Explore new exhibitions 'Salt Air' and 'Prairie Views' at Beach Museum of Art
This untitled oil on panel of a seascape by artist Jeff Aeiling in 2007 is part of the Beach Museum of Art exhibition "Salt Air," available March 15-Oct. 1 at the museum and online starting June 1.| Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Enjoy beach vibes and prairie views with two new exhibitions at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University.
In the exhibition "Salt Air," visitors can enjoy the beach from the Beach, while the exhibition "Prairie Views" explores the form and beauty of the prairie through the lens of Kansas artists. The two exhibitions will showcase select artworks from the museum’s collection. "Salt Air" runs from March 15 through Oct. 1 in the Donna Lindsey Vanier Gallery and online starting June 1, and "Prairie Views" runs from April 5 through Dec. 15 in the Mary Holton Seaton Gallery East.
"Salt Air" features waves, shorelines, sand dunes and sea creatures from the museum's works. The exhibition is organized in conjunction with the American Library Association's summer 2022 reading theme, "Oceans of Possibility," and will set the theme for the museum's weekly summer art programs, tours and gallery activities.
Just as the seashore offers contrasts, such as crashing waves battering smooth sands and warm-toned beaches meeting icy green and blue waters, so does "Salt Air" through pairings including Jerrod Morris' ceramic sculpture "Wave" with a more traditional seascape by Jeff Aeiling, and a ceramic cup by Virginia Cartwright that mimics wind patterns in sand and complements paintings of dunes by Raymond Eastwood and Roy Longford. Other works offer unique perspectives: abstract views of the ocean in works by Scottish artist William "Bill" James John Brown and French and Mexican artist Pedro Pablo Preux, and a look at what goes on under the waves in Lydia Asenata's "Under the Sea" and Diana Balsley's "Tropiquarical."
Artist Joan Foth's untitled pair of watercolors with graphite on paper of the Kansas prairie, from 1978, are part of the Beach Museum of Art exhibition "Prairie Views," available April 5-Dec. 15 at the museum. | Download this photo.
The exhibition "Prairie Views" gives voice to the prairie and complements the museum's nearby outdoor attraction, the Meadow. Highlights include photographer Jim Richardson's photos of prairie root systems; artist Patricia Duncan's "Red Prairie and Bison" painting; the collage "Dancing on Table" by artist Lynn Benson that alludes to the vulnerability of the Ogallala aquifer, which is important to the prairie ecosystem; and author and photographer Larry Schwarm's photo "Prairie Fire Near Cottonwood Falls, Kansas."
"Prairie Views" will serve as the focus of the Beach Museum of Art's Picturing Kansas school tour, "Roots to the Sky." The exhibition is also part of K-State's Prairie Studies Initiative, a collaborative project involving K-State faculty, staff, students and community members to cultivate the understanding of natural ecosystems, history, culture and livelihoods of the prairie and to use the arts to make these explorations meaningful to the public.
The Beach Museum of Art, 701 Beach Lane, is on the southeast corner of the K-State campus. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Free parking is available adjacent to the building. To catch a livestream event or view exhibitions online, go to beach.k-state.edu, or watch videos of the museum's special programs and events on its YouTube channel, beach.k-state.edu/videos. For calendar of events in the Art in Motion annual program series visit beach.k-state.edu/calendar.
