Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — The newest exhibition at Kansas State University's Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art is designed — and named — to feed one's hunger for art.

"Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack: Gifts of Contemporary Works on Paper from Donald J. Mrozek and R. Scott Dorman" opens Feb. 3 and runs through July 12 in the museum's Marion Pelton and Hyle Family galleries.

Mrozek and Dorman, Manhattan, have donated close to 300 works on paper to the Beach Museum of Art. "Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack" showcases a selection of these works and reflects the collectors' shared love of music, literature, art and architecture. 

Featuring more than 60 works — primarily prints — dating from the late 1960s through present day, the exhibition is guest curated by Kansas State University's Katie Kingery-Page, associate professor of landscape architecture and regional & community planning, and Thomas Bell, associate professor and librarian for faculty and graduate services. The exhibition title, "Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack," is drawn from a translation of the Chinese text in one of the works on display. Chryssa's "Calligraphy III" appropriates this found text,which may have originally appeared on a restaurant advertisement.

Bell and Kingery-Page were drawn to the translation's mealtime reference.

"Don and Scott enjoyed these works in the context of their home, and spoke with us about the experience of living with contemporary art in the kitchen, around the dining table, throughout the house," Kingery-Page said, adding that metaphorically, the title conveys how the guest curators hope visitors will enjoy the show: lingering contemplation, brief visits, or both. 

The curators used their backgrounds in design and music to help craft the exhibition. Drawing inspiration from her work as a landscape architect, Kingery-Page focused on the way the collection bridges quiet, minimalist and more frenetic postmodern moments in late 20th-century art.

Bell looked to similarities between visual art and music, which he said speak to those parts of ourselves that we are unable to describe but are nonetheless real and vital. 

"Art takes ideas and intense intellectual rigor and translates the depths of our humanity into a wordless, unutterable language, communication beyond words," Bell said.

A series of in-gallery performances, conversations and readings by Kansas State University faculty and students will link the works on display to contemporaneous developments in music and literature. The following events will be at the Beach Museum of Art:

• Opening reception for "Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack," 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5. The reception will include a special in-gallery musical performance by Topeka native Aaron Martin.

• "Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack" Salon Series, in-gallery performances hosted by exhibition guest curators Bell and Kingery-Page, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on the following dates: Thursday, Feb. 12, musical performance by saxophone students of Anna Marie Wytko, assistant professor of music; Thursday, March 12, readings by K-State English students and a performance by the K-State Collegium Singers with David Wood, conductor; and Thursday, April 9, K-State Theatre students will do scenes and monologues, followed by a K-State dance ensemble performance.

• Slow Art Day 2015 will be 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 11. Visitors are invited to take a slow look at the art in the exhibition "Dinner and a Mid-Night Snack" from 2-3 p.m., followed by open-ended discussion over coffee and cookies from 3-4 p.m. The event is free, but reservations are requested by calling 785-532-7718.

The Beach Museum of Art is on the southeast corner of the Kansas State University campus at the corner of Anderson Avenue and 14th Street. Admission is free. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free parking is available adjacent to the building. For more information, call 785-532-7718 or visit http://beach.k-state.edu.