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Kauffman Museum’s next special exhibition, “Beloved: Artwork by Kristin Diener,” will feature handcrafted personal adornment and whimsical rolling toys.
The exhibit will be open to the public Saturday through Aug. 22. Kauffman Museum will host a grand opening celebration from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. The artist will offer remarks at 7:30 p.m.
“Many pieces refer directly to my Amish and Mennonite heritage, some incorporating family objects,” Diener said.
Diener is the granddaughter of Louella and Tilman R. Smith, who was president of Hesston College in Hesston from 1959 to 1968.
From 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Diener will host the “Bimbamboom Ring Mini-Workshop.” In just 10 minutes, each participant and Diener will craft a ring. This is an opportunity to learn metalworking techniques to shape and polish a ring while the artist wields the propane torch and nippers.
The $10 workshop fee covers admission to the museum. Participants must be five years of age or older. Enrollment is limited and will be first-come, first-served for choice of time.
“Travels, moving and attending different schools have greatly influenced my artwork,” Diener said of her work in the exhibit, “I have lived in Illinois, New York, Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Massachusetts and New Mexico. I attended seven different public schools by 10th grade, then went on to five universities and colleges.
“I incorporate objects collected as I go,” she said, “some bought, some found, some searched for, some given to me. I am greatly influenced by historical as well as contemporary objects, artworks, books, popular culture, politics and the natural world. I am from an Amish and Mennonite background that greatly influences who I am, how I perceive the world, and what I create. (I attended) first grade in New York and then I had a huge dose of the Deep South for second grade through high school. Though I grew up in the south and consider it to be my home, I am not really a ‘Southerner.’”
Diener’s artwork “combines what is perceived to be precious with what is discarded,” she says. “I think of it as elevating the ordinary to the sacred, and often the objects created allude to reliquaries. The relics may be mouse bones, a small plastic wrench, photographs, smashed bottle caps, Georgia dirt or a bit of cotton from Cottonplant, Ark.
“Combined with precious metals and stones, lavished with attention and metalworking techniques, the pieces I create are most often jewelry or adornment. Though not always easily wearable, they come to life in their relationship to the body.”
Diener said the exhibit is dedicated to “my parents, Tom and Carolyn Diener, for introducing me to the world and to the world of art; my sisters, Julie and Laura, for being my friends; and Judy Wenig-Horswell, artist and Goshen (Ind.) College professor, whose dynamic teaching style got me hooked on the wonderful world of jewelry and metals.”
For more information on the exhibition or ring-making workshop, contact Rachel Pannabecker at 283-1612 or rpannabe@bethelks.edu.
Kauffman Museum, 27th and North Main streets in North Newton, is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. weekends; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission to the museum, which also includes admission to the permanent exhibits “Of Land and People,” “Mirror of the Martyrs” and “Mennonite Immigrant Furniture,” is $4 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 through 16 and free to Kauffman Museum members and children younger than 6. For more information, call the museum at 283-1612 or visit its Web site, www.bethelks.edu/kauffman/.
Kauffman Museum’s next special exhibition, “Beloved: Artwork by Kristin Diener,” will feature handcrafted personal adornment and whimsical rolling toys.
The exhibit will be open to the public Saturday through Aug. 22. Kauffman Museum will host a grand opening celebration from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. The artist will offer remarks at 7:30 p.m.
“Many pieces refer directly to my Amish and Mennonite heritage, some incorporating family objects,” Diener said.
Diener is the granddaughter of Louella and Tilman R. Smith, who was president of Hesston College in Hesston from 1959 to 1968.
From 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Diener will host the “Bimbamboom Ring Mini-Workshop.” In just 10 minutes, each participant and Diener will craft a ring. This is an opportunity to learn metalworking techniques to shape and polish a ring while the artist wields the propane torch and nippers.
The $10 workshop fee covers admission to the museum. Participants must be five years of age or older. Enrollment is limited and will be first-come, first-served for choice of time.
“Travels, moving and attending different schools have greatly influenced my artwork,” Diener said of her work in the exhibit, “I have lived in Illinois, New York, Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Massachusetts and New Mexico. I attended seven different public schools by 10th grade, then went on to five universities and colleges.
“I incorporate objects collected as I go,” she said, “some bought, some found, some searched for, some given to me. I am greatly influenced by historical as well as contemporary objects, artworks, books, popular culture, politics and the natural world. I am from an Amish and Mennonite background that greatly influences who I am, how I perceive the world, and what I create. (I attended) first grade in New York and then I had a huge dose of the Deep South for second grade through high school. Though I grew up in the south and consider it to be my home, I am not really a ‘Southerner.’”
Diener’s artwork “combines what is perceived to be precious with what is discarded,” she says. “I think of it as elevating the ordinary to the sacred, and often the objects created allude to reliquaries. The relics may be mouse bones, a small plastic wrench, photographs, smashed bottle caps, Georgia dirt or a bit of cotton from Cottonplant, Ark.
“Combined with precious metals and stones, lavished with attention and metalworking techniques, the pieces I create are most often jewelry or adornment. Though not always easily wearable, they come to life in their relationship to the body.”
Diener said the exhibit is dedicated to “my parents, Tom and Carolyn Diener, for introducing me to the world and to the world of art; my sisters, Julie and Laura, for being my friends; and Judy Wenig-Horswell, artist and Goshen (Ind.) College professor, whose dynamic teaching style got me hooked on the wonderful world of jewelry and metals.”
For more information on the exhibition or ring-making workshop, contact Rachel Pannabecker at 283-1612 or rpannabe@bethelks.edu.
Kauffman Museum, 27th and North Main streets in North Newton, is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. weekends; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission to the museum, which also includes admission to the permanent exhibits “Of Land and People,” “Mirror of the Martyrs” and “Mennonite Immigrant Furniture,” is $4 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 through 16 and free to Kauffman Museum members and children younger than 6. For more information, call the museum at 283-1612 or visit its Web site, www.bethelks.edu/kauffman/.
