tallgrass resident artists at volland

The Volland Store is privileged to partner with the 2017 Tallgrass Artist Residency program and will host two of the selected artists this summer:  Lynn Benson and  Cody Kauhl.  Lynn will be in residence at The Volland Store during July, and Cody will assume his residency in August.

Each artist will make a presentation of their work at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, but we wanted you to have an opportunity to visit with them before their residencies begin and learn a bit about their work and what they hope to accomplish during their time in our part of the  Flint Hills.  They may have questions for you about our area – and it’s just a neighborly way to welcome them to our community.  Join us for friendly conversation, iced tea, and Jeanette’s cookies.

For more information on the Tallgrass Residency and other selected artists, please click  here.

L Y N N   B E N S O N

My works often depict actual water lines––the sensual, meandering lines where water meets land on the skin of the earth. Rivers, deltas and shorelines continually entrance me, and are central to several recent projects…I also am a news junkie and find no shortage of information from around the globe about issues related to water. I am convinced that water is becoming the commodity of the century. Floods, water scarcity, and water stewardship affect us all. I want to be a part of the conversation surrounding these issues.

Born near the ocean, but raised in the heartland, I am drawn to water. Itʼs counterintuitive that I would also be drawn to a place that has very little water–the Flint Hills. But the rolling hills of the prairie reflect the ocean waves, and, at closer inspection, the water will reveal itself in its various magical forms. Iʼm excited to find ways to interpret the water of the Tallgrass visually.

My work has appeared in juried shows from Hawaii to Brooklyn. A recent large project called Waterplaces was purchased by and will be presented by the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum, in Manhattan, KS, in the Spring of 2018.

Lynn’s public presentation at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve:  July 29 1:30–3:00 pm

http://lynnbenson.com

C O D Y   K A U H L 

I am a composer and multimedia artist.   I pair found sound and video with the intimacy of the human voice. I regularly collaborate with choreographers and visual, spoken word, and performing artists to create interactive multimedia concerts that seamlessly blend the human voice and movement with new media technologies. The resulting product often juxtaposes the delicate and visceral, the intricate and sparse, while maintaining an unabashed intimacy throughout. I conceive the development of these works as a linear transformation, much like an extended crossfade between two film scenes.

My work has been performed at international and national festivals and conferences including the International Computer Music Conference and Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States.  I acted as composer-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in February 2014 and at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in February 2015. I graduated in 2011 with a B.M. in Music Theory/Composition at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and earned an M.M. in Music Composition at the University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2015.

I am currently artist-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation Studio Residency Program.

Cody’s public presentation at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: August 26 1:30–3:00 pm

http://www.codykauhl.com