Meier’s “O’Waters,” “Zirkel No. 1” on display at Baker University

Baker University’s Holt-Russell Gallery is hosting photographer Carsten Meier’s “O’Waters” exhibition March 1-31. An artist reception and talk will take place 5-7 p.m., March 29, at the Baker Wetlands Discovery Center in Lawrence, Kansas. Meier will also display and present his sculpture, “Zirkel No. 1,” at the reception.

Meier won the Baker Wetlands 2017 National Juried Art Show for his photographic work in the natural environment. He serves as an assistant professor at Utah State University and previously served as an assistant professor at the University of Miami, in Florida. A German-born Fulbright Scholar, Meier holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography equivalent from Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Germany, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Ohio University.

With the help from multiple departments at Baker University and in conjunction with the Baker Wetlands staff, Meier will construct and present the “Zirkel No. 1” sculpture within the grounds of the Wetlands to illustrate his affinity for natural, authentic art, and how it can mold with the natural landscape.

“Meier’s ‘Zirkel No. 1’ acknowledges ‘wetland’ by virtue of a foil, the tree,” said Michael Schonhoff, a juror for the Wetlands 2017 competition. “This and other plants inform the other, wetlands, by virtue of the species in proximity and formal elements. There is almost a ‘magic hour’ light as sunlight breaks under a cloudy sky, inviting the sensation of dawn/dusk, night/day, the binary light of all places. Clear horizontal thresholds of depth parse the vertical portraiture finalizing the movement for the viewer within the picture plane, between night and day, between autumn and winter. Meier skillfully and generously invites viewers to consider the otherness of being ‘outside.’”

The Holt-Russell Gallery is housed in historic Parmenter Hall on the campus of Baker University at 706 Dearborn St. in Baldwin City, Kansas. The gallery hosts 6 to 8 exhibitions each year by student, regional, national, and international artists. The gallery is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday, and noon-5 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is closed on Sundays, major holidays, and when school is not in session.

The Baker Wetlands Discovery Center is located at 1365 N. 1250 Rd. in Lawrence, Kansas.