Clive Fullagar, Curator
April 9 – June 26, 2022
Mary Gordon McFall, Hanging On (detail) Clive Fullagar, Shallow Rooted
Join us for an opening reception and two artist panels during In (and Out of) Place.
Opening Reception – April 9, 2022 | 2 pm
Clive Fullagar will give remarks on his curation process and introduce the artists featured in the exhibition.
Artists are invited to be in the gallery for conversation.
Free admission. Light refreshments served.
Artist Panel | May 7 | 2 pm
Doug Barrett Marsha Jensen Jennifer Schermerhorn Kelly Yarbrough
moderated by Clive Fullagar, Curator
Artist Panel | May 22 | 2 pm
Clive Fullagar Mary Gordon-McFall Philip Heying Luke Townsend Diana Werts
moderated by Patty Reece
Conversation will follow
Free admission | Light refreshments served
Clive Fullagar highlights ten Flint Hills artists and their personal experiences with the region.
To some, time spent in the Flint Hills feels natural. Its wide open spaces, sea of hills with prairie grasses, and uninterrupted sky is a source of solitude and inspiration. Many find the region jarring for those same reasons, and more. Clive Fullagar, an artist and former board member at the Manhattan Arts Center, Manhattan, Kansas, gets to the heart of this dichotomy in his exhibition, In (and Out of) Place.
In (and Out of) Place is a show about ‘sense of place’ and how the work of ten artists have been influenced by their personal experiences, social interactions, and identities from living in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. These artists, working in a variety of media including photography, painting, print making, and fiber art, focus on producing work that highlights what makes this region different and worth caring about. In essence, the works are reflections of each artist’s relationship with the local landscape, community, and environment. Their art engages in an exploration of the history, culture, ecosystems and aesthetics of the place where they live in order to deepen their understanding and increase that sense of place.” – Clive Fullagar
The exhibition’s featured artists – Doug Barrett, Katharina Bossmann, Clive Fullagar, Mary Gordon McFall, Philip Heying, Marsha Jensen, Jennifer Schermerhorn, Luke Townsend, Diana Werts, and Kelly Yarbrough – come from as far South as Matfield Green and as far North as Manhattan. Each brings their own experiences, histories, and perspectives to the regional exhibition.
DOUG BARRETT
An African American documentary photographer, videographer, and photojournalist internationally recognized, currently based in Manhattan Kansas. Doug completed his undergraduate degree from St Augustine’s University and completed graduate school from Southwestern College where he holds a M.S in Security Administration. Doug has work in the permanent collection at the Ulrich Museum, and the Mariana Kistler Beach Museum of Art, and will have a solo exhibition titled “Find your Voice” September 7, 2021- May 28, 2022 alongside the Gordon Parks exhibition titled “Homeward to the Prairie I Come.”
He is an FAA Part 107-certified drone pilot where he incorporates photos and video into most of his work. Doug is a regular contributor to @everydayblackamerica, @everydayprojects, and @everydayruralamerica on social media.
Doug’s editorial clients include Bloomberg News, TIME Magazine, National Geographic, Politico, New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and has been featured on the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square NYC. Doug has also been featured on VICE, Foxnews, and BBC World News for his work. His professional organizations include NPPA, ASMP, NABJ, and he is on the board of advisors for the Friends of the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art and the Arts and Humanities Board for the City of Manhattan KS.
KATHARINA BOSSMAN
Katharina Janik Bossmann, born in Oak Park, Illinois, is an internationally known printmaker. She grew up in a bilingual household where art and music were emphasized. After a career as an opera singer, the study of printmaking is where she truly found her medium, combining her love of art and science. She received her MFA in printmaking from Kansas State University. Katharina loves to explore the idea of boundaries and the movement surrounding them. As a child of immigrants, the question of belonging or “where is home” has been a large part of her conscience or unconscious life. She immigrated to Europe and also migrated back with her immigrant family and has often felt as if she has no roots- belonging to two cultures but really of none. Katharina uses her prints, drawings and artist’s books to illuminate and question the boundaries we place on ourselves and the desire to connect with others.
