Past Exhibitions

PAST EXHIBITS

Reimer South Gallery Room: July 20, 2024 through October 26, 2024

“Mending the Shadows: Art For Healing” 

There are many things that we all have in common living in an often broken world. One is the universal knowledge that life is hard. It leaves wounds. No life is left untouched by hardship or illness or grief. Another is the universal question, how do we navigate the shadows?

In this show, a group of artists all working in different mediums, have come together to show the healing power of artistic expression in the face of life’s great tragedies. Artists Amy Clarkson (digital collage), Patrice Egging (mixed media painting), Rachel Knowles (mixed media painting), and Kristine Luber (fiber art) have all either used art for personal therapy during difficult times or explored the theme of grief and suffering in their work. They are all convinced that art can help to mend the shadows of life’s pain by creating images that speak out about those things we can’t find words to express. We hope that viewers of this show can come away with that same conviction and be inspired to use art for healing in their own lives.

Corridor Exhibit: April 27, 2024 through October 26, 2024: “Roots That Go Deep” Featuring the Photography of Penny Bortz – Penny Bortz has found inspiration in photographing tree roots for some time. In what she calls her “flagship” photo, she saw a rootball just hanging on the side of a rocky ledge and it spoke to her imagination. As she documented the sight with her camera, it prompted her to wonder what must have happened there – wind, rain, drought, and GROWTH. To Bortz, this was the key – growth-those roots went down deep. She says, “May this be a challenge for all of us. Putting “ROOTS” down deep enough to grow and endure the storms of life. This Exhibit showcases many of Bortz fascinating photographs of roots, displaying for the viewer the hidden life-sustaining systems that lie beneath. Thank you to our generous sponsors of these exhibits: Ninnescah Valley Bank; Mead Lumber; State Farm (Dan Gillig); Legacy Bank; Pratt Family Practice

SOUTH “REIMER” GALLERY ROOM

April 27th through July 6, 2024: Don Woodard

Meet the Artist Opening Reception Saturday April 27th at 5pm. $10 non-members; FREE for Members. Click here for a Flyer with a preview of this exhibition.

This one-man show will feature painter and sculptor Don Woodard’s unique high and low relief, 3-dimensional paintings and mixed media artworks. The show will include his Pack-Horse Adventure Collection, artworks from his National Park Art Collection, and other select artworks.

Don has been creating his mixed media, relief style of artwork for over 20 years and has been showing his work at nationally juried art shows since 2012. Creating 3-dimensional artwork is Don’s passion and it allows him to blend detailed wood carving with fine painting, which is being well received by art collectors.

Woodard has been leading pack-horse trips into the Rocky Mountain Wilderness for about 40 years. He has extensive experience riding in the mountains and has seen pristine wilderness country few people have ever seen. The pictures included in his Pack Horse Adventure Collection are taken from various pack-horse trips over the years.

Many of the artworks created by Don have been inspired from events that have occurred during these rides. From scenes of wildlife, to western themes (and mis-adventures), to landscapes, they all have been experienced in person.

 

Pratt High School Art Exhibition (April 15, 2024 – April 20, 2024)

Don’t miss this special exhibit featuring art from students at Pratt High School. Led by teacher Rayna Bolen, this impressive collection of pieces in various mediums are a great show of creativity and talent. We are excited to have the opportunity to support young talent by providing a venue to showcase some amazing art work. Free admission from April 15th to April 20th and a meet the artists reception on Saturday, April 20th starting at 3pm.

NORTH & SOUTH GALLERY

DUG DEEPER” Ceramics Exhibition: Link to digital catalog (January 27, 2024 – April 6, 2024)

Clay has long been a narrative material. For 30,000 years, through its responsive plasticity, clay has given us insights into how people felt, thought, and lived. Today, the field of ceramics is at an exciting moment when artists are using this sensitive material to tell their own stories in more explicit ways.

Dug Deeper will showcase contemporary ceramic artists who boldly confront their identities head on. These artists specifically use clay to celebrate, investigate, and question themselves and their place in the world, generously teaching us about ourselves in the process. The Filley is honored to feature these renowned artists in this exhibition.

