K-State exhibit features work by dean of K-State College of Architecture, Planning and Design and KU School of Architecture dean

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News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-1090, potts@k-state.edu

Friday, February 2, 2007

K-STATE EXHIBIT FEATURES WORK BY DEAN OF K-STATE COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND DESIGN AND KU SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE DEAN

MANHATTAN -- The Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design is offering the exhibit "Places," featuring the work of Dennis Law, dean of the college, and John Gaunt, dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Kansas.

"Places" will be shown from Monday, Feb. 5, through Friday, Feb. 16, in the Chang Gallery at K-State's Seaton Hall. The gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Law has served as dean of K-State's College of Architecture, Planning and Design since 1995. Prior to becoming dean, he was a professor and head of K-State's department of landscape architecture. He also has been a visiting professor in the department of architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned a bachelor of science in park administration from Texas Tech University and a master of landscape architecture from K-State.

Law's professional experience is varied. He has served as the principal and partner of The Land Design Collaborative, where his commissions included subdivision design, parks and recreation facilities and disturbed land reclamation. He also worked at the Bureau of Land Management as staff landscape architect and as a reclamation specialist in Wyoming. Some of his most creative work as a practicing landscape architect was as director of landscape architecture for a Six Flags' facility, AstroWorld USA, in Houston.

An expert on global environmental issues, Law has presented more than 75 lectures and papers, many at national and international forums. He has been an invited speaker in Central America, Southeast Asia, China and Europe, where he presented a speech to the Hungarian Parliament's Committee on the Environment in Budapest.

Law teaches design graphics and visual thinking to K-State landscape architecture students. He has taken up watercolor as his primary medium but also has completed many pen-and-ink drawings. He has studied watercolor under Christopher Schink, Richard Forsyth and Martha Mans.

A member of the Columbian Artists, Law has exhibited in galleries in Wamego, the WSKF Architects Gallery in North Kansas City, Mo., and the Strecker-Nelson, Commerce Bank and Espresso Royale Cafe galleries, all in Manhattan. Law was an invited featured artist at the famed annual Guthrie Art Walk in Oklahoma in 2000.

Gaunt has been a practicing architect for more than 35 years and has served as dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Design at KU for the last 12 years. His responsibilities include the strategic direction and management of the school. As an administrator and a teacher, he is centered on supporting and enriching the school's long tradition of excellence in architectural education. Gaunt has bachelor of arts and bachelor of architecture degrees from the University of Minnesota, and a master of architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has taught design and drawing at Columbia University and at Barnard College in New York City.

His professional experience includes serving with Ellerbe Becket, based in Minneapolis, for 18 years. During his last six years with the firm, he served as its president and chief executive officer.

Gaunt's interest in freehand drawing for architectural students converges with his personal interest in recording experience through drawing. His work in the K-State "Places" exhibit includes his observations from his visit to Cuba in January 2006 with historic preservation students and faculty from the University of Kentucky.