Korean choir presents free KU concert

The Seoul Ladies Singers, one of Korea’s premiere women’s choirs, will perform at 3 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Kansas Union Ballroom.

Admission is free.

The performance, part of the group’s 2004 North American tour, will include many traditional Korean songs.

The women also will spend a day with the KU Choirs, presenting a Korean music and dance workshop at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 2. A potluck dinner will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.

The performance is co-sponsored by the Kansas Asia Scholars, the KU Department of Music and Dance, the KU Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, and the KU Office of International Programs.

For more information, call 864-3849.

River City Revue takes ‘American Idol’ flavor

The Seem-To-Be Players’ annual benefit, River City Revue 2004, will be Saturday at Liberty Hall, 642 Mass.

This year’s program, called “America’s Most Idol,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres, followed by an 8 p.m. curtain and a 9:30 p.m. dance.

Competing solo and group acts include The Improbables, the Dance Gallery “Adult” Tappers, Chuck Crossen, Kitty Steffens Mitchell, Emily Hamilton, Gabe Murphy, Julia Hardin, Kallie Campbell, Nathan Stammeyer, Glass Coffee Table, Mike Boring, Sara Bonner, Doug Weaver, Jeanne Averill and The Ric Averill “5.”

Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at the Liberty Hall; the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.; or Classic Gourmet, 3300 W. 15th St.

Lawrence High School to present ‘Pygmalion’

Lawrence High School will stage George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

More than 25 actors will perform in Victorian costume with British accents.

The early 20th century play follows speech therapist Henry Higgins, who successfully transforms Liza Doolittle into a darling of high society.

It was later converted into “My Fair Lady.” The play is under the direction of Kim O’Brien.

Admission is $3 for students, $5 for adults.

Souper Bowl event set for Saturday

The seventh annual Souper Bowl Saturday will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

Local artists and businesses have donated more than 400 handmade ceramic bowls to sell for $10 each. Included in the price is a lunch of soup, bread and a drink.

Proceeds from the event support the arts center ceramics program, the area’s only comprehensive ceramics studio open to the general public.

Souper Bowl Saturday is sponsored by Hy-Vee Food Stores, Great Harvest Bread Co., Bracker’s Ceramics Supply, The Potter’s Guild and local artists.

The event raised money for scholarships, equipment, materials and studio development.

Grant to support Spencer’s Aaron Douglas exhibition

A $100,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation will support the Spencer Museum of Art’s “Aaron Douglas and the Harlem Renaissance” exhibition and catalogue.

Organized by Susan Earle, the Spencer’s curator of European and American art, the exhibition will be the first retrospective of Douglas’ work. It’s scheduled to open at the Spencer in March 2006 and then travel to three other museums.

The exhibition will include approximately 40 paintings and 25 works on paper by Topeka-born Aaron Douglas (1899-1979), who was, in the words of Alain Locke, “the father of Black American art.”

The Spencer owns a self-portrait drawing by Douglas as well as a portfolio of six prints Douglas made in collaboration with Langston Hughes, the Lawrence-born poet. The balance of the exhibited works will be borrowed from museums, colleges, and private collectors from around the country.

KU student takes second in music competition

Greer Davis Brown, a Kansas University senior in voice from Golden Valley, Minn., placed second in the Music Teachers National Assn. division competition Jan. 16 in Boulder, Colo.

The student competitions are designed to encourage young artists in the pursuit of musical excellence and to recognize outstanding achievement in the music teaching profession.

Brown was eligible for the division level after winning first place at the Music Teachers National Assn. state competition in late November.

Brown, a soprano, studies with Pamela Hinchman, associate professor of music and dance.

KU design faculty to share insights at symposium

Two Kansas University design faculty, Thomas Huang and David Brackett, will give a talk at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Miss.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Hallmark Symposium Series.

Before coming to KU, Huang worked with several design studios in California and as a freelance designer. He will discuss his involvement with architecture and his interest in weaving as a metaphor for “cross-culturalization.”

Brackett has shown his work at various exhibitions, including the Lancaster (Pa.) Museum of Art; the Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, Ky.; the Rice Gallery at the Albany (N.Y..) Institute of Art History; the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston; and Kyoto City Museum, Kyoto, Japan. He will talk about his investigations into Chaos Theory and the formation of pattern in nature, two influences in his art.

For more information, call 864-4401.

Art show looks in at the outside

Wamego — Lawrence artist Mri Pilar is among five self-taught artists with work in “Kansas Outsider Art,” an exhibit on view at Wamego’s Columbian Theatre Museum and Art Center.

The show was curated by the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas.

Pilar has created assemblages with recycled thrift-store items, including game boards, toys, hair clips and dishes.

The show also includes two Manhattan artists: Earl Slagle, who makes metal motion machines, and Martin Snyder, whose sculptures and paintings have a Harley-Davidson influence.

Fern Johnson has used car and machinery parts from her farm in rural Paxico to create metal and wood sculptures. Topeka artist Herman Divers’ sculptures are made using a threaded button technique that he has developed to embellish everything from a fishing pole to pocketbooks.

The show will be on view through Feb. 28 at the museum, 521 Lincoln Ave., Wamego. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.

Comedian coming to Washburn University

Topeka — Comedian John Wesley Austin will bring his irreverent humor and inventive parody songs to Washburn University this week.

Austin will perform at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Washburn Room in the Washburn Union. Washburn students are admitted free; tickets are $5 for the public and are only available at the door.

Austin has appeared on the Nashville Network’s “Wild Horse Saloon Dance Show” and on nationally syndicated radio programs such as “The Bob and Tom Show” and “Dr. Demento.”

The event is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board. For more information, call (785) 231-1222.