From December 6th through late February, William Woods’ Dulany Library will be more artistic than usual. That is due to the creative works of Rosie Lenz, a fifth-year senior Art major, who is having her senior year art show displayed for the next few months inside the library.
Lenz’s multipart art show is called Living a Life of Lists, and consists of three installations. The first installation will be of 585 sticky notes that are hung to a wall. The sticky notes include motivational words, everyday tasks and reminders written on them. The second installation is a sculpture of photos of lists taken throughout Lenz’s semester to form organic shapes that will hang from the library’s ceiling. Then the third installment of the show will contain a series of vessels that are representative of a lot of different lists that people use in their day-to-day lives.
“Rosie recently came to see me about the possibility of using space in the Library for her senior project since the gallery in Kemper was not available,” said Erlene Krause, Associate Professor/Director of the University Library. “I know Rosie from a ceramics class that we both took a few years ago. So I am familiar with her remarkable artistic ability and I was thrilled that she thought space in the Library would work for her art installation. It is really exciting to have a student art exhibit in the Library and I am looking forward to viewing it! I hope everyone else comes to see it too!”
Lenz has had an interest in Art most of her life, but it wasn’t until her sophomore year of high school that she decided to major in it. Lenz is from Prairie Home, Missouri and attended school at Zion Lutheran School and Boonville High School. Her favorite and preferred media to use are ceramics and painting.
Lenz became passionate about Art due to “the variety of methods and media that one can be experimental with. I love expression and color, and I love being able to enjoy the process of creating.”
After Lenz completes her undergrad, she plans to continue her education and earn her master’s degree in either ceramics or sculpture. Those ambitions were boosted last August, when she was crowned as the 2021 Missouri State Fair Queen, winning a two-day competition at the State Fair in Sedalia that earned her a $2,000 scholarship to help fund her continuing education.
“Winning Missouri State Fair Queen was an honor and a great opportunity to meet lots of wonderful people,” said Lenz. “The scholarship will go towards and help finance my final year here at William Woods, for which I am so grateful.”
For the next year in her role as 2021 State Fair Queen, Lenz will serve as ambassador for the fair and for Missouri agriculture. Eventually, she plans to earn her master’s degree to create Art as a career and teach her passion at the high school or college level. But for now, that passion will be on full display for the William Woods community beginning December 6 in Dulany Library, so make plans to check it out!