Animals on display

Inspired by the big game on display at the Natural History Museum, self-taught painter, photographer and naturalist Edwin K. Smith began drawing and painting animals while attending Kansas University in the 1960s.

The rural Baldwin resident is displaying more than 35 original acrylic wildlife paintings through Sept. 11 at Ad Astra Gallery, 205 W. Eighth St.

Also exhibiting in the show, called “Lions, Tigers & Bears,” are Jeremy Gander and Karen Jacks.

An opening reception will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the gallery.

Gallery hours are 1 p.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday.

Youth symphony rehearsals begin

Rehearsals for the Lawrence Youth Symphony begin Saturday in the band room at Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive.

Rehearsal will be from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

The orchestra is for students in seventh through 10th grades who are enrolled in orchestra or band in Lawrence public schools.

For more information, contact director Lynn Basow at 832-6050, ext. 7155 or lbasow@usd497.org.

KU textiles professor exhibits fiber art

Mary Anne Jordan, associate professor of textiles at Kansas University, will show new quilted work in a special exhibition at the Woven Fiber Art House in West Chester, Pa.

The show, “Flags, Rags & Signs,” will be on view Friday through Sept. 25.

Jordan received a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1985 and a bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan in 1981. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in Japan, Poland, South America and Canada.

She has taught workshops at Arrowmont, Haystack, Splitrock, University of Iowa and the Quilt and Surface Design Symposium. Her pieces have been featured in magazines and journals such as Fiberarts and the Surface Design Journal.

For more information on the exhibit, go to www.wovengallery.com.

‘Ballad of Black Jack’ auditions set

Baldwin — Auditions for the 18th production of “The Ballad of Black Jack,” a musical about Douglas County’s “Bleeding Kansas” history, will be Friday, Saturday and Aug. 29.

Auditions will be held 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 29 in Baker University’s Rice Auditorium. Men and women of all ages and children 8 and older are needed as actors, singers, dancers and chorus members. Backstage help also is needed.

Auditions are informal, and prospective cast members will be asked to read from the script and sing a selection of their choice.

The show, written by Baldwin playwright Don Mueller in 1970 for Baldwin’s centennial celebration, will be performed Oct. 14-17 at Rice Auditorium.

For more information, contact the show’s director, Jim Tuchscherer, at 979-6633, or the playwright and composer, Don Mueller, at (785) 594-2378.

KU to offer children’s drama classes

Kansas University’s theater and film department will offer after-school drama classes this fall.

Classes are taught by KU theater professor Jeanne Klein and college students enrolled in a children and drama class.

Registration for children in first through third grades will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 30 in the Murphy Hall lobby at Kansas University. Classes will be from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 31; Sept. 7, 14 and 21; Nov. 23 and 30; and Dec. 7.

Enrollment for children in fourth through sixth grades will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 4. Classes will meet from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 7, 21 and 28; Nov. 4, 11 and 18; and Dec. 2.

Children enrolled in KKU drama classes may attend a dress rehearsal of “Still Life with Iris,” the opening show for KU Theatre for Young People’s 50th anniversary season, to provide feedback to actors and explore the set.

For more information, contact Erika Crane at 864-5576.

Artist’s new show is “action”-packed

Kansas City, Mo. — Lawrence artist Bill Bowerman will display 18 scanographs in a two-person exhibition on view through Sept. 17 at the Kansas City Artists Coalition galleries, 201 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Mo.

Bowerman’s scanographs are created by making an assemblage of objects on a flat-bed scanner and making archival prints of the resulting scanned images. This exhibition highlights “action scanographs,” such as “Soft Ball, No. 2,” above, in which the artist moved objects while they were being scanned.

Bowerman shows his work in Lawrence at Eangee Home Designs,, 1005 Mass.

K.C. museum devotes more space to art

Kansas City, Mo. — The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is putting more art on display this fall by creating new galleries in spaces that once housed administrative offices. The new galleries are expected to open in October.

Since the museum opened in 1994, its permanent collection has more than tripled to some 800 artworks, says director Rachael Blackburn Cozad.

The additional gallery space will measure approximately 1,600 square feet. The project also includes more space for the Museum Shop. During construction, the shop has moved to Kemper East, one block north of the museum at 200 E. 44th St., where the museum staff relocated in May to allow the gallery transformation.

Outdoor sculptures on view at Washburn

Topeka — Washburn University’s ninth annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit opened recently.

The 10 pieces were selected from among 124 entries submitted by 60 artists in 27 states. A jury of artists and art educators juried the show.

A new exhibition cycle will put five sculptures on display through December and another five from January through June.

For a brochure detailing a walking tour of the sculpture exhibition, call (785) 231-1124 or visit www.washburn.edu/sculptures.

Sudlow paintings travel to Emporia

Emporia — “Spiritual Journeys: The Art of Robert Sudlow,” a retrospective of works by the Lawrence artist that first was shown in the fall of 2002 at the Lawrence Arts Center, is on view through Sept. 15 at the Emporia Arts Center.

An artist reception will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the gallery, 618 Mechanic, Emporia. Sudlow will give a gallery talk at 7 p.m.

Sudlow also will lecture at the Emporia State University art department’s Art at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Sudlow, a native Kansan, received a painting degree from Kansas University, where he studied with Albert Bloch. Sudlow later taught at KU and retired in June 1988. He was the first artist in Kansas to be named a Governor’s Artist, a distinction he received in 1974.

For more information, call (620) 343-6473 or e-mail artscncl@osprey.net.

St. Joseph Symphony to have auditions

St. Joseph, Mo. — The St. Joseph Symphony, under the direction of Deborah Freedman, will have auditions for the 2004-2005 season at 1 p.m. Sept. 11 in the Fine Arts Building at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Mo.

The orchestra has openings for a concertmaster, two violinists and a cellist.

The 60-member professional orchestra rehearses and performs at the historic Missouri Theatre in St. Joseph. The upcoming season includes five subscription concerts from October through April and youth concerts in October.

To arrange an audition time, call the symphony office at (816) 233-7701 by Sept. 8.