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Art Educators Exhibition at McPherson College Presents Record Number of Works from Area Teachers

Art teachers are simply busy people. Finding the time for teaching is hard enough, let alone making one’s own art and then submitting to exhibitions.

Fortunately, that’s where the annual Central Kansas Art Educators Exhibition, created and hosted by McPherson College, helps out.

Wayne Conyers, professor of art, has extended the invitation to area art teachers and retirees to contribute works to the exhibition for 14 years. The show gives these educators an opportunity to display their work in a professional gallery space – the college’s Friendship Hall – with a minimum of difficulty.

The exhibition is a bit like a second Christmas for Conyers, as he never knows how many works of art are going to arrive or what he will unwrap when they get here.

“I always look forward to this show,” Conyers said. “I’ve never had so many people bring in so many multiple works.”

Those multiple entries meant a noteworthy surprise – while the number of artists showing is similar to previous years at 25, the exhibit this year sets a new record for number of works in the show, with 116.

That number represents a wide diversity of artistic ideas and media: A huge painting of Abraham Lincoln in shades of red, overlaid with a regular pattern of bright yellow No. 2 pencils. A sculpture of a pregnant woman in wireframe metal, with a round clay ball showing the developing baby. Small but detailed metal “steampunk fish” ornaments.

The Central Kansas Art Educators Exhibition is on display now through Sunday, April 10. That afternoon will also have a closing reception for the artists in Friendship Hall. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

The artists currently exhibiting their work in Friendship Hall are:

  • Craig Boyers, USD 400 (Lindsborg, Kan.)
  • Natalie Brown, Derby High School
  • James Caldwell, Halstead High School
  • Reta Caldwell, Wichita, Kan. (Retired, Beloit Elementary School)
  • Casey Callis, Abilene Middle School
  • Christine Emond, Caldwell Elementary School (Wichita, Kan.)
  • Stacy Hall, McPherson High School
  • Betty Jo Houchen, McPherson, Kan. (Retired, Haven Elementary School and McPherson High School)
  • Kathryn Cockriel Janzen ’92, Griffith Elementary School (Wichita, Kan.)
  • Lana Kaylor, Andover High School
  • Elizabeth Liljegren, McPherson, Kan. (retired, McPherson High School)
  • Lori Martin-Price, Elyria Christian School (McPherson, Kan.), Hutchinson Community College, & Wichita Center for the Arts
  • Jerry Major, Chapman Middle School
  • Sharon Matz, Lincolnville, Kan.
  • Wyatt McCrea, Wichita Public Schools (retired)
  • Shawny Montgomery, Cheney High School
  • Phyllis Newson, Lindsborg, Kan. (retired)
  • Raymond Olais, Newton High School
  • Bethany Schoenwetter ’12, McPherson High School
  • Kathy Schroeder, Hesston, Kan. (retired)
  • Micah Snider, Wichita North High School
  • Mary Ann Tanking, Salina, Kan. (retired, Southeast of Saline and Kansas Wesleyan University)
  • Kent Thompson, Osborne, Kan. (retired)
  • Beth Vannata, Hutchinson High School and Hutchinson Community College (retired)
  • Peggy Wambold, Newton, Kan. (retired, Clyde, Kan., and McCook, Neb.)