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Congregational art show opens in Dittmann

By Christine Kinney '08
July 11, 2006

Congregational art from Christ the King Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Minn., will be featured in St. Olaf College's Flaten Art Museum in the Dittmann Center. The opening reception, which is free to the public, is Tuesday, July 18, at 4 p.m. The show runs July 18 to 21 as part of the St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts (CWTA). Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The show features pieces from the Bartimaeus Project, a visual arts ministry at the church. "Zulu Calendar," by the late Barbara Dorsey, a former member of Christ the King, also will be included in the show.

Christ the King congregation member Laurie Richardson Johnson '78 is one of the founders of the congregational art program and coordinated the exhibit. Johnson, a faculty member for the CWTA, also will teach an in-depth seminar titled "Drawing From the Earth," during the conference. She says the seminar focuses on "drawing from the earth and into the earth with humility, abandonment and gratitude, remembering always that from the earth we were made, and to the earth we will return."

A graduate of St. Olaf, Johnson teaches art in community and church settings and works out of her Blue River Studio in Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota. She exhibits her work locally.

Several of the congregation artists will be in attendance at the reception, including St. Olaf Professor Emeritus Sculptor Mac Gimse '58 and Professor of Art/Art History Wendell Arneson, who recently displayed their works in Christ the King. Handouts describing the process of arranging the art program and displaying the exhibits will be provided.

For more information about the exhibit or the conference contact Linda Hagan Kvanbeck at 507-646-8254 or kvanbeck@stolaf.edu, or visit stolaf.edu/events/cwta for full conference details.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.