Libby Richey, BFA ’21 and Elizabeth Sundahl, Double Major in Visual Art & Economics, ‘20

Q: Libby and Elizabeth, when did you graduate from KU, and what was your Major/Minor?

Libby: I graduated in 2021 with a major in Visual Arts, focusing primarily on painting and textiles. 

Elizabeth: I graduated from KU in the Spring of 2020 with a double major in Visual arts and Economics 

Q: What have you been up to post-graduation?

Libby: After leaving KU, I moved to New Jersey, kept painting, and secured some freelance jobs. I began working in fabrication for galleries and institutions in NYC, and gained skills to move into work as an art and artifact handler. Elizabeth and I reconnected after we both spent some time in the city, and felt that we were independently discovering it difficult to find our place as artists in a greater community. Elizabeth offered up her apartment as a one-night-only art gallery venue, where we hung our work and invited all of our friends over. From there we began hosting apartment shows, then started renting small gallery spaces officially as Verdant Art Collective (alongside our good friends and fellow KU alum Jade Groobman and Sara Carlsen). Our community grew as well as our capacity to plan bigger events and host more people. I started connecting with other DIY arts communities in Brooklyn and met tons of like-minded artists. In the last few months, Elizabeth and I had work in a show that was curated by one of those artists, Jacob Frederick Hartman, and that show spiraled into a small projects space, and that projects space spiraled into the opportunity to open an official gallery space. We formed a small team: Elizabeth, Jacob, fellow artist M Shimek, and I, and we built the spaces from the ground up. The project space - 3rd Story Gallery - is a community space, where artists/curators/collectives/etc. Can send us a proposal and utilize the space for a show over the course of a month. Renting gallery spaces in NYC is extremely expensive, even just for one night, so being able to provide a space for artists to show work at an affordable rate is very rewarding, and helps us to nurture more experimental work that might have a harder time finding its footing in a more traditional gallery space. Soon after its opening, we got the opportunity to open Pushup, an art gallery focusing on local, working class and emerging artists. We’re early in our careers as gallery owners but it's been extremely gratifying to amplify the work of many talented artists in our community, and continue to work under a DIY ethos. We have so many shows and artists lined up that we are eager to present, and I look forward to curating my first show early next year at Pushup Gallery. 

Elizabeth: Since graduating, I got a job in digital marketing and moved to Brooklyn! I met back up with Libby after working with them in the KU Common Shop and we decided to start hosting apartment art shows- just taking the stuff off my walls to hang up art made by our friends. Those shows became really popular so we decided to level-up and create an art collective with two dear friends who are also KU Alum, Jade Groobman and Sara Carlsen. Verdant Art Collective was born! We started putting out open calls for shows, renting gallery spaces in Brooklyn to host pop up shows for a night. Sara is a documentary filmmaker and we’ve hosted an annual film festival for the last two years. We’ve also organized events like figure drawing and headshots for emerging professional artists. Perhaps our largest venture yet is creating Pushup Gallery in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Libby and I regularly attend a Crit Club and through our connection with the host of the club we secured the space. We are a team of 4 working class artists- Libby, Jacob Frederick Hartman, M Shimek, and I have worked together to get the space up and running. We just had our debut show “Housewarming” open in November. The focus being on affordable small works that are very sellable in order to put money in artists pockets. We included works from 27 different artists! We already have a lot of cool shows in the works for next year, so I’m really excited to see where this leads us.

Q: What would you like to share with current and future Visual Art students?

Libby: It’s important to learn and refine as broad of a set of skills as possible. At KU I got my first taste of working in a woodshop at the Common Shop. In the Common Shop I gained all the skills I needed to work my way into an apprenticeship, and then into a creative career–and found my best friend and artistic collaborator while doing it. Many of the skills and knowledge of materials and techniques I gained in the Visual Arts classes I took have proven to be vital to my ability to work in a creative career, and my continued development as an artist.

Elizabeth: Take advantage of all of the resources at your disposal! KU has amazing facilities, programs, and clubs! Mike McCaffery changed my life by introducing me to the Common Shop at KU. If I hadn’t utilized that resource to start making canvas stretchers on the cheap I wouldn’t have met Libby and I wouldn’t be doing these cool things with my art. I broadened my skillset by taking a lot of different courses, double majoring, and getting involved in the community in Lawrence (shoutout KU Painting club and  Beekeeping Club!). I made so many invaluable connections at KU and it's been such a pillar of my success as a working artist and curator in New York.