A new exhibition featuring artwork from McPherson County artists is on exhibit at McPherson College’s Friendship Hall. The public is invited to a closing reception for the artists on Sunday, September 28 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Last spring, an open call was issued by McPherson College for all artists, makers, and creatives in the visual arts living in McPherson County. Several artists answered, resulting in the exhibition that features a variety of works.

“The exhibition is a beautiful, diverse, and meaningful cross section of artworks made in our community,” said Michaela Valli Groeblacher, associate professor of art and gallery director.

The Friendship Hall gallery at McPherson College is open to the public during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. The exhibition will be on display during McPherson College’s Homecoming on September 26-27.

Artists featured in the exhibit include Ron Michael, Haley Addis, Ann Zerger, Rachel Bedel, Lee Becker, Bethany Schoenwetter, Susanna Godwin, Jennifer Weigel, Lan Nelson, Karen Studelmeyer, Dara Dix, Katie Dix, Jill Brax, Dee Erway-Sherwood, Jim Turner, Nelson Smith, Geraldine Craig, Abigail Briscoe, Aelix Heckeroth, Elijah Leck, Phyllis Newson, Julie Unruh, and Michaela Valli Groeblacher.

Space Spiral, mixed media on canvas by Don Fullmer.

A new exhibition featuring artwork from Hutchinson artists Don Fullmer and Scott Brown is on exhibit at McPherson College’s Friendship Hall through October 21. The exhibit features abstract paintings by Fullmer and mobiles made from reclaimed prints by Brown.

“Abstract Expressionism is the first truly American art movement of modern times,” said Michaela Valli Groeblacher, associate professor of art and gallery director at McPherson College. “The current exhibit is full of color, pattern, and movement and provides skilled examples of abstract expressionism. I invite visitors to enjoy getting lost in their thoughts while pondering the art on the walls and dangling from the ceiling.”

Fullmer’s paintings have been described as instinctual, sublime, ethereal, and highly crafted. A native of Hutchinson, Fullmer’s education includes a BFA from the University of Kansas and an MA and MFA in painting from the University of Iowa. He used his formal training as a starting point to create a long career as a painter. He has maintained an art studio in Hutchinson since 1978.

Brown is a multitalented, versatile artist, also from Hutchinson, and a former art instructor at Hutchinson Community College. He and his wife, Michele, founded Big Nasty Press over a decade ago, and through that group, they have organized an annual print portfolio with other regional artists. They operate Arkanoe, a kayak, canoe, tube rental, and shuttle service serving the Arkansas River in Reno County.

A closing reception for the artists is planned during McPherson College’s homecoming activities on Friday, October 18 at 3 p.m.

The Friendship Hall gallery at McPherson College is open to the public during regular business hours, Monday through Friday.

McPherson College will offer a unique opportunity to Kansas high school art instructors and top high school art students when it hosts Doug Casebeer to lead a three-day workshop this summer at the college. Casebeer is one of the leading ceramicists in the United States and recently completed a 6-year appointment as the resident artist at the Oklahoma University School of Visual Arts in Norman.

The workshop is scheduled for June 17-19, 2024, at McPherson College’s Hess Fine Arts ceramic studio. Space for the workshop was limited to just 20 participants. Thanks to generous financial support, the workshop is offered at a highly reduced fee for participants.

Casebeer, a Salina, Kan. native, was the artistic director for ceramics at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center for 34 years. Anderson Ranch, located in Snowmass, Colo., is non-profit arts organization founded in 1966. It hosts an artist-in-residency program, workshops, and classes by artists during the summer and offers studio space for ceramics, painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and printmaking.

Casebeer’s artwork is in collections worldwide, including a permanent installation at the Yingge Museum of Ceramics in Taiwan. He was elected to the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, Switzerland, and was a featured artist at the Chinese Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. His most recent solo exhibition was at the Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, where he was awarded The Walter Gropius award for excellence in the arts.

He received his MFA in ceramics from Alfred University and his BFA from Wichita State University. Casebeer teaches, lectures, builds kilns, and exhibits his artwork worldwide. He has served as a pottery consultant to the United Nations and the German government. He has been involved in outreach to rural Jamaican schools, offered technical support and assistance for Nepali potters, and advised art centers in Chile and Hawaii.

An exhibition of his work, titled “A Sense of Place the Prairie Landscape,” is showing at the Birger Sandzen Gallery in Lindsborg through July 21. Casebeer will present a talk on June 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at the Sandzen Gallery. The event is free, organized by the Arts on the Prairie Committee, and supported in part by the Patterson Family Foundation and the Kansas Arts Commission. The Birger Sandzen Gallery is located at 401 North First Street in Lindsborg. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free, with donations appreciated.

Ceramic vessel and collage by Larry Peters on exhibition at McPherson College’s Friendship Gallery.

The artwork of Topeka artists Barbara Waterman-Peters and Larry Peters is showing in an exhibition at the Friendship Hall gallery of McPherson College now through the end of March.

“Barbara and Larry are a power couple in the fine arts of Kansas,” said Michaela Valli Groeblacher, associate professor of art and gallery director at the college. “They have dedicated their lives to creating art and supporting other artists all over the state. Their work is of the highest quality, and it is an honor to have them exhibit at McPherson College.”

The exhibit, titled “A Warning,” features the artists’ paintings, collages, and ceramics. Additionally, Groeblacher pairs her ceramic clowns alongside Waterman-Peters’ clown paintings.

Waterman-Peters, a naturalistic/surrealistic painter, uses images as symbols to tell her story or to express her opinion. She deals with global political and cultural issues through a feminist lens.

Peters is both a ceramicist and a painter. His “paintings” are non-representational collages. Even though highly abstract, the collages exude the spirit of his thoughts about the Holocaust and more current situations in Ukraine and nationally. A few of the collages reference Native American imagery he encountered when hiking in Utah and New Mexico, and his ceramic vessels support that connection.

Groeblacher’s clown series was triggered by an invitation to a self-portrait group exhibition, resulting in Clown #1. Historically, clowns have reflected complex societal and psychological dimensions, which are explored in Groeblacher’s work.

“I’ve been wishing for the opportunity to exhibit my ceramic clowns alongside Barbara’s clown paintings,” Groeblacher said. “I am thrilled that she and her husband accepted my invitation to show at McPherson College, where my ceramic clowns currently admire the paintings surrounding them.”

The Friendship Hall gallery is open to the public during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. A closing reception and artists’ talk are planned for March.