# Event Details - **Event Name**: July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery - **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 31 Jul, 2026 at 06:00 pm – Fri, 31 Jul, 2026 at 10:00 pm - **Event Description**: Phoenix Gallery 825 Massachusetts St. July 31st, 2026 Final Friday 6-9 pm An immersive experience awaits you for this month’s Final Friday! Take a break from the heat in the Phoenix Gallery and enjoy cool art in the cool air! In the Phoenix Gallery Underground, we will have the “Fairy Tale Forest” by local artist Liza MacKinnon. Her adoration and passion for historic fashion, specifically dresses, have accumulated into years’ worth of artwork of varying mediums, leading to her current process: creating historical dresses made of paper using various techniques. This new exhibition creates a fantastical and whimsy space that explores the Forest’s role in fairy tales, as well as the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and how retellings throughout time change the story and the moral that lies within. In the Upper West Gallery, we have Phoenix Stewart’s show “From My/Your Embrace”. A recent graduate from the University of Kansas, Phoenix’s exhibition is an accumulation of two years’ worth of work created through times of intense grief and great change. As the driving motivation behind her art shifted to a more personal space, Phoenix focused on the subject matter, her connection to it, and the various processes used to preserve a moment while staying true to the impermanent, imperfect, and unreliable nature of memories. You can meet the artists and gain insight into their exhibitions on opening night, July 31st from 6 pm to 9 pm. Opening night music will be provided by local musician Alonzo Beardshear from 6 pm to 8 pm. ____________________________________________ Liza MacKinnon Lawrence, KS Artist Statement “I love the challenge of telling a story and sharing my values through the limited medium of historic costumes fashioned from paper. Using traditional techniques such as origami, embroidery and hand sewing, the humble highway map and other paper ephemera are transformed into life-size children’s garments and half scale historic portraits. Each dress provides a beautiful silhouette from a distance and then reveals minute and relevant details up close. My paper costumes are a natural extension of a lifetime spent researching, illustrating, painting, and making prints of historic dresses. These paper garments, which can take weeks to complete, are made relevant by the materials included. I enjoy surprising the viewer, either with the trompe l’oeil of paper masquerading as fabric, or with thought provoking materials incorporated into the “fabric”. I created a 1600’s dress of Ophelia from Hamlet out of pages from the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), Mary Shelley’s 1831 gown from pages of Frankenstein and oversized surgical stitching, and once, a Marie Antoinette era dress from 1040 tax forms and US currency. Although the parameters of paper clothing are limited, the possibilities for research, discovery and mediums are endless. The more I explore the people who came before us, the more I understand myself and the world we live in.” – Liza MacKinnon Fairy Tale Forest Explore the forest with me….. particularly the archaic forest of the Fairy Tale. Although the vast arboreal landscapes of Europe were almost completely eradicated by the time oral tales were collected and written down by elite opportunists like Perrault, Grimms and Anderson, the fearful and dangerous forest still played a main character in these stories. Published versions of common fairy tales evolved over time as society gradually changed its perception of the forest, transitioning it from a terrifying, lawless abyss into a vulnerable resource that required protection and romanticized nostalgia. By Victorian times, fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood were being edited into misogynistic morality lessons with males as the center protagonist or hero who saved the day. Little Red Riding Hood history and transformation Before it was written down (Pre 17th Century), the tale circulated among French and European peasants as an earthy story of childhood resourcefulness. In these raw oral traditions, the forest represents literal, physical danger where the wolf lurks and watches. Unlike later versions, this girl is highly competent. When trapped by the wolf, she tricks him by claiming she needs to relieve herself outside, uses a rope tied to a tree to fool him, and successfully escapes on her own. It was a tale celebrating quick-witted survival in a harsh agrarian world. In his 1697 retelling, Perrault wrote: "Children, especially attractive, well-bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf." In his publication Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, (The Little Red Cloak) he completely stripped the girl of her resourcefulness to deliver a heavy-handed, moralistic lecture. His version ends in tragedy: both the grandmother and the girl are eaten whole, with no rescue. Perrault explicitly adds a poetic postscript warning upper-class girls against "gentle wolves"—the charming, smooth-talking men of the court who prey on young women. Many oral versions from this time include cannibalism, werewolf or ogre components, shapeshifting and the wolf inviting the girl into bed. Perrault