spring placements

Light Among Trees
Acrylic on panel, 2009

Janis and John Mc Kenzie, Clay County, Nebraska

You Paint Joy On Top Of Me
part of core series

Acrylic, sand, and charcoal ash on board, 40 x 40, 2002

John E. Brenneman, Kansas City, Missouri

Terra Wild

Acrylic on panel, 2004

Robert Cranmer, Carrollton, Missouri

Wall screen

Mixed media on burlap, 2014

Linda Birkes-Lance, Seward, Nebraska

Mother and Daughter in Samarkand

Acrylic on canvas, 2005

Frank Raasch, Norborne, Missouri

Ribbons   (details, above)

Acrylic on board, 7 x 31 inches, 2003

Susan Nashan, Carrollton, Missouri

Wired To Hear Your Voice 
part of core series

Acrylic paint, oyster shells on panel, 2002

Daniel Griffith, De Witt, MO

Monday Standing

Acrylic, 26 x 40, plein air, 2007

Janis and John Mc Kenzie

Open

Acrylic on board, 2004

Linda Birkes-Lance

Bluff Creek April 2016
Acrylic on panel

Lori Buntin, Kansas City, Missouri

Dancing With Jesus
part of core series

Acrylic on canvas, 2001

Trisha Nyberg, Olatha, Kansas

 Sky Blue
Acrylic on panel, 38 x 28 inches, 2007
Janis and John Mc Kenzie

Afternoon On The Missouri River, Carroll County
Acrylic on panel
Linda Birkes-Lance




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3308 flag

Tuesday, April 18th, went off without a hitch. When I pulled up to the Kansas City studio on Troost Avenue, the owner had my pieces waiting for me to load.

In 2011 my friend Lori Buntin offered to store my larger works. I am grateful she has.

I met Buntin and saw her paintings when she was at the Arts Incubator, 929 North 15th Street. The spot was a favorite place for Jan and I to visit on First Friday evening art hops in the Crossroad District. There were many art studios to look at and many steps to climb. Buntin's subjects were swimming pools, electric wires against the sky and she used lots and lots of aqua. A color I was intrigued with and wished to someday use myself.

Buntin and a jewelry maker Cathryn Simmons supported my art.

In February 2003, when my work showed at the New Works Gallery with the Kansas City Artists Coalition, the pair bought a painting from me. Above, "Sonata In Blue." 

It wasn't long before Buntin launched her own work space in the Troost area. Buntin and Simmons teamed up and renovated a warehouse on the east side, creating spaces for other artists to rent. In 2007 Hoop Dog Studios opened its doors.

You can see photos of their garden on their website. Jan and I stopped by to check it out. The enthusiasm to renovate and start new plant cuttings reminded me of my mother Dorris. She was gung-ho to plant trees.

The Kansas City Artists Coalition used to sponsor a city-wide art event called Open Studios. Artists pooled together. City maps with locations were posted. 
 
Art lovers came out meet the artists and see their work. I joined with others at Leawood in 2002 - Union Street in the West Bottoms in 2004, and at the Hoop Dog Gallery in 2008. 

Lori looked over the acrylic landscapes I had been doing. She was enthralled. She showed me how to make the pieces look even better with frames. I was impressed. 


 She became my framer for that show. More photos from that particular opening in 2008, next. Double click to enlarge.  







2008 left to right: Jan Marxhausen, Lori Buntin, Cathryn Simmons 


See ABOVE:

Buntin reinforced the back on larger works on mine. Cradled backing made a painted panel stand out from the wall and gave it a presence.

In 2012 when I did the linoleum reduction cut print and other woodcut prints for the Albrecht-Kemper Invitational, Lori did an excellent presentation for each. Mats, glass, and frames. I recommend her work!!!!!!

Which brings me back to the present and April 18th, 2017. It had been a while since I had viewed the oyster shell paintings. Works from sixteen years ago. Now THAT is RETRO!!! My remarks on one of the pieces from that bunch.

Below, leaning against the tailgate of my pickup.

 

Thank you Lori for bring works down from the rafters in the warehouse. (Are you related to Spiderman??) For helping me hoist into the back of the truck. For your useful cardboard between works. Thank you both for the storage you provide. Your encouragement every time we meet. Your appreciation. And your friendship as one artist to another. Blessings to you both in 2017 and beyond.

wait for it

Preparation. 

Friday Saturday and Sunday rain was sent to soften the ground.

"One thing that’s obvious as I’ve browsed through the thousands of Marxhausen photographs my family has archived in recent years: every place that Reinhold and Dorris Marxhausen ever lived quickly came to bear the indelible stamp of their personalities and creativity.   No place was that truer than here at 540 where, over a half-century they made an old frame house and two bare lots into a place bursting with ideas and life, a home for family and a refuge for friends.  When their energy and engagement with this place faded away, our family labored long and hard to maintain and preserve the echos and memories of the life of this place.   That’s why finally surrendering that stewardship felt so powerfully like death for us."   Paul Marxhausen

1962 Designs, Reinhold Marxhausen at Mills College, Oakland

But that grief always recalls for me John 12 – “unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it remains alone … but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”  

This imagery of renewed life and growth was one of Reinhold’s favorite themes and it was embodied in every living thing Dorris ever nurtured, and we see the reality of it here, today, as we break ground for the new Center of Liturgical Arts.  When I read the invitation to attend today another verse began to resonate in my brain:  “Behold, I do a new thing – now it will spring forth.  Do you not see it?” 

1961 prototype and 3 foot full sculpture, 

Reinhold Marxhausen at Mills College, Oakland

  

Ground breaking gathering, Monday, May 1.

"I do see it, I and my family, and we will watch eagerly to see what emerges."     Paul Marxhausen, son of Reinhold and Dorris. Address at CLA ground breaking, May 1st, 2017, Lincoln and North Columbia corner, Seward, Nebraska. Click to hear remarks:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbB5WnF9RVHQWo1QnRqbkhDRDA/view

Photos of event taken by John Nollendorf, a friend of Reinhold Marxhausen. Double click to enlarge images.

Interior of Marxhausen studio. Outline on floor marked where Reinhold assembled mosaic wood and colored glass for two murals in Nebraska State Capitol.

Paul Marxhausen, son Reinhold and Dorris, works for the University of Nebraska, as Supervisor of the Engineering Electronics Shop. 

"My warmest thoughts are with you from California to Seward, Nebraska especially on this day. 

What an extraordinary event to celebrate a groundbreaking for a new chapter in the rich lives all of you have experienced at 540 North Columbia Ave.  I cherish the memories of my many visits there with you, Dorris & Marx.    I join you in looking forward to the delight of knowing that artists will continue in the Marxhausen legacy of expressing God's eternal gift of art affirming the Good News of life in Christ." Mary Gunderlach.

(Family photos are property of Marxhausen Estate.)