korla luckeroth

Two Colleagues, Tara Polansky, April Hernandez, and I will be having a show in down town Kansas City in September. The exhibition will be at the KCAI Crossroads Gallery and it will open on first Friday the 5th of September. The work will be discussing three stories of Living, Losing, and Longing for the American dream.

Polansky’s work depicts the living aspect showing painted images of her ancestors and their comrades after they recently arrived in the United States. In writing about her work she says,

“They are of first generation Jewish Americans in immigrant neighbourhoods in New York City circa the 1930s. Some of the people represented I have known in my life, others only through stories and photos, and others I can only guess who they are. I weave text from family legends onto pieces to evoke a narrative. I give the viewer enough information to peak her curiosity about the characters or the story but still leave many questions unanswered. I have chosen to use plates as a medium for these stories because of the importance of ritual family gatherings around food. Traditions, especially those related to preparing and eating food, are passed down from generation to generation as stories of our ancestors.”

Aprils work touches on the idea of longing. She creates well crafted high-end objects emulating Silver Wares that her family could not always afford. If she wanted the beautiful things in life, she was told it was up to her to make them. In this body of work she lives up to and supersedes that proposition.

My work deals with the aspect of American life that is on its way out. Generations of families came to the mid west to start a new life and farm the land. Through 3 dimensional clay landscapes I depict moments when these old family farmsteads and rural architecture are still standing with pride, on their last leg, and when they are sadly, fading into the ground.

For more information or to get on the mailing list please e-mail me at korlaluckeroth@aol.com.

KCAI Crossroads Gallery

1908 Main St
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816) 802-3423

I drive with my mother away from the city, away from industry, and strip malls far out into the country. We pass seas of fields, abandon houses, and old farmsteads. We are on our way to document one of the oldest round barns that is one of a few left in the state. As we drive we pass one farmstead that is particularly intriguing with its dinosaur of a red prairie style barn and white farmhouse off to one side.
“Oh we have to go back.” I say to her as she slows the car down and prepares to make a U-turn. She knows the routine. We dust up the dirt driveway and we meet up with a farmer and his son at the front of their massive barn.
“I am working on a project documenting barns and farmsteads from around Minnesota. May I take a picture of your barn?” I ask.
“Sure.” The farmer says dusty from moving some hay. He smiles politely with pride that his life is being acknowledged in some way.
My mom does what she does best and starts making talk with the two men about my project as I step 50 feet back to get a wide-angle shot of the barn.
I walk back over to them as I hear my mom say that we are on our way to Long Prairie to document the massive wooden round barn that everyone and their neighbor has told me about since I have began this project.
The farmer replies “Oh, dat der one on de edge of town.” He utters with one of the richest Minnesotan accents I have ever heard. “Dat just went down. Shame really.” He pauses. “People talked about fixing it up but no money went dat way.”
“Yah,” his son chimes, “just a month or two ago.”
We thank the two men for their time and get back into the car. Kind of distraught I realize then how pertinent this project was in documenting this history before it is gone.

March 2008:
I have since with the help of two McKeown grants been able to travel around and document historic rural architecture and farmland that are still in use and some locals that are on their way out. Some of the states and provinces I have had the chance to do photographic research in are Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.

I have decided to start a fund for The Preservation, Restoration, and Documentation of Rural Architecture and Farmland. I will now be donating 10% of the proceeds made to it. Contact me if you wish to make a donation.