Soul Power: Paintings by Erika Kjorlie-Geery

The February/March exhibition at the North LIght Gallery at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lawrence is “Soul Power: Paintings by Erika Kjorlie-Geery”. She is a professional artist, arts educator, actor, author and filmmaker working in a diverse variety of art mediums. Her work has been published in print and online media throughout the United States. Kjorlie-Geery’s artwork is owned and collected by celebrities and art lovers around the world. She has created many different bodies of work, ranging from fashion photography to domestic violence awareness. She describes the colorful paintings in this exhibition abstract surrealism. A 2001 graduate of Washburn University, Erika worked in the commercial art, photography, music and motion picture industries in Austin TX until returning to Lawrence Kansas in 2008 to marry fellow artist John Geery.

In 2018 she became a volunteer board member of the Lawrence Corporation for the Advancement of the Visual Arts, (The Lawrence Percolator), served as Elementary and Middle School Judge and Event Speaker for the USD 497 Vanguard Awards in 2019, and in 2021 she was selected as an Artist Inc Fellow through the Mid America Arts Alliance. She is currently in her tenth year as Art Director and Art Teacher at Raintree Montessori School and serves as a visual arts teacher at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Kjorlie-Geery believes art has the power to heal and transform. Self-development feeds her creative flow. Her painting practice helps in processing and releasing past trauma. Many of her painted images are framed within triangular borders, like sharp teeth, the shape is a metaphor for protection, shielding beauty and truth inside. She says, “As I shed heavy layers of anger and self-defense mechanisms, my freedom grows nearer and my light shines brighter.” She hopes the viewer will find something in her paintings that makes a soul connection, as a reminded of who we really are.

The opening reception will be Sunday, February 8 from noon to 2 PM. The exhibit is open on Sundays from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM and runs through March 29th. To see the exhibit outside these times please contact Liz.

The North Light Gallery at UUCL, which is located in the historic Founder’s Hall, hosts art exhibitions by local and regional artists and groups will rotate on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. The gallery is open every Sunday morning from 9:30 until 12:30 and by appointment. For information on exhibiting please check out our Exhibition Guidelines and apply using this link.