An Artist's Perspective

One of the premiere events happening this Final Friday is the grand re-opening of WSU Shift Space.

Over the Labor Day weekend, the Ulrich Museum opened their new fall exhibition: Nature’s Toolbox: Biodiversity, Art and Invention. The exhibition aims to raise awareness of the human impact on the environment.

Painter David Salle came to prominence in the 1980s when there seemed to be a lull in major American artists on the international contemporary art scene.

What is the difference between Modern art and contemporary art? Generally, the response to this question goes something like this: “Contemporary” is a term that refers to art made today by living artists. “Modern” art refers to the art movement of Modernism—with a capital M—which began around the 1850s and concluded mid-20th century.

Louise Nevelson was a key American sculptor in the mid-20th century. Her Modernist artwork changed the world of sculpture – much like what Jackson Pollock did for painting.

I love museums in the summer. What’s better than the beautifully cool environment of a museum when you need a break from the intense heat of the day?

A wonderful new collaboration has received the support from the prestigious John S and James L Knight Foundation. Activate Wichita, a website that serves as a virtual town hall, has partnered with the Wichita Public Library to commission temporary art installations in vacant downtown windows.

The portraits of California-based artist Ray Turner engage viewers with their direct gaze and thick, luscious strokes of oil paint that rest on top of 12-by-12-inch panels of glass.

The Keeper of the Plains is a monumental sculpture that marks the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers. Rising 44 feet in the air, this Cor-Ten steel sculpture of a Native American chief is a popular site for Wichita visitors and residents alike. The proud figure stands tall with his back arched, offering something invisible to the sky with his upturned palms. The crisp lines of the st...

April’s Final Friday was absolutely splendid. One show that really caught my attention was Randy Regier’s solo exhibition But Wait, There’s More at Diver Studio.

Over the weekend, the Ulrich Museum of Art opened their 19th Faculty Biennial. On display are works from 20 faculty members from the WSU School of Art and Design. Both adjunct and tenured faculty alike give a sampling of their studio work.

This spring, CityArts presents the work of the local artist collective “Famous Dead Artists” in an eclectic, action-packed, 20-year retrospective called Pushin’ Up Daisies.

Two exhibitions opened this past Final Friday at the Mid-America Fine Arts Gallery, in the Commerce Plaza building on Douglas.

The mural by Joan Miró titled “Bird People” makes the façade of the Ulrich Museum an icon of the city. But currently the Miró mural is down for extensive cleaning and conservation.

This past weekend, painter and Wichita native Curt Clonts opened his solo exhibition at Bluebird Arthouse with a title that, well, I can't write here, but it conveys the self-deprecating humor that makes Clonts so likeable.

On the last Friday of every month, local art galleries keep their doors open late for visitors.

The Wichita Art Museum opened a new show this past weekend. The exhibition is Under Pressure: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation. This exhibition features 40 artists from this private collection of postwar American artists.

This past weekend, the Ulrich Museum opened their newest exhibition Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles. This exhibition is Dr. Emily Stamey’s final show, and she left Wichita with a true gem. For Dr. Stamey, Stocked is a culmination of three years of research-- and several more of personal interest-- in food production, distribution, marketing and consumption. She married this inter...

Early January always holds such great optimism. A new year. A fresh start. A clean slate. This fades of course as the daily grind, well, grinds away. But until then, reveling in the newness of the year feels great. And with this excitement, I look to what Wichita has in store for the arts in 2013.

Looks like we’ve survived another apocalypse! Or, really, the apocalyptic hype of the Maya calendar, which concluded its 13th b’aktun (a time period of about 393 years) on December 21, 2012. Since this date, holiday meals have been eaten and presents exchanged, and now we, too, turn to face our new year. And, as the Maya elders state, we enter into a new era where a better world is possible.

The Wichita Art Museum has assembled a new exhibition from their permanent collection. It’s called “Occupy Art: Protest and Empathy for the Worker.”

This Final Friday, Go-Away Garage on South Commerce offers the show The Function of Form: New Works by Emily R. Brookover. The show is an eclectic collection of intimate drawings small enough to be doodles-- but they are so highly rendered, it would be a shame to call them that.

As family comes into town for the Thanksgiving holiday, show them the creative side of Wichita. Many of the city’s museums will keep normal business hours next week-- except for the holiday itself-- which gives Wichitans a chance to show off their city.

On Friday, the Wichita Art Museum debuts a new series of events they’re calling “Art Chatter.” In collaboration with WAM Contemporaries and the Young Professionals of Wichita, this event offers a fresh way to learn about projects, happenings, and current thoughts on the local art scene. It’s a renewed effort to make the museum a dynamic place for the community; a place that reflects the range of c...