Review

Mel Chin will be in Lawrence, Kansas, January 22 and 23 and in Wichita, Kansas, January 25. Click to learn more about the "Fundred Dollar Bill" project — or better, come to hear about it in person. "Chin’s art, which is both analytical and poetic, evades easy classification. He is known for a broad range of approaches in his art, including works that require multi-disciplinary, collaborative teamwork and works that conjoin cross-cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. He developed "Revival Field" (1989-present), a project that has been a pioneer in the field of "green remediation," using plants to remove toxic, heavy metals from the soil. Chin also investigates how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility and is well known for inserting art into unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills, and even popular television. These projects are consistent with a conceptual philosophy that emphasizes the practice of art to include sculpting and bridging natural and social ecologies." Image and quoted text: courtesy of the artist and Lawrence Art Center

"The New Show" at Signs of Life Gallery in Lawrence, Kansas, welcomes the following artists and their work with a reception January 22 from 7 to 9 p.m.: Janet Bailey, Margaret Buie, Ann Kuckelman Cobb, Missy Hamilton, John and Elli Milan, Doug Osa, Ruthie Osa, Jean Terry, Stephen Johnson, Michael Walsh, and Darin White. This image is a sculpture by Darin White, a native of Lawrence and a leader in b.a.l.m.(the beauty, art & life movement local artists' group). Image: courtesy of the gallery

Also at Signs of Life, work by Ann Kuckelman Cobb, "a long-time Lawrence artist, who, as an anthropologist, often finds inspiration in the stones, plants and creatures that make their home next to hers on the Kansas prairie." Image and quoted text: courtesy of the gallery

A major retrospective exhibition of Gordon Parks's work is opening January 23 at the Ulrich Museum of Art in Wichita, Kansas with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Image: Gordon Parks, "American Gothic," gelatin silver print, 20" x 16," 1942. Collection of the Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Museum Purchase.