An Artist's Perspective

When I was a kid I was squirrelly and scared. I didn’t like school much and my parents were having marital problems back then. You could feel the tension in my house.

A friend of mine called me last week and said she was at an estate sale and had found something that caught her eye. She texted me a quick photo and I agreed she should buy it. She paid $200 for what is a signed Peter Max lithograph worth $3000.

If an artist is influenced by other artists, and I believe we all are, I would say that my biggest influences over the last decade have been painters and sculptors who happen to be women.

The Fiber Studio is preparing an intriguing show of two of Wichita’s great artists, Richard Thomas Siegman and Ginger Tarrer.

Wichita painter Charlotte Martin possesses great power, earthiness, and a sharp wit that flows into her work. These qualities show in the line and color that combine to make a Martin painting memorable and engrossing.

I have a solo show at the Sandzen Gallery in Lindsborg this November. So here’s a typical week for me in preparation for that gig:

Local artist Mike Miller is a super-prolific force. Possessing the work ethic of a 19th-century farmer, and a deep feeling for nature, Miller takes old farm machinery, discarded motors, gears, tree limbs, and hundred-pound rocks, then sculpts them into fully powered, automated works of art. These finished machines, combining man-made with nature, are both highly sophisticated and profoundly artful...

Before there was Final Friday in Wichita one could go out and experience art exhibit openings in local galleries at least three weekends per month. And there was time to take in the show and really enjoy the work because we weren’t fighting to get to all the exhibits before they closed. There might be an opening on Friday night and then another on Saturday night. And it meant constant openings thr...

The City of Wichita has released its vague budget-cutting plan and CityArts is presented as a prime target. In the plan, buried on page 41, is a simple paragraph, under the heading “Cultural Funding” which states that arts in Wichita have evolved since CityArts was originally opened. And that one option is to restructure CityArts operations. Estimated savings: $100,000 to $300,000.

Well, the City of Wichita is planning to take a chain saw to Wichita CityArts—that beautiful three-story complex in Old Town next to the Warren Theater. They want to close the gallery space and the small boutique inside for starters, and who knows what else. CityArts is a 20-year-old entity and it is the rock and cornerstone of the entire Wichita arts community.

When a gallery in New York City has been in business for 15 years they say, “Wow, what a great run.” A 40-year gallery run in New York is almost unheard of. Now, when a Wichita man opens up a gallery and it lasts for 40 years he must be referred to as “Senex Artis” - the Latin for “The Old Man of Art.”

Artist Fred Wassall, born in 1904, moved to Wichita from his home of Birmingham, England, around 1926. He had visited his brother here and decided he liked the small town with the big city flair.

Painter Tim Stone is incendiary. At least in the annals of Kansas art. A Tim Stone painting is ‘60s surf contemporary meets New York savoir faire, blended in a Kansas tornado, and best viewed while listening to “Mother of Pearl” by Roxy Music, over and over again. Does that put it safely in a caviar tin for you?

An invitational or juried art show happens when an art entity chooses a known artist to select submitted artwork, these days via e-mail, from other artists around the country. These electronic submissions are chosen with no context or point of reference for either the piece or the submitting artist. The chosen works make up the show and the known artist then juries the show and awards winners.

I want so badly to label the type of work Wichita painter Jack Wilson does. But nothing quite fits.

Wichita artist Charlie Lavacek died on January 31st of this year. My friend Charlie chose to die on the day of a total lunar eclipse with a super-blue blood moon, a sky spectacle not seen in more than 150 years.

The Salina Biennial exhibition at the Salina Art Center is a super crisp show of technical and conceptual strength by 42 artists from 10 states up the middle of the country.

The new exhibition “Monet to Matisse,” now on view at the Wichita Art Museum, is lovely. On loan from the Brooklyn Museum, the show features 59 works from the French Moderns dating from 1850 through 1950.

Back in the late '90s I would occasionally hang out with the great Wichita painter Shirley Glickman. She would invite me to run errands with her in her white Volvo station wagon. She would randomly call me and invite me over for Sunday brunch.

I attended the opening of Kansas painter William Counter’s exhibition last Friday night at City Arts. The show is entitled “Red Stripe” and is an explosive exhibition. The show beckons the viewer through the front door with great color and message.

The news is out about the new and wonderful $22 million Mark Arts complex, which opened at Rock Road and 13th Street last week. I think we are extremely lucky to have this jewel in Wichita.

It’s now 2018! Happy New Year! I’d like to share my Arts Wish List for 2018 with you, so here it goes:

I am an artist. I chose this path many years ago. It is how I identify myself. This path is fraught with disaster.

I took a drive downtown yesterday to go to the home office of Emprise Bank. I wanted to take a look at some of the art featured in the collection known as “The Art of Emprise.”

Tomorrow begins the holiday season. I wish you all the best. You will be buying gifts. Why not buy art?