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Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art

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A sneak-peak at spring 2025

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

New exhibitions opening in Spring 2025:

Dana Fritz

Field Guide to a Hybrid Landscape: Dana Fritz
2025 Friends of the Beach Museum of Art Gift Print Artist
February 4 – July 13, 2025
This exhibition will make visible the forces that shaped what was once the world’s largest hand planted forest, now administered by the Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands. Black and white prints by photographer Dana Fritz reveal the patterns in sand, water, planting, and burning present in this late 19th-century experiment to create a timber industry and change the climate of a semi-arid Nebraska prairie. Fritz is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Image: Dana Fritz, Fire Tower View, 2021, inkjet print, 16 x 40 in., courtesy of the artist

 

In Bloom
In Bloom
February 25 – August 30, 2025
Join us in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the K-State Gardens with floral selections in the museum’s collection. This exhibition is also our annual collaboration with the Manhattan Public Library’s summer reading program. The American Library Association has chosen the theme “Color Our World,” and we promise a riot of color! Image: John Steuart Curry, Peonies, 1939, oil on canvas, 15 7/8 x 20 1/4 in., gift of Dr. Daniel Schuster, 1993.1

Current Exhibitions

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Click here to view current Virtual Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibitions:

Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness
September 3 – December 21, 2024

"Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness" exhibition publicity image

Printing Beyond Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University
August 13, 2024 – May 31, 2025

Printing Beyond "Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art

Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure
May 28 – December 21, 2024

"Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure" exhibition promotional image

Prairie Views
Ongoing with new selections

"Prairie Views" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

2024-2025 K-State Common Works of Art

Chester (Chet ) E. Peters,
Communication, 1973,
philippine mahogany, red cedar,
rosewood, cherry, and walnut
with metal, 5 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 12 3/4 in., gift of the Doris Peters Trust, 2015.103 

Geraldine Craig, The Back Side of Words, 2009, mixed media, 30 x 37 in., 2010.17

Current Exhibitions

Posted on by Jui Mhatre
Click here to view current Virtual Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibitions:

Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness
September 3 – December 21, 2024

"Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness" exhibition publicity image

Printing Beyond Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University
August 13, 2024 – May 31, 2025

Printing Beyond "Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art

Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure
May 28 – December 21, 2024

"Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure" exhibition promotional image

 

Prairie Views
Ongoing with new selections

"Prairie Views" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

2024-2025 K-State Common Works of Art

Chester (Chet ) E. Peters,
Communication, 1973,
philippine mahogany, red cedar,
rosewood, cherry, and walnut
with metal, 5 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 12 3/4 in., gift of the Doris Peters Trust, 2015.103 

Geraldine Craig, The Back Side of Words, 2009, mixed media, 30 x 37 in., 2010.17

Artist Talk: Natural Color and Print from the Prairie

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Sherry Haar photoThursday, October 10, 2024, 5:30-6:30 PM, Beach Museum of Art, Free and open to all

Join a conversation with fiber artist Sherry Haar as she takes us through methods of dyeing and printing with local plants on textiles. This program is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness, open September 3 – December 21, 2024 at the Beach Museum of Art.

 

 

Sherry Haar

Now Open!

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Printing Beyond Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University
August 13, 2024–May 31, 2025

This exhibition features work by Indian printmakers active in the second half of the 20th century. It demonstrates that innovative arts research and cultural exchanges were taking place at K-State more than thirty years ago. Professor of Printmaking Charles Stroh (1943–2022) acquired the artwork for the university. Stroh was art department head between 1980 and 1989. He traveled to India to conduct research on the state of printmaking in 1984–1985 and returned for a second time in 1989–1990. During the second trip, Stroh delivered lectures and workshops at universities at the invitation of local artists. Several artists from India later visited K-State.

Stroh’s interest in Indian printmaking was unusual. He noted in records held by the Beach Museum of Art that during the 1980s US art institutions did not actively collect prints by Indian artists and rarely featured them in exhibitions and publications. Stroh was one of the earliest American scholars to recognize the significance of Indian printmakers and their international influence and connections. He left an unpublished manuscript for a book that would have been the first survey of contemporary Indian printmaking in English.

In 1987 Stroh organized a traveling exhibition of K-State’s Indian print collection with the university’s first professional curator, Jessica Reichman. In this 2024 exhibition guest curators Vidhita Raina and Michael Jordan Vanhartingsveldt , doctoral students in the Kress Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, take a new look at the collection. Longtime museum patron Margo Kren has provided support for their work.

