SALINA ART CENTER 2007/2008 ANNUAL REPORT

The Salina Art Center’s mission, to create exchanges among art, artists, and
audiences that reveal life, is at the heart of its educational programming.
Opportunities are designed to enhance understanding and relate the issues and
ideas represented in contemporary art to everyday life.
TOURS
Over 1600 visitors participated in 87 guided tours this year. In September and
October, gallery tours were augmented by the unique opportunity to observe and
visit with resident artist, Jon Rappleye. From January through March, 20 school
groups, totaling 435 visitors, toured New Narratives: Contemporary Art from India.
Many teachers enriched their classroom curriculum with films, cuisine, art-making
activities, and writing exercises related to the exhibition. Over 575 people toured
the Leaded exhibition from April through June, stopping in the ARTery to
experiment with the graphite medium.
PROGRAMS AND CLASSES
CLASS: Art in Public Places: A Dialogue
October 18 and 25 and November 8 and 15, 2007
What is the role of art in the community? What is its relevance in Salina, now and in
the future? In conjunction with the Salina Public Library’s CLASS offerings, Heather
Ferrell collaborated with Karla Pricket, Visual Arts Coordinator at the Salina
Arts & Humanities Commission, and Deborah Schwartz, Public Art Coordinator for
the City of Palm Desert, California to present four classes that introduced the
history, artists, issues and controversy surrounding public art.
GERRY NEUSTROM: YOUNG ARTIST CHALLENGE
April 12 through May 4, 2008
The 15th Annual Gerry Neustrom Young Artist Challenge exhibit was held at
Salina’s Central Mall. This memorial competition and exhibition is supported by
Gerry Neustrom’s family to honor her interest in encouraging and recognizing
aspiring young artists. High school students in central and northwest Kansas were
invited to submit artworks created during the school year. Juror Mary Sue Foster,
Professor of Art and Director of Art Education at Wichita State University, selected
73 works from over 440 submissions. Foster congratulated the students on their
inventiveness, ability, talent and hard work.
Snapshots: Lives in Transition
September through December 2007
Exhibition: December 6 through 16, 2007
Snapshots is a program designed to give high school students a chance to
express and share their lives through art. It provided an opportunity for community
members to develop a better understanding of and appreciation for the lives,
insights, and talents of young people. Students from Opportunity Now! Education
Center worked with area artists Lee Becker, Lori Wright, and Robin Ginther and
SAC’s Curator of Education Ann Marie Kriss during the fall semester to create
artworks using photography, collage, and text. These artworks were shown in the
December culminating exhibition at the Salina Art Center.
Funding for Snapshots was provided in part by the Community Health Investment
Program of the Salina Regional Health Foundation and the Kansas Arts Commission,
a state agency.
Strange World exhibition and the Gerry Neustrom memorial exhibition
Snapshots: Lives in Transition