Wichita Art Museum creates gallery space to feature local artists
A new gallery space dedicated to showcasing the works of local artists has just opened at the Wichita Art Museum.
Now artists like Meghan Miller, who’s been a part of the Wichita art scene for well over a decade, have the chance to display their works in a museum that houses one of the country’s premier collections of works by American artists such as Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt and Dale Chihuly.
Miller’s “Breathing Fire” installation is the inaugural exhibition in the Cessna Art Investigation Gallery, located in a first-floor thoroughfare area that had previously displayed pre-Columbian art and artifacts from WAM’s permanent collection. It opened Friday, May 19, and will continue through Sunday, Aug. 20.
Opening a gallery dedicated to local artists is part of WAM’s larger goal to engage the community in new ways, according to Molly McFerson, who recently joined the WAM staff as director of learning, engagement and partnerships.
“Creating a space for local artists is one way that we are working to achieve this goal,” she said.
To help connect with local artists, WAM is partnering with Harvester Arts, a local nonprofit art organization founded in 2014 that provides opportunities for Wichita creatives.
Harvester Arts will help not only find artists who can exhibit in the gallery but also creatives who can participate in other activities and programs at WAM, such as the relatively new WAM Nights, according to Kristen Beal, the co-founder and executive director for Harvester Arts. The museum recently extended its Friday hours to showcase special programming, such as spoken word performances, in the evening.
The framework for the partnership is community engagement, experimentation and capacity-building, which are also Harvester’s core values, Beal said.
“I strongly believe our local artists are the future of our art community and of the creative culture of our community,” Beal said. “The fact that WAM sees that and wants local artists to feel welcome … is a giant step in the best direction. We have an incredible local arts community here and artists who deserve to be showcased in a museum of American art.”
About three to four exhibitions annually will be on view in the new gallery space, according to WAM’s McPherson.
Miller, the gallery’s inaugural artist, is no stranger to the new space. For a couple of years during WAM’s large May book sale, she and fellow artist Hallie Linnebur had set up a photo booth nearby with artistic costuming they’d created. For example, in 2019, visitors could don flower-type costumes to tie in with the traveling Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition that was on display at the time.
Nature is one of the recurring themes in Miller’s artwork, and this exhibition features the concept of campfires. Miller, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts from Wichita State, works primarily in paper and fabric.
“I love to work with paper as a sculptural material,” said Miller, who has been part of group and solo exhibitions at various galleries in Wichita, as well as in Salina and Brooklyn, New York.
Last year, her MFA thesis exhibition, “The Midnight Garden Coffee Shop,” was on view at Fisch Haus in Wichita. She’s currently organizing a July show at the Studio School, 751 George Washington Blvd., that will include her works and that of other artists.
For this installation, Miller used white tulle fabric to create wafting smoke. To help give a campfire glow, orange gels cover the lights that shine down on the logs that are fashioned from paper and in various stages of having been burnt. Lawn chairs that she and her husband, artist Mike Miller, recently rewebbed are situated near the fires.
The installation’s theme fits in well with the gallery’s focus, which is meant as a space where people can gather, meet or spend time together. Gathering around a fire often brings happy memories and can be a respite.
An upcoming WAM Nights program on June 9 will incorporate the “Breathing Fire” installation theme in a very familiar way: the telling of ghost stories.
‘Breathing Fire’ exhibition
What: inaugural exhibition, featuring an installation by Meghan Miller, in a new Wichita Art Museum gallery dedicated to showcasing local artists
When: through Sunday, Aug. 20. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, with extended hours on Friday until 9 p.m. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays and major holidays (May 29, June 19 & July 4).
Where: Wichita Art Museum, 1400 W. Museum Blvd.
Admission: free general admission
More info: 316-268-4921 or wam.org