 

Printing Beyond "Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art

The exhibition has two phases. A fall display of works investigates the artists, institutions, and printmaking networks in India when Stroh first traveled there. A spring 2025 installation will look at the global scope of Indian printmaking in the 1970s and 1980s.

Major Sponsor: Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Lincoln & Dorothy I. Deihl Community Grants Program

Related free events at the Beach Museum of Art

Storytelling: Arts of India
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5:30-7 p.m.
Presentations by Dr. Jessica Falcone and Jui Mhatre about the aspects of religious and cultural iconography and storytelling in arts of India.

India: A Cultural Celebration
Thursday, March 13, 2025, 5-7 p.m.

Opening soon!

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness
September 3–December 21, 2024

The modern green burial movement of caring for the dead with preservation of habitat and minimal environmental impact is on the rise. This exhibition brings awareness to end-of-life planning through statement garments, shrouds, and textile coffins. The tallgrass prairie framed the making through its unique landscape and use of plants and grasses to dye and print fiber. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with guest curator Sherry Haar, Professor of Fashion Studies at Kansas State University.

Sherry Haar, "Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness" Sherry Haar, "Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness"
Sherry Haar, "Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness"

Sherry Haar, Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness

Related events at the Beach Museum of Art

Botanical Printing Workshop for Adults with Sherry Haar  
Saturday, September 7, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
$15 supply fee per participant, cash or check. Registration is required, please call 785-532-7718 or email klwalk@ksu.edu.

Natural Color and Print from the Prairie  
Thursday, October 10, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
A conversation with fiber artist Sherry Haar
Free and open to all

Natural Burial at Kansas’ Heart Land Cemetery  
Thursday, November 7, 5:30-6:30 p.m. 
A conversation about green burial and personal experiences with Sarah Crews, Director of Heart Land, and Kelly Parker who buried her spouse at Heart Land.
Free and open to all

Current Exhibitions

Posted on by Jui Mhatre
Click here to view current Virtual Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibitions:

Printing Beyond Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University
August 13, 2024 – May 31, 2025

Printing Beyond "Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art

Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure
May 28 – December 21, 2024

"Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure" exhibition promotional image

Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio
February 13 – October 19, 2024

"Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

 

Prairie Views
Ongoing with new selections

"Prairie Views" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

2024-2025 K-State Common Works of Art

Chester (Chet ) E. Peters,
Communication, 1973,
philippine mahogany, red cedar,
rosewood, cherry, and walnut
with metal, 5 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 12 3/4 in., gift of the Doris Peters Trust, 2015.103 

Geraldine Craig, The Back Side of Words, 2009, mixed media, 30 x 37 in., 2010.17

 

A Sneak-Peek at Fall 2024

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Beach Museum of Art Fall 2024 Exhibitions:

A print titled "The Artist at 41 with Bhagavati" by Charles Stroh in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

Printing Beyond Borders: Contemporary Indian Prints at Kansas State University
August 13, 2024 – May 31, 2025
Charles Stroh, printmaker and former head of the K-State art department, traveled to India twice in the 1980s to learn about contemporary Indian artists active in printmaking. His interviews with them, as well as his residencies at prestigious Indian art schools, established a vibrant cultural network encompassing the Midwest and India. This exhibition features works brought back to Kansas by Stroh and highlights the contributions he made to place Kansas within the global art world.
Image: Charles Stroh, The Artist at 41 with Bhagavati, late 20th century, color woodcut, 19 x 17 in., Gift of the Angelo Garzio Trust, 2014.30=

 

Detail of textile "Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness" by Sherry Haar

Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness
September 3 – December 21, 2024
The modern green burial movement of caring for the dead with preservation of habitat and minimal environmental impact is on the rise. This exhibition brings awareness to end-of-life planning through statement garments, shrouds, and textile coffins. The tallgrass prairie framed the making through its unique landscape and use of plants and grasses to dye and print fiber. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with guest curator Sherry Haar, Professor of Fashion Studies at Kansas State University.
Image: Sherry Haar, Return to Prairie: Textiles for Green Burial Awareness

Fall 2024 Programs and Events:

Please check beach.k-state.edu/calendar for most up to date information on programs and events. Here are some exciting upcoming events:

K-State Student Welcome
Thursday, September 5, 5 – 7 p.m.

Eco-Printing Workshop for Adults with Sherry Haar
Saturday, September 7, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Prairie Colors Conversation with Sherry Haar and Kelsie Doty
Thursday, October 10, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. 

