Gary Keshner of Creative Sculpture & Restoration of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, will speak to Museum Studies students about sculptural restoration techniques Oct. 16 at 2:30 p.m. in Brick City Building 1, room 312. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Creative Sculpture & Restoration is known for restoring the Missouri State Capitol Building in Jefferson City, stonework and monuments throughout Forest Park in St. Louis, sculptures and buildings throughout the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, and many churches and cathedrals across the region.

Keshner will be providing an assessment for the cleaning and restoration of Missouri State University’s Lanning sculpture collection.

Lanning sculptures an Ozarks legacy

Before being relocated to the Missouri State campus, Ralph Lanning’s sculptures were on display for nearly half a century east of Republic, Missouri, alongside Highway 60. Over time “Lanning Gardens” drew thousands of visitors, intrigued by the fanciful and playful sculptures including dinosaurs, monsters, and stories of love, loss and everyday life on display. In 2010 the sculptures were purchased by the Kohler Foundation and subsequently gifted to Missouri State.

Since then, the sculptures have been on display in various locations on campus. Repeated vandalism over the years forced the university to place most of the sculptures in safe storage until an appropriate place could be found to exhibit them, but two of Lanning’s sculptures – “Pet Dog” and “Prehistoric Flying Creature” – can still be seen on campus.

Lanning, who was untrained as an artist but was a mason by trade, did not start making sculptures until he was 57. Many of his sculptures are autobiographical, such as First Broken Heart, which depicts a crying woman witnessing her husband going off to war. Lanning, who died in 2009, had served in World War II.

To learn more about the Lanning sculptures or the Museum Studies program at Missouri State University, contact the Department of Art and Design or call 417-837-2330.

News submitted by Mariah Hunter and edited by the Reynolds College Communications team. Photos by Vonda Yarberry.

Hunter is a graduate assistant for the Department of Art and Design. She is working towards her master’s degree in writing at Missouri State University.