Langlas Loft Galleries
Upper Level Gallery with a Beautiful View of Downtown Waterloo
The Thomas W. and Katherine J. Langlas Loft Gallery is located on the 2nd level/East Wing and features a balcony overlooking the Watkins Grand Foyer and the Cedar Lookout, offering an impressive downtown view.
On Display
American Abstract Artist
Paul Bland
On view May 19-November 22, 2026
Langlas Loft Gallery
Waterloo artist Paul Bland’s expressive abstract acrylic paintings pulsate with color and gestural marks in compositions that manage to be both well-balanced and delightfully animated. The author of My Waterloo Stories, Mr. Bland holds an undergraduate degree in English and a master’s degree in Secondary Education from The City College of New York. He is most influenced by the mid-century art he saw in the art galleries of Madison Avenue and in New York City museums when he first began studying art.
The artist has spent countless hours working on three separate bodies of work: Minimalist landscapes, Modernist-inspired non-representational compositions, and calligraphic abstractions. He states, “When growing up in Iowa in the 1960s, I would find scraps of plywood to paint on in the neighborhood. I used left-over house paint and standard brushes. Some of the paintings on canvas included in this exhibition are like those early house-paint artworks I completed as a child. As an adolescent, I remember helping my father complete storm-window jobs in the late afternoons. I wiped the windows clean. Windows that framed and reflected sunlight colors, the sky, and clouds.”
Paul Bland dedicates his exhibition of artwork to the memory of Dean and Darlene Bland.
Ongoing
Viendo La Vida: Latino & Indigenous Art of the Americas
This vibrant exhibition presents a selection of works from the international Folk Art Collection including pottery, sculpture, painting, textiles, wood carving and more.