 Members of the Friesen family and Hesston College representatives break ground for the Friesen Center for Visual Arts. Pictured (left to right) are Howard Keim, college president; Paul and Wilma Friesen; Norm Yoder, chair of the Hesston College Board of Overseers; Kimberly Friesen, a freshman from Archbold, Ohio, and a granddaughter of the Friesens; Lois Misegadis, chair of the Visual Arts department; and Terry Wiggers, architect. |
March 9, 2007
Construction on the Friesen Center for Visual Arts on the campus of Hesston College is expected to begin in May, following groundbreaking ceremonies Saturday, February 17. Completion of the estimated $2 million dollar facility is anticipated for December of this year, with occupancy anticipated for March 2008. It will be located between Northlawn (music and theatre) and Charles Hall (the natural sciences).
The 9,500 square foot building is named in honor of Paul and Wilma Friesen; Paul began the visual arts department at the college 50 years ago. The architect, Terry Wiggers of Schaefer, Johnson, Cox & Frey Architectural Services of Wichita, worked closely with Friesen, the Art faculty, and the Facilities Department to develop a design that will serve students well.
The facility will include teaching space for ceramics, painting, print-making, and drawing studios; a computer lab for graphic design and digital photography; an art gallery; and faculty offices.
At the groundbreaking Saturday evening, February 17, Hesston College President Howard Keim noted, "This building will be a place where students will create works of visual art that will evoke the beauty of God’s creative energy," he said. "Here, in this new space, with natural light, and good ventilation, and tools of the artist, and most importantly, the guidance of teaching artists, students will learn to understand and to create."
Keim also emphasized that the building honors the legacy of Paul and Wilma Friesen. "Artist, teacher, and pastor, your work lives on in the lives and works of your children and students," he said. "This building is not that work, but it is an important symbol of that work. Paul and Wilma, may you know the satisfaction and joy of work well done, and the creative spirit that not only lives in you, but is eternal, and comes from the Spirit of God."
In response, Friesen pointed out that the year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the Hesston College Art Department.
"There couldn’t be a better way to celebrate the occasion than to break ground for a building that will be the department’s first own home," he said.
"Wilma and I, along with our children and their families, are deeply honored by Hesston College’s decision to name the new art center the Friesen Center for Visual Arts. Thank you for this honor," he said. "We also wish to thank all who graciously contributed generously toward the building that will provide an inviting environment for creative visual expressions for many years to come.
Later, at the annual appreciation banquet for donors to the college, President Keim continued his tribute to Paul and Wilma Friesen. "They came to Hesston College to begin an art program at a time when visual arts, especially abstract visual art, was viewed as suspect by many in the Mennonite Church.
"He has been prolific, thoughtful, rooted in faith, and creative in his development," Keim continued. "His work is everywhere – on our campus, in our homes, in churches, in lobbies of business firms, and in galleries.
"These are beautiful pieces," Keim emphasized. "Time and again, when I am giving a tour of the campus, people will just stop in front of one of his pieces, and need to consider it before going further. This campus has a stronger art collection than any other campus I know of its size, due directly to Paul Friesen’s influence.
"But beyond the work itself," Keim went on, "Paul Friesen is leaving a legacy of students and now students of his students, who will carry his skill, creativity, and spirituality for generations to come. Many artists who now take their place in galleries and shops around the country owe their skill and creativity to this man. And more than training artists, his work and life have taught many to appreciate art.
"And beyond the work itself, and beyond the students taught, Paul Friesen is leaving something even more profound, something that is seen in all of his work and his life--a blending of spirituality and creativity, bringing together art and pastoral work--this gift is perhaps the greatest of all. His spirituality is not blatant, not pushy, and not in words, but evident in his work. Because Paul is who he is, we see the hand of God in his work.
"That is why we are on holy ground tonight," Keim concluded. "Paul Friesen personifies what it means to be excellent in a vocation, to leave a legacy of greatness, and to do all to the glory of God."
Friesen recalled how Hesston College President Roy Roth (president, 1951-58) persisted in trying to convince him to teach art at the college. Finally, in July 1955, Wilma and Paul, with two small children, headed out to Kansas. Friesen met the requirement for teacher certification by attending Bethel College for one school year, then spent two summers and a fall term taking art courses at the University of Wichita (now Wichita State University).
In the spring term of 1957, Friesen began teaching at Hesston. He described the first classroom-- "a small basement room in Green Gables dormitory, which when he was a student was the potato cellar off one end of the kitchen."
Friesen had two students whom he recruited from the community, relatives by marriage, but not one student from either the college or the academy. "I was discouraged. I began to feel I would be looking for another job within a year," he said.
Interest and enrollment improved in the fall, which was a real encouragement. But the art department was a nomad, roaming from one empty space to another. Eventually, when the addition to Erb Hall was built in 1969, the department was given the west half of the basement, its current location.
"As I reflect on those many years with students," Friesen said, "I'm not sorry that I accepted Roy Roth's invitation to have a part in introducing the visual arts to young people attending college.
In the mid 1960s, Friesen and Robert Regier teamed together as one art faculty for both Bethel and Hesston colleges, each teaching in their own areas of art. Later, a third instructor, Miguel Almanza, joined the team, giving the two institutions benefits that neither could afford operating independently. This cooperative program continued for 13 years until Friesen retired from Hesston College in l978.
"I think Bob and I began the merger between the two conferences," Friesen said, referring to the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church merger in February 2002.
He officially retired from Hesston in 1978, but was invited to teach the second-year ceramics class at the college during the spring semester 2001-2005. Friesen graduated from Hesston Academy in 1942 and Hesston College in 1944.
 Paul Friesen explains his "Refugees" sculpture and why he's dedicating it to Carolyn and the late Roy Roth, president of Hesston College from 1951-1958. |
Earlier that Saturday, Friesen dedicated a sculpture in Mary Miller Library to Carolyn and the late Roy Roth. The wooden sculpture, he noted, was begun during the time Roy Roth was Hesston College president. "I left the piece in more or less an unfinished state," he said. "Consequently, last winter, while finishing it with significant changes, I began to realize that the piece would never have been created, had it not been for Roy’s insistence that I come to Hesston College to establish an art curriculum."
Friesen explained that he did not change the title of the piece. "For too many years, new born artists in Mennonite homes found a closed door at the church, where their gifts could have been used for the glory of God," he said. "They became 'Refugees,' seeking a land where they could with visual language serve as priests celebrating the stories of life, and as prophets, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God."
Friesen then expressed gratitude to Carolyn. "Thank you for all that you and Roy, in an unselfish way, opened your home and shared so much of yourselves with strangers, friends, and especially with each year's family of students while serving at Hesston College," he said. "And above all, thank you for creating an open door for painters, sculptors, print-makers, graphic artists, and ceramists to feel accepted and loved in the family of God."
Paul and Wilma Friesen have six children, 12 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. They are members of Hesston Mennonite Church.
Visual Art department