The Beach Museum of Art is kicking off its 25th anniversary in style with two partner exhibitions by Kansas photographers: one featuring works of the iconic Gordon Parks and a companion exhibition with works by Manhattan-based rising star Doug Barrett.
Gordon Parks: “Homeward to the Prairie I Come”
Virtual exhibition launch: September 7, 2021
Marion Pelton Gallery: September 7, 2021 – May 28, 2022
This exhibition features photographs donated by Parks to Kansas State University (K-State) in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1973. It was the first time that the artist personally curated a set of photographs to donate to a public institution, a kind of self-portrait directed towards the home crowd. The exhibition title includes the first line of a poem written by Parks in 1984, commissioned by and published in the Manhattan Mercury. K-State’s New Prairie Press will publish an accompanying open-access digital catalogue with new research on Parks and Kansas.
Related events:
KSU Family Day/Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day
Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America Book Giveaway
Saturday, September 18, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Let’s Talk Art: Fort Scott’s Gordon Parks Museum and Gordon Parks Festival.
Livestream conversation with Kirk Sharp, director, Gordon Parks Museum, Fort Scott Community College
Thursday, September 30, 5:30 p.m.
“Home, What Does It Look Like?: Gordon Parks Responds”
Livestream talk and conversation with Deborah Willis, chair, Tisch Department of Photography and Imaging, New York University
Thursday, November 4, 5:30 p.m.
Let’s Talk Art: Considering the Dance Film Martin by Gordon Parks.
Livestream Conversation: Curator Aileen June Wang discusses Parks’ 1990 ballet film honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., with Theresa Ruth
Howard, ballet dancer and founder-curator of MoBBallet.org (Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet).
Thursday, January 27, 2022, 5:30 p.m.
Beach Film Club: Virtual Discussion on African American Short Films.
February 2022, date TBD, 7:30 p.m.
Art for Social Good: A Conversation with Terence Blanchard, Andrew Scott, and Kevin Willmott.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 7 p.m., McCain Auditorium
Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective in Concert, with staging by K-State students under direction of Andrew Scott and Mathew Gaynor.
Thursday, April 7, 2022, 7 p.m., McCain Auditorium
Beach Film Club: Virtual Discussion of Shaft by Gordon Parks.
April 2022, date TBD, 7:30 p.m.
Platinum Major Sponsors: Art Bridges, The Alms Group, Beach-Edwards Family Foundation, Friends of the Beach Museum of Art, Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Lincoln & Dorothy I. Deihl Community Grants Program, Weary Family Foundation
Gold Sponsors: Dan and Beth Bird and Steve and Debbie Saroff
Silver Sponsors: Annette and Steve Huff
Bronze Sponsors: Mary Cottom and Ann and Mark Knackendoffel
Image: Gordon Parks, Pool Hall (Fort Scott, Kansas), 1950, printed in 2017, gelatin silver print, gift of Gordon Parks and the Gordon Parks Foundation, 2017.445.
Gordon Parks images courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.
Doug Barrett: Find Your Voice
Virtual exhibition launch: September 7, 2021
Archie & Dorothy Hyle Family Gallery: September 7, 2021 – May 28, 2022
Doug Barrett is a photographer and videographer based in Manhattan, Kansas. His work demonstrates how Gordon Parks continues to inspire contemporary artists. Barrett’s projects include interviewing, photographing, and telling the stories of homeless veterans, creating a collective portrait of the Yuma Street community of Manhattan, Kansas, and documenting the Black Lives Matter movement in Kansas.
Related event:
Gallery conversation with Doug Barrett
In-person and livestream
Thursday, September 16, 5:30 p.m.
Platinum Major Sponsors: Art Bridges, Beach-Edwards Family Foundation, Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Lincoln & Dorothy I. Deihl Community Grants Program
Silver Sponsors: Terry and Tara Cupps
Bronze Sponsor: Dow Center for Multicultural and Community Studies at K-State Libraries
Image: Will the hate end? from the series George Floyd Protest, 2020, digital print, 32 x 22 in., 2020.20
More in September:
45 Paleolithic Handaxes
from Transfigurations: Reanimating the Past
Ruth Ann Wefald Gallery: September 21, 2021 – July 16, 2022
Organized by the museum in collaboration with K-State’s Information Technology Services, this experimental multimedia installation is guaranteed to surprise and delight! It features the mysterious beauty of an ancient artifact through specially composed music and unique video animation. See the past differently!
Platinum Major Sponsors: Cytek Media Systems, Inc. and Weary Family
Foundation
Gold Sponsors: David and Mindy Weaver
Silver Sponsors: Jerry and Barbara Boettcher
Bronze Sponsors: Terry and Tara Cupps, Judy and David Regehr, Bill and
Sharon Snyder
Image: The Forms: Four Worlds. Simulation. © 2019 Night Fire Films
Click here for details and links to register for virtual events.
All events, which are free and open to the public, will be held in the museum’s UMB Theater and/or virtually. Limited occupancy in the galleries to allow social distancing. Limited seating will be provided in the UMB theatre to view livestreamed events. The Beach Museum of Art follows Kansas State University guidelines for COVID-19 health and safety procedures. For more information visit k-state.edu/covid-19.
