Art students don’t need to wait until they graduate to see their creations in a gallery — they can exhibit right here on campus. Every week, three art students take work out of their studios and into the LaVerne Krause Gallery — located in Lawrence Hall — for all to see, interpret and critique.
Graduate art student and LaVerne Krause Gallery Coordinator Jennifer Zimmerman said the gallery gives students a chance to receive feedback on their work.
“It’s an experimental place for students,” she said. “They can get their work evaluated by students, faculty and the public. It’s a step further from the studio.”
Students apply to exhibit their work at least one term before the potential showing. Sana Krusoe, art associate professor and LaVerne Krause Gallery committee member, said the committee tries to accommodate all artists, except during spring term when the gallery is largely filled by graduate student projects.
“We support student work of all sorts,” Krusoe said. “That includes work that is risky, edgy and less-than-professional quality.”
New artwork is placed every weekend and taken down the following Friday. An opening reception takes place at the gallery every Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Student-run art galleries have existed at the University since the 1960s. Students used the Lawrence Hall lobby across from the courtyard to exhibit work throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In the late 1970s, students converted room 141 in Lawrence Hall into “Gallery 141,” which existed until the early 1990s. Students eventually left 141, which was turned into a classroom, and in exchange moved the gallery to the room which is now the LaVerne Krause Gallery.
Art Professor Ken O’Connell said art department faculty and students chose to name the gallery after the late printmaking Professor LaVerne Krause because of her dedication to exhibiting student work. Krause died in 1987.
“LaVerne would exhibit artwork in the backs of restaurants and taverns — anything with a hallway,” O’Connell said. “She always encouraged students to exhibit their work.”
O’Connell said students and faculty fondly remembered Krause’s memorable character when they named the gallery after her.
“She was a very energetic and dynamic woman,” he said. “She would stand up at faculty meetings and put her two cents in.”
Krusoe said she enjoys seeing how students manipulate the space of the gallery when exhibiting work. She mentioned one of her favorite exhibits about four years ago when a student painted the entire gallery black, built walkways, platforms and filled the entire room with water. He included an upside down fragrance tree, dressed in a white gauzy costume and danced while spectators walked through.
“It was incredibly magical,” Krusoe said.
Applications for exhibiting work in the LaVerne Krause Gallery are currently available for winter and spring terms. They can be picked up in the Fine Arts Office located in 198 Lawrence Hall.