcards. Working from the early 1900s through the 1940s, their carefully crafted images pushed the medium of photography, expounding on the fertility of a Kansas that could grow ears of corn so huge that farmers used logging saws to slice them, and where six men were required to load the crop of boulder-sized cabbages to take to market. The presentatiion looked at the industries and events depicted, the inspirations behind the work, and the techniques pioneered by both masters in creating a new facet of the Picture Postcard industry.
These two pioneers of the printing business took the trials and tribulations of Kansas culture as their inspiraiton, creating elaborate ‘trick’ or ‘exaggerated’ photo postcards. Working from the early 1900s through the 1940s, their carefully crafted images pushed the medium of photography, expounding on the fertility of a Kansas that could grow ears of corn so huge that farmers used logging saws to slice them, and where six men were required to load the crop of boulder-sized cabbages to take to market. The presentatiion looked at the industries and events depicted, the inspirations behind the work, and the techniques pioneered by both masters in creating a new facet of the Picture Postcard industry.
Transforming the Commonplace: Seed Portraits, Hair Wreaths, and Butter Sculptures
What would the Iowa State Fair be without butter sculptures, the Minnesota State Fair without seed portraits, or Victorian houses without hair wreaths? This lecture examined the methods and histories behind these uncommon transformations of commonplace materials, as well as the institutions that present and preserve these distinctly odd traditions.
What would the Iowa State Fair be without butter sculptures, the Minnesota State Fair without seed portraits, or Victorian houses without hair wreaths? This lecture examined the methods and histories behind these uncommon transformations of commonplace materials, as well as the institutions that present and preserve these distinctly odd traditions.
Working the Crowd: Looking at the Rich History of Hucksters, Barkers, and Sideshows of Kansas
This lecture followed the businessfolk, eccentrics, and entrepreneurs who took their work on the road and into the smallest communities across the country with transient show-based setups, shaping how we hype, how we advertise, and how we ‘turn the tip’. Whether they set up small tents, utilized embellished vehicles, or erected temporary midways, these traveling showmen sold everything from entertainment to elixers, glimpses of the forbidden, and promeises of miracle cures through xenotransplantation.
This lecture followed the businessfolk, eccentrics, and entrepreneurs who took their work on the road and into the smallest communities across the country with transient show-based setups, shaping how we hype, how we advertise, and how we ‘turn the tip’. Whether they set up small tents, utilized embellished vehicles, or erected temporary midways, these traveling showmen sold everything from entertainment to elixers, glimpses of the forbidden, and promeises of miracle cures through xenotransplantation.
Spectacular Failures: Breathing New Life into Creative Endeavors through Catastrophe
Styled as a facilitated discussion, the presetation offered true examples of epic failures and unexpected lessons. From Buckminster Fuller’s original experiments with dome architecture (failed!) to the story of an eccentric visionary artist whose dream to build and fly a giant hot air balloon (failed!) led to a lasting legacy of inspiration, this guided discussion provided skill building and training to help individual artists thrive in rural communities despite the bumps in the road, inspiring action for sustaining or growing systems of support for rural arts and culture. This lecture was part of Humanities Kansas’ special “Crossroads Conversations’ intitiative.
Styled as a facilitated discussion, the presetation offered true examples of epic failures and unexpected lessons. From Buckminster Fuller’s original experiments with dome architecture (failed!) to the story of an eccentric visionary artist whose dream to build and fly a giant hot air balloon (failed!) led to a lasting legacy of inspiration, this guided discussion provided skill building and training to help individual artists thrive in rural communities despite the bumps in the road, inspiring action for sustaining or growing systems of support for rural arts and culture. This lecture was part of Humanities Kansas’ special “Crossroads Conversations’ intitiative.
Freedom of Speech: Protest Art in Kansas
From John Stewart Curry’s depiction of John Brown’s call to action, to M.T. Liggett’s politically charged fence line artwork, Protest Art in Kansas includes an array of forms - murals, whirligigs, posters, paintings, actions, interventions, and video - to get the message across. Sometimes humourous, sometimes biting, often clever, we’ll look at the ways artists craft their messages, the issues at the core of the work, and the visual culture that surrounds and informs the artist activist in a continuing timeline of outspoken Kansans working for the greater good.
From John Stewart Curry’s depiction of John Brown’s call to action, to M.T. Liggett’s politically charged fence line artwork, Protest Art in Kansas includes an array of forms - murals, whirligigs, posters, paintings, actions, interventions, and video - to get the message across. Sometimes humourous, sometimes biting, often clever, we’ll look at the ways artists craft their messages, the issues at the core of the work, and the visual culture that surrounds and informs the artist activist in a continuing timeline of outspoken Kansans working for the greater good.
Jackalopes, Hodags, and Larger than Life Myths from the American Road
Johnny Kaw shapes Kansas’ landscape by carving out valleys with his oversized scythe. The Jackalope of Wyoming was first sighted by lonesome cowboys, singing songs around their campfires, and are still glimpsed along prairie trails in the northern plains of the West. This lecture explored the roadside monuments devoted to our most fantastical legends, from the Sasquatch of Washington and Oregon to Rhinelander’s Hodag, it’s a visual tour of physical monuments to figures of fable.
Johnny Kaw shapes Kansas’ landscape by carving out valleys with his oversized scythe. The Jackalope of Wyoming was first sighted by lonesome cowboys, singing songs around their campfires, and are still glimpsed along prairie trails in the northern plains of the West. This lecture explored the roadside monuments devoted to our most fantastical legends, from the Sasquatch of Washington and Oregon to Rhinelander’s Hodag, it’s a visual tour of physical monuments to figures of fable.
psssst..... Rock Paper Feathers Publishing will feature deep dives into this very genre!
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