The bare white walls of Gallery 181 are splashed with color and the twisted anguish of artist Margo Kren. Her life experiences are illuminated by the harsh white light, warped into fairy tales and Biblical references.The artist’s personal life is revealed through the various lithographs and drawings that are on display through Thursday. “Dreams and Memories” is a collection that Kren began after she turned 40 years old. “When you see one print, it is like seeing one frame of a story,” said C. Arthur Croyle, director of Gallery 181 and associate professor of art and design. “Each print is a snapshot of something important in her life.”Kren’s prints and drawings are bold, colorful representations of her life. A moment in time is taken and preserved with an abstract, almost distorted view. Kren spent most of her life in the Midwest, which is illustrated by the presence of farm animals in many of her prints. Figures that were threatening to her in early childhood are preserved as dominating, perhaps even evil figures.”The gym teacher, next to the school nurse, was the second fearful figure for me as a child,” Kren said. “Her winged feet gave her the speed to prey quickly and grab her victims with long claws.”

Kren’s experiences are shown in disarray, with each print full of focal points and scenes separate from the main focus. Some prints appear to jump out at the viewer with the use of overlapping features and bold geometric patterns. “The viewer attempts to read every one,” Croyle said. “There’s a lot of things going on.” Nude figures are used repeatedly to represent herself or the people in her life. She also took commonly-known fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Snow White, and placed a memory of her life into the scene but with a distorted view. Kren’s father was a minister and his religious influence was a strong factor in many of her prints. In “Sunday Morning Newspapers,” Kren depicts her husband and herself sitting at a table representing a nativity scene, but with the absence of a child. A bare light bulb above the table symbolizes the star of Bethlehem.The powerful colors and angles of each print illustrate a point in time without telling a complete story. The viewer is only given a glimpse into a specific point in Kren’s life.”Looking at her work is like looking at an illustrated book on the wall without any text,” Croyle said.Kren’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is a distinguished senior faculty member at Kansas State University. “Dreams and Memories” is funded by the College of Design and admission is free.