NATE KING
Salina Post
Bringing back its Sunflower Biennial exhibition, the Salina Art Center is ready to give younger Kansans a way to showcase their art.
“We have 98 pieces in the show, representing 38 communities across our state. So it's really an exciting show,” said Salina Art Center Executive Director Misty Serene.
The exhibition is set to open on Feb. 11 and will be open to the public until March 26. All of the pieces featured in the exhibition are made by a college or high school age Kansas student.
Serene said that this exhibition provides young artists a platform to share what is current in their world that encourages the exchange of ideas and respect. The exhibition will allow young artists to gain experience with the submitting artwork for exhibitions, building a portfolio, public speaking, marketing their talents and more.
“We will have an opening reception at the center on February the 11th, from 1-3 p.m. free and open to anyone to attend, we encourage you to meet the young artists, talk to them and see their work," Serene said. "It's a very community friendly opportunity. In fact, everything at the galleries is always free admission. ”
Two art jurors from the FISCH HAUS in Wichita will review all the submissions, and determine which of the artworks will be awarded additional prizes. The jurors are Elizabeth Stevenson and Patrick Duegaw.
FISCH HAUS is a multi-disciplinary art facility, located in Wichita's Commerce St. Art District, currently accommodating five full-time local creatives as well as a steady stream of artists, actors and musicians, both regional and international.
"We always do our best to reach out to reputable artists who are currently working in the field of art to be jurors for this exhibition," Serene said. "Elizabeth and Patrick are both fantastic artists, so we are very pleased to be working with them and FISH HAUS."
Stevenson earned a degree in architecture from McGill University in Montreal. She has lived and worked throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, arriving finally in Wichita in 1998.
Duegaw is an artist and shows nationally and internationally. He divides his time between his studios in Kansas and Montréal, Québec. Duegaw's first solo museum exhibition, The Builder, Removed, a comprehensive retrospective of 111 paintings and drawings, was held at the Wichita Art Museum in the spring of 2009. Many museums and exhibitions later, Duegaw has had seven large-scale solo multi-media exhibitions at Fisch Haus, regularly exhibits in galleries in both Kansas City and San Francisco, and has been invited to participate in national group shows such as the Kansas Masters Invitational, and the Kansas Governor's Ball/Inauguration Exhibition, both held in 2007.