The Newman University Steckline Gallery will present “Resonate with Stillness, Experience Light” by Laura Scholl as the seventh show of its 2016-2017 season. The exhibition of Scholl’s new works, which begins with a Final Friday reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 31, will be on display through April 25. Both the reception and admission to the gallery are free and open to the public.
An “Art for Lunch” presentation by the artist will be held Tuesday, April 4 from noon to 1 p.m. in the gallery. A light lunch will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. Guests can also bring their lunch. This event is also free and reservations are not required.
Scholl has been an artist for over 30 years, including 15 years working in feature film production in Los Angeles, Calif. Her film credits include the Oscar nominated films “The Fifth Element,” “Disney’s Dinosaur,” “Hollow Man,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.” In 2014 she moved to Wichita to pursue her personal artwork and in 2015 she joined Newman as assistant professor of graphic design and digital art.
Her work is inspired by reflections of light, and combines woven fiber, gesso, gold leaf, LED and fiber optics. She derives her influence from pre-Colombian artifacts, along with Shipibo vocables ‑ sounds and healing frequencies used by the Shipibo tribe of medicine healers in Peru – that are rendered visible through intricate, interlocking patterns of embroidered textiles, gold leafing techniques derived from Russian Iconography, and interactive installation controlled by microprocessors.
Scholl stated, “My own personal artwork has always been about light; even in the films I worked on I had that luxury. It follows that these abstract works combining code, LEDs, electronics, and fiber optics express light in today’s technological world.”
The Steckline Gallery is located inside the De Mattias Fine Arts Center on the Newman campus, 3100 McCormick. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, call 316-942-4291, ext. 2199.
