East Gallery

Aug 1 - Oct 24 , 2026

 

Exhibit Statement:

 

Overlap is an exhibition of selected work from the last decade. It includes pieces from several series. I use overlap in various ways. There is a literal overlap found in much of my work. My process involves the piecing and overlap of fabrics, papers, and shapes to create works in mixed media. There is thematic overlap in subject matter. I look at people, place, narrative, and time (past, present, and eternity) as starting points for my work. Finally, there is collaborative overlap. I have worked with artist librarian Lindsay Buehler and creative Mary T. Clark to make wall quilts. See below excerpts from artist statements with work represented in this exhibition. Look for the overlap!

 

Crop Rows is a series based on our rural landscape. It is born out of memories, conversations, and travel. The organic shapes are inspired by American Regionalism, specifically the work of Grant Wood. Paint creates the backdrop for each image. The pieces of fabric, maps, and photographs are carefully pieced together in collage, echoing the process of collage master artist Romare Bearden. Pattern exists in the curving crop rows, swirling clouds, and in the fabrics themselves. This piecing and pattern-making is essential to my creative process. It is time-consuming, layered, and connects me to my mom (a gifted quilter, knitter, and overall creative). These works can be viewed as paintings or wall-quilts.

 

Parables aims to visually retell biblical parables, such as the parable of The Sower. The work is based on short stories that explain a moral or religious principle. There is no magical wizard or talking horse. Rather, the symbolism is concrete and everyday. Parables using common landscape elements to tell uncommon truths resonate with me. One way I experience Father, Son and Holy Spirit is when in nature. Perhaps a twisting thornbush, a muted sky, or a thriving olive orchard can stir the soul.

 

FLOOD 08 represents the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The shapes echo those found in the FEMA “2008 Flood Inundation Area” map. The original site-specific piece was composed of over 3000 plastic drinking straws. The various shades of blue symbolize the Cedar River in its natural flowing watercourse. The opaque black describes the footprint of the floodwater during the historic flood of 2008.

 

Dictators & Dreamers investigates infamy, the ripple effects of power, human rights issues, and dreams of the (seemingly) common person. This body of work contrasts the faces of current or recent absolute rulers of countries around the world with the faces of immigrants, refugees, international students, and asylum seekers now residing in the Cedar Valley. The Dictator is infamous. Dreamers are often anonymous. Now, they hold equal attention.

Second Floor Gallery

July 18 - Sept 12, 2026

 

Exhibit Statement:

 

The representational paintings of my maturity began with an idyllic/bright view of the lane to my family’s seventh generation Iowa homeplace, and followed me as I walked in the night through European cities and back. I learned the beauty of the interplay of light and dark as an observer and on canvas, then in the reality of so-called real life. Maturation is an ongoing process, and our archetypes and stories contribute and support us, providing helpful context that we may remain open and gain in character rather than lose ourselves in self-absorption, defensiveness, bitterness, or resentment. Embracing and feeling both the dark and light of life in their fullness is the rounded experience of being embodied as human beings on earth. My work  reflects the beauty around me and my exploration and recovery of  indigenous European values through a contextual study of folk tales and customs via herbalism, history, language, anthropology, and the arts.

 

Bio:

Sara Spohnheimer has been an artist ever since she could pick up a pencil.  Born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Hamilton County, Sara earned her Fine Art degree in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking from Iowa State University in 1998.  She took a heavy course load each semester, spending many hours in classes pertaining to her other areas of interest: History, Anthropology, and Foreign Languages.

 

Artist Statement:

Primarily an oil painter, Sara has become known for her luminous, award-winning, nighttime architectural scenes featuring Europe and Iowa. As an antidote to these works demanding rigorous attention, Sara paints more expressionistic mythological/archetypal imagery, watercolors, and fun vignettes from everyday life. When not painting, she spends time in her garden, takes photographs, reads, or writes poems in German calligraphy.

West Gallery

January - December 30, 2027

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Curators Statement:

"Know thyself." The ancient words carved at Delphi remain one of humanity’s most enduring calls. Not a search for distant lands or treasures, but a voyage inward, into the labyrinth of consciousness. This exhibition, drawn from the museum’s collection, brings together works that reflect the timeless human quest for identity, authenticity, and purpose. It is a journey as old as humanity itself, told through myths and oral traditions, carried forward in poems and music, painted in symbols and abstractions, and reimagined across generations.

 

Art has always served as a threshold to self-understanding. It does not strike with certainty but invites reflection. Line, shape, color, rhythm, harmony, and contrast, the very elements and principles of art, become metaphors for the human condition: a line tracing the path of life, light and shadow mirroring the psyche’s dualities, harmony and dissonance echoing our inner struggles and resolutions. The processes of creation; layering, erasure, juxtaposition, repetition; enact the very work of becoming, revealing the unfinished nature of identity itself.

 

To know oneself is to wrestle with shadow and light, with the masks we present and the truths we conceal. Philosophers and psychologists remind us that the self is not fixed, but relational, formed in dialogue with others, with nature, and with the cosmos. Yet in the digital age, this pursuit of self-knowledge is increasingly shadowed by the algorithmic mirror. Digital systems   amplify our unacknowledged shadows, inflating fear, envy, and outrage, while curating fragile personae hungry for validation. What emerges is an “algorithmic self,” curated but hollow, driven by data yet disconnected from authenticity.

 

The objects gathered here resist such algorithmic reductions. They reclaim art as a vessel of  wisdom, insisting on the power of direct encounter with material, image, and form. In their presence, we are asked to pause, to reflect, and to listen to remember that wisdom begins not with endless consumption but with stillness, attention, and creativity. Out of silence and longing comes the declaration: “I am here”. This is not only a statement of existence but of connection, a reminder that to know oneself is to locate our being within a larger whole of humanity, nature, and the visible and invisible universe.

 

To know thyself is not a solitary act. It is a call to growth, humility, and integration, weaving together the intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual dimensions of being. It is an affirmation of authenticity and a return to love, hope, and truth. This exhibition invites you into that labyrinth, into a place of mirrors and shadows, of questions and revelations to confront the most enduring question of all time: Who are you? And perhaps, in the quiet between image and reflection, to find the courage to answer; “I am here.”

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