*Claudia Alvarez (New York, NY)

*Anabeth Rosen (Brooklyn, NY)

Jennifer Ling Datchuk (Tempe, AZ)

Nick Lenker (Philedelphia, PA)

Sam Mack (Baltimore, MD)

Syd Carpenter (Pittsburg, PA)

Raheleh Filsoofi (Nashville, TN)

Armando Minjárez Monárrez (Wichita, KS)

Diego Romero (Santa Fe, NM)

Shae Bishop (Bakersville, NC)

Malcolm Mobutu Smith, (Bloomington, IN)

Tyler Dallis, (Pratt, KS)

CURATOR: Qwist Joseph is a visiting artist and instructor at the University of Arkansas. His work investigates the insidious qualities of masculinity. Through the lens of being a hairless person, he hopes to reframe what manhood can look like for himself and others. After years working alongside his dad at the family bronze foundry, Qwist received a BFA from Colorado State University and an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program, and the University of Denver. In 2019, Qwist received an emerging artist award from the National Council on Education in Ceramics Art. He has shown nationally and internationally, including Peters Projects in Santa Fe, The Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in South Korea, and the Officine Saffi exhibition in Milan, Italy. He has taught at Chaffey College, the University of Redlands, the University of Denver, and Pitzer College.

We want to extend our thanks and gratitude to Karen and Robert Duncan and Trish Bergren, the director of the Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum (CCAM), who have been extraordinarily generous and instrumental in bringing this exhibition to fruition. CCAM has spent the last ten years showcasing many of the Duncan’s extensive pieces from their world-class modern and contemporary art collections. CCAM has now launched its “Art on the Fly” program with a mission to share much of this art collection with museums worldwide. Thank you for this partnership and your unique support of the arts! Thanks to Bill Roenbaugh for connecting us all!

CORRIDOR

January 27th through April 6, 2024

Corridor Exhibit: “Faces of the Dr Vernon & Emily Filley Permanent Collection”

Emily “Mimi” and Dr. Vernon W. Filley moved to Pratt in 1952 so Dr. Filley could establish his surgical practice where he worked throughout his lifetime. The Filley’s had a second home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Mimi became personally acquainted with many artists and gallery owners. She commissioned, bought, and collected art primarily in the Southwest style encompassing a great variety of mediums, techniques, and subjects. The Filley permanent collection, gifted to the art museum, includes an extensive collection with over 100 renowned artists represented. The results of her life long mission to collect has spurred a truly unique and diverse group of artwork full of portraits, still-lifes, and landscapes done in the plein air tradition, highlighting a variety of mediums: aquatint, watercolor, lithography, oil, acrylic, sculpture, etching, gouache, drawing, giclee print, photography, and pastels. The works span multiple genres representing everything stylistically from impressionism, pre and post 1940, to realism.

The “Faces” corridor exhibit brings attention to some of the collection’s most striking portraiture, featuring work in a variety of mediums by artists who have mastered the infinite complexity of representing the human form through visual art. Included are pieces from some of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century including – Bettina Steinke, Ramon Rice, Ramon Kelley, Dan Beck, Juan Valero Montoro, and Mimi’s favorite artist, Roger Williams.

Also featured in the exhibit is “Razor Dance Triology” a triptych ceramics piece by Sheldon Ganstrom. This piece was recently acquired by the Filley as part of the museum’s ongoing mission to collect, preserve, and exhibit art by current working artists. Sheldon Ganstrom states, “The artwork titled Razor Dance Trilogy is a culmination of everything I have learned, seen and done in my journey with form and design. Everything that I know and love within the confines of American raku or post-fire reduction techniques has come together on this piece of art.”

ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF TREES

November 14th 2023 – January 10, 2024: Festival of Trees Wreaths and Decorations

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CORRIDOR EXHIBIT

Brian Creal, Photographer

July 22, 2023 – January 10th 2024

Corridor Exhibit: Latent Images Exposed

Brian Creal* has been using photography as a creative outlet off and on for the past 60 years. He only shared his remarkable body of work with a select few. Then, during the pandemic years, he began to ponder what is truly important to him. He discovered that sharing his photography had become an essential part of life. This show is about the unveiling of a lifetime of photography done only for the pure love of the medium. Many of these images have never been seen by anyone before besides the artist himself. The “Latent Images,” of Creal’s long photographic journey will now be seen by many more eyes.

