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Orval Hixon used this large format sliding carriage studio camera from the 1920s through the later years of his career in Lawrence, Kansas during the 1960s and 1970s. This camera produced 8 x 10 inch negatives, and Hixon used it to photograph local clientele for weddings, graduations, and other important occasions. It features a Packard-Ideal shutter and bellows which allow the lens to be moved with respect to the focal plane for focusing.
Leaders in Kansas City business have been involved in their city's larger civic life since the first settlers came here in the 1820s. The first formal organization, though, dates from 1856 when a small group of local businessmen established the first commercial organization of Kansas City for the purposes of general public improvement.
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Stained glass refers to the material of colored glass as well as to the works that are created from it. Historically, stained glass was used to adorn the windows of churches and other religious buildings.
What at first appears to be an abstract art installation in the Library’s technology and digital engagement hub is in fact, something deeply conceptual and highly interactive. White Matter Fibers: Inside the Brain is situated in ONE NORTH, the Central Library branch technology center. At first observation, the viewer looks at what might appear to be a colorful opaque mural when it is in fact cerebral and highly interactive. The work spans two glass walls comprised of 8 glass panels and measures 28.75' long.
This large textile work exhibits a blossoming geometric pattern executed with vibrant woven yarn. Large fields of hot pink alternates with yellow and green borders that surround the repeated geometric design. The design and illumination of color work together to create an effect similar to a stained-glass window. Up close, thin black lines that separate colors within the pattern imitate the sautered lines of stained glass designs. The anticipated smoothness of the piece is pleasantly offset by the texture of the yarn itself, woven in and out of a clear plastic grid beneath.
The Yamaha piano is legendary for being the most recorded piano in recording history. Attributed to an acclaimed keyboard action, this piano responds to the pianist’s touch with power, clarity, and a singing tone that has won the hearts of artists the world over. This particular piano has white keys made of Ivorite™, an ethical ivory replacement that mimics the feel, color, and absorbency very similar to elephant ivory and other ivory-yielding species.