Two new art exhibits are open to the public until October 22 at Hesston College.

A retrospective art exhibit by Paul Friesen, faculty emeritus in art, can be viewed in the Student Gallery of the new Friesen Center for the Visual Arts. The Friesen Center, dedicated Saturday, September 27, has been used by art students and others since fall classes began August 25.

The facility is named after Paul and Wilma Friesen of Hesston, and honors their contribution to visual arts at Hesston College and in Mennonite congregations throughout the U.S. Paul started the college’s Art department in the spring of 1957. He retired in 1978, but continued teaching part-time at nearby Bethel College until 1989. He also taught ceramics classes at Hesston College from 2001-2005.

Friesen graduated from Hesston Academy in 1942 and from Hesston College in 1944; Wilma (Wenger) is a 1944 graduate of Hesston College.

Friesen’s retrospective features nearly 60 works of ceramics and sculptures. In a catalog printed for the occasion, Friesen said that while selecting works for the exhibit, “I quickly realized that after 52 years, most of my early work from the latter 1950s I either destroyed or have lost track of.”

According to Friesen, the earliest piece in the exhibit is a flat filigreed bowl vase made in 1958. “It fairly well represents the type of work I was doing in the latter 50s,” he said. Beginning in the 1960s, with the purchase of a used gas kiln, Friesen’s work moved from earthenware to stoneware. Later, interest began turning to alternative firings, such as raku, open hearth, and pit and saggar firings. Over the years, he’s tried a number of different surface treatments.

Friesen reports that he began carving in wood during his teenage years, using regular carpenter hand tools. He has sculpted in a variety of media over the years including wood, stone, ceramics, and bronze. The exhibit includes 20 sculptures.

The Student Gallery in the Friesen Center for the Visual Arts is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, art created by 23 Hesston College alumni is on exhibit in the Hesston College Gallery, inside the east doors of Smith Center on the college campus. This exhibit is also open to the public until October 22.

The artists featured include:

Stephanie Danker, Champaign , Ill.;

Elizabeth Eberspacher, Chicago, Ill.;

Anna Friesen, Huntington Beach, Calif.;

Esther Graber, Nashville, Ind.;

Phil Hershberger, Topeka, Kan.;

Lynn Lais, Grantsville, Md.;

Merrill Miller, Scottdale, Pa.;

Marena Nachtigal, Kalona, Iowa;

Isaac Shue, Goshen, Ind.;

Brittni Wegmann, Tallahassee, Fla.;

Royce Yoder, Lederach, Pa.; and