Dave Loewenstein

 

Hello, welcome back to my blog. You've read my blog entry about my visit to Van Go for some new mural ideas including "Camelopard Joey Mania". So today we’re gonna talk about an artist who also lives in Lawrence Kansas, and is famous for his work in murals and public art. His name is Dave Loewenstein. And if you haven't heard of his art months ago, don't worry. I've put together a special blog entry about it so that I can finally get to know him.

For those of you who didn't know just yet, Dave Loewenstein is a muralist, printmaker and community organizer based in Lawrence, Kansas. In addition to his more than twenty public works in Kansas, examples of his dynamic and richly colored community-based murals can be found across the United States, and in Northern Ireland, South Korea and Brazil. Loewenstein’s prints, which focus on social justice issues, are exhibited internationally and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Yale University,  and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. He is the co-author of Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guide, a 2007 Kansas Notable Book Award Winner, and is the subject of “Called to Walls,” a feature length documentary that premiered in 2016. He is famous for his murals such as Seeds, Pollinators, Tiempo De La Tierra, The East Lawrence Waltz, Synchronicity, Called to Walls, and many others.

At the same time in 1997, he moved into the studio after his last day of his job at Wheatfields Bakery and began working as a full-time artist. In case you’ll remember, his studio is located here at 411 E. 9th Street. But there’s a lot more to it that you should know about.  Dave also did some other public projects too. Things like the Sacred Red Rock Project which was led by members of the Kaw Nation in collaboration with the City of Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Kanza Heritage Society and others.

See, here’s a picture of it.

Pretty neat, don’t you think.

Another project that I haven’t seen before in my life is The Wheel of Willing Diversion.

Located here at the Spencer Museum of Art in KU, this wheel can cast your fortunes to the fates. With this in mind, he and his friend Eric Farnsworth made this wheel for the outdoor entryway in 2009. If I spin that wheel, it would land on this sing that says ‘Plant a New Idea’. And that would be really cool if I could hatch a new idea to come up with for the town of Lawrence. I’ll bet my family would be really pleased to hear about this sometime in the future. It can also be located awaiting the curiosity as part of KT Walsh’s front yard art tableau on Rhode Island Street.

This next project I wanna talk to you about is one that’s titled “If These Walls Could Talk”. Based on the extensive research of the award winning book.

For more than thirty years as a professional muralist, he explored the artists, meaning, and impetus for creation behind the state’s rich collection of public murals. From the iconic John Steuart Curry murals in the state capitol to the frescoes of Jean Charlot in Atchison, post office murals from the New Deal era and the many community murals done by townspeople across the state, this talk digs deep into how our murals reflect an image of who we are as Kansans.

If you haven’t read this book on ‘Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guide’, then it’s time you should.

Now, the reason I haven’t met Dave Loewenstein yet is because I’ve been busy with my acrylic artwork on canvas. So when I get the chance to move back to Lawrence Kansas in the future, I might even get to meet him in his own studio for the very first time. And maybe he can even come over here to Van Go while I meet him there for a very special art project in downtown Lawrence. It’ll be very fun for me to do, that way I can do more creativity there too just like when I do paintings.

My favorite works from him are a couple that I like.

Seeds

Return of the Pollinators

A Thousand Miles Away

Tiempo de la Tierra

Celebration of Cultures

Those are my top five favorites. You wanna know why? Because they always bring us these three things. Peace, love, and happiness. Just like in the 1960s.

Whenever I look at his artwork around town, it makes me wonder something that reminds me of anything that I can think of. Like sunshine, sunflowers, herons, the wetlands, the sky, places I dream about, colorful abstraction, rainbows, the clouds, the city, and the beautiful view. It makes me feels happy to see all the beautiful things in a mural in downtown Lawrence. It also reminds of when Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow like in The Wizard of Oz. But what I am gonna do is give a shout out to Dave Loewenstein for his incredible mural artwork. Here’s to you, Mr. Loewenstein! This one for you.

Now if I’m gonna meet up with Dave Loewenstein for the first time after I move back to Lawrence, I’ll have to plan an appointment with him at his studio whenever I get a chance to contact him. Then, I can chat with him about a couple of art ideas for the next project to think of, one that’s local-friendly and Lawrence related with anything of any kind. I can’t wait to see what I can think of next.

If I could think of a brand new project to combine with Dave Loewenstein’s work, it would be about sunshine and happiness. It would also feature one of the characters that I created of my own, like Camelopard Joey. I’ll bet he would really like it for sure. Another cool art idea for this next mural would be a happy Jayhawk flying around town and relaxing on top of a tree in KU. Pretty cool, huh!

Tell you what I’ll do in the future when the time comes. I’ll come up with some art samples of new ideas for the next project, then I’ll show them to you on The Lawrence Kansas Club on Facebook. Cause that’s where you’ll find me anywhere on social media. So there you have it. My blog on Dave Loewenstein and his brilliant mural artwork of Lawrence Kansas. If you like this blog entry, let me know what your next suggestions will be. Plus, let me know on the comments below. We would really like to hear from you all about it. Cause you know what they say, a great nation deserves great art. Well anyway, that’s all for this blog for now. Check back later for more stories on the next monthly blog. Peace, love, and happiness to you all. And don’t forget to make great art like I do. Have a super great day!