Skyler Lovelace's pandemic-era 'House Party'
The exhibition inspired by her art collection is on view at the First Unitarian Universalist Church
“House Party” by Skyler Lovelace, on view at the gallery at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Wichita through March 8. An artist reception and Q&A will take place 12:15-1:15 p.m. March 5, after the Sunday service.
“House Party Nine,” inspired by the work of “trees and houses” painter Rebecca Hoyer (courtesy of the artist)
While isolated in her home in the early days of the pandemic, Skyler Lovelace began contemplating the art in her home, a 1914 American Foursquare bungalow in Wichita’s College Hill neighborhood.
She recalled research by Semir Zeki, chair in neuroaesthetics at University College London, who scanned the brains of people looking at art. “The blood flow increased for a beautiful painting just as it increases when you look at somebody you love,” Zeki reported.
Lovelace and her husband were technically alone in their College Hill home. But “[s]pending time with my small collection of art was like [a] house party, at least as far as my brain was concerned,” she wrote.
Over the next two years, Lovelave made 12 paintings of her house, each 12 inches square, each inspired by a different artist in her collection. They include Rebecca Hoyer, Delilah Reed, Curt Clonts, Tyleciea Zachry, Randy Regier, and Richard Crowson.
“House Party Twelve,” inspired by the work of Tyleciea Zachry (courtesy of the artist)
The works in “House Party” are in dialogue with other, mostly local artists in an unusually (and delightfully) direct way. It’s also a fascinating document of pandemic-era attitudes about art and home that felt familiar. I too spent the lockdown period staring at (and in my case, hanging and rearranging) my own small collection of mostly local art. I even wrote about it in an unpublished essay in July 2020:
During the first few weeks, when we were still adjusting to not seeing or hugging the people we loved, I paid tactile attention to my small collection of handmade cups and mugs. Interesting use of texture is a quality that draws me to functional ceramic work, but now I was almost obsessively running my hands across the surfaces, bringing my lips to a rim, even when the cup was empty. Over and over, the same inane recognition: Another human made this. It would be fair to say I was more than a little bit rattled….
Consciously or not, we associate art with other people’s bodies. Even in literature, art’s least corporeal form, we talk about a writer’s “voice,” their “body of work.” The critic Anne Fadiman keeps books written by friends at her bedside. In this evocative space, a group of writers, beloved in different ways, stay in communion with each other.
In so many ways, art is about relationships, a quality “House Party” cleverly explores.
I first saw the exhibition at CityArts in November. It’s enjoying a second life at the First Unitarian Universalist Church art gallery, 7202 E. 21st, Wichita. See it in person through Wednesday, March 8. (After Sunday’s artist reception, the church office is open 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 1-5 p.m. Wednesday.) If you can’t stop by, the artist has done a terrific job of documenting the show on her website.
Side note: I’ve enjoyed recent opportunities to see works by local artists for a second time. “Shush,” a January exhibition at Harvester Arts curated by Micala GG, included an ephemeral piece by Lydia Humphreys (installed for the Artist INC reunion show the previous month) and a video work by Kelsy Gossett Dennis (which I first saw at the 13th faculty biennial at the Ulrich Museum). Gossett Dennis’s piece, “The Cycle,” will appear again in “Gaze,” which opens April 13 at Mark Arts. I’m looking forward to it as though I’ll be seeing an old friend.
Kansas-based film critic is blowing up (I hope)
This is an abbreviated newsletter, as I’m on the road back to Kansas after an extended and multi-state trip to visit family. Instead of my usual list of links, I’m just sharing news about Kansas-City-Kansas-based film critic Lonita Cook, who was recently profiled in Kansas City magazine.
Cook arguably has one of the best smiles on Kansas City television, but she also knows her stuff when it comes to movies. As KCTV5’s film critic, Cook is breaking new ground and making history. Film critics have traditionally not looked like her or shared her perspective.
I met Lonita at the Tallgrass Film Festival in 2021, and she impressed me immediately. I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her on the KCAIC Critical Writing Initiative last year. Lonita is in possession of one of the most interesting critical voices in Kansas (and anywhere), so if you aren’t already paying attention, I recommend you get on board. Follow her on Instagram, and also read her recent piece for NewThinking: “Idris Elba summons Black Americans to diasporic Afrika.”
Cloaked in a tuxedo in the palace, camera flashin’ opulence, beauty, fun—celebrity—Elba delivers a humbling statement of acknowledgment that breaks open a hardened-by-hopelessness part of my spirit. Using his beauty and access to Western mores like a mattah before the Red Sea, Elba, with the authority of someone whose parents are from the continent, who was raised in Ghanaian culture and exposed to mother tongues, casually positions himself as a prospective guide back to Afrika.
You’ll be hearing from me more regularly soon, I hope.
—Emily