A night at the Love Garden

If you're anywhere near Lawrence, Kansas tonight, you should stop by and check out Liz Gardner's "Pocket-Sized Pieces" art opening at the Love Garden. Art, wine and whores davores (that's a funetic spelling, I don't speak French) starting at 7 p.m. Ghosty plays at 8.

I contributed to the art pieces by writing short poems for about one third of the pieces, and they will be on display as well. Though my involvement is a small one, it's been lots of fun to assist Liz with this project, and just being able to say that my haiku line the walls of the Love Garden is kind of fun in itself. Maybe more so if you didn't know that the Love Garden is a record store at 936 1/2 Mass.

If you can't come to the opening, swing by the store anytime in the next month. They'll still be up.

Also, for you music fans, Ghosty will also be playing (as a 7-piece!) Saturday night at the Record Bar with opening bands Fourth of July and hometown hip-hop hero Miles Bonny.

To read the Lawrence.com article about Liz's art show, click here. For some recent local press about Ghosty, check out this from The Pitch and this from Lawrence.com.

Hope to see you out this weekend.

Llamas

Hey Anna, this is that weird-looking llama I was telling you about.


Photos by Jenn. Girl in pink skirt is Tara. Drawing below is by Anna W. For more llama art by Anna, see here. To find out how to help unite llamas with the children who love them, hit up Llama Love.



Llove,

Llukas

Pocket-Sized Pieces + Poems

A couple of weeks ago, mixed-media artist and good friend Liz Gardner debuted the first eight months of her Pocket-Sized Pieces series at the Hobbs Building open studios event. Basically, Liz is creating a small piece of artwork (roughly 3x3 inches, give or take) for every single day of this year, using thread, watercolors, ink, clear plastic, scraps of magazines and a variety of other materials.

While scanning in her pieces over the summer, I began writing accompanying poems in haiku form (technically, many of them should be called senryū) inspired directly or indirectly by each of her pocket-sized pieces, or PSPs. The poems are not intended to tie the PSPs to any specific interpretation, but rather to present some of the countless ways in which each piece can be considered.

The following is a sampling of PSPs from February, March and April and their accompanying poems. The goal is to put some kind of book or calendar together once they are all complete, in addition to an exhibit. If you like what you see here, be sure to check Liz's Web site to see some more examples of her art and keep up on upcoming events. Enjoy!

(Click on each piece to enlarge)

4/4

the rarest of birds
emerges through a red shroud
silently cooing

4/30

a golden collar
for the kitten with green eyes
and nine hundred lives

4/28

drink carafes of wine
find peace at the piazza
lazy Firenze

4/26

the heart of a dog
is easier to read than
the heart of a man

4/25

angry lover leaves
his laundry basket behind
on Liberty street

4/10

home appliances
forging dark alliances
in my new kitchen

4/12

social networking
interconnected lines show
just how I know you

4/1

vaginal machines
drones bearing pheromones in
service of the queen

3/9

glaciers on the go
projected trajectories
away from the poles

3/8

am Kurfürstendamm
returning from KDW
Kaufhaus des Westens

3/7

composition marked
by a lack of violins
but she still hears them

3/28

attention shoppers:
The Great Shopping Cart Face-Off
is about to start

3/26

escaped from the farm
a sentimental rooster
remembers childhood

3/22

following the flag
undaunted until you fall
off a precipice

3/19

rainbow rivulets
racing to the finish line
to snap the ribbon

3/18

ladies of the night
make a different kind of call
by the light of day

3/15

Earth's out of orbit
all the people in China
jumped at the same time

3/12

spin straw into gold
tell your secrets to no one
but the campfire

3/10

Cinderella team
searches for the right fit for
the silver sneaker

2/26

fair for the veggies
celebration of being
fare for the veggies

2/19

a square of lace torn
from the scrapbook of your past
life as a cherub

2/4

dismembered mallard
Nintendo's not innocent
for Duck Hunt victims

2/13

bloody sea serpent
what did you eat for breakfast?
anyone I knew?

2/15

your heart-shaped glasses
tinted windows to the soul
of a hot summer

2/20

seashells behind glass
tiny turrets, sea torches
on the diamond shores

2/2

swallow a snow globe
then get an X-Ray taken
it will look like this

2/28

mating rituals
between super guys and girls
involve lightning bolts

2/22

echolocations
leading to baroque caverns
black and red flowers

more information, videos and PSPs from January at www.lizgardner.com

Site-seeing

It's cold in Kansas City, and I'm washing down the temperature change with a nice bottle of economically priced port wine. It tastes a bit like cough syrup, but it goes down slowly and smoothly, so I can't complain.

