A Community Collection · Selected Acquisitions

In celebration of Johnson County Community College’s permanent art collection, the JCCC Gallery of Art will present A Community Collection featuring works by prominent regional, national and international artists working in clay, photography, painting, sculpture and works on paper.  

Included in A Community Collection are many recent acquisitions not yet exhibited on campus. Photographer Lynn Davis’ White Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey was acquired in July 1996, and depicts the dunes and sparse vegetation of the Turkish region. The Gallery of Art presented an exhibition of Davis’ icebergs and Egyptian monuments in 1994. Other photographers with works included in the show are Robert Adams, Zeke Berman, Gregory Crewdson, Deanna Dikeman, Adam Fuss, Emmet Gowin, Abelardo Morrell, Nicholas Nixon, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ruth Thorne-Thomsen and Jeffrey Wolin.

The JCCC permanent collection possesses works by many diverse area artists. Re (evolver) is a mixed media painting by Nate Fors featuring print collage and an antique sewing machine wheel. Gehry Kohler’s Octo, previously sited in the College’s CLB building, is a wall mounted sculpture with copper and plastic tubing “tentacles” that reach toward the viewer. Two women enjoy post-dinner conversation behind the back of a fellow diner in Deanna Dikeman’s humorous black and white photograph After Dinner, part of her exploration of aging and suburbia.

Nationally known artists include Christopher Brown and Kerry James Marshall, and ceramicist Viola Frey. “For many students, the works they encounter on college campuses are their first exposure to the richness and diversity of artistic expression,” said Bruce Hartman, director of the Gallery of Art. “That’s why it is very important for colleges to build permanent collections.”

The acquisitions program, implemented in 1980, is headed by the College Art Acquisitions Committee composed of local curators, collectors and art educators. The 1996 Acquisitions Committee members are Molly Baumgardner, Keith Davis, Hartman, Margery Lichtor, Larry Thomas, Tom Tarnowski, Dean Thompson, George Thompson and Ann Wiklund. Works purchased are installed in locations throughout the campus. “One of the goals of the acquisitions committee is to ensure that wherever students are on campus they will see original works of art and that those works will contribute to their education,” said Dr. Charles Carlsen, JCCC president.

The first purchased work was an 18-foot-high stainless steel kinetic sculpture by Grant Kenner that is located on the west end of campus.

In 1996 JCCC acquired photographs by Davis, Morrell and Sugimoto; works on paper by Russell Ferguson, Amy Myers, John Ochs, Lana Turner and Sandy Winters; paintings by Jeff Aeling and Fors; sculpture by Kohler and William Shipman; and ceramic work by Frey.

A Community Collection will also feature previously acquired works in clay by Victor Babu, Roseline Delisle, Richard Devore, Edward Eberle, John Glick, Karen Karnes, Jim Leedy, David Regen and Akio Takamori; works on paper by James Brinsfield, Ferguson, Keith Jacobshagen, Myers, Turner, and Winters; and the sculpture by Shipman. The permanent collection also contains many works of art generously donated by members of the community and examples of these gifts will be featured in the exhibition.

CERAMICS

Victor Babu
Roseline Delisle
Richard Devore
Edward  Eberle
Viola Frey
John Glick
Karen Karnes
Jim Leedy
David Regan
Akio Takamori 

PHOTOGRAPHS

Robert Adams
Zeke Berman
Gregory Crewdson
Lynn Davis
Deanna Dikeman
Adam Fuss
Emmet Gowin
Abelardo Morrell
Nicholas Nixon
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Ruth Thorne-Thomsen
Jeffrey Wolin 

WORKS ON PAPER

James Brinsfield
Russell Ferguson
Keith Jacobshagen
Amy Myers
John Ochs
Lana Turner
Sandy Winters 

PAINTINGS

Christopher Brown
Nate Fors
Kerry James Marshall 

SCULPTURE

Gehry Kohler
William Shipman