EARLY BIO
_______________________________________
| Subscribe to my newsletter here |
Home
Works
Contact
About The Artist
Gallery
Skink Links
Archive Photo Essays
The heart of a poet.
A father and his sons
take a walk.
You can read it
HERE
References to
Super-8 movie
Decker and
published efforts
can be found in
this 1975 newspaper
interview. You can
read it
HERE
Look at Arthur Geisert
video clip
Reality Check,
click HERE
in Seward, NE---a rural town
thirty miles west of Lincoln.
Weekend walks with his father
and brother, beside Plum Creek
and the old railtracks, began a journey
that Karl would take up himself after
he became alot older. Later, he would
pay attention to nature like his father had.
Much much later, Karl would describe
trees and rocks with paint.
As a young child, he grew up in an
artistic household.
In 1967 he drew pencil voyages in
the handmade books his father gave
him. He began to enjoy creative writing.
First snow poems. Later long-winded
stories with lots and lots of descriptive
words.
In 1968 he produced his first animated
Super-8 film. He received Honorable
Mention at the 1971 Kodak Teenage
Movie Awards for his stop-action
short Concentric Circles.
As a teen, he went on to direct local
citizens in Decker, a 20 minute short
about a card player who is followed
by secret agents in brand-new cars,
and eludes their chase at the City Dump
with help from caped elves and
sleight-of-hand magic.
In college, he continued his interest in
film-making. He directed a 35 minute flick
with a cast of twenty students from his dorm.
While at UNL, Karl found an outlet for
musical expression. In 1975 he organized
three Peoples Concerts to showcase student
talent from his dorm, including piano songs
he had created. These were held in the
Raymond Piano Lounge, the Neihardt
Complex Snackbar, and the Nebraska
Union South Crib Room.
In the summer of 1977 he was an
apprentice printmaker for Illinois
copperplate etcher Arthur Geisert.
He studied under Keith Jacobshagen and
James Eisentrager, while at the University of Nebraska.
In 1979 he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Drawing was the chief means Karl
found for expressing himself after college.
First, working from buildings, because
these did not move while he drew them.
He liked drawing the back of people's
heads. Soon, he tried doing faces,
by trial and error. He took up the "science
of cartooning" and sought to communicate
his own ideas in line drawings with few if
any words. Pantomime, an idea without
any words, was the ideal the young cartoonist
pursued. A local newspaper asked him
to produce weekly editorial cartoons.
He gathered together and organized the
Seward Artists Group. Local artists
gathered to share meals, visit exhibits,
and talk about their art.
In 1981 he published Seward Drawing:
A Beginning. Thirty ink-and-wash drawings
of a rural community, pp.34, Arbor Press,
Lincoln, NE
In 1982 he illustrated and self-published
three works, Golly Whizz Jimmy
Flashback, "That's Habberdash Rubbish,
Radish," Said The King Cabbage, and
Cowboys And Oatmeal Don't Mix. 34 pages,
Christopher Press, Seward, NE
The Runge Book followed in 1985,
a humorous look at each member's
profession at the family reunion. 64 pages,
Christopher Press, Des Moines, IA.
Over the years, Karl has had many jobs to
support his family, including security work,
janitorial, newspaper photographer, dishwasher,
and substitute teacher. His editorial cartoons have
been published in the the Daily Nebraskan,
the Seward County Independent, and Carrollton
Democrat newspapers.
He painted the Land Of Opportunity mural in
Carrollton, Missouri. Settlers are depicted plowing
the land and raising homesteads. Created in 1997,
the mural measures 35 by 20 feet in size, and
every color was hand-mixed from red, blue,
yellow, black, and white enamel paints.
The following year, the Chillicothe Industrial
Developement Corporation commissioned
Karl to complete a 60 by 100 foot mural of the
Chillicothe Business College. He illustrated the
classes that drew students from all across the
nation and several foreign countries. At the
turn-of-the-century, telegraphy, rail mail,
bookkeeping, banking, and penmanship
were considered cutting edge business skills.