As mentioned earlier, I'm sitting out from blogging activities for a few days, but that doesn't mean I can't recommend a few sites to visit for those with a few minutes and an eye for the original.

First of all, as far as comic blogs go, you can't do much better than Richard's Poor Almanac, maintained by Washington Post cartoonist Richard Thompson. Richard's daily comic, Cul de Sac, is one of the best reads in the paper today. You can read todays' Cul de Sac here, and find some additional comics and musings on his new blog, www.richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com. I got to join Richard and some of my co-workers for dinner last month, and he was kind enough to leave me what was left of his kung-pao chicken, which I devoured several hours later at 3:30 a.m.

Another worthwhile site featuring an entirely different set of sketches is "Pope-by-Pope," a daily sketch experiment carried out by Web designer/old roommate of mine, Matt Kirkland, in which he actually sketched every one of the past 265 Popes. Since the Popes date back to the time of St. Peter, Matt had to base his sketches on a variety of sources, including stained glass portraits and even mosaics. When we lived together, Matt was always building shelving units made out of giant plastic water jugs and scooters made of scrap metal, so it doesn't surprise me that he's taking on unusual subjects in his art. He also has a schnazzy site at www.mattkirkland.com, and does some freelance Web and industrial design. Matt is currently sketching all the U.S. presidents.


I've linked to a few artists lately, and I thought I'd close out my post today with a link to LittlePaperAirplanes.com, an online store and gallery featuring the prints, shirts, postcards and booklets from a variety of incredibly talented young artists. Little Paper Airplanes is based in Los Angeles and run by Silver Lake artist Kelly Lynn Jones, who I met at this year's comic con. Little Paper Airplanes is lots of fun.

Two Can Win

Tonight is a big night for The Fairer Sex. After months of recording and mixing at both Sweat Lodge and Black Lodge studios, the Lawrence group will be playing a CD release show at the Eighth Street Taproom. Their new album, "Two Can Win," is out now on the Ionik Recordings Label and features some great tunes, mostly written by frontman Zack Hart, and a few written by brother Deez. You can hear a couple FS tracks on the Ionik Records Web site and a couple more at lawrence.com. I'd also like to take the liberty of leaking my personal favorite track by Zack, "Tattoo." If you listen closely to the last 30 seconds or so, you can hear Andrew Connor make an appearance on guitar and me strum a bit of background banjo.

My other songwriting sibling, Laura Wetzel, is doing well with her debut album, which is available on iTunes. If you'd like to get some great songs and help pay for a kid's college in the process, check it out. To hear a few tunes and read a bit more about her album, you can read this from a few weeks ago.

My other new favorite songwriter is Suzannah Johannes, who debuted by winning last year's KJHK-sponsored Farmer's Ball. One night last month I was driving up to Lawrence to see her show, and as usual I was listening to a compilation of various garage and folk recordings from the sixties. I started to feel a bit guilty that so much of what I listen to is from decades past, and that I haven't been able to get as excited about the music that's going on around me.

Suzannah's show -- an opening slot for Holly Golightly at the Jackpot Saloon -- made me forget that concern completely. She started out playing a few solo songs and was eventually joined by Ghosty's David and Josh on keyboards and drums. The crowd was almost as shy as she was at first, but as the set went on she seemed to gain confidence. I was deeply impressed by her songs, and I think everyone around me was, too. You can hear a few of them here, and more excitingly, you can see her play in Lawrence this Friday, also at the Taproom.

On a completely different note, I'd like to offer a sneak preview of the chaos and cacophony that the Galesburg, Illinois art/noise duo ReeYees plans to bring to the Midwest. They don't have any proper recordings at the moment (thanks to some equipment-plundering hobo who broke into their house) but a few tracks and one short video offer flashes of what could very well turn out to be the most enjoyably obnoxious and delightfully dissonant duo outside of Fort Thunder (RIP). Here's the video, but I warn you -- and I mean it -- this is not for sensitive eardrums.

Birdos last call


This next video I'd like to link to could not be more different than the last. It features the brilliant and refined Elliot P. playing a Bach prelude on classical guitar. I think it was recorded at his senior recital at KU, but it also might be footage from last year's Bacharusa. Either way, it's great and he's got a few enchanting electric tunes you can listen to here.

