a class with one

BEFORE Concordia University of Seward was known for its variety of art certification at the college level.
BEFORE there were classes in painting and ceramic and graphic design and sculpture,
THERE was one art class offered, just one. Double click on images to enlarge.

In 1949 students met in Becker Hall, the science building, and had DRAWING with Carl Brandhorst on the second floor in the science lab.

"He did an art class because it was required. But it was just a drawing class. It was all scientific stuff. I remember we had to make a drawing of words. All I did was a plant that was dying out of science words. I think I got an “A.”

"That was the sum total of the art program. Back in those days, it didn’t exist. I remember talking with Dr. Bickel, who was my counselor. I was a student in 1944. He asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to be an art instructor. He said to me, “You don’t want to do THAT!!!”    Gerry Brommer (class of 1948) 

 

"He had stuffed animals to draw from. And it reminded many of us our own work we had done."   Jack Duensing (class of 1953)

 

"He had us tear a silhouette of a face from paper. He said to us, “What do you see?” We did it as we were looking. There was no sketch to work from. You were looking at the profile of a face of another student and tearing paper. I think mine turned out pretty good."    Glendora (Sorenson) Duensing

 Carl Brandhorst taught his drawing students perspective.

Drawings by Glendora (Sorenson) Duensing

"From the time I was young I drew. I remember drawing a Christmas card for my parents during grade school. There was a deer on the front. When I got to high school there was no art to take. No art was offered. When I was a senior in high school, me and another girl tried to take a correspondence through the University of Nebraska Lincoln. But that didn’t work out."

  "I remember drawing Brandy's face in class. He was so small and spry. I remember him jumping from the floor to the top of the desk. I liked him as a science teacher."   Glendora (Sorenson) Duensing

     In 1951 a new teacher came to teach natural science and art while Professor Brandhorst was on sabbatical leave from the college. Though the Valparaiso graduate had taken advanced classes in oil painting, composition and color, and several art history classes through the school of the art institute of Chicago, he had no teacher's degree in Art.
Not yet.

His name was Reinhold Pieper Marxhausen.
With a keen imagination and a blank slate before him, his ideas MADE it possible for more art classes to be offered at Concordia.

"The blessing that came into his life was Concordia. This setting helped him become the person he BECAME. And by setting I mean the college and the city of Seward. No question about it. It was the perfect spot for him."  Jack Duensing

SO, NOW LOOK WHAT THRIVES

IN 2015 !!!!

Art faculty show in the Marxhausen Gallery, Jesse Hall, Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. Seven minutes. March of 2015.
Current art offerings http://m.cune.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/art/program-options/  accessed April, 4, 2015
More on James Bockelman
More on Seth Boggs
More on Don Robson
More on Lynn Soloway

[courtesy of CUNE, http://m.cune.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/art/view-faculty-work/ and http://m.cune.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/art/program-options/,  accessed April 4 , 2015. Interviews with Glendora and Jack Duensing on March 23, 2015 and Gerry Brommer on Nov 19, 2014 ]