By Jeffrey Anderson, Caitlyn Belson & Sabrina Vang
At the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Lawton Gallery occasionally hosts exhibitions showcasing artworks created by students. To kick off the Fall semester at UWGB, Lawton Gallery hosted their first exhibition of the semester, “Norbert Kox Retrospective,” that began September 2nd and ended October 28th. To keep the semester rolling, the gallery is currently exhibiting its 49th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition from November 11th through December 16th.
Lawton Gallery presents all sorts of creativity through the arts of photography, painting, drawing, ceramics, woodworking, and many other pieces of art. The annual opening reception was held from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M., Thursday, November 11th in Lawton Gallery located in the Theatre Hall building in Room 230.
Emma Hitzmane, the Curator of Art for the Lawton Gallery, says, “Last year we didn’t have an opening reception due to COVID-19. This year we asked that students bring their family separate from the opening reception, and we [followed COVID protocol], making sure that everyone was wearing masks, staying six feet apart, allowing only a numbered of people inside the gallery at a time, just rotating and making sure that everyone was staying safe. In the past, we had an award ceremony where students were actually given their reward in an actual ceremony fashion, but this year we just announced it during the reception with labels on the wall.”
The entrance to the Lawton Gallery is clear and welcoming
The gallery’s mission is to serve as an important cultural and educational resource within the lives of the students, faculty, staff, and the community of Green Bay. Lawton serves as a cultural and educational resource to the students and faculty at UWGB. Lawton is partnered with UWGB’s outreach. Its mission is to enhance and engage with cultural resources in the community.
Hitzmane adds, “The gallery sends out a call every year for students to submit their art pieces. Then there are jurors who select the artwork. This year it was Julia Morris Roe…she went through and selected from the submissions certain pieces that she thought were of quality in different ways, whether it was in techniques or just execution of medium…and style.” Hitzman says, “Submissions are opened to all UWGB students no matter the major.”
Tuesday, November 23rd, the gallery will host Lawton Small Talks, in which the students who created some of the pieces featured in the art exhibition will have a chance to talk about their work. The event will last from 12:30 P.M. to 1 P.M. During regular hours, the student art exhibition will be open from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M.
When asked about the upcoming events the gallery will host, Hitzmane said, “We don’t have any exhibits through January interim. We’ll be closed, but starting at the end of January through February, we’ll be having an exhibition called ‘Potluck.’ It’s a group of rural midwestern artists from a collective. They make artwork in a variety of different mediums…they will be presenting their work that is about living in the rural Midwest.”
For more information on what the Lawton Gallery has in store for future events and to see their exhibit archives, visit https://www.uwgb.edu/lawton-gallery/.