Lora Jost. Sound the Climate Alarm

Lora Jost

Sound the Climate Alarm

OCTOBER 30 – DECEMBER 21, 2020 L AW R E N C E A R T S C E N T E R

is an artist and arts educator in Lawrence, Kansas. She works in mosaic, mixed media collage, scratchboard, clayboard, and drawings on paper. She often creates themed-based bodies of work for exhibit, some that include stories or text from interviews. Past themes have included perseverance, the joys and struggles of farmers, the art of two mothers and their two sons, an exhibit highlighting the visual intersections of her work across media, and an exhibit about animals. In 2016, she helped organize a month-long series of cultural and educational events on climate change, with events at the Lawrence Percolator and Haskell Indian Nations University. In 2014 she installed a 7-foot mosaic mural in the Free State Brewery in Lawrence, and in 2018 she installed a series of small mosaics in the Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton, Kansas. She has illustrated articles for Lawrence Magazine and other publications, and currently has an illustration in the winter issue of Kansas! magazine. Jost teaches classes at the Lawrence Arts Center, currently focusing on beginning-level drawing classes in imaginative drawing, drawing practice, drawing stories, and drawing in black and white. Jost has an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

By Lora Jost In my drawings, cardinals honk and chickadees sing razor wire. Death chases a prairie chicken with a blaring saxophone. Animals drawn from memory reveal the loss we find when we are without them. Origami cranes, an international symbol for peace, fly over walls and meander through chain link fences. The cardinal’s song is visually amplified as a message of hope and renewal. A car with loudspeakers blasts an unusual wish for the world. Mosaics portray archways as a symbol for barriers with a way to pass through. Less an attempt to teach than an effort to explore the emotional states connected with an awareness of climate change, animal extinction, and related social stresses, these emotionally-packed drawings, collages and mosaics express alarm, despair, joy and possibility. With a sense of beauty and compassion, my art encourages the viewer to “listen” with a heart open to creating a future where there is enough to share and compassion for all.

You might enjoy looking for some of these symbols in my work: BIRDS, ESPECIALLY CARDINALS – I have always loved making images of birds in my work and lately, especially cardinals. Birds in different settings, often with exaggerated wings and postures, represent so many human emotions and conditions, among them freedom. I have enjoyed using cardinals because they are a common bird we all know. In my work cardinals are versatile characters. They can be funny and amusing but more often I simply use them to represent joy.

PAPER BOATS AND PAPER CRANES – I sometimes think of paper boats as a little like children, both hardy and vulnerable. I have also used images of paper boats with candles to represent guidance, hope, or “lighting the way.” Many of us grew up learning one or another version of the story of Sadako and the paper cranes. Sadako, a Japanese girl, was a victim of radiation sickness from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. She attempted to fold a thousand paper cranes for good luck and long life, but she eventually died from Leukemia. Over time, the paper cranes have become a symbol for international peace, and this is an aspect of what they represent for me when I use them in my work.

FENCES AND RAZOR WIRE – In the work exhibited here, I use fences and razor wire to suggest the border wall, detention centers, and immigration policies that violate human rights, including but not limited to the policy of family separation. In the drawing Dee Dee Dee, razor wire also represents a sense of alarm.

ARCHES – For me arches symbolize the antidote to walls and barriers. They are doors, openings, and passageways. They are symbols of life and hope. Arches might symbolize safe passage through mental barriers and blocks, too. Arches are also like rainbows, which are a symbol of promise and hope in some religious traditions.

THE CHARACTER DEATH – Death, sometimes depicted as a shrouded figure carrying a scythe, is a character that appears as everything from ghoulish to ghastly to comic in popular culture. For me the character of Death is a mixture of these, but it also represents the absurd. I’ve sometimes depicted Death carrying off different kinds of animals to represent extinction.

PARTY BLOWERS – I have used images of the party blower, the kind we use at birthday parties to make noise as you blow up a long paper tube. I have used images of people with party blowers to represent the kind of hapless disruption that people do to the environment without really thinking about it.

LINES AND MARKS TO REPRESENT SOUND – I often use lines and marks in the way cartoonists do to stand in for the plinks, pops, buzzing, music and whatever else I want a viewing audience to visually “hear.” I love to create visual images of sound in my work.

Join artist Lora Jost for a personal tour of her exhibit.

Jost will walk guests through the gallery and talk about her inspiration and the processes behind her newest artwork.

Tours are limited in capacity to allow for social distancing and masks are required.

Sunday, November 8 | 2pm Thursday, November 19 | 6:30pm Saturday, December 5 | 4pm This is a free event, but reservations are required!

Reservations can be made at lawrenceartscenter.org.

INSIGHT ART TALKS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY SUPPORT FROM

ART IS FOR EVERYONE

CALL 785.843.2787 VISIT 940 New Hampshire Street, Lawrence, Kansas 66044 BROWSE lawrenceartscenter.org Located in historic downtown Lawrence, Kansas, the mission of the Lawrence Arts Center’s exhibitions program is to enrich the community by presenting the best in contemporary art and to actively engage audiences through multi-disciplinary exhibitions that question and inspire. To that end, the Arts Center features 20-25 exhibitions each year from diverse artists in all media, ranging from local preschool children to internationally known artists. Such richness reflects the community that the Arts Center serves. Many of the original artworks on display are available for purchase.

Learn more about the artists and their art by visiting our galleries and website.

EXHIBITIONS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY SUPPORT FROM