“Ninnescah Hometown Art Exhibit”
July 22nd, 2023  through Jan. 10 , 2024

Featuring artists with ties to Pratt and the wider south central Kansas region, this exhibition is a wonderful opportunity for locally developed talents to shine. The Vernon Filley Art Museum has an outstanding reputation and permanent art collection which we feel will be complemented well with this “hometown” theme. The show will include a variety of mediums and stylistic representations; and, will create a platform for exchange and collaboration among the artists. The wider Pratt area has long been home to a great variety of working artists and the Filley continually seeks to be a conduit for their artistic endeavors.

*Dick Bixler, Penny Bortz, Gracie Bronson, Don Buhler, Amy Clarkson*, Martha Cortes-Simons, Patrice Egging, Lyn Fenwick, Bambi Freeman, Kim Fritzemeier*, Doug Frye, Constance Gehring, Sue Godwin, Kent Goyen, Marie Hanson*, Walt Haste*, Briauna Hayden, Doug Herren*, Rachel Hirt*, Karen Holliday, Christina Howell, Lori Jones, Larry Kahmeyer, Rachel Kashani, Roger Kerr, Vicki Kerr, Sue Krehbiel, Laura Krusemark*, Derese McAbee, Bruce Montgomery, John Morrison, Margaret Moss, Lou Lynne Moss, Beth Novotny, Darren Parker, Lisa Perez-Miller, Jane Queal, Stan Reimer, Rex Rosenberg, Libby Schaffer, Lu Sherer*, George Sherer, Roger Simons, Marsha Stineman*, Darrell Stroda, Jennifer Stultz, Chip Svoboda, Mark Thimesch*, David Volbracht, Martha Wade, Rodney Wood *artwork featured on front side; Celebrate the above 52 artists with us!

Thank you to our event sponsors Ninnescah Valley Bank; Fusion Bank; Pratt Family Practice; Stull, Beverlin, Nicolay, &Haas LLC; Ninnescah Rural Electric Cooperative; and Mead Lumber

 

JULY 22nd Through Jan. 10th, 2024

2023

 “Masters of Color” – Doug Dawson and Roger Williams with Permanent Collection
April 1st – October 27th 2023

The Filley is honored to present a two-person exhibition featuring the work of renowned master painters, Doug Dawson and Roger Williams. These artists are both represented in the Filley’s Permanent Collection and were beloved by our own dear Mimi Filley. The work of both Dawson and Williams has received numerous awards and appeared in many publications. They have exhibited extensively and their excellence is widely acknowledged. Both artists are true masters of color and figurative representation. Their work creates a deep emotional response and invites the viewer to enter into the atmosphere of each painting – to find new hope and a sense of peace from entering each vibrant and beautiful world.

“Rooves & Hooves” – Nathan Novack
April 1st – July 7th 2023

This exhibition features the oil paintings of Nathan Novack with subject matter focusing on the agricultural structures of the Midwest, the Southwest bovines and their terrain, along with the Western wildlife and its terrain. Novack says, ” In particular, I enjoy painting barns, bison, and longhorns. They all share a relevance that magnifies from my perspective, embedded as a oneness to their surroundings. I aim to articulate the majestic beauty that is naturally integrated.”

R. Bruce Montgomery, Photographer

April 1 – July 7th 2023

Artist Statement: “I have been fascinated with the art of photography ever since receiving my very own Kodak Brownie camera as a Christmas gift when I was a fourth grader in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. My interests and subject matter are wide-ranging, but whether I am shooting people, animals, events or scenery, my goal is to capture the moment, depicting what I see as realistically and accurately as possible. I particularly enjoy showing human emotion and interaction.”

“50 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY” STAN REIMER 
South Gallery January 28th – March 18th, 2023
Thank you to our event sponsors @Pratt Family Dental, @Peachey Insurance, @Meigs and Associates, Superior Fire and Pratt Glass!
Travel with master photographer Stan Reimer through his fifty year career of artistic excellence. It’s an exciting trip through the technological advances in the medium itself. The viewer can experience how a photographer navigated the changes in photography that the 2nd part of the 20th century brought.
Reimer began this journey at the age of 12 with an adjustable camera. He then pur-sued his passion for photography throughout his education and career. Reimer says, “In my early years, I worked primarily in black and white film because that allowed me to develop and print my own work. I entