Art Review

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 throughout each month. It was exciting!

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.

My interpretation of the paragraph is that city government feels the arts in Wichita have evolved past a place like CityArts so it’s no longer needed, vital, or necessary.

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.