ALL GEORGE WALTERSHAUSEN NEEDS IS HIS ENGINEER'S HAT
The Wednesday, August 9th edition of OFTA (Old Friends Talk Art) will feature a talk by Monmouth College Emeritus Professor of Art, George Waltershausen. His title is “The Art(?) and Architecture of Model Railroading” or “A Retired Guy Explores New Sculptural Avenues Within the Ever-expanding Horizontal Imperative.” The program will take place from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM in the main gallery of the Buchanan Center for the Arts on the Square in downtown Monmouth.
Waltershausen has an AB from Knox College, an MA from the U. of California, Berkeley, and an MFA from Bradley U. He was a faculty member in the Art Department at Monmouth College from 1966 – 2000. Since his retirement, he and his wife Cindy have been living on a picture perfect farm located in the rolling hills and lush valleys just outside of La Crosse, WI.
In the past six years Waltershausen has been a substitute teacher at the De Soto, WI High School; a Member of the Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church in La Crosse, WI; an Assistant to the Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission in Viroqua, WI; a member of the Viroqua Historic Preservation Commission; a Member of the River Rails Model Railroad Operating Group in La Crosse, WI; and a Board member and Second Vice President of the Illinois Central Railroad Historical Society.
His talk will deal with his life-long passion for sculpture and railroading. As a young man he worked on the railroad and now in retirement, he has embarked on a major historical re-construction of Southern Wisconsin’s Dodgeville line. The basement of his farm home is ringed with track, stations, sidings, and historic buildings. Contrary to some popular beliefs, serious model railroaders are not just “playing around with trains.” Walterhausen’s project has led him to travel the old right-of-way, conduct interviews, and do research on the internet, in libraries and archives, and in private collections of railroad memorabilia. You won’t want to miss this light-hearted excursion into the world of an artist and a serious hobbyist.
OFTA meets the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 10:00 AM and anyone with free mid-morning time is welcome to stop in at the Buchanan Center and enjoy a cup of coffee, a snack, and some free wheeling talk about the arts. The Buchanan Center and its gift shop are open weekdays except Monday from 9-5 and Saturdays from 10-2. The Buchanan Center for the Arts and OFTA are partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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