Janalyn Hanson White Gallery

The Janalyn Hanson White Gallery provides high quality visual art experiences to the students, faculty, and staff of Mount Mercy University as well as Cedar Rapids and surrounding communities. It serves as a special venue to showcase our Mount Mercy Senior Thesis exhibitions, local high school talent, and the work of many regional and nationally known artists.

About the gallery

Thanks to a generous endowment from the Tim and Jan White family, the Janalyn Hanson White Gallery in lower McAuley Hall is constantly improving.

The gallery was recently renovated, giving it a clean new look with resurfaced permanent walls and several movable walls which provide new ways to display work in the space. Since it is intended as a teaching tool, we invite artists of national reputation who work in a variety of media. These artists often come to meet with students and give a lecture during the exhibit's reception.

The Janalyn Hanson White Gallery has had the opportunity to host exhibitions in painting, drawing, digital video interactive works, installation, fiber arts, printmaking, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and video by artists from around the world—notably New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Mexico, London, and Los Angeles.

Contact us for questions and inquiries.

Spring 2025 gallery events

Through the Eyes of a 3-Year-Old

Young artist, Skyla Otto Richard, is now 4-years-old. The main part of this show is comprised of printed photos that she took with her own camera when she was three. Each picture captures a moment in a year of her life. This is a unique opportunity to see the innocence of youth in a chaotic world.

This exhibit will be running from January 27-February 14. The reception event will be on Thursday, February 13 from 4:00-6:00 PM. Join us for an ice cream bar.

 

Thoughts and Prayers

Von Venhuizen is currently an Associate Professor of Ceramics at Texas Tech University School of Art. He is a nationally and internationally known and exhibited artist, contributing to the ongoing and evolving world of ceramics. 

"The newest work in this exhibition deals with trophies, tragedy, and the frustration of ignorance. Trophies are often the spoils for, or from 'winning' with it being a visual reminder of the others loss. With so much 'winning' lately, these trophies are relating to a dark time in history: nothing happy here, nothing to celebrate. The way some individuals or groups chose to see the pandemic was curious to me. Many (some of my own family) dying, others spreading wild rumors (and the virus), others denying science in their own search at the farm feed store for ways to beat a global issue and/or others thinking they were being microchipped instead of protected. Get out the aluminum foil hats and send your Thoughts and Prayers. All hail the Google machine, social media, misinformation, ignorance, and arrogance.

"With most things that involve tragedies or celebrations, there often are balloons to celebrate or help people signify the importance of remembering those that have been affected. Almost every cause has a balloon and a color directly associated with it. I’m curious if when this pandemic lessens or hopefully is eradicated, will there be balloons? I’m guessing they’ll be red." — Von Venhuizen

This exhibit will be running from March 3-April 4. The closing reception event will be on Friday, April 4 from 5:00-7:00 PM, with the gallery talk starting at 6:00 PM.

Join the artist for a free demonstration at the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio on Saturday, April 5; RSVP required.