Lawrence Magazine | spring 2024

Hand-Cut Nature

Angie Pickman’s Paper Scenery

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Eric Smallwood: Dressed in History Kassidee Quaranta’s Playfully Macabre Artwork

Tessa Gratton Expands the Star Wars Canon

Lucia Keeps the Twang in Sundays

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EDITOR

Nathan Pettengill

DESIGNER / ART DIRECTOR

Shelly Bryant

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Joanne Morgan 785.832.7264 jmorgan@sunflowerpub.com

AD DESIGNER

Alex Tatro

COPY EDITOR

Leslie Clugston Andres

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Amber Fraley Lauren Fox Kanan

Susan Kraus Nick Spacek

Darin M. White

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Fally Afani Ryan Coody

Jason Dailey Brian Goodman

Susan Kraus

PUBLISHER

Bill Uhler

DIRECTOR

Bob Cucciniello

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Welcome to the spring 2024 edition of Lawrence Magazine!

Some tourist spots and attractions you see once and then cross off your list, others you return to again and again.

Travis Campbell, the new director for the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum, wants to ensure out-of-town visitors and Lawrencians think of his facility as a place they will want to visit more than once.

That the facility is open to visitors again is something to celebrate. The museum opened in 2002 with a vast collection of material relating to the history of Haskell and Indigenous culture and artifacts from many nations and people who have been part of Haskell since its founding as an industrial school. It was both an exhibition gallery and a research center with displays for the public and an archive open to scholars who could draw on the unique collection of letters, photographs, and manuscripts.

In 2019, the museum closed. University officials at the time told the Lawrence JournalWorld they were working to quickly reopen the facility and solve funding problems. But securing funding and staffing is not a straightforward process for a museum within an organization that must navigate a complicated relationship with federal oversight and budget allocations.

Haskell Cultural Center & Museum was closed for four years until a funding arrangement was secured, and the facility reopened in summer 2023 and began renovation of its main exhibit hall in the fall of that year.

Now, the center is regularly open with a balance of permanent exhibition material and rotating items from its collection, some of which are detailed and shown in Amber Fraley’s and Ryan Coody’s feature story in this issue.

As residents of Lawrence, we often say or read that Haskell Indian Nations University is a unique educational institution, and that Lawrence should value and be proud of its presence in the community—but saying and reading that can become a routine that gradually erases our awareness. We’ve been on the campus, we’ve seen it, we know about it. Fortunately, the reopening of the cultural center and museum provides a welcoming space for us to reconnect with the sometimes difficult yet inspiring personal and communal histories rooted in Haskell. And the curation of the facility’s enormous archives allows visitors to approach this legacy from a new angle with each visit. If you’ve never been to the center, consider going after reading our article about it. If you have been, consider stopping by once more to discover it all over again and see what new information and artifacts Campbell has placed in display.

Nathan Pettengill, editor

what’s inside?

features smorgasbord

36 The Man in the Kossuth Hat

Historian Eric Smallwood relates history through clothing

44 The Magic of Cut Paper

Two Lawrence artists create modern takes on one of the oldest visual art forms

10 In Full Swing

Lawrence’s music scene picks up with a new tradition and the performance of postpandemic plans

14 A Troubador of the High Republic

Tessa Gratton writes fresh Star Wars legends for a new generation of readers

19 Lawrencium: Ukrainian Pysanky

Facts and figures about a decorative Easter egg tradition

Detail from Joy Without Ceasing, paper-cut art by Angie Pickman. Photo courtesy Angie Pickman.

people

22 ‘Something Bigger Than Life’

A supporting role in the Oppenheimer film led actor Troy Bronson through a deep dive into one young scientist behind the atomic bomb and his connection to the University of Kansas

places

26 Extraordinary Extremadura

Travel writer Susan Kraus guides us through an uncrowded region full of historic sites and natural beauty on the border of Spain and Portugal

30 Haskell Pride, on Display Again

After four years of closed doors, the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum returns with a new director, secure funding, and an ambitious mandate for the future

contributors

The former head photographer of Lawrence Magazine and Sunflower Publishing, Jason Dailey now runs an independent commercial and portrait studio in Lawrence. You can see more of his still and video images at daileyimages.com.

Nick Spacek Writer

A music and film writer, Nick can often be found on his couch with his cats, his wife and a terrible horror film playing near him. He blogs regularly at his site, rockstarjournalist.com, and produces the podcast From & Inspired By.

Originally from Northwest Arkansas, Ryan Coody moved to Lawrence in 2010 to attend Haskell Indian Nations University. He later returned to Arkansas after graduation, but missed the area so much that he felt compelled to return in 2017. Since then, Coody has spent his time photographing iconic Kansas landscapes, subjects and sporting events.

Fally Afani photographer

Fally Afani has received several Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards as well as an Edward R. Murrow award for her online work in over 20 years of journalism. She is also a recipient of the Rocket Grant Award, which she used to help develop live music events in Lawrence.

Lauren Fox Kanan writer

Lauren Fox Kanan is a freelance writer and communications professional. A former reporter with the Lawrence Journal-World, she has also written for Kansas City Magazine and New York Times.

Brian Goodman runs his editorial, landscape and stock-art photography studio in Lawrence. His work for Lawrence Magazine and Sunflower Publishing has won several regional editorial and photography awards.

Brian Goodman Photographer

Jason Dailey photographer

Ryan Coody photographer

In Full Swing

Lawrence’s music scene picks up with a new tradition and the performance of post-pandemic plans

‘Riding the Cycle’

OxyToxin is back from the basement, joined by the ‘new guy,’ and ready to rock weird. In the year since Lawrence progressive metal quartet OxyToxin released their debut full-length, Don’t Lose Your Head, the band’s changed a little bit, adding bass player Jonah Morgan into the mix.

“I’d been looking online, and my girlfriend had also been helping me find stuff and I saw these guys on Craigslist a couple of times,” Morgan explains as the band gathers at his home and his white-faced cockatiel Guinevere perches on his shoulder. “Having been burned by multiple bands before, I was very hesitant about joining.”

That said, the band had a slew of shows lined up. Morgan really wanted to play live, so he just decided to go with it. He describes joining the band as “a pretty great decision.”

The roots of OxyToxin go way back.

Lead singer and guitarist Geoff Kelly and drummer Evan Byers have known each other since they were 14, and guitarist and backing vocalist Nick Brown has been with the band from its start.

But the original members say Morgan’s addition has been good for the group.

“It’s refreshing and relaxing,” Byers says. “It’s nice to feel like there’s someone new to involve and guide through the process. It’s been great having a new member, and he’s got a great attitude and personality, great with people.”

“To have somebody come in that is not only down to fill the shoes, but down to jump into new positions and actually have something to offer, as far as social media, just inviting people to shows, just having ideas for new songs” is a huge benefit, Kelly adds.

In many ways, the band’s new momentum puts them right back on track before Covid hit.

“We decided we were gonna be a band officially maybe six or eight months before quarantine,” Kelly rues. “That’s right when we became ready and had three or four shows lined up that all got completely nixed.”

Kelly notes that it was disconcerting to go from garage band to real band to back to the garage in swift succession.

“We got demoted to the basement—separate basements,” Byers jokes. Fortunately, that ability to woodshed for well over a year resulted in a band who came out of quarantine as a fully locked and loaded band, rapidly becoming one of those bands fans of live music just had to see.

And now, Morgan’s live debut came just ten days after he first met OxyToxin’s three other members.

“The trial by fire could not have gone any better, honestly,” says Kelly of their new bassist’s debut. “There were a couple people from bands we played with in the past, and they were just like, ‘Man, your new guy’s awesome. How long have you been playing with him?’ and I’m like, ‘We met him last week.’”