gathered these raw peasant stories and heavily edited them to entertain the high-society French royal court. For their first publication of das Rotkappchen (The Little Red Cap) in 1812, the brothers Grimm introduced a huntsman who cuts open the wolf's belly to pull the girl and grandmother out alive, providing the safe, ordered, and "happy" ending. By the 1857 final edition, Red is framed as a gullible, fragile, and utterly helpless child who must rely entirely on adult, patriarchal protection (the huntsman) to survive. This shift directly targeted wealthy 19th-century bourgeois parents who wanted to teach their children absolute Christian obedience to authority. Present day Although at this point in my life, although I am grandmother’s age, I’ve chosen to focus on Red as the story of the girl’s journey has always held profound elements for me. We all face the forest of our fears, choose which paths we take, when to wander, when to gather, when to listen to advice and when to fight. My journey has not been straight, I’ve definitely been a wanderer and I’ve often walked where my intuition screamed “NO” and then faced the consequences. I’ve listened to the wrong people and internalized unhelpful messages. Just like you, I had parents and family that tried to mold me into a member of society, perhaps into a “good girl” or a “good wife” or a “good mother”. I was admonished to always be a lady, never identify as a “woman”. I had grandmothers who had learned how to become adults from their parents and grandparents for whom the Grimm’s publications were brand new. See how close these ideas are? We are products not just of our own time but of the steadfast bindings to our past that can reach back a hundred years easily. All of these tales and morals and should and oughts are ever-present as we grow through childhood into sometimes reluctant and confused adults. The lovely thing about living so long is that I’ve been able to make friends with the forest and I encourage all who journey to do the same. Celebrate the child who seeks and sees, who asks the questions, who thinks, who loves, who tricks and survives, the child that still lives within you. Be curious, delighted, aware and happy. Artist Biography Liza MacKinnon is a Lawrence-based mixed-media paper artist and arts educator with 15+ years of experience. She creates detailed paper garments from paper, embellishing with embroidery, collage, and illustration. Liza has shown all over the country, exhibiting in solo, paired, open group and juried shows. She has pieces in private collections throughout the US and seven of her pieces are in the permanent collections of the Dallas Public Library and the Lucas Grassroots Art Center. She is represented by Edition ONE gallery in Santa Fe and has work in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art in Washington State, the Phoenix Gallery in Lawrence, and the Salina Art Center. Liza teaches welcoming and inclusive classes out of her Art Emergency studio in Lawrence, with a new roster of workshops every 3 months. Typical offerings include: embroidery on postcards, paper dresses, mixed media collage, illustration and paper flowers. In addition, she regularly donates time, materials and artwork to fundraisers and benefit auctions for schools, libraries, churches, art centers and a Zen bodhi in New Mexico. Liza has served as an ad hoc citizen member for the City of Lawrence Unmistakable Events TGT Grant Review since 2022. You can find Liza MacKinnon’s exhibit in the Phoenix Underground Gallery of the Phoenix Gallery. ___________________________________________ Phoenix Stewart Lawrence, KS Artist Statement My grandfather passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2024. During the last few years of his life, I had become a stranger to him, and when he died, I held his hand for the first time in a long time. That moment was both peaceful and deeply painful. It created a lasting fear in me: the fear of losing my own memories, the people I love, and the moments that shape my life. Thus, photography is my way of holding on, of preserving what is fleeting, and returning to moments that would otherwise disappear. Over the past two years, my photographic project, “From My/Your Embrace” has been fed by various losses, experiences I avoid thinking about because they make me sad. My grandfather slipped away. Friendships faded. A romantic relationship came to its end. I changed. All of these things have shifted the project's focus. My work became more introspective. Instead of making images for others to understand, I began focusing on what the images made me feel. The work evolved from a documentation of love to understanding myself within loss and transformation. I use 35mm film, digital cameras, and experimental techniques to create space for remembering. I focus on material textures and emotional atmosphere like light leaks, surface imperfections, and layered processes to echo the fragility and shifting nature of memory. Light becomes a stand-in for memory, shadows for loss, reflections for the past resurfacing, and layered exposures for the overlap between what was and what still remains. I follow intuition, honor the feeling of the moment, and stay open to chance. My practice is rooted in physical, time-based processes that involve repetition and embodied actions such as handling materials and printing. Through this approach, the