LAURA GENTRY’S ART EXHIBIT GIVES A VOICE TO
ADOLESCENT GIRLS
A Review, by Sandra Knebel
Printed in the April 9 edition of The Allamakee Journal
The newly constructed Luther College Center for the Arts was the venue
for a very special and unique dance concert, lecture, and art reception on
Sunday, April 6. "Seen but Rarely Heard; Voices of Adolescent Girls" was
the creation of Laura Gentry, well known in Lansing as the Pastor of Our
Savior’s Lutheran Church.
Gentry, a 1992 graduate of Luther College, received her B.A. in Art/Theatre/Dance
prior to her seminary training at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley,
California.
The extremely life-like pieces were painted by Gentry in the actual likeness
of the girls who participated in her study. They are testimonials of Gentry’s
extraordinary artistic talents. In her lecture, Gentry said, "I decided the
pieces needed to be life-size to create the sense that you are confronting
a real person." In that respect, she was tremendously successful.
An extension of that success was the method used to convey the actual words
of each of the adolescent girls as they described their struggles and their
dreams. Each message, posed in straightforward words, was presented on the
backside of the piece. As often as possible, Gentry used colors that would
reflect each girls particular personality to supplement the disclosures.
The creation of this unique exhibit was explained with dramatic flair by
Gentry in a 30-minute lecture that proceeded a dance concert. When we think
of dancing, we usually envision choreographed steps as in ballet, modern,
or ballroom dancing. Not so for this performance. The 7 young women, ranging
in age from 12 to 19, went well beyond the boundaries of dance. They
used free-form movement to express the feelings that they were simultaneously
expressing verbally.
The whole afternoon was a tribute to the extremely versatile talents of Pastor
Laura Gentry.