Tonja Torgerson is an artist, printmaking and professor currently working at Indiana University. Torgerson received her BFA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Printmaking at Syracuse University. Her artwork is regularly exhibited nationally and internationally; and is included in private and museum collections, including the Weisman Art Museum and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Her work deals with illness, death, and the impermanent nature of the body.

Tonja Torgerson was the Lawrence Arts Center 2014/15 Printmaking Artist in Residence and Print Studio Manager from 2016 until 2018.

Succumb  |  on exhibit June 2021

Reflections on vulnerability, death, and the impermanence of the body. Torgerson uses prints, cut paper, and collage to create a fallen Garden of Eden in which life-size figures grapple with the recognition of their mortality. These works provide an intimate pause in which to consider the frailty of the body; allowing us to dwell on uncomfortable truths.

Ruben Bryan Castillo is a visual artist and educator born in Dallas and currently working in Kansas City, MO. His work investigates themes of intimacy, queerness, place, and the body using a range of media including print, drawing, sculpture/installation, and video. He currently teaches printmaking and drawing at the Kansas City Art Institute and Johnson County Community College.

One Week In Spring  |  on exhibit July 2021

One Week from Spring explores memory, records, observation, and narratives around what author Kathleen Stewart calls “ordinary affects” through the production of a new suite of intaglio prints and drawings. The imagery will circulate around softness and domestic intimacy to produce a space addressing collective desire and connection.

Tristian Griffin, a native of Kansas City, MO, graduated from Texas Christian University, in 2014, receiving his BFA in Ballet with an English minor. Following graduation, he joined and danced for Garth Fagan Dance Company for 3 years. More recently, he was given the opportunity to perform with the Metropolitan Opera House, Company E, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Springboard Montreal, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and Owen/Cox Dance Group. He was selected for tenure for the Charlotte Street Foundation’s 2018-2020 Artist-in-Residency program. As a choreographer, Tristian has been commissioned to set work on University of Kansas, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Co., and Malashock Dance Company.  Tristian has a dance company TGDC (Tristian Griffin Dance Company) which has made guest appearances at KC Streetcar, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Charlotte Street Foundation, Lawrence Arts Center, KC Fringe Festival, International Dance Festival, and DanceSTL.