Bach: Cello Suite No 3 Prelude


Thanks for tuning in, and more from me at the end of the week.

Brothers in Radio

Last Thursday I revisited the KJHK shack for the first time since my last radio show in July 2004.

It was great to be at the old shack, which is -- somewhat miraculously -- still standing. I mostly hung out outside, sitting on that blue plastic chair that always has some rainwater on the seat and listening to the broadcast on the small outdoor speaker.

DJ Tom K was also kind enough to let me contribute a few tunes to his show, a hodgepodge of psych, folk, krautrock and other good stuff, like this tune from D.R. Hooker. I snuck in a few songs like this one by Wimple Winch called "Lollipop Minds." Pretty vacuous stuff lyrically, but with a delightfully playful melody.

Tom's excellent program, "Fractal Ephemera," runs Thursday evenings at 8 on KJHK. Tom is also a fearsome Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly player, and his intense will to win has earned him the nickname "Monopolean" in local board-gaming circles.

It was fun to sneak back on the airwaves, and it made me think of all my good friends from KJ who have ventured on to various DJ projects across the globe...

Sam Hopkins aka DJ Balagan

Sam went on from being the World Music Director at KJHK to spinning records in locations from Baltimore to Brooklyn to the clubs of Tel-Aviv. He's got a new international mix called "Funny Accent" that I got to preview when he was in town. It's an hourlong mix full of great beats, unfamiliar instruments and voice samples of languages I can't begin to discern. One description of the Balagan sound, from the Baltimore CityPaper:

"Balagan creates mixes and tracks from samples and first-hand elements, borrowing styles into a musical pastiche that makes the foot tap while the brow furrows. International elements figure prominently, as the diverse melodies of field recordings mingle with modern beats to represent the United Nations of soul."

To hear some of Sam's beats, find the link to recent mixes and read some of his music writing, you can start at his myspace page and go from there. You can read about some of his travels and global investment advice at www.orbusinvestor.com.

Andrew Giessel

This is my friend Andrew Giessel. Most people just call him "Giessel." Recently Giessel got a tattoo of a sprouting wheat plant on his arm. His interests include fixed-gear bicycles and anything related to dendrites. He's a smart kid. Harvard smart. Giessel had a long-running show on KJ and these days he can be found DJing occasional sets at the Enormous Room in Cambridge. To stream some of his recent playlists, visit Giessel.com. Giessel, by the way, is also the person who set up this blog for me a few years ago.

Robert Wells

Robert Wells is one of my original Brothers in Radio. I used to stay up all the way to midnight (I know...can you believe it?) to listen to his show, the arrival of which could be signaled by the acapella melodies of Beach Boys' "Our Prayer." These days Robert does double duty in Ann Arbor and Detroit, spinning rare soul 45s under the "Ann Arbor Soul Club" banner.

News of Rob's Ann Arbor activities and a few sample cuts can be found here, or heard on the radio Wednesdays 11pm-1am on 88.3 wcbn fm Ann Arbor. If you don't live in the area, you can stream the show at www.wcbn.org.

(Oh, and Rob...you've still got to hook me up with one of those mix CDs. Pretty please.)

Jay Wells

Robert's brother and my radio show co-host back in the day, Jay is responsible for events such as The Parlance and Your Parents Got Breakbeats. More recently I've heard rumors of something called "Maximum Tight."

After a stint in Brooklyn and a couple of gigs back in his hometowns, Jay is currently spinning records in Chicago. Jay's introduced me to more great bands than just about anyone, and his infectious enthusiasm for Larry Coryell eventually drove me to travel all the way to Amsterdam to see the guitarist play.

Jay is pictured here on the right. On the left is DJ Cyrus, another KJ alum who finished out his career at the station by doing a 5-day straight broadcast -- eating in the studio, taking cat naps during long saxophone solos, doing whatever it took to complete the longest consecutive broadcast by any one DJ in that station's history. (I'm pretty sure)

Miles Bonny

An old friend of mine and one of the most prolific and likeable beat producers Kansas City has ever known. One half of hip-hop duo SoundsGood, Miles can be found DJing clubs around town, spinning R&B alternating Fridays at Spitfire and alternating Saturdays at his "FeelSexy" event at Bobby's Hangout.