A lot of the kismet likely has to do with the obvious love the bandmates have for the style of music they play. They say OxyToxin is heavily indebted to late ’90s and early ’00s alternative metal.

“We’re riding the cycle,” quips Morgan. “I grew up listening to this stuff. It wasn’t new, but it wasn’t exactly old, either. I think people our age have nostalgia for what they listened to when they were growing up and so, it just kind of cycles itself a little bit.”

OPPOSITE Nick Brown plays guitar and performs back-up vocals for OxyToxin.

ABOVE Like Brown, drummer Evan Byers is one of the group’s original members.

Think of it as what that cousin or older sibling you idolized listened to growing up, and you’re in the right ballpark although the band is also influenced by their parents.

“We decided we were gonna be a band officially maybe six or eight months before quarantine.”

– geoff kelly –

“My mom is a huge Tool fan and Pearl Jam and ’90s grunge, so I grew up on that stuff,” Byers says.

That said, OxyToxin performs on a technical level that makes it unique. The style of music that influenced them was notoriously a little looser and simpler than the complicated arrangements going on in OxyToxin’s songs.

“I think a large part of it is just growing as musicians as we’ve been writing these songs and stuff,” Kelly explains. “I mean, even as a kid I remember picking up the guitar and being like, ‘Oh, learn a Korn song,’ and being like, ‘That took me five minutes. Why is it one riff? What’s going on here?’”

Essentially, OxyToxin’s crew says their songwriting process can be summed up as “Does it make normal people feel uncomfortable? No? Then it’s not weird enough yet. Is it predictable in any way? Okay, we gotta change it.”

It’s this process that resulted in the band coming up with a cover of Violent Femmes’ alternative-era classic “Blister in the Sun,” reimagined from its quirky folk jangle into something deeply unsettling and laden with riffs, a song that has rapidly become a hallmark of the OxyToxin live experience.

They have more disturbances in the making.

“We have probably five to eight songs that have been ready to be songs for a long time,” Kelly says. “We just haven’t had the fourth member to solidify parts and be like, ‘Okay, this is a new piece,’ officially.”

Keeping the Twang in Sunday

Lucia’s Sunday Round Up continues a folk and country tradition. Sundays have traditionally been a day for roots music in Lawrence. Be it Bob McWilliams’ “Trail Mix” program on Kansas Public Radio, all-ages matinees at the Replay, or the Gothic Cowboy Revue in North Lawrence, the opportunity to enjoy some twang has always been a way to wind down the weekend.

Since August 2022, Lucia’s Sunday Round Up has continued this tradition. The free event starts most Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. and showcases local talent as well as some Kansas City artists who don’t often make their way to town, such as Rex Hobart and the Honky Tonk Standards or Kasey and the Pines.

Emily Taylor, the marketing director for Lucia, Granada, and The Bottleneck, says the Round Up came out of conversations she had with Mike Logan, the owner of these venues, shortly after she was hired in June 2021.

“Mike asked me what my favorite music was,” Taylor recalls. “Definitely—country music—which we identified as a gap in the lineup at Lucia.”

The first band to come through was Kansas City’s Kasey and the Pines, which Taylor had previously seen at a Replay patio show and then recruited after a performance at Ryan’s Public House in Tonganoxie. They’ve returned several times since, including the event’s first anniversary, and told other groups about the venue.

“Their pedal steel player, Marco Pascolini, started bringing me all of these bands that he was working with,” Taylor says.

While some of the bands are acquainted, the venue lineup remains diverse. In addition to pure twang sound, there’s been the raucous cowpunk of the Popskull Rebels, the honky-tonk of Cryin’ Out Loud, and the every-kind-of-bar-band flavor of Cat Rodeo, who pour just a bit more country into their tunes at Lucia.

“Absolutely, yep,” Taylor agrees regarding Cat Rodeo. “I feel like when they play the Round Up, they definitely skew their set a little bit more to fall into that twangy, honky-tonk vibe.”

“It gives us a chance to play songs that have been out of our rotation for a while,” says Cat Rodeo’s dobropedal steel player Russ Baker, aka Girth Brooks. “And it also gives us the opportunity to invite special guests to perform with us. We generally try to work up a few songs with someone when we play a two- or three-hour

gig. Plus, on Sundays, we offer a little gospel song of inspiration with a humorous sermon.”

Whichever group takes the stage at Round Up, the band usually knocks out two sets, giving the audience a chance to breathe and come and go as they please. Audiences can show up early, catch the first set, and be home in time to cook dinner, or head out after spending all day doing chores and treat it as the opening act for the Replay matinee at 6 p.m.

Taylor notes a lot of the Round Up audience members are fellow musicians.

“I’ve heard from a lot of other local country musicians who gig all weekend that Sundays, they get to come to the Round Up and actually take in some country music and connect with each other, which to me is the biggest compliment,” Taylor says.

Matt Dollar, the pedal steel player for Cryin’ Out Loud, says Round Up gives musicians a chance to see one another outside of the busy bar night scene and draws in new fans.

“Since there’s no cover charge, it gives people who might not take a chance on us to see what we’re about,” Dollar explains. “We enjoy the audiences that show up for the gig. They tend to be there primarily for the music and specifically for the kind of music that we play.”

STORY BY Lauren Fox Kanan PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jason Dailey

A Troubador of the High Republic

Tessa Gratton writes fresh Star Wars legends for a new generation of readers

Tessa Gratton grew up versed in Star Wars lore. Now, she is creating it. More specifically, the Lawrence-based author has just released her third novel about The High Republic, an early period in the popular space fantasy when Jedi knights brought peace and order across galaxies.

The novel is part of Disney’s Project Luminous, a creative venture that combines books and comics to tell an overarching story

“It’s the first time that Star Wars storytelling has jumped this far back in the past to really tell stories about the Jedi when they were at the height of their power,” Gratton says.

Gratton has already written two Project Luminous novels. Her first, which she co-wrote with Justina Ireland, is the 2022 Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Deceit. Her second, published in 2023, is Star Wars: The High Republic: Quest for Planet X.

Gratton’s third book, which she also co-wrote with Ireland, is titled Star Wars: The High Republic: Defy the Storm. It came out on March 5 and is geared toward young adult readers. It has themes of resisting oppression and “doing the right thing when everything is terrifying and dangerous,” Gratton says.

The first Project Luminous text was published in 2021, and the project is expected to wrap up in 2025. What makes the project especially interesting for an author, Gratton notes, is that it is the first time Star Wars lore has been created initially for print instead of for film or television.

She compares the types of stories she and the 11 other series authors are writing to Knights of the Round Table adventures, noting that many of the characters go on explorations in which they must defend peace in their realm.

Project Luminous has different texts geared toward

different age groups: middle-grade readers, young adult readers, and adult readers.

“But the initiative is designed to encourage readers of every age to read all of them, particularly teenagers and adults,” Gratton says.

Defy the Storm follows a teenage Jedi Knight named Vernestra Rwoh and her scientist friend Avon Starros. Vernestra and Avon must work together to find a way through the Stormwall—a section of space taken over by an anarchistic group known as the Nihil.

“But what are the Nihil’s real plans? And what of the nameless creatures that can destroy the Jedi Order? The battle has just begun …” the book’s description teases readers.

In June, Gratton’s fourth Star Wars book, Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force, is expected to be published.

If you’ve been doing the math, you’ll realize that’s Gratton’s fourth Star Wars book in three years.

Though Gratton, a New York Times bestselling author, has numerous previous titles and writing projects to her name—from The Queens of Innis Lear, a feminist recasting of King Lear, to the episodic swashbuckling drama of Tremontaine—she says the rapid releases have been a fast-paced but rewarding process in collaborative world building that enabled her to become a more “elastic” writer.