CLIVE FULLAGAR
Clive Fullagar emigrated from South Africa to Manhattan, Kansas, in 1988. He was a professor of psychology at Kansas State University, where he researched and published articles and books on ‘flow,’ the immersive state of creative activity. In 2019, he retired to pursue his own “flow” in painting and the visual arts. He has no formal training in art. His work is represented in several collections and museums, including the Beach Museum, the Emprise Bank Art Collection, the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery, and the Great Plains Art Museum (University of Nebraska). He is represented by the Strecker-Nelson-West Gallery in Manhattan.
Since becoming Chair of the Manhattan Arts Center Galleries in 2020, he has become a strong advocate for local and regional artists, showcasing their work through social media and local art galleries.
MARY GORDON MCFALL
Mary Gordon McFall is an artist based out of Manhattan, Kansas. Often working in series using various printmaking processes, Mary explores her natural environment, everyday interactions and overlooked happenings through a lens of play. She holds an MFA with an emphasis in Printmaking & Book Arts from Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, and BFAs in Printmaking and Painting from Kansas State University. Mary currently teaches printmaking classes for youth and adults at the Manhattan Arts Center.
PHILIP HEYING
Philip Heying is a photographer living in Matfield Green, Kansas (population: 50). He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, grew up in Kansas and Colorado, moved to Paris after college to live for ten years, then moved to Brooklyn for 11 years. He also lived in Pavia, Italy and San Francisco. His work has been published in major magazines and exhibited internationally. He has work in the permanent collections of the Nelson-Atkins Mususem of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, The Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris and ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany.
MARSHA JENSEN
Marsha Jensen grew up in rural central Nebraska, so her roots are definitely in the prairie soil. She graduated from University of Nebraska Kearney with a degree in art education, then started a brief teaching career until life took her to other places. During that time she discovered weaving and other fiber arts and was hooked. In recent years, her fiber art endeavors have landed primarily with basketweaving. While earning her art degree, she concentrated on ceramics. She states, “I used to throw pots, now I weave them.” Her goal is to continue learning more weaving techniques and using those to push her creative expressions in fiber. She has shown her work in many regional exhibitions. Marsha has resided in the Manhattan, Kansas area for nearly 40 years, where she has had a long career as a graphic designer, and has found a niche in designing books about art. She began her career by teaching art and is now passing along the traditions of weaving and fiber arts by offering classes at her home and other regional locations.
JENNIFER SCHERMERHORN
A self-taught artist, I grew up in the North Eastern US and earned a degree in Veterinary Medicine. While staying home to raise my children, I began to explore the fiber arts. After moving to the midwest, I learned the simple technique of needle felting at a Kansas Alliance of Weavers and Spinners conference. Always nurturing a deep fascination with figurative sculpture and mixed media work, I immediately began using wool and felting to create my own pieces. I currently live in an old farmhouse on the Kansas prairie, with my family and small flock of sheep.
LUKE TOWNSEND
Luke is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller based in Kansas whose work plays on the interludes between the human condition and our relationships with the conditions which inform our realities; religion, politics, culture, environment. Utilizing art with facts, Luke’s goal is to create impactful and beneficial storytelling through exploration and education in a way that’s visually engaging.
Luke has multiple works in the permanent collection of the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art as well as commissioned works hanging in the Staley School of Leadership Studies, Morris Family Multicultural Student Center, and a permanent 12’x35′ photographic ceiling mural installation in Hale Library on Kansas State University Campus.
Our world is an interesting reality, so I photograph it.
DIANA WERTS
Diana Werts completed her MA degree in Painting at Emporia State University in the heart of the Flint Hills. Teaching in various settings, from art museums and schools to artist-in-residence work, has been an important part of her continued development over the last 30 years. Diana’s work is in many private and corporate collections throughout Kansas and Missouri, and she is currently represented by Strecker-Nelson-West Gallery in Manhattan, KS.
KELLY YARBROUGH
Kelly Yarbrough is based in Manhattan, Kansas, and works within an ecosystem of mixed media drawing and painting, arts administration, and educational program development directly inspired by the nature of the tallgrass prairie. She enjoys collaborating with ecologists and educators, speaking to audiences, and teaching in the classroom — or in the field. Kelly holds an MFA from Kansas State University, and founded the Tallgrass Artist Residency in 2016. She is a Field Representative and Art & Environment specialist for the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, a facilitator for Artist INC, a trained Konza Prairie docent, and a 2021TEDx Austin College speaker. She is represented by Prairiebrooke Gallery in Overland Park, Kansas.
