(January 10, 2013)

Magale Library celebrates 50th birthday, exhibits alumna's work

SHREVEPORT, LA — Magale Library will host an opening reception for the Joelle Smith Ford '65 exhibit "Gumbo Girl," February 1, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Friends, family, and alumni of the College are invited to attend the reception as the Library celebrates its 50th birthday and the return of an alumna.

In "Gumbo Girl," Ford presents whimsical, mixed-media collages that recall her youth in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana in the 1950s. Her work is included in the Emprise Bank Kansas Art Collections, and she was recently one of fifty artists selected to participate in the Kansas Masters Invitational. "Gumbo Girl" was most recently exhibited at the Alexandria Museum of Art and the Museum of the Gulf Coast.

Ford completed a BFA in Painting with honors at the University of Kansas in 1999. She has lived in Lawrence, Kansas, since 1976 with her husband, Allen Ford '64.

Ford's art originally appeared in Magale for a student art show in 1963-64. Her husband, Allen, carried books and other materials from the old library to the newly completed Magale Library in the Book Walk.

Erected in 1963, the John F. Magale Memorial Library was endowed by oilman John Magale and his wife, Joanna. By 1998, the Library had made the switch from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress system of classifying books. Students, faculty, and staff were also given 24/7 access to the most important databases in the world that year.

"Gumbo Girl" will remain on display in the Magale Library lobby February 1-March 15.

Find out more about Ford's work at joelleford.com.