photo by: Conrad Swanson

Dee Boeck sits in the Michael Malone Law Library in front of one of her quilts.

For the better part of a decade, Dee Boeck has looked into the criminal records of convicted felons — professionally, that is. She writes pre-sentence investigations for the Douglas County District Court.

Tracking down local, state and national criminal records can be a kind of puzzle, she said. And when she’s finished, judges base their sentencing decisions off her work.

“It’s very interesting and it’s challenging,” she said. “Especially when they use different names or different birth dates or different social security numbers.”

photo by: Conrad Swanson

Frog on Watch photo on canvas by Marjorie Hedden

For several more years, Boeck has occupied her down time with a different type of puzzle: quilts. And more recently, doll clothes.

That is to say, makes them. And now her art is on display alongside her coworkers’ art inside the Michael J. Malone Douglas County Law Library.

The library’s exhibit, which is inside the Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St., will be open through September, said Kerry Altenbernd, the library’s sole staff member.

Altenbernd said Malone, a former Douglas County District Court Judge and the library’s namesake, kept artwork in his chambers and outer office and in 2004 he suggested showing some artwork in the library.

Before then, the walls were bare, Altenbernd said.

“It lightens up the library,” Altenbernd said. “Having something nice on the walls helps the mood in here, I think. It brightens the place up.”

For years, the library — which is open to attorneys 24 hours a day — rotated art exhibits monthly and then every other month, Altenbernd said. It’s served as a good entry-level opportunity for budding artists, he said.

photo by: Conrad Swanson

Painting by Michelle Marino

“We don’t have as much traffic as the Lawrence Arts Center, but we have quite a bit of foot traffic in here,” Altenbernd said. “And most of the time the pieces are for sale.”

And then in 2011, a group within the LEC came up with the idea of hosting an exhibit featuring the art of those who work in the building, Altenbernd said. The building houses the District Attorney’s Office, the Lawrence Police Department and more.

“There are a lot of people that work here with varying backgrounds and varying jobs,” he said. “And it just built from there.”

This year’s LEC employee exhibit, which is also open to the family members of employees, is the library’s second.

An avid runner, Boeck said she first began making quilts when her race T-shirts began piling up and she didn’t know what to do with them. So she took a class and fashioned the shirts into a quilt. The hobby stuck.

Then in 2011, when the new type of art exhibit was underway, Altenbernd approached Boeck, she said.

“I guess I had a quilt down in my office he saw once, and he asked me if I’d be interested in having a display in the building,” she said. “And people really liked them. It’s even gotten me some business.”

photo by: Conrad Swanson

Stained wood by Jay Armbrister.

Now, alongside Boeck’s quilts and small dolls’ clothes hanging on the wall, the library boasts paintings and even a bit of woodwork.

“It’s kind of fun to learn more about other people’s work and how talented they are,” Boeck said. “You don’t really know some of that about your coworkers until they do something like that.”

Altenbernd said the artwork often sparks discussions amongst the library’s patrons, giving conversations a break from the often-technical legal jargon.

“It’s good to have people talking about things that aren’t necessarily just what the library is about,” he said. “Everybody has their own particular opinion of art, which is good.”

Boeck said there’s one particular piece of art, a charcoal piece, that she finds particularly interesting. The work was created by the father of a woman who works on another floor, she said. And although the two don’t bump into each other very often, the next time they do they’ll have something to talk about.

The law library is open to the public from noon to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.