His album "Smell Smoke" is available on iTunes now, and a new release called "Closer Love" will be out soon. You can hear some of Miles' music here and keep up on his many involvements in and updates about soul, r&b and hip-hop events/releases in KC. Or as he calls it, Cans Ass City.

SUPERWOLF

Not a personal friend of mine, though the records he plays are the kinds you fall in love with upon first listen. The Pitch did a good write-up of him here. He spins every Friday night at Chez's, which believe it or not used to be a pretty quiet place on weekends. It's more crowded and smokier now, but the sweet sounds are worth it.

I'll be adding links to these guys' (and a bunch of other peoples') music sites on the sidebar soon, so keep them in mind when you need some new beats in your life. Also, if you or someone you know got left off this list in error, drop me a line. Thanx.

Photo credits
Sam: modularmoods.com
Giessel: ghostdad
Rob: Pattay
Jay: Jennifer Brothers
Miles: also by Jenn
Superwolf: Anna-Marie Perry

Friends who can write

Recently I've been made aware of the fact that there are other outlets for writing on the Internet besides personal blogs. These sites are called "Online publications," or sometimes, "Online magazines." A couple of particularly fine online rags called "McSweeneys" and "FailBetter" currently feature stories by a couple friends of mine, Jeremiah Tucker and Stevie Davis, respectively.

Jeremiah's story is something making fun of Thomas Kinkade. I don't understand exactly what's going on in the piece, which makes it perfectly at home for McSweeney's. Jeremiah also has a blog full of entertaining musical selections and writings, including this, his most heartbreaking post of the past year.

Stevie's story can be found at failbetter.com, just below the one about vibrators. According to the author bio provided by failbetter, Stevie is a firefighter from Topeka. I never knew.

So check these guys out, along with the sites that published them.

P.S. How about you? Anything you'd like to share with the humble but growing readership of lucubrations.net? I'd be happy to send the spotlight your way, even if it only has as much wattage as a keychain light.

COORDINATES

After nearly a year of compiling and designing the place-themed magazine, Coordinates, limited amounts of the magazine are now available in stores such as City Lights in San Francisco, Quimby's in Chicago as well as a few places in LA, Virginia, Portland, etc.

About 30 people from everywhere from Ohio to Mongolia contributed photos, stories, poems and artwork, and Editor Jon Allen and friends did an excellent job of putting it all together. I've got a piece in the mag celebrating some of my own favorite spots, including Clinton Lake, the Vondelpark and abandoned missile silos of Kansas.

If you aren't in a position to snag one of the few remaining copies, you can download a PDF of Coordinates here. The regular PDF will bring it up in linear form, with the collated one available for anyone who wants to print it out and bind it. Jon says the next issue, which will be printed next summer, will have a theme of music/sound. If you're interested in contributing to future publications, just let me know and I'll give you more info.

Enjoy!

ABOUT THE COVER
The cover of "Coordinates" was cut from a 10' x 10' original mono print depicting synapses in the human brain by Janie Hammerschmidt (Lawrence, KS). There were 108 covers culled from the composition, each one being entirely unique. If all the covers were brought back to a single location, they could reform the original images depicted above. Once the covers were cut, Janie then letter pressed the title to each one using 48 pt. Bernhard Gothic, Light font.

Public Service Announcement

I always enjoy posting writing by my friends, but what I want to share today is unfortunately much more serious than what you'll usually read here. Over a year ago, my friend Michael was responsible for a drunk-driving accident on State Line that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist. Mike and I grew up together, and I wouldn't have expected this to happen to him any more than I would expect it to happen to me. It was terrible seeing him on the news last year and to think about what he and his family must be going through. But Mike's dealt with it admirably, and this letter he wrote has been circulating recently. It's a message you've probably heard before, but for me, hearing Mike tell it hits especially close to home. Read it here.

the man behind the camera

Is turning 26. I'm not sure when exactly it happens/happened, but if you see this guy at the record store, library or on the beach, tell him 'happy birthday.'

Covered Wagons: we'll drive them some day

Andy's convinced the world is going to end, but he doesn't remember telling me this.

It was the spring of 2004 when we had the fateful conversation. We were at Josh's house, eating ice cream -- I have no idea now what flavor or brand. Andy was back in town from his private liberal arts college in the pacific northwest, and the three of us had been enjoying a pleasant evening of companionship, frozen treats and conversation.