The authors of Project Luminous would meet every other week to ensure their stories would work cohesively within the High Republic world and timeline. It’s a complicated process that required a lot of teamwork, Gratton says.

While technically only two of Gratton’s Star Wars novels are co-authored, she explains that “in a lot of ways they’re all a little bit co-written.” The authors often use the same characters across the texts, and in numerous instances, one author writes a novel, and a different author

OPPOSITE Writer

Tessa Gratton throws obstacles, baddies, and emotional choices at the heroes of her latest official Star Wars novel.

writes the sequel to that novel. Gratton’s fourth novel in Project Luminous, for example, is a sequel to George Mann’s Star Wars: The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness, which came out in 2023.

“It makes it a really dynamic process, and it’s not something that I get to do by myself in my office like most of my books,” Gratton says.

Normally, Gratton can come up with a story and write it. But in Project Luminous, she might be writing about a character a different author developed, and she must write within the constraints of the overarching story.

“So in order to make a story be the way I want to make it, I sometimes have to totally rearrange the way I’m thinking of it,” Gratton says. “And I think that translates into helping me find the best way to tell all of my stories, instead of letting myself be locked down in my assumptions going in.”

Another unique aspect of Gratton’s experience in Project Luminous is that Star Wars books come with built-in fans and expectations.

The Star Wars fan base is knowledgeable and intense, and there have been widely publicized push-backs from some fans against actors of color and other elements of modern narratives in the movie and television franchises.

Gratton, who is genderqueer and married to a woman, says she was nervous about jumping into the Star Wars universe and creating nonbinary protagonists within her storylines.

“But it actually turns out the Star Wars book fandom is really nothing but excited and engaged,” she notes. “People have actually cosplayed with some of the characters I have written.”

Gratton says she hopes readers find her Star Wars novels to be “thrilling and satisfying” adventures that convey the emotional choices characters make—especially in her young adult novels.

What is Gratton reading?

Volume 2 of Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.

Gratton describes this English translation of a Chinese web novel as “delightful” and “very romantic with lots of really weird monsters.” There are seven volumes in total, and Gratton, giving readers a peek of her reading speed, says she’ll “be in the middle of that for a couple of weeks.”

Outside of the Star Wars universe, Gratton and Ireland are finishing a book titled Blood and Fury, a sequel to their novel Chaos and Flame, which came out in March 2023. Blood and Fury is set to release in May. Gratton describes it as a “fun fantasy series” with lots of kissing, magic, and monsters. Gratton is also working on an adult fantasy trilogy that she hopes will come out in 2025.

Lawrencium

Ukrainian Pysanky

This spring, take your egg-decorating skills to a new level with a free Ukrainian pysanky workshop taught by Megan Luttrell, outreach coordinator for the Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies at the University of Kansas.

• 2 raw eggs

• 1 candle

• 1 kistka (tool used for drawing with melted wax)

• 1 25-gram wax cake

• Plenty of egg dye— Luttrell provides 24 8-ounce jars per workshop

6 Workshop attendees are provided:

Number of pysanky workshops Luttrell has led while at the CREES

The name for a single pysanky egg is a pysanka.

The word pysanky is derived from the Ukrainian verb pysaty, which means “to write,” or писати in Ukrainian.

How old is the art of Pysanky?

Luttrell explains no one really knows how far back the tradition goes because eggs biodegrade and don’t survive the centuries. “But they’ve found ceramic ones from the Neolithic period.”

Though pysanki eggs are considered Easter eggs, the art of making these eggs predates Christianity in Ukraine. “So, many of the symbols you see on these eggs were originally pagan symbols,” Luttrell explains.

Common symbols found on pysanky include decorative bands known as “eternity bands,” spirals, suns and stars. Spring renewal symbols such as flowers, berries, horses, deer, and birds are also common, and later, Christian symbols such as crosses and churches.

“There’s also a lot of symbolism in the colors,” explains Luttrell. “Pysanky weren’t just for Easter, back in the day. People would use them for funerals, too. So, if you see a black and white egg, that’s likely for a funeral.”

In pagan times, the eggs were magical objects used to bring good luck and abundance and were given not only to people but also to animals. Pysanky could be

placed in chickens’ nests to encourage egg laying, or put in mangers in hopes of safe calving, or left in the pasture when the cattle were let out in the spring.

“For people who were adolescents—teenagers and young twenties—you’d give them a pysanka that had a lot of white space on it because they had more of their life story to write,” Luttrell says.

Luttrell explains that traditionally, pysanky were not emptied because that would remove the egg’s symbolism of fertility. In modern times, they are sometimes emptied, but Luttrell finds the eggs easier to dye when they’re still full. workshop

Tuesday, March 26, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. 1440

the

‘Something Bigger Than Life’

A supporting role in the Oppenheimer film led actor Troy Bronson through a deep dive into one young scientist behind the atomic bomb and his connection to the University of Kansas

Written, directed and co-produced by Christopher Nolan, 2023’s Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist known as “the father of the atomic bomb.” The film’s large cast portrays numerous notable figures connected to Oppenheimer. Kenneth Branagh plays Nobelwinning Danish physicist Niels Bohr; William L. Borden, executive director of the Joint Commission on Atomic Energy, is played by Kansas City’s David Dastmalchian; The Boys’ Jack Quaid is theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, and Gary Oldman is President Harry S. Truman.

It’s an embarrassment of acting riches, many of whom appear in very minor roles for a very short time. However, for many, the opportunity to be part of such a big screen picture was worth the minimal amount of screen time, especially as it means that these actors became part of film that won numerous top Golden Globes and is nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Perhaps the array of talented actors involved in the project explains why rising actor Troy Bronson invested so much time to portray American chemist Joseph W. Kennedy, who co-discovered plutonium, despite being in the film for only the briefest of moments.

Bronson, whose previous acting roles include the lead in the 2022 short film +380 Kyev, Ukraine, had been studying to be a history teacher before switching to media studies at the University of California, Berkeley, so he’s always had an interest in exploring the past.

And Joseph W. Kennedy provided a fascinating life to explore. Kennedy attended the University of Kansas and received his master’s degree before moving on to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a PhD in chemistry and later discovered plutonium

STORY

“He really just went over there with the conviction of, ‘I’m doing something bigger than life.’”

– Troy bronson –

with fellow researchers Glenn Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, and Arthur Wahl in 1940.

As the Atomic Heritage Foundation explains, when this team demonstrated that plutonium was fissile, they opened the way forward for the Manhattan Project research. The work also led to Kennedy being one of the first recruits to Los Alamos in 1943.

Kennedy is portrayed in the movie when he was only 27—young enough, but accomplished enough, to allow research on him to be fairly comprehensive and fascinating.

Speaking by Zoom, Bronson says that the time he put in learning about Kennedy was a labor of love.

“It’s not like I just went online for the longest time,” says Bronson from Berkeley. “It was just little by little, ’cause I knew that it would be overwhelming.”

Bronson, like other Oppenheimer actors, started with reading Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus, the book on which Oppenheimer is based.

Los Alamos

photo.

the people of lawrence

But Bronson was able to read it right outside the very room on the Berkeley campus where Kennedy discovered plutonium.

“I would just go read the book with my bag pressed against the door where he discovered plutonium at Berkeley inside of the chemistry lab,” Bronson recalls. “And then I just decided to go all the way back to where he was born, which is Texas. I just continued following him, little by little, up until … he ended up teaching at the University of Washington, St. Louis.”

But it was those early years, when Kennedy was recruited by Oppenheimer to be the head of the chemistry division at Los Alamos, that particularly fascinated Bronson.

