A special pop-up gallery is offering art lovers the chance to purchase limited works by the late Lawrence artist Louis Copt, with smaller prints also becoming available at this month's Final Friday event. Phyllis Copt, the artist's widow, launched the temporary gallery this month to share the final pieces from her husband's extensive collection with the community that supported his artistic career.
The pop-up gallery operates Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through December 20 at the Lawrence Arts Center's offsite gallery location at 812 Massachusetts Street. "I am beyond words to express my gratitude to the Lawrence community for loving Louie and supporting his work and helping me share his work," Phyllis said in an email statement. The majority of original pieces available date from Louis's early career in the 1980s through the early 2000s, representing a significant period of his artistic development.
Louis Copt became a full-time artist around age 30, with his only regret being that he didn't pursue art as a career sooner, according to his wife. In a poignant entry from his 1991 journal that Phyllis shared, Louis wrote, "I want to make art until the very last minute." Phyllis emphasized that "he was at the top of his game at the end," highlighting the consistency of his artistic vision throughout his career.
The accomplished artist passed away in May at age 76, leaving behind a substantial legacy of artwork that Phyllis describes as expressions of "the dreams he had, a lesson he learned or a problem he solved." Louis was widely recognized for his landscape paintings created using various media including oil, pastel, acrylic, and watercolor. Beyond landscapes, he also worked as a portraitist and muralist, contributing significant public art pieces to the Lawrence community.
Among his notable public works, Louis completed a mural titled "Kansas Symphony of Seasons" for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital rooftop garden renovation in 2023. Another striking mural depicting a prairie fire at sunset can be viewed on the side of the Mass Street Music building at 1347 Massachusetts Street. These public installations demonstrate his commitment to making art accessible to the broader community.
According to his artist biography on Leopold Gallery and Art Consulting's website, Louis's collectors include prestigious institutions and organizations across the country. The University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the Kansas City football team, H&R Block, Texas A&M, and the Overland Park Convention Center all own pieces of his work, along with numerous private collectors nationwide. In recognition of his artistic contributions, Louis was named Governor's Artist by the Kansas Arts Commission in 2011.
The current collection includes several of Louis's classic paintings featuring snowy Douglas County barns, though Phyllis notes that no more of his original Kansas prairie fire paintings remain available. For the upcoming Final Friday event on Friday, November 28, from 5 to 9 p.m., Phyllis will offer notecard-sized prints of one of Louis's snowy barn pieces at the Massachusetts Street gallery location.
Additional items available during Final Friday will include a few prairie fire posters, classic watercolor prints, and several lithographs of the Grand Canyon. Phyllis also plans to sell posters that Louis designed for the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and library cards he created for the Lawrence Public Library. In a gesture honoring her husband's community involvement, she will donate the proceeds from these specific items to their respective organizations.
The pop-up gallery represents not only a final opportunity for collectors to acquire Louis Copt's work but also serves as a celebration of an artist who dedicated his life to capturing the beauty of Kansas landscapes and contributing to his community's cultural heritage. Through this exhibition, Phyllis continues to fulfill Louis's desire to share his artistic vision with others, ensuring that his creative legacy remains accessible to both longtime admirers and new discoverers of his work.