Storytelling: Arts of India
Thursday, November 14, 5:30 – 7 p.m.

Holiday Workshop
Saturday, December 7, 11 – 12:30, or 1:30 – 3 p.m.

Winter Party
Thursday, December 12, 5 – 7 p.m.

 

Current Exhibitions

Posted on by Jui Mhatre
Click here to view current Virtual Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibitions:

Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure
May 28 – December 21, 2024

"Upon a Time: Create Your Own Adventure" exhibition promotional image

Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio
February 13 – October 19, 2024

"Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

 

Neil Welliver: Maine Seasons
September 19, 2023 – August 17, 2024

Prairie Views
Ongoing with new selections

"Prairie Views" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

2023-2024 K-State Common Works of Art
Works by Roger Y. Shimomura in the Beach Museum of Art collection

Image from "Memories of Childhood," lithograph (handmade book) by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

Memories of Childhood, 1999, color lithograph (handmade book), 7 x 10 in., G. E. Johnson Art Acquisition Fund, 2002.340

 Color lithograph "American Guardian" by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

American Guardian, 2007, color lithograph, 27 1/8 x 39 in., Kansas Printmakers Fund, 2007.10
"Enemy Alien #2," acrylic on canvas by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

Enemy Alien #2, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 in., 2016.41

 

Women in Art: Then and Now

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Gallery Conversation
Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 12-1 PM
Beach Museum of Art (701 Beach Lane, Manhattan , Kansas 66506)
Free and open to the public 
Light refreshments available

Visiting artist Susie J. Lee, Curator Aileen June Wang, and Museum Specialist Nate McClendon facilitate a discussion about paintings of women on display and the realities of being a woman artist today. Organized by the Beach Museum of Art and the Kansas State University Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging with generous support from Art Bridges.

Gallery conversation: Women in Art: Then and Now - flyer

Art Bridges Foundation logo

Kansas Schools, Native Americans, and the New Deal

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Symposium
Saturday, April 13, 2024, 1-4 PM
Beach Museum of Art UMB Theater
Free and open to the public

Schedule:

  • Introductions
    Alex Red Corn, assistant professor of educational leadership, College of Education, Kansas State University, and co-chair K-State Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance

  • PANEL 1:
    Contextualizing Arts Education During the Boarding School Era: Carlisle Indian Industrial School and Haskell Institute
    Travis Campbell, director, Haskell Cultural Center and Museum, Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence
    Kevin Slivka, PhD art education, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School arts faculty member

  • PANEL 2:
    Reclaiming Indigenous Artistry: Prairie Band Potawatomi Bead Workers and the Kansas WPA Museum Project
    Kara Heitz, lecturer, Kansas City Art Institute, and owner/producer, Clio’s Scroll Productions
    Raphael Wahwassuck, Tribal Council Member and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
    Tara Mitchell, Deputy Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and bead work artist, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation

"To the Stars Through Art" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art

Organized in conjunction with the exhibition To the Stars Through Art: A History of Art Collecting in Kansas Public Schools, 1900-1950, open through May 11, 2024. Support provided by Humanities Kansas, a nonprofit cultural organization that connects communities with history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life.

Humanities Kansas logo

Beach Museum’s 2021-2022 Gordon Parks exhibition will soon travel to six venues around the country

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

The exhibition ‘Homeward to the Prairie I Come’: Gordon Parks Photographs from the Beach Museum of Art will soon travel to six venues around the country beginning in the fall of 2024. The museum’s 2021–2022 Gordon Parks exhibition was co-curated by Beach Museum staff Aileen June Wang and Sarah Price. The tour is organized by the Beach Museum with major support from Art Bridges, a foundation led by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, which aims to expand access to American art across the country.

The Beach Museum of Art's 2021-2022 exhibition "Gordon Parks: 'Homeward to the Prairie I Come.'"

The first stop is Syracuse University Art Museum in August 2024. Co-curator Aileen June Wang will deliver the keynote presentation there in September 2024.

Tour schedule:
Syracuse, Syracuse NY: August 22 – December 10, 2024
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT: January 19 – March 30, 2025
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS: April 19 – July 20, 2025

Additional venues planned during August 2025 – January 2026:
Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK: February 12 – May 24, 2026
Brigham Young University Provo, UT: July – November 21, 2026
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL: December 18, 2026 – March 14, 2027

Learn more about the museum’s exhibition and its open-access digital catalog, part of a collaboration with K-State English here. Major support for the catalog comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

K-State English maintains the open-access website The Learning Tree: A Gordon Parks Digital Archive, also supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In addition to the traveling exhibition, Curator Aileen June Wang and Gordon Parks Museum Director Kirk Sharp organized a convening in March 2024 for the six host museums in Fort Scott, Kansas, generously supported by Art Bridges, with additional support from Fort Scott Community College and the Gordon Parks Museum. Convening presenters were Andrew F. Scott, associate professor of arts and technology at the University of Texas Dallas, and Beach Museum of Art staff. Beach Museum Specialist Nate McClendon and his band presented an interpretation of the Gordon Parks exhibition through music and narration.