Just before we parted ways, however, Andy steered the conversation to more somber matters, specifically the predictions of a particular prophet/bestselling author who had it figured out to the hour when doomsday would occur. Because we'd made it so far without any real awkwardness, and because my departure was pending anyway, I went along with the conversation, saying nothing in favor or against these views. Josh, however, nodded along and chimed in with a bemused "yeah," and "really?" every so often, which only encouraged Andy's espousal of these apocalyptic views.

Finally I excused myself, bidding a warm farewell to my two friends. I held my laughter in check long enough to drive around the block, but by that point I had been keeping a straight face too long to want to even crack a smile.

Later, I mentioned the conversation to a couple of other folks, who said they'd heard of the doomsayer but couldn't think of his name. I wasn't terribly interested in researching the matter further, but at least I knew Andy wasn't the only proselyte.

I didn't see Andy for another two years, at the Ad Astra per Aspera CD release party at the Record Bar. He was in town until he could save up some more money to return to his college in the pacific northwest, and in the meantime his arm was in a sling as the result of some kind of snowboarding mishap.

When I asked what he had been up to, he said his chief interest of the last several weeks had been researching the exact history and location of the Oregon Trail. His uncle had come into some land outside of Lawrence, which Andy suspected had lain directly on the course of the Oregon Trail.

In order to research this, he'd gone to the Spencer Research Library in Lawrence and dug up some old trail maps of the area. Using these "ancient scrolls," as he called them, Andy had determined that his family's land did indeed lie where the Oregon Trail used to be.

Upon hearing the words "Oregon Trail," I immediately hearkened back to my own history on the Oregon Trail, all of which took place on the Apple IIE computers in my grade school's rudimentary computer lab.





I told Andy about my long-held wish to write a Bildungsroman about my time on the trail, which would consist of a series of flashbacks to the times when I'd needlessly killed hundres of pounds of buffalo, died of dysentery a dozen times over and always forded the river even when I couldn't afford to.

Where most people my age would chime right in with their own stories of Oregon Trail computer game mischief, Andy remained silent, patiently waiting for me to finish so he could continue talking about his research. It was then that I realized that he was serious, that his interest in the Oregon Trial was more than some ironic diversion and reflected a true historical interest in our proud state of Kansas.

It turns out Andy had even been talking to the employees of the nearby Ritz Camera store about the history of the covered wagon statue just a stone's throw from where we were standing at that very moment. Anyone who's driven by the Westport Road/Southwest Trafficway intersection has surely seen this monument to pioneer days, an authentic covered wagon mounted in gravel in the corner of the parking lot. At Christmas time, it's decorated and lighted up to look like an Old West version of Santa's sleigh.

I don't know what exactly the people in the camera store had said to Andy about the wagon, just that it was a sturdy piece of equipment that wasn't likely to go anywhere soon.

"Shucks, Andy," I said to him. "Some pre-apocalyptic weekend, you and me are gonna take that sucker for a spin. We can roll all the way down Westport Road and then swing up to Loose Park to fire the cannons one final time."

"Pre-apocalyptic," Andy repeated, a smile spreading across his face. "I like that."

the microphonemask noise rock experimental

As many of you know, there is more than one young wetzel in my family, and all of them play one instrument or another. The newest instrumental addition to the family repertoire is the "Microphone Mask," something my brother James and his friend Eric invented for their new noise experiment. From what I understand, the mask is a t-shirt affixed with a rotary phone speaker/microphone that can be draped over the head, thereby freeing the arms for drumming. Eye-holes and feathers give the masks a decorative flair. A classmate at their college in Galesburg, Illinois apparently found it interesting enough to turn into an art project of her own, enlarging a solarized photo of the drum duo, printing it out on several hundred sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper and taping it to the wall near the admissions office. When I had my mom forward this photo to me, she said she hesitated to even title it a photo of James, because they looked too much like guerilla fighters. I told her that experimental noise rock outfits weren't necessarily formed with moms in mind. But I'm sure even my folks would like to wish James and Eric the best of luck with their first gig this weekend. It looks to me like it could be a lot of fun.