“He really just went over there with the conviction of, ‘I’m doing something bigger than life,’” Bronson explains, adding that he identifies with Kennedy’s situation of being the youngest individual in a collective.

“I worked as a location scout for movies before, and I never worked with people around my age, ever, at all,” says Bronson. “There were some really slow days at Los Alamos, and he didn’t have a wife or kids, but all these guys, most of them did, so he was just out there, alone for years. I feel like I really connected in that sense, with people trying to get rid of him. General Groves tried to get rid of him for over a year because he was too young.”

During his research on Joseph W. Kennedy, Bronson connected details from different parts of Kennedy’s life. The actor sees Kennedy’s time at the University of Kansas as laying the groundwork for where he would end up and ultimately make his biggest discovery.

The University of Kansas of the 1930s seemed to be alive with intellectual curiosity and progressive educational methods, Bronson says.

“The university’s educational style—particularly relevant during the challenging times of the Great Depression and the lead up to the World War II—fostered resilience and global awareness,” Bronson explains.

Bronson speculates that the collaborative learning and handson research at KU were instrumental in shaping Kennedy’s mind and nurturing his scientific acumen and problem-solving skills.

“It’s a culture vividly depicted in the movie Oppenheimer, where the urgency and excitement of the era came to life,” Bronson says. “When it comes to Lawrence, what I found out was what made the University of Kansas and Lawrence a very attractive destination for young minds like him.”

Bronson acknowledges that he put in a lot of time to bring about a cameo appearance, but it’s a type of dedication and resilience that Kennedy might have admired.

“I’m a bit of an extremist,” the actor says in relation to his work. “I’m deeply invested in the past. When it comes to movies and films, I would love to do these movies, really, that are about the past, or if they’re deep into the future, like, thousands of years into the future—both streams.”

Extraordinary Extremadura

Travel writer Susan Kraus guides us through an uncrowded region full of historic sites and natural beauty on the border of Spain and Portugal

When you hear the word Extremadura, do you have instant name recognition? Can you place it on a map? I’m embarrassed that I couldn’t, and I’ve been a travel writer for 25 years.

Extremadura is one of Spain’s seven autonomous regions. It borders Portugal and shares with it the Tagus International Nature Park (Parque Natural del Tajo Internacional), whose trails cross borders. And while Extremadura has no coastline, it does boast an abundance of lakes, reservoirs and rivers. Every hike I took, every back road I drove, all crossed water. The landscape is a prime attraction for birdwatchers, hikers, bikers, history buffs, and extreme outdoor sports enthusiasts.

Getting around

Unlike Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, or Granada, Extremadura is not overrun with tourists. That could be, in part, because there are no fast trains through the region. Navigating Extremadura means going by foot, bike, bus, or car—all good options. There is no reason to be anxious about renting and driving a car through Extremadura. You can pick up a rental at the Madrid airport and be in Extremadura within three hours. The roads are well-maintained and well-marked. I’m

73, and I did just fine, alone, on both the highways (which are mostly new) and the back roads. When you stop in a city, you can park your car to walk, take a taxi or jump on a bus to get around.

Of course, when you take a car you will always have Google maps as your friend, but be sure to grab a physical map of Extremadura to help you visualize where you are and to allow yourself to simply meander. It’s impossible to get lost: turn Google back on, and it will find you and show you to your destination.

Five routes (and my own)

The tourist maps lay out five routes for drivers with special interests, such as the World Heritage Sites route with a UNESCO biosphere site and the ancient walled city of Cáceres along the way. The Via De La Plata (Silver Road) tracks a historical 300-kilometer route north to south and through the cities of Merida, Cáceres and Plascencia. The Reservoir Route is a favorite for birders and other nature lovers, and there are also remarkable dams from Roman and Moorish times to the present. The Nature Route will take you to beautiful nature preserves and parks, many of which you can explore in solitude. There is also a Cuisine Route, a delight for sampling the specialties of each locale.

ABOVE A stone cottage sits along the road leading to Hospedería Puente de Alconétar, a 15th-century palace. Stone is the most common building material for the historic walls and buildings in Extremadura.

Some of the routes overlap, and you can easily go back and forth between them. If I were to make a customized route, it would absolutely include these locations:

• Merida, a town of breathtaking Roman ruins such as the Diana Temple and Roman Amphitheatre at the center of the city; the adjacent National Museum of Roman Art; the Los Milagros Aqueduct and Roman bridge. I enjoyed the Guadiana River Walk for the landscape, birds, and views of the Moorish Citadel and Roman Bridge.

• Cáceres, the Monumental City, rich with monuments, medieval and renaissance architecture, a World Heritage Site; palaces, temples, convents and cisterns; a Jewish quarter; festivals for every season, including WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance). Cáceres is a working-class city, and I enjoyed walking its hills and parks, watching families going about their lives.

• Guadalupe, whose Monastery of Guadalupe has been a destination for pilgrims (often royal pilgrims) for centuries. To walk the Los Milagros Mudejar Cloister and halls of this monastery is to walk through history. The self-guided walking tour of the town of La Puebla de Guadalupe also provides context and views.

The landscape is a prime attraction for birdwatchers, hikers, bikers, history buffs, and extreme outdoor sports enthusiasts.

• Trujillo, a city with a steep walk to a castle that leads to a sweeping view of the city center, but also of the plains and granite boulders that surround the city. Sit on the Plaza Mayor with a drink at sunset and people watch. The local tourist bureau has an office on the square, with town maps and info.

• Badajoz, a city that survived over 1,000 years of conflict, of being besieged and conquered by Muslim, Christian, Portuguese, French and English forces. Much of the architecture has been informed by war, and the main cathedral has the feel of a fortress. There is a Contemporary Art Museum, Bullfighting Museum, City Museum and some very worthwhile gardens.

• Plasencia, a city whose surrounding wall was erected in 1186. Two city cathedrals, now connected, were

built two centuries apart (the “new” one in Gothic style, in the 16th century.) There are cathedral museums, a medieval city interpretation center, and an ethnographic textile museum.

• Olivenza, whose Magdalena Church and Santa Maria del Castillo Church are must-sees. The González Santana Ethnographic Museum has 26 themed halls, and the content extrapolates to a larger area of Extremadura.

Nature attractions

As much as I loved exploring historic sites and museums in the various cities, some of my favorite days in Extremadura were ones where I immersed myself in nature.

• Los Barruecos is a designated ‘Natural Monument’ area close to Cáceres. It has a landscape of massive boulders formed millions of years ago. The combination of the boulders, their reflection in pools of water, the sense of discovery at every turn, makes Los Barruecos otherworldly. The producers of Game of Thrones agreed, and some major scenes were filmed there. Kiosks with specific info on the show’s scene locations have recently been completed. Los Barruecos is magical.

• Monfragüe National Park, set in the middle of a biosphere reserve, is a national sanctuary for birdwatching and quite popular for hiking. I drove through, stopping at trailheads and visiting museums in the small village around the Villarreal Visitor’s Center. In just a short time, I encountered deer, otters, eagles, storks, falcons, cranes, vultures, grazing cows and more.

• Olive groves and farms in the northwestern Sierra de Gata region are a delight to explore. Paths connect many of the small towns in the region, bisecting farms and olive groves. You can walk all day without seeing other hikers, but also pass through towns and stop in local cafés for a nosh.

When to go, where to stay

The time to visit Extremadura is soon. A fast train railway is being constructed that will go through Cáceres and Merida and eventually connect Madrid and Lisbon. When that happens, tourism will mushroom. While increased tourism will boost the regional economy, as this is the poorest region of Spain, it also means that visitors will be less likely to experience, alone, places like Los Barruecos, or a cloister, or a back road with a wooden bridge over a rushing stream.