Art Bridges Foundation logo

Current Exhibitions

Posted on by Jui Mhatre
Click here to view current Virtual Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibitions:

Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio
February 13 – October 19, 2024

"Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

wood+paper+box in your hands
2023 Friends of the Beach Museum of Art Gift Print
October 3, 2023 – April 6, 2024

wood+paper+box in your hands

To the Stars Through Art: A History of Art Collecting in Kansas Public Schools, 1900-1950
August 22, 2023 – May 11, 2024

"To the Stars Through Art: A History of Art Collecting in Kansas Public Schools, 1900-1950" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art, open August 22, 2023 – May 11, 2024

Neil Welliver: Maine Seasons
September 19, 2023 – August 17, 2024

Prairie Views
Ongoing with new selections

"Prairie Views" exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art.

2023-2024 K-State Common Works of Art
Works by Roger Y. Shimomura in the Beach Museum of Art collection

Image from "Memories of Childhood," lithograph (handmade book) by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

Memories of Childhood, 1999, color lithograph (handmade book), 7 x 10 in., G. E. Johnson Art Acquisition Fund, 2002.340

 Color lithograph "American Guardian" by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

American Guardian, 2007, color lithograph, 27 1/8 x 39 in., Kansas Printmakers Fund, 2007.10
"Enemy Alien #2," acrylic on canvas by artist Roger Shimomura in the collection of the Beach Museum of Art.

Enemy Alien #2, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 in., 2016.41

 

Now Open!

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio
Open through October 19, 2024

An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.
— Leonardo da Vinci

What is it that an artist does when he is left alone in his studio? My conclusion was that if I was an artist and I was in the studio, then everything I was doing in the studio should be art … From that point on, art became more of an activity and less of a product.
— Bruce Nauman

The studio is a laboratory, not a factory. An exhibition is the result of your experiments, but the process is never-ending. So an exhibition is not a conclusion.
— Chris Ofili

Explore the studios of artists through their own eyes in this exhibition of artworks from the museum’s collection. Tools and other materials used by artists such as Jim Hagan, Herschel C. Logan, and Bernard Steffen complement prints, drawings, and works in other media depicting artists in their studios. Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the deeply personal activity of creation.

Light-sensitive works on paper in this exhibition will be changed during the summer, so be sure to look out for a new set of studio views!

Major Sponsor: Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Lincoln & Dorothy I. Deihl Community Grants Program

Caroline Thorington, "Magician 3rd State," 2013, lithograph, gift of Caroline Thorington, 2017.285

Caroline Thorington, Magician 3rd State, 2013, lithograph, gift of Caroline Thorington, 2017.285

Douglas L. Osa, "The Próvacateur," 1997 – 1999, oil on linen, 32 x 30 in. Friends of the Beach Museum of Art purchase, 2000.2

Douglas L. Osa, The Próvacateur, 1997 – 1999, oil on linen, 32 x 30 in. Friends of the Beach Museum of Art purchase, 2000.2

Opening Soon!

Posted on by Jui Mhatre

Where the Magic Happens: Artists in the Studio
February 13 – October 19, 2024
Explore the creative process through views of artists working in their studios, many of them self-portraits. The exhibition will showcase works from the museum’s collection and will also feature tools owned by Charles Marshall, Herschel Logan and Bernard Steffen.

Major Sponsor: Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Lincoln & Dorothy I. Deihl Community Grants Program

Caroline Thorington, "Magician 3rd State," 2013, lithograph, gift of Caroline Thorington, 2017.285

Caroline Thorington, Magician 3rd State, 2013, lithograph, gift of Caroline Thorington, 2017.285

Douglas L. Osa, "The Próvacateur," 1997 – 1999, oil on linen, 32 x 30 in. Friends of the Beach Museum of Art purchase, 2000.2

Douglas L. Osa, The Próvacateur, 1997 – 1999, oil on linen, 32 x 30 in. Friends of the Beach Museum of Art purchase, 2000.2