project preserves traces of what is disappearing, creating images that feel fluid and emotionally charged. Photography functions as a visual language for me, one that communicates how I see and feel when words fall short. Contemporary culture moves fast, forgets quickly, and often demands constant documentation. My project pushes back by slowing down and valuing the personal, the quiet, and the fragile. This work creates a space for remembering, inviting viewers to reflect on their own histories, losses, and connections. It becomes an ongoing attempt to keep memory alive, honor what has shaped me, and offer others a moment of recognition within their own experiences. Artist Biography My artistic practice is rooted in the act of remembering. After witnessing my grandfather’s memory fade, I became aware of how fragile identity and connection truly are. The fear of losing the moments and people that shape me continues to inform how I see the world. Photography allows me to slow time and preserve emotional traces as something fluid rather than fixed. I respond to my surroundings, to the people I photograph, and to my own emotional state. I give myself simple rules: follow the moment, trust instinct, and remain open to experimentation. Allowing imperfections to shape the image reflects my interest in how memory cannot be fully controlled or preserved. Photography is central to my work, but experimentation across media informs how I approach image-making. My experiences with cyanotype, video, and textile-based processes have shaped how I understand materials and processes. Cyanotype’s softness and unpredictability reflects the way memory fades and shifts over time, while textile-based processes allow me to work with layering, touch, and intimacy in ways photography alone cannot. These processes also give me the freedom to transform images into physical forms beyond traditional prints, such as tablecloths, bed sheets, and tapestry. I work primarily with 35mm film, digital photography, and experimental processes including video, long exposures, and layered imagery. I am drawn to physical, imperfect methods that welcome chance and uncertainty. Elements like light leaks, motion blur, and double exposures mirror how memory functions; fragmented, emotional, and constantly shifting, shaped more by feeling than by clarity. I see my work in conversation with the photography of Nan Goldin, whose intimate, emotionally charged images honor personal relationships without idealizing them. Her ability to document vulnerability, love, and loss influences my approach to photographing people and moments with honesty and care. I am also inspired by the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which explores the desire to erase painful memories while ultimately affirming the importance of holding onto them. Both influences reinforce my interest in memory as something imperfect, emotional, and essential to identity. In a culture that prioritizes speed and constant documentation, my work resists immediacy. I value slowness, intimacy, and emotional presence, creating space for reflection rather than instant consumption, and inviting viewers to consider their own relationships with memory, loss, and connection. The images do not offer clear narratives; instead, they leave room for recognition and personal interpretation. By embracing unpredictability I aim to honor the emotional weight of the lived experience and the importance of remembering. You can find Phoenix’s exhibit in the Upper West Gallery of the Phoenix Gallery. ________________________________________ Opening night music will be provided by local musician Alonzo Beardshear from 6pm to 8pm in the Phoenix Underground. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/lawrence/july-final-friday-at-the-phoenix-gallery/200030476387721 - **Event Categories**: art, entertainment, workshops, exhibitions, trips-adventures, music, fine-arts, photography, contests, nonprofit - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 14 ## Ticket Details ## Event venue details - **city**: Lawrence - **state**: KS - **country**: United States - **location**: 825 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States, Kansas 66044 - **lat**: 38.9684 - **long**: -95.23614 - **full address**: 825 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States, Kansas 66044 ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events9/banners/a11b59dd3c306ce86e4ab88e8c9bfb6b302a21eed523f61d693d38f00dfe47c3-rimg-w1200-h535-dc5f7858-gmir?v=1785334401 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery being held? - **A:** July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery takes place on Fri, 31 Jul, 2026 at 06:00 pm to Fri, 31 Jul, 2026 at 10:00 pm at 825 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS, United States, Kansas 66044. - **Q**: Who is organizing July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery? - **A:** July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery is organized by Phoenix Gallery. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** July Final Friday at the Phoenix Gallery is ideal for art lovers, collectors, creatives, and anyone inspired by visual arts, installations, and exhibitions. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Lawrence, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. 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