There are several wonderful places to stay in Extremadura, and you can find one you love and use it as your base. On my last three nights in the region, I stayed at Hotel Aqua et Oleum, a unique small hotel down a gravel road, in a reconverted mill, surrounded by olive groves, isolated and quiet. They serve breakfast and dinner, a few tables in a lovely gathering space, an open kitchen. I chatted with the chefs. The food was deceptively simple, no fancy names, yet excellent, and the local wine was smooth.

It was a perfect night, with the only regret being that I knew I was about to leave.

STORY BY Amber Fraley PHOTOGRAPHY BY Ryan Coody

Haskell Pride, on Display Again

After four years of closed doors, the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum returns with a new director, secure funding, and an ambitious mandate for the future

While attending Haskell Indian Nations University, Travis Campbell began working in the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum and receiving a firsthand education in what it takes to keep a museum running.

Unfortunately, though, the museum Campbell held close to his heart did not keep running after his graduation in 2017. As Campbell went on to earn a master’s degree in library and information science and archival studies from Emporia State University, the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum was forced to close in 2019 from lack of funding. It remained closed for nearly four years, but Campbell and a small group of dedicated volunteers worked to secure new funding and some guarantee of stability.

“So, we won’t have to rely on grants to keep the doors open—we won’t be closing again.”

In fact, Campbell is fond of saying, “You don’t fund people with grants. You fund projects with grants.”

“That’s part of the goal— to have things be different every time someone visits here.”

– Travis campbell –

Campbell has been hard at work landing those grants and is taking full advantage of his new position to revamp the museum. One of his first projects was to have new, movable exhibition walls brought in to create more exhibition surfaces in the small space, and he’s already begun rewriting various informational text panels so they’re more concise and easier to read.

They reached their goal in May 2023 through a federal grant and with Campbell as the new director.

“It’s really phenomenal because I am the first director in the 22 years that we’ve been here that is now a permanent federal employee,” Campbell says.

Campbell also has been busy tidying, reorganizing, pulling items out of storage for display, and making the museum welcoming to visitors. Because the space is small compared to the museum’s collection, Campbell wants the museum displays to be dynamic and rotate frequently.

“That’s part of the goal—to have things be different every time someone visits here,” Campbell explains.

ABOVE Travis Campbell, director of the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum, stands outside his newly reopened facility.

OPPOSITE Renovations and new, movable exhibition walls have brought more exhibition space to the museum.

In going through the massive collection, Campbell quickly came to another realization: “We have the entire collection to go through and re-catalog, because everything needs to be updated.”

New on display

• Miss Haskell Crowns

• Handwritten Haskell registration book from 1884 to 1889

• Additional Frank Rinehart photos from the full collection

• Recently acquired handmade baskets from the 1940s and ’50s

• Haskell football memorabilia

to connect with a rare moment in American and Indigenous history.

For example, the Haskell museum is the single largest owner of the famed Frank Rinehart collection of photographs. Rinehart was commissioned by the federal government to be the official photographer of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898, though it’s likely Rinehart’s assistant, Adolf Muhr, took most of the portraits of the Indigenous leaders who attended.

“We have nearly 800 glass-plage negatives of this collection,” Campbell explains. “Previously, with the old setup, we were only ever able to have two to three out at a time. So, I’ve got 13 out now, and we’ll be rotating them throughout the year.”

The US Indian Congress was held concurrently with the exhibition and was the largest gathering of Native Americans up to that point, with more than 500 representatives of 35 different tribal nations attending. Campbell notes that the Natives who attended were under the impression they’d be able to address treaty grievances at the Congress. Instead, they were treated as living exhibits, performed ceremonial dances at the request of Whites, and participated in staged battles for White audiences.

Despite the racist treatment of the Natives at the conference, the photography from the event led to what is widely considered the most accurate photographic depictions of Native Americans clothed

ABOVE Campbell will rotate a display of artifacts and photographs related to Haskell history as he inventories and re-catalogs the collection.

ABOVE Current exhibits include artifacts from student life. This page of notes with photographs was owned by 1927 graduate Ina Mae Sousea-Ance (Laguna Pueblo). Written in March 1927, it contains remembrances and best wishes from fellow Haskell students.

in authentic regalia at that time. The black-and-white photos are artistically stunning and illustrate the wide range of clothing, jewelry, beading, hairstyles and adornment of various tribes. Each subject’s name and tribal affiliation was recorded, providing a visual record of Natives in the late 1800s.

Campbell also has a copy of one of the original books featuring the Rinehart photographs, printed the year following the exposition. It’s titled Rinehart’s Indians, and while the photos inside depict Native peoples accurately, the cover was clearly designed for a White audience.

But at the Haskell museum, the photos will be displayed with full honor and cultural context. The moveable walls on which some Rinehart photos currently hang will also be used to hang traveling and temporary exhibits.

“We have more exhibit space now than before,” Campbell says.

For art aficionados, Campbell has created a display of modern art paintings by Native artists, which he also intends to rotate regularly. There’s also a selection of handmade Native jewelry, pottery and baskets.

Campbell is still working on updating the alumni and veterans’ exhibits and putting more Haskell sports memorabilia on display.

One sport-themed exhibit is a new video case that displays a film narrating how the Haskell football team traveled to Washington D.C. and New York City in 1923 to raise money for the stadium, which stands on campus to this day.

Other sports items on display include a football helmet, but Campbell hopes to expand the sports exhibits when he realized his biggest vision—the expansion of the building itself.

“When we expand, we’ll be able to have a whole football uniform on display. Because Haskell is so well known as a football school, I thought we were remiss to not have any piece of a uniform on display,” Campbell says.

In the midst of the work on the physical exhibits, Campbell has been busy updating the website and hopes to eventually have more of the collection available to look at online. For instance, though he was able to put out a registration book that has never been on display before, he’d eventually like to have the book digitally scanned so that people can flip through it virtually since it’s too delicate to handle.

“We have tons of things I’d like to put out,” Campbell says. “You can’t even imagine.”

ABOVE The exhibition hall includes permanent and rotating artifacts and informational panels. Currently, a section on Haskell artists includes text about the career of Richard West as well as work by Carole Bonga Tomlinson, untitled (left), and Danny Miller, Miss Ute Tribe.

The Man in the Kossuth

Hat

Historian Eric Smallwood relates history through clothing

Story by Nathan Pettengill Photography by Jason Dailey

Eric Smallwood knows he isn’t the ideal guest for a watchBridgerton party.

Don’t get him wrong, Smallwood appreciates the award-winning television drama series of romance, scandal, and intrigue among the English upper class of a reimagined 1810s.

What gets Smallwood hot under his authentic-reproduction starched linen collar is the costuming.

“The costumes are not period-authentic. They range from 1790s to the 1850s and beyond,” Smallwood explains. “I know I’m nitpicking, and I annoy my girlfriend—who loves Bridgerton when we watch it, but …” he trails off, shaking his head.

After all, nobody wants to throw themselves against the Bridgerton juggernaut. And taking on the popular drama isn’t the reason Smallwood is standing before us this spring evening, dressed in period clothing and strolling down Massachusetts Street.

He’s here—walking cane, frock, Kossuth hat, and all—to represent and discuss what he does care deeply about, authentic mid- and late-1800s American men’s everyday clothing.

It’s a niche expertise, but one in which Smallwood, though only in his late 20s, has established himself as a leading expert.

“If you are talking about men’s clothing from the Bleeding Kansas period of history, then Eric Smallwood is the expert,” explains Tim Rues, a historical reenactor and the site manager for Lecompton’s Constitutional Hall State Historic Site. “Eric’s the one in our area that you want to consult.”

And Smallwood is advancing his field with research-based accuracy amid cultural and political debates, where even costuming becomes political.

