Beach Museum of Art Fall 2023 Exhibitions:
To the Stars Through Art: A History of Art Collecting in Kansas Public Schools, 1900-1950
August 22, 2023 – May 11, 2024
In 1911 the school superintendent in McPherson, Kansas, organized an exhibition to acquire artwork for a new high school. This became an annual ticketed event, allowing the McPherson schools to establish a rich collection of works by regionally and nationally recognized artists, among them James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Birger Sandzén and Fern Coppedge.
Before the mid-century, schools in dozens of Kansas communities, including boarding schools for Indigenous students and segregated schools, joined McPherson in acquiring original art. To the Stars Through Art will feature 70 paintings and prints by Blackbear Bosin, Norma Bassett Hall, Walter Ufer and other artists, from more than a dozen schools and history museums across the state. A goal of the exhibition is to guide Kansas schools in caring for their collections and using art for educational enrichment. The exhibition is being organized by Curator Elizabeth Seaton in collaboration with regional scholars and museum curators.
Image: Ethel Spears, WPA Cutting Down a Tree, ca. 1938, Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project, Illinois, allocated to Topeka High School, opaque watercolor and graphite on paper, Kansas State University, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, 2016.30
Neil Welliver: Maine Seasons
September 19, 2023 – August 17, 2024
Enjoy an imaginary trek into Maine’s natural wonders in this exhibition of three large paintings by Neil Welliver (1929-2005). About his dramatic depictions of the state’s landscape, the artist said he hoped the viewer might “really actively enter … in a psychological sense.” The works are on loan from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art through the Art Bridges Foundation.
Image: Neil G. Welliver, Autumn Blueberry Barren (detail), 1982, oil on canvas, 96 x 96 in., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of Ruth and Stanley Westreich, 2021.14
wood+paper+box in your hands
2023 Friends of the Beach Museum of Art Gift Print
October 3, 2023 – April 6, 2024
Katie Baldwin, Mariko Jesse, and Yoonmi Nam make up the artist collective wood+paper+box. They met in Japan in 2004 at an artist residency, where together they lived and studied mokuhanga, the traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking technique. Artworks by wood+paper+box carry the spark born of shared experience and are created through collaboration, interaction, and friendship. They offer the idea of appreciating art not just by looking but also by touching and participating.
Images: wood+paper+box, Mise-en-Scène (2023 Beach Museum of Art Gift Print), 2020-2022, clamshell box, mokuhanga (Japanese water-based woodblock print), oil-based woodblock print, letterpress, lithograph, and inkjet print, dimensions variable, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
Art in Motion Program Series
A tribute to Marianna’s love for lifelong learning.Join our free public programs!
Please check beach.k-state.edu/calendar for most up to date information on programs and events. Here are some select upcoming events:
- Sept. 9, 2023: K-State Family Day Open House
- Nov. 2, 2023: talk by wood+paper+box in your hands exhibition artists Katie Baldwin, Mariko Jesse, and Yoonmi Nam.
- Dec. 2, 2023: Holiday Workshop
- Dec. 7, 2023: Winter Party