In 2002, Karl began describing outdoor landscapes
in acrylics. First, bean fields, and wide panoramas.
As time progressed, he took on problems that once
daunted him. Cows, rocks, and tree structures.
He found that studying Old Masters like Jean
Baptiste- Corot and the contemporary painters
he admired, have helped his descriptions to mature.
Field studies force him "to process-it-all-on-the-fly."
This is the kind of homework he enjoys.
He is a member of the Kansas City Artists Coalition
and an Associate Member of the Burkholder Project
in Lincoln, NE. He has sold to private Collectors
in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and New York.
He is 52 years old.
He and his wife live in Carrollton MO,
eighty miles northeast of Kansas City, MO.
When he is not painting, you can find
him helping students work through
their lessons at the Senior High School.
At Landmarx By Marxhausen, you will find
his passion for writing and his process of
art-making.
| Land Of
Opportunity 1997 mural photo HERE Classes At Chillicothe Business College 1998 mural photo HERE Landscapes exhibited in Lincoln, NE April 2007 HERE |
2007 North Missouri Arts Gallery - Going Large In The Side Yard - Marceline, MO Burkholder Project - Landmarks: New Works - Lincoln, NE 2006 Burkholder Project - Two State Landscapes - Lincoln, NE 2005 Fall Fest, Carrollton, MO Langworthy Gallery - Dear To My Heart - Seward, NE 1981 Mark Four Gallery - Color Works - Lincoln, NE |
Exhibition
in Kansas City
November 2007
HERE
2007 Hoop Dog Studios - Four Person Invitational Kansas City, MO Hilliard Gallery - Landscape Perspectives Ten Person Juried Invitational - Kansas City, MO Irene B. French Community Center - World Of Color - Two Person Juried Exhibit - Merriam, KS 2006 Leopold Gallery Kansas City, MO 2005 Keyes Gallery - Plein Air 2005 Juried Invitational Show - Springfield, MO Irene B. French Community Center - Me, Molly And The Kitchen Surprise - Two Person Juried Exhibit - Merriam, KS 2004 Union Gallery- Open Studios - Kansas City, MO Metro Christian Fellowship- Art And Music Festival - Kansas City, MO Keyes Gallery - Plein Air 2004 Juried Invitational - Springfield, MO Foresight Gallery - Juried Invitational - Kansas City, MO Legacy Art Gallery - "Is It Art ?" Juried Invitational - Columbia, MO 2003 Carrollton Area Center for the Arts - Group Exhibit - Carrollton, MO Underground Gallery - Three Person Juried Exhibit - Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO 2002 Carrollton Area Center for the Arts - Group Show - Carrollton, MO Kansas City Artists Coalition - Open Studios - Leawood, KS 1999 Carrollton Artists - Group Exhibit - Carrollton, MO Carrollton Artists - Touch These Wounds - Carrollton, MO 1998 Carrollton Artists - Beautiful Fire - Carrollton, MO |
Every artist has problems
they choose to solve.
This is the challenge
Karl is tackling in his
new work. Read about it
HERE
| COMMISSIONS |
2005 Carrollton R - 7 School District -
Early Childhood Nursery Rhymes -
Interior Wall 40' x 8', Carrollton, MO
2004 Carrollton Bow Hunters -
Interior Floor Display - Carrollton, MO
2003 City Park Swimming Pool -
Fish and Underwater Swimmers -
Interior Bath House Mural 38' x 8',
Carrollton, MO
1998 Chillicothe Industrial
Developement Corporation -
Classes At Chillicothe
Business College -
Exterior Mural 100' x 60',
Chillicothe, MO
1997 Lock Steel Building Company -
Land Of Opportunity -
Exterior Mural 35' x 20',
Carrollton, MO
home phone (660) 542 - 0938
or e-mail: karl@marxhausen.net