From left are John Gaunt Sr. and John Gaunt Jr.

John Gaunt Sr. remembers walking into an art gallery in Florence, Italy, and spotting paintings by his son, John Jr.

The younger Gaunt had done some art in the past. But nothing like the work he was doing while studying abroad.

“An explosion had taken place,” the father says. “He found it. It was quite dramatic.”

“It” was his artistic stride.

Nearly 20 years later, John Jr. is an assistant professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His father is the dean of the School of Architecture at Kansas University.

And starting Monday, the father and son artists will open their first show, “Crossroads of My Doorstep,” at the Lawrence Arts Center.

“That,” John Sr. says, “is just good fun.”

As an architect, John Sr. has always drawn.

“Going back to when I was very young,” the son says, “his studio was upstairs in our house, adjacent to my bedroom. There were markers in there, and he was constantly drawing. I think that embedded a certain curiosity.”

Adds John Sr.: “He and I always say we grew up together. In a subtle way, I think we had an artistic connection early on. I can’t quite describe that, but I always felt it.”

John Jr. went to college at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota thinking he’d be a physicist or an engineer.

“Thankfully my professors persuaded me art was not only an equivalent intellectual pursuit, but maybe even greater,” he says.

And then, that trip to Florence solidified his choice.

Now, father and son frequently compare notes about their artwork.

“We’ve always been interested in what each other is doing,” John Jr. says. “His work is an inspiration for me, and has been throughout my life, and I like to think vice versa.”

“Crossroads of My Doorstep” features a variety of artistic styles from the Gaunts.

John Jr.’s works are colorful abstract paintings that reference water.

“I’ve always been inspired by the natural landscape, water in particular,” the 40-year-old artist says. “It’s something I’ve dealt with over the past 10 years in some way.”

Meanwhile, John Sr.’s entries explore two different media. The first is drawings he completed two years ago while leading a study abroad trip to Cuba. The works show architectural highlights of Havana and the people who live there.

“It’s a celebration of several things — both the architectural street scenes as I saw them, and the grittiness of it,” he says. John Sr., 73, notes he wants to show the “unnecessary condition imposed on the people there.”

The other works are sculpture. When John Sr. moved to Lawrence 15 years ago, he and his wife purchased an old farmstead northeast of Lawrence. Then, about 10 years ago, something started to happen in a barn near the home.

“These spare parts and old discarded things began to speak to me,” John Sr. says.

So he started to create sculptures out of them, including a series of masks.

“It’s therapeutic, somewhat, to work like that,” he says. “It’s an expression of one’s feelings.”

It’s been therapeutic, too, to work on this show, John Sr. says. It’s made him think about the artistic and personal relationship he has with his son.

“He’s no longer a kid, but a friend,” John Sr. says. “That’s the best you can hope for.”