The latest exhibit featured in the Greenlease Gallery shows how even the most common items can become works of art.

On display from Feb. 8 through March 23, the “Drop Unit” art exhibit created by May Tveit is her latest exploration using cardboard. It is a mesmerizing display that catches the eye.

Walking into the gallery, there are two prominent sculptures with five smaller monoprints that featured alongside the larger pieces. The cardboard exhibit not only shows intricate detail but depth of creativity.

Both large sculptures were created using layers of cardboard. With each layer cut and shaped differently, geometry was on display – the sculptures present distinct characteristics and elaborate spaces, or “drops.”

Tveit is an artist and professor at the University of Kansas, and she has an art studio in Kansas City, Missouri. She has had her artwork displayed in many art exhibits and has received awards and honors for her incomparable, unique artwork.

Tveit was chosen by Rockhurst professor Anne Austin Pearce to display her artwork at Rockhurst. As director and curator of the Greenlease Gallery, Pearce explained that Tveit is an artist, locally and internationally, whose artwork usually features material objects.

Over the years, Pearce has watched Tveit’s work evolve, recognizing the artfulness of tearing away the connotations typically tied to mundane objects like cardboard.

Corrugated cardboard was selected by Tveit as a primary material source of her sculptures because of how accessible it is to everyday life. Cardboard is durable, easily cut and has many purposes – even creativity. Not only do Tveit’s sculptures share a relationship with the cardboard with which they are composed, but with the minimalism used to create them.

May Tveit’s “Drop Unit” shows how an accessible and simple material can be transformed into something engaging.