In History’s Shadow

Smallwood grew up in north-central West Virginia, a short drive to several historical landmarks such as Fort Necessity National Battlefield, where a young George Washington surrendered Virginia militia and British troops to French and allied Native forces on July 3, 1754, and where a young Smallwood spent a great deal of his childhood in the early 2000s “obsessing over the French-Indian war.”

Smallwood’s interest in history continued, and at 16 he landed a summer job at Prickett’s Fort State Park in West Virginia, a public facility with trails, camping sites, a reconstructed colonial-period fort, and historical reenactors.

This wasn’t the first time Smallwood had encountered historical reenactors, but it was when he began to understand the knowledge and dedication behind the practice—which its advocates often describe as “living history”—and how the craft could be applied to everyday historical perspectives beyond the clamor of battlefield reenactments.

Michael Ray, a potter, scholar, and living historian at Prickett’s Fort, became an influential mentor for Smallwood. He taught Smallwood to better understand historical daily life through intense examinations of original, ordinary objects. Ray compared this approach to the way federal authorities learn to identify counterfeit currency—they continually study small details and almost every single aspect of authentic bills so they can readily, almost instinctively, spot slight irregularities that are the telltale signs of counterfeit bills.

“He was really big on finding material culture, such as clothing, everyday items, or photos. He would look at minute details of how things were worn, fingernail lengths, hair length, and things that people probably don’t think of, but Ray made me realize how important all those things are to creating the bigger picture,” Smallwood explains.

Ray also taught that the best living historians were ones whose skills were at the center of an imaginary Venn diagram involving three essential traits. First of all, they had the knowledge of history, and a knowledge of what they did and didn’t know about it. Next, they were able to interact well with the public, they were personable and approachable. And finally, they could present themselves as if they had stepped out of history, both in their movements and in their clothing.

Eric Smallwood’s living history clothing is a mix of original and reproduction pieces. The silk tie, a “neck stock,” in this photograph is a reproduction made with material from Sarah’s Fabrics. The hat is a reproduction Kossuth hat, a style popular in Kansas in the mid-1800s and named after Hungarian independence leader Lajos Kossuth. Smallwood crafted the hat using a daguerreotype portrait as his reference. He originally created it to portray Daniel H. Horne, a New Englander who commanded the Topeka Company during the Wakarusa War of 1855.

Smallwood tried to master all of these traits as he worked at Prickett’s Fort and then later at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Rayado Rancho, New Mexico. Along the way, he picked up historical skills such as horse driving and blacksmithing.

But most of all, Smallwood found himself increasingly drawn to the costuming and to the surprisingly underrepresented studies of men’s everyday clothing from the 1850s to the 1900s.

Frocks and Socks

“It seems strange to say that men’s clothing is understudied,” Smallwood says of the time period that is his specialty. “For a long, long time, most public historical presentations revolved around the history of white men, but that approach didn’t focus on clothing. There has been a void of scholarship and of collections of men’s garments from that period.”

Through his work and reenactment circles, Smallwood began connecting with a group of living historians and scholars who shared his interest. They noticed many historical garment collections were being sold online shortly after the pandemic hit; whether there was any connection between Covid and sales of historic clothing, it still meant that Smallwood and his associates were able to purchase historical clothing in greater amounts.

So, what does a garment scholar do with historical clothing?

Coverage for everything you care about.

For starters, Smallwood teamed up with others to create the Merchant Tailor Museum, a hybrid online and physical collection of period patterns, research articles, and authentic clothing. The nonprofit is officially based in Longmont, Colorado, and the three other staff members live in that state, but the collective is dedicated to “radical accessibility” and shares its holdings through the internet and through partnered exhibitions with organizations such as the Watkins Museum of History in Lawrence.

Working with the museum’s more than 200 authentic garments, as well as with his own reproductions, Smallwood has applied the lessons he learned as a teenager—to study clothing as intensely as the feds might study their Benjamins. He reviews every detail of a garment’s structure and composition to understand how the clothing was made and why it was made that way.

These close-up studies of garments allow Smallwood to create more authentic reproductions that assist him in educational presentations.

“With authentic clothing, you can interpret even when you are not saying anything,” Smallwood explains. “Just watching how people might unbutton something to cool off or put something on to stay warmer—that is a teaching tool just as much as a lesson with a PowerPoint.”

And Smallwood has found that wearing historically authentic clothing enables living historians to better understand the times they are representing.

“Historical interpreters are interpreters to themselves,” Smallwood notes. “It doesn’t have as big of an impact as interpreting to the public, but it is educational. Some of my favorite times have been taking solo backpack or hiking trips in period camping gear through the Colorado or Appalachian mountains and learning something about what that must have been like.”

Wearing authentic costuming can also lead to accidental discoveries. For example, Smallwood and some of his associates had created several reproduction period waistcoats and had always included a piece of silk or leather at the bottom of the waistcoat along with a strip of reinforced fabric without knowing their purpose.

“One of my friends, Aaron Klass, discovered the reason by accident,” Smallwood recalls. “He was wearing a historic waistcoat and had to pull down on it to so that it overlapped the top of the pants, and we saw him just naturally grabbing at the reinforced area—and it was placing wear and tear on the garment in the same way that we had noticed wear and tear on authentic period garments.”

Klass, who is the other curator at the Merchant Tailor Museum, also noted that explorers or soldiers in the late 1800s were often depicted walking around without socks, not necessarily because they were poorly equipped (though that could be true) but also because they weren’t stupid.

“With boots from this period, you wouldn’t want to wear socks crossing a creek because your socks would never dry and your feet would never dry,” Smallwood explains. “So, they would often wear boots without socks.”

The Trends

In 2022, Smallwood moved to Lawrence to live with his girlfriend, Bonnie Miller.

For Miller, being in Lawrence meant being near her family, work, and studies. For Smallwood, this was a chance to be in a historical community that he knew well through his research. The move also enabled Smallwood to stock up on garment material at Sarah’s Fabrics, to take a job with the Kansas State Historical Society as the administrator of the Grinter Place State Historic Site in Kansas City, and to work as a living history interpreter at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm in Olathe.

And, the move to Lawrence introduced Smallwood to the more than 170-year–old politics of Bleeding Kansas.

In the winter of 2023, Smallwood worked with several local groups to bring living historians into Lawrence for educational programs about life among free state militias who fought against pro-slavery forces in the years leading to the Civil War.

Preparing the event, Smallwood contacted a few Civil War historical reenactment groups, ones primarily with a military focus, and ones who primarily represented Confederate forces. They were willing to come—as long as they didn’t have to portray Free State troops.

This stance could be overlooked as an extreme dedication to method acting, but it becomes less innocent in the context of an increasingly polarized cultural and political environment where armed groups have marched under Confederate battle flags.

Smallwood says this aggressively partisan approach to historical reenactments has caused some educators to abandon Civil War–era living-history presentations. And he believes that at least a few living history programs focused around the antebellum era ignore addressing the stain of “the slave power”—the term used at the time to describe the extensive economic clout and deep integration of slavery into the nation’s economic and cultural fabric.

“It’s hard to talk about uncomfortable things,” Smallwood says. “And as a white guy, I can never know what chattel slavery is like, but what I can do is at least address it. When people ask questions like ‘Why did the Civil War happen?’ Well, because the slave power didn’t want to give up its economic hold on the country. That’s why it happened—that’s a one-sentence answer you can give.”

There are living historians who directly address and confront these issues before large audiences, but Smallwood notes a trend

Eric Smallwood’s Rated Guide

to Period Costume Dramas

If you favor period dramas that combine solid history with accurate costuming, then Eric Smallwood’s rating system is for you! Each drama is rated on historical accuracy (y-axis) and appropriate costuming (x-axis).

