University group buys area artists’ paintings

The University Women’s Club has bought two paintings from area women artists to display at Kansas University.

The two oil paintings by KU alumnae Paula Hauser Leffel and Colleen Zacharias Gregoire are hanging in the Eleanor S. Malott Room in the Kansas Union.

Leffel received a bachelor of fine arts from KU in 1970. Gregoire received her master of fine arts there in 1986. Both show their work at Fields Gallery, 712 Mass.

The University Women’s Club was founded in 1900 and has more than 300 members, including women faculty, faculty wives, staff women and their spouses, and other groups affiliated with the university.

Lawrence Arts Center awarded $10,000 grant

The Lawrence Arts Center has received a $10,000 grant from the Ethel and Raymond F. Rice Foundation to enhance its endowment fund. The donation will be used to fund future projects for the center, 940 N.H.

“We appreciate their generosity,” said Ann Evans, executive director of the center. “This contribution makes a significant advance in securing the future success of our community programs.”

The Ethel and Raymond F. Rice Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in Kansas.