Kinser feature from the UDK, 1/23/03

At Ryan and Kelly's wedding this summer, several of you recalled this article I wrote for the University Daily Kansan about Ryan's unusual feat of drinking an entire 44oz cup of Vanilla Flavor Shot. I didn't have a copy, so this had to be tracked down from the Resource Center at KU's William Allen White School of Journalism, of which I am a proud graduate. I think that many of you will enjoy seeing this article again, for two important reasons:

1) It really happened
2) It's Ryan Kinser

And please don't strain your eyes trying to read it above. Get the large version. Thanks to Mark at the J-School for digging this up, Jenn for photocopying it, our friends for reminding me about it, and Ryan for being Ryan.

frauen, die schreiben...

My friend Ayla maintains a lovely and frequently updated Web log about life in Hamburg and wherever else she travels. The other day, it was on the top 20 list of Wordpress's best blogs of the day. I'm not sure what that means, but it's certainly well-deserved. As a tribute, I'd like to hit you all with this verse encouragement to check out her site, .11freundeundich.

A light in Ayla's Attic, September 2006

What does Ayla keep in her attic?
What thoughts will achieve such loftiness?
What memos will she send forth
from her personal blog-acropolis?

A poem, a slideshow, an artfully cropped photo
Points of interest on an idea's journey
from germ to sublimation
word-experimentations
undertaken by this fate-bound band of first-generation bloggers

The German tagline translates to:
"women who write are dangerous"
But I don't feel threatened
Only inspired to keep describing
the whos whats hows and whens
without stopping too long to question why

Operation Popple People

Liz Gardner's living space has been taken over by giant popples. A colorful ensemble of the muppet-esque creatures crowds her Kansas City apartment, and the mixed-media artist has even taken to signing off her phone messages as "Liz Popple."

If popples pervade Liz's life, it is hardly an accident. The custom-made creatures -—ranging from a pod-shaped infant to a round, furry figure the size of a small parade float —- are the artist's variation on the children's toys from the 1980s. Liz's Popples go on parade on June 3 as part of her Olive Gallery Show entitled "Operation Popple People," which will also include her recent mixed-media works.

Since she received her first popple at the age of 5, Liz has designed popples that correspond to specific stages in her life. A popple representing grade school is inlaid with one of her early writing assignments and a screen-printed pattern of children holding hands, while a middle school popple's arms are folded self-consciously across its chest. A high school popple, decorated with a bra and jewelry, suggests a budding femininity, and a college-era popple boasts a colorful hodgepodge of textiles, language, maps and images from science books.

The popples reflect the artist's advances in craftsmanship as well as age. The most recent creation, constructed by sewing eight different panels of fabric together to form a giant white ball with a Snoopy-shaped head and a blue felt lining, appears minimalist compared to her earlier creations, but is actually more sophisticated in design.

"It's me now," Liz says of her newest creation. "I'm learning you don't have to be as busy with imagery and color. Before it was more happy accidents, but now it's more planned."

Like much of her artwork, Liz's popple project deals with comfort issues, self-exploration and the aging process. "I like that there's an inside and an outside level to them," she says. "You're able to see the isolation of the self as well as the environment it's shaped by."

The upcoming show will not be her first at the Olive, nor her first series of artwork to draw on biographical elements. A 2003 exhibit of Liz’s work, "Tweaking the Right Brain," grew from a fascination with the brain she developed as a child after doctors ran tests to make sure she was free of brain disorders. The artwork -- an example of which includes a drawing of a diver poised to dive into a swirling sea of thread pasted on a painted canvas -- examines the relationships between randomnesss and logic and the way the two manage to balance each other out.

The material Liz uses in her art often serves as a muse in itself. A new series of quilt-resembling pieces stitches together fabrics, magazine photos and other materials with colorful, zig-zagging thread. She has also completed collages with sheet music (she is a classically-trained violinist), sculptures using only hair and wire, and designs based on anatomical slides and microchips.

A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Liz graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles in 2003. In 2002, she was awarded the Dorris Fair Carey Scholarship for excellence in textile design. Her work has been featured in solo gallery shows in Lawrence and Kansas City, and has been included in group shows as far away as Florence, Italy, where she studied painting in 2004. Her work has also been commissioned for paintings and used for set design in musical performance.

In 2005, she founded Liz Gardner Designs to market her line of pillows, linens and custom home furnishings. Though she classifies her designs as either non-functional (artistic) or functional (home decoration), all of her work employs the spontaneity, diverse materials and fine craftsmanship used to create her fine art.

To see examples of her pillows, popples and other fine art, check out www.lizgardner.com.

Photos taken by Tara Sloan