An exhibition of the work of Silver City artist Karen Lauseng opens January 14. Ms. Lauseng will speak at WNMU Parotti Hall at 6:30 p.m., followed immediately by an opening reception at 7:30 p.m. at the McCray Gallery, adjacent to Parotti Hall.
The exhibition runs January 14, 2016 through February 18, 2016 at the McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art on the Western New Mexico University campus.
Karen has an MFA in metalsmithing and jewelry making from Kansas State University. She traveled extensively and moved to Silver City in 2003. From 2009-2011 she was the Silver City Arts and Cultural District (ACD) Coordinator. During her two-year tenure at the ACD she helped establish a strong foundation for meeting the visionary goals and objectives of the town’s Cultural Plan. For the past 5 plus years she has been teaching an art class at the Santa Clara Housing Authority on a volunteer basis. Her students are seniors and disabled folks; most reside in the mining district.
Karen has taught book arts and spirit doll workshops for WILL, a cuttlebone casting workshop for the Silver City Museum and a book arts workshop for Silver City Fiber Arts.
Says Ms. Lauseng, “My current work focuses on the beauty found in common household items. Materials such as paper clips, bobby pins, toothpicks, cotton swabs, soda straws, cookie cutters, and sewing snaps have been used to fashion jewelry that is functional and stunning to wear. It is such fun to use ordinary, everyday materials to create unique works of art.”
“Whether pendants or earrings, books or masks, prayer beads or baskets, it’s fun to design art from inexpensive materials. As I seek to transform the simple into the complex, the mundane into the beautiful or the ordinary into the extraordinary, the joyful experience of creating each piece is my motivation.”
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Artist web site: www.kjartworks.net
More information at www.mimbresarts.org or http://wnmu.edu/culture
For images of the artist’s work or more information contact the MRAC offices at 1201 Pope Street in Silver City, call 575-538-2505, or visit us online at www.mimbresarts.org.