To be fair, Smallwood doesn’t carry around this rating system in his frock’s inner pocket—we pressed him to do this.

among living historians to appear in front of selected groups and specialized programs.

“I’m not sure what that means for the future of reenacting,” Smallwood says. “The hobby is shrinking quite a bit, but the events and programs that are held are higher-end and become better educational experiences because of the smaller focus.”

Smallwood also notes that living history—like most all things—goes through periods of ups and downs, often becoming more popular around major historical anniversaries. And it is possible that living history will again become more popular, expand to portraying other times, and address other difficult questions from the past.

Smallwood believes well-researched and well-presented living history can always be an educational tool. He paraphrases a national parks manual that says interpretation brings understanding, understanding brings appreciation, and appreciation brings protection.

“Every interpreter’s job is to help people understand,” Smallwood says, “because that leads to protecting our history— whether it is written history, historical sites, or anything at all.”

And in that sense, Smallwood acknowledges, even Bridgerton plays an important role.

“Bridgerton spiked interest in period clothing and the time period,” Smallwood says. “And that’s important. In fact, the only goal of interpretation is to bring about interest. I can talk to you about clothing for three hours, but that doesn’t matter unless it inspires you to read the next historical sign or come away with a curiosity or understanding. All I want people to do is to appreciate history a bit more and be open to new understandings.”

Master and Commander:

The Far Side of the World - 2003 Lincoln2003

Glory - 1989

Emma - 2020

Killers

Eric Smallwood’s Recommendations for Living History and Lectures

For historical lecture programs about the 1850–1900 time period in eastern Kansas, Smallwood recommends the Bleeding Kansas Program Series held at Constitution Hall State Historic Site in Lecompton and the Civil War on the Border series held each summer by Watkins Museum of History.

For living history programs in Kansas, Smallwood recommends Fort Larned National Historic Site. “They have done everything right,” Smallwood says. “For example, they have original buildings outfitted to scale. If you see a two-company size barrack, it is outfitted for two companies. They also really portray a wider, diverse part of Western history.”

He also recommends Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site. “I’m biased because I work there, but the director is very experienced—a historian who knows their stuff and has worked at great sites. Mahaffie has good costuming and good props.”

lecomptonkansas.com/2023bleeding-kansas-programseries

watkinsmuseum.org

nps.gov/fols/index.htm

mahaffie.org

The Magic The MagicOF CUT PAPER

Two Lawrence artists create modern takes on one of the oldest visual art forms

Story by Darin M. White

Photography by Brian Goodman

On the surface, it is a simple act—to cut paper and reveal an image through layers of negative and positive forms. But cut-paper imagery requires immense precision, planning, and imagination. Because it draws heavily on both established methods and individual creativity, cut-paper art is deeply evocative of traditional art but continually reimagined by successive generations.

Most likely, cut-paper art extends well beyond the oldest-known examples from 750 ce China. Several cultures and nations have created variations of cut-paper, known as jianzhi in China, kirigami in Japan, scherenschnitte in Germany, découpage in France, or papel picado in Spain.The ancient art and folk tradition has also attracted modern artists such as Henri Matisse, who created simple but bold shapes in cut paper; Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger, a 20th-century German pioneer of silhouette animation; and Kara Walker, a contemporary African American artist who describes her signature, large-sized cut-paper silhouettes on her website as a “candid investigation of race, gender, sexuality, and violence.”

Artwork reflects the individual attributes, characteristics, and style of its creator. And any artwork is partly a self-portrait of the artist. But cut-paper seems to reveal its artist particularly well because it requires the artist to navigate diverse traditions and cultural interpretations with only paper and blade. Like snowflakes (paper-cut snowflakes, if you will), all works come from the same material, but no two creations and no two artistic styles are the same.

In Lawrence, several artists create cut-paper works. Here is an introduction to the different styles and interpretations of two of them.

“The most wonderful part of our practice is when your family becomes part of ours.”

Kassidee Quaranta Kassidee

Lawrence artist Kassidee Quaranta’s cut paper and paint sculpture I Want to Be layers a melody from a violin, which swirls around a female figure’s head that emerges from iridescent painted violet and blue-toned waves. And this is only the first layer of details in the multi-layered image of cherry-tree limbs, leaves, honeybees, earrings, musical clefts and more.

But at the center of the sculpture is the female figure—one that Quaranta describes as her re-imagination of a Disney princess.

“Growing up in the 90s, there wasn’t really a way to avoid the looming hold Disney had over our childhoods,” she explains.

As an artist, Quaranta has taken that influence to create what she describes as ”a playfully macabre take on infamous Disney princesses.”

She began the princesses project when she realized she could merge it with a series of skeleton images she had frequently created in cut-paper form.

“I thought it would be a fun challenge to make my very own versions of the princesses,” Quaranta explains, “versions that everyone

could see themselves in once you strip away the detail of skin color, and a version that holds a somber sweetness.”

Quaranta’s interest in art began early as she grew up with a working-artist mother who made handmade props and sets for plays as well as costumes for anything Quaranta and her sister were involved in. She also tagged along frequently with her dad at his work, which involved blueprints (an introduction she credits with instilling her love for 3D art). Quaranta’s Colorado school district embraced the arts, and the students were taught a wide range of artistry, including works by the poet Maya Angelou and the concepts of memento mori and chiaroscuro (strong contrast of light and dark).

When Quaranta studied illustration and animation at the University of Kansas, she encountered cut-paper art in a class under Barry Fitzgerald.

“A spark went off in my head,” Quaranta recalls of her first encounter with the art form. “I dove deep into the world of cut paper art and sculpture, which is where I began my selfteaching journey.”

Quaranta says working as an artist involves a journey of introspection and selfexamination, which is not always easy.

“I have had my fair share of life-altering challenges, from mental health crises, major health concerns that borderline disabilities, to indescribable experiences that have shaped my person and, in return, my art,” Quaranta says. “Struggles can spawn the most beauty. Take the good with the bad; there is always some good even if it’s discovered years down the road.”

Quaranta says her current focus is split between working as communications director for the Art Love Collective, continuing her art, and raising her son as a single mom. It is a trio of responsibilities that she says can be “challenging but inspirational.”

If Quaranta was provided the opportunity to create any art project, she says she would focus on “immersive art installations … gallery experiences made of paper-based sculptures.”

“I often use the statement ‘let me create a world for you’ when promoting my art, so the dream is to create a world for people to be surrounded by and escape into whimsy,” Quaranta says.

Angie Pickman Angie Pickman

Angie Pickman, the 2024 featured artist for the annual Lawrence Arts Center Benefit Auction, is arguably the region’s most accomplished and successful cut-paper artist.

Her journey to the medium hasn’t been a straight line but rather a series of snips and folds as she continues to shape and layer her professional path.

Pickman grew up in Atchison and was inspired by her grandmother, who dabbled in oil painting, and mother, who created sketchbooks that Pickman recalls were filled with “impressive shapes and shading work.” As a young girl, she had an idea that she would one day become an artist, and though she majored business at Benedictine College, she also minored in art.

After school, Pickman moved to New York City to study at New York University. This is where she first discovered the art of paper cutting, inspired by the works of Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger and the genre of silhouette animation.

“I basically jumped right in and taught myself paper cutting and stop-motion animation,” Pickman recalls, “and from there continued to develop my own technique and style.”

Pickman set aside her career as an artist for a few years after school as she ran a Caribbean restaurant in Bed-Stuy. But she continued to experiment with cut-paper art in her free time.

“I was using my art as a way to find a connection back to the Kansas landscape that I was missing,” Pickman explains.

Returning to Kansas and choosing Lawrence as her home in 2009 allowed Pickman to reconnect to her roots and focus on becoming a full-time artist.

“Being in Lawrence allows me to constantly connect to my ultimate muse, nature, and still have access to all the amenities a city provides,” Pickman says. “It’s a win-win living and working situation.”

Pickman has talked frequently about her work as means to capture the “magical enchantment” of nature and the “childlike curiosity” that nature can reawaken in all of us.

The title of her recent exhibition at the Lawrence Arts Center, Beyond the Rushes Tall, comes from an encounter she had at Lake Quinault in Washington in 2023. There, she saw a family walking to their car, when a young girl stopped, turned from her family, approached the tall reeds at the shoreline, and begin to peer into the unknown. Her family quickly called her back to catch up with them, and she was prevented from exploring the area.

“I immediately began imagining what kind of enchantment awaited her beyond those rushes had she been allowed to explore as she had wished,” Pickman says. “The rushes not only refer to tall grasses that might prevent us from seeing what is beyond them,

but also to the distraction of a busy life, rushing from one place to the next as many of us do, keeping us from experiencing the enchantment that the natural world provides.”

In her work, Pickman uses many symbolic objects. In The Gift of Guiding Light, a 48x48-inch cut paper piece on natural stained wood grain panel, a light brown owl with dark brown patterns hovers under the branches of two trees, both festooned with autumn leaves and one with multiple keys hanging from its branches. The owl seems to offer a star-shaped lantern to a calm fox with a red pattered tail who gracefully sits on the snow amongst the grasses and various foliage. The light might be seen as guideposts or symbols of wisdom, and the keys could symbolize answers to questions or choices. The owl might be guiding the fox in the winter of the fox’s life—all of these symbols and meanings seem plausible. At the core of the image is the precisely rendered scene of creatures in a forest.

Pickman says that if she had the opportunity and means to do anything with her art, then she might return to where her interest began—with cut-paper animation.

“I love the idea of creating an image and then breathing life into it with movement. I would love to have more time to practice animation techniques and create a significant animated work that reflects my current stillwork style,” she says.

events

Four Corners of Friendship:

Sister Cities Lawrence

Ongoing–May 4

watkinsmuseum.org

Watkins Museum of History hosts an exhibition on Lawrence’s connection to its three sister cities: Eutin, Germany; Hiratsuka, Japan; and Iniades, Greece.

Lawrence Arts Center

Benefit Art Auction

March 8–April 13

lawrenceartscenter.org

The annual auction featuring work of community artists benefits the Lawrence Arts Center. Online bidding opens on March 8 as the gallery show opens, and the auction concludes with in-person bidding on April 13 at the Lawrence Arts Center.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

March 17

lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com

This year, Lawrence’s biggest, greenest charity parade benefits BabyJay’s Legacy of Hope, Lawrence Community Nursery School, Lawrence Community Bicycle Co-op, Positive Bright Start, and River City Rock Camp. Downtown parade begins at 1 p.m.

Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown

March 20

spencerart.ku.edu

Spencer Museum of Art curator Kate Meyer and intern Claire Cox examine the impact and relevance of Jacob Lawrence’s 1940s series of narrative paintings about the life of Kansas abolitionist John Brown.

Reproducing Wenches

March 21

hallcenter.ku.edu

Scholar Carissa Harris talks about history of sexuality in medieval England and Scotland as part of the Hall Center for the Humanities “Medieval and Early Modern Seminar.”

Juilliard String Quartet

March 25

lied.ku.edu

One of the nation’s leading string quartets performs at the Lied.

Mandy Patinkin

April 1

lied.ku.edu

Acclaimed actor, comedian, and former KU theater student performs at the Lied Center.

spring 2024

Free State Story Slam

April 12

lawrenceartscenter.org

Lawrence Arts Center hosts monthly gathering of themed story performances. This month’s theme: Striking Gold.

Lawrence Farmers Market

April 13

lawrencefarmersmarket.org

Summer Saturday market season opens for state’s oldest continually operating farmers market.

KU Powwow and Indigenous Culture Festival

April 13

fnsapowwow.ku.edu

Free and open performances beginning at 10:30 a.m. to celebrate First Nations cultures represented at the University of Kansas and in the Lawrence community.

Spring Ephemeral Walk

April 14

klt.org/events

Kansas Land Trust hosts a guided nature walk through Earles Easement.

An Evening with Hanif Abdurraqib

April 16

libertyhall.net

Award-winning writer, poet, and pop-culture commentator talks about his new book: There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. A free event sponsored by Lawrence Public Library, The Commons, and The Raven Book Store.

Kansas Relays

April 18–20

kuathletics.com

One of the university’s oldest sporting events marks 101 years.

events

spring 2024

Kansas Music Hall of Fame

2023 Induction Ceremony

April 20

libertyhalllive.net

Annual induction ceremony and concert from the Liberty Hall stage. At the time of writing, this year’s inductees are not announced, but several Lawrence groups are on the ballot.

Wakarusa Wetlands Celebration

April 21

lplks.org

Dr. Daniel Wildcat is joined by Lawrence authors and artists for a discussion of how the land and natural preserves such as the Haskell wetlands inspire and guide their work. The public is invited to join the gathering at the Medicine Wheel of Haskell Indian Nations University. The event is organized by Haskell Indian Nations University, the Lawrence Public Library and Raven Bookstore. Rain date May 11.

Earth Day

April 22

lawrenceks.org/earth-day

Events are still being determined for the 2024 observance. Traditionally, the city and organizations have hosted an annual parade, celebration and educational booths honoring ecology, landstewardship and the fight to address the climate crisis.

Prairie Walk

May 18

Ecologist Ken Lassman leads a free nature walk at the Prairie Park Nature Center prairie, 2730 Harper Street. Gather at 2 p.m.

Springtime Classics

May 18

lawrenceorchestra.org

The Lawrence Chamber Orchestra features works by Mozart and Schubert.

University Dance Co. Spring Concert

April 5–7

Kutheatre.com/events

Special guest KC Aerial Arts join KU dancers for the annual spring concert of ballet, contemporary, hip hop and jazz.

I Hate Hamlet

April 19–28

Lawrence Theatre presents a play about a television actor forced to balance romance, the theater, a shot at televised fame and, of course, a theater-loving ghost dressed as Hamlet.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered—

The Music of Stevie Wonder

April 26

lied.ku.edu

The KU School of Music presents a special tribute to Stevie Wonder with performances by the KU Wind Ensemble, KU Symphony Orchestra, KU Jazz Ensemble I, KU Jazz Singers, and KU Afro Cuban Ensemble.

Haskell Indian Nations University Commencement

May 3

Haskell.edu

Graduation ceremonies and community inter-tribal powwow; public welcome.

University of Kansas Commencement

May 12

ku.edu

Public graduation ceremony and walking down The Hill.

Beginner Paddle on the Kaw

May 15

kansasriver.org

The Friends of the Kaw leads a paddle trip for beginners from Eudora to DeSoto. Equipment comes with the instructions.

Art Tougeau 25th Anniversary

May 24–25 arttougeau.org

Lawrence’s annual parade of art on wheels celebrates its 25th year. Pre-parade party on May 24 with Downtown parade on May 25.

Lawrence Busker Festival

May 24–26 lawrencebuskerfest.com

One of Lawrence’s largest events with children’s workshops, the Buskerball and a weekend full of street performances.

Fiddler on the Roof

June 7–23 (various dates) theatrelawrence.com

Theatre Lawrence presents the famous Broadway musical with former theater director Mary Doveton stepping in as director of the production.

ABOVE A juggler performs at the Lawrence Busker Festival. Photograph by Fally Afani.

Drs. Newkirk, Adams, Willms and Pham