photo by: Contributed and Journal-World File Photos

Left to right: Watkins Museum of History; quilter and artist Marla Jackson, whose work will be on display during the Project on the History of Black Writing's "Symposium on Mass Incarceration"; and paintings on display at Shaun and Sons Artisan Pub and Coffeehouse.

March isn’t just tourney time for college basketball — one local coffee shop and pub is expanding it to the art world, too.

At Shaun and Sons Artisan Pub and Coffeehouse, 2228 Iowa St., a bracket of 64 paintings by local artists has been narrowed down over the month by a panel of judges. The art show, called “mARTch MADNESS,” got started a little earlier than the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that inspired it, however — the paintings have been narrowed down to the “Elite Eight,” and from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday night, the “Final Four” will be selected followed by a champion, said Leo Hayden, who is curating the show.

photo by: Kathy Hanks

Lawrence artist Leo Hayden has established a local art show/ tournament called “mARTch MADNESS,” which includes 64 paintings hanging at Shaun and Sons Artisan Pub and Coffeehouse, 2228 Iowa St. The paintings have been narrowed down to the Elite Eight. The Final Four and Champion will be selected between 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday night, March 23, 2019.

Hayden, a local artist and University of Kansas basketball fan, came up with the idea to set up the exhibit like the NCAA brackets. He began with 80 entries for the month-long show, which opened March 2, but limited wall space could only accommodate 64.

Unlike in the NCAA Tournament, however, paintings that don’t make it to the next round aren’t taken down. They continue to hang in the coffee shop, albeit on a different wall.

Project on the History of Black Writing’s 35th anniversary

Several activities, including a symposium and a writing workshop, are planned over the weekend as part of the 35th anniversary of the Project on the History of Black Writing.

The project, founded at the University of Mississippi in 1983, is currently a research unit in the Department of English at the University of Kansas.

The weekend of events kicks off with “A Symposium on Mass Incarceration,” which will be held at the Lawrence Public Library auditorium from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Among the speakers for the symposium will be Patrick E. Alexander, co-founder of the University of Mississippi’s Prison-to-College Pipeline Program, which offers higher education opportunities for people in the Mississippi prison system.

In a phone call with the Journal-World on Thursday, Alexander said he and other scholars and writers will be talking about their experiences teaching incarcerated people and how that affects their own scholarship.

“In my address, I am talking about how my experience of teaching in prison has changed the way I read African-American literature,” Alexander said. He says many contemporary black writers have been inspired by the experiences of other writers who are incarcerated.

Marla Jackson, a renowned quilter, artist and historian, will have her quilts on display during the symposium.

The 35th anniversary celebration will continue with a reading at 7 p.m. Saturday at Crystal’s Spot, 704 Massachusetts St., and a writing workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Public Library.

Author to discuss Republicans’ environmentalist history

Andrew Isenberg, co-author of “The Republican Reversal,” will discuss how the Republican Party once played a leading role in environmental activism at 6 p.m. Friday at the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St.

photo by: Contributed photo

Friday night, March 22, 2019, the Raven Bookstore will be hosting a book chat at 6 p.m. at the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St., with Andrew C. Isenberg the co-author of “The Republican Reversal.”

Isenberg, the Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas, co-wrote the book with James Morton Turner, an associate professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College. According to a description of the book on The Raven Bookstore’s website, it tells the story of how the emergence of a new alliance of pro-business, libertarian, and anti-federalist voters transformed the party’s stance on the environment starting in the late 1970s.

The event is organized by the Raven Bookstore. Admission is free, and signed copies of the book will be available.

If you have an event you think the Lawrence community should know about, please send the information to khanks@ljworld.com.