Bonsack Gallery: Friday, 18 October 2013

“Shifting Grounds (detail);” ink, gesso, acrylic and graphite on paper, 2011-2013, by Mary Lamboley

 Mary Lamboley will exhibit “Gift Play Survey” in the Bonsack Gallery at John Burroughs School from October 4 through November 13, 2013. All are invited to an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, October 18.

Lamboley’s exhibit was inspired by the work of Friedrich Froebel. In the 1850s, Froebel identified 20 gifts, or lessons, which became the foundation of the kindergarten model. These gifts help young children recognize their place in a larger whole and explore the interconnected realms of nature (life), knowledge (science) and beauty (art). The kindergarten program quickly spread throughout Europe, Russia and North America, with the first U.S. kindergarten being founded in St. Louis by Susan Blow in 1873. The influence of the lessons themselves is evident in the later works and philosophies of such kindergarteners and modernist greats as Frank Lloyd Wright, R. Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, and many more as researched and presented in the book, Inventing Kindergarten, by Norman Brosterman.

In the works on paper included in this exhibit, the artist employs many of the processes espoused by the various gifts (such as observing, balancing, ordering, folding, cutting, pin pricking, drawing, and use of motif repetition) in order to reflect upon Froebel’s timeless, yet prescient, relational ideals of interconnectedness.

Regular gallery hours are 8 am to 5 pm, weekdays. The exhibit is free to the public.

The Bonsack Gallery

John Burroughs School

755 South Price Road

Ladue