The Artists

Lead Artist Dave Loewenstein  

Dave is a muralist, writer, and printmaker based in Lawrence, Kansas. In addition to his more than twenty public works in Kansas, examples of his dynamic community-based murals can be found across the United States in Missouri, Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma, New Orleans, New York City and in Northern Ireland and South Korea (April 2013). Dave’s stencil prints are exhibited nationally and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Yale University,  and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. He is the co-author of  “Kansas Murals,” a 2007 Kansas Notable Book Award Winner, published by the University Press of Kansas; and the co-director of the documentary film “Creating Counterparts” which won Best Documentary at the 2003 Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee. Dave is one of the founders of the Lawrence Percolator community art space and is currently working on the Rocket Grant funded project Give Take Give. You can see more of his work at www.davidloewenstein.com.


Mural Assistant Ashley Jane Laird 

Ashley is a muralist and studio artist based in Lawrence, Kansas. After graduating

from Washburn University with a BFA in 2011, Laird has worked on numerous public projects including the Mid-America Mural Project in Joplin, MO and

Arkadelphia, AR, the 2nd Annual Welling Court Mural Project in Queens, NY, and restorations of community murals in Hutchinson and Lawrence, Kansas. Her most recent mural, “Reanimating the Arts in Topeka,” can be seen at the Great Mural Wall of Topeka. Laird’s latest studio work culminated in a solo exhibition, “Turning Back The C(l)ock,” at the Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence, KS, one of the drawings of which was showcased in the exhibition, Backlash! at the Soho20 Gallery in New York City. Also in 2012, Ashley led women and children in a collaborative painting project for Survivor Art Night at the Topeka YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment, for which she was honored with the 2012 Arts Advocate Award. Ashley is one of the founders of Chords and Oil art collective in Topeka, KS, a springboard organization for many unique projects from 2009-2010 including a major installation at the city’s public transit hub. Her future projects include mural commissions in South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska, and Songdo, South Korea. To see more of her work, go to http://ashleyjanelaird.wordpress.com/

Apprentice Nate Buchholz

Nate is finishing his BFA at the University of South Dakota. He has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the region.
  

    

Documentarian Nicholas Ward 

Nicholas Ward is a filmmaker, poet, educator and painter based in Lawrence, KS. He has studied at the KID Puppet for Film Animation School in Prague CZ under master puppet-makers and stop-motion animators. Nicholas has lead public murals and has been the assistant to muralist David Loewenstein in community-based mural projects in Tonkawa, OK (2012,) and has been the lead cinematographer in Newton, KS (2010,) and Joplin, MO (2011.) In 2011 Nicholas was an artist in residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha,NE. He has instructed courses in drawing at the University of Kansas and youth courses in drawing and animation at the Lawrence Arts Center. Nicholas received his BFA from the University of South Dakota in 2007 and his MFA from the University of Kansas in 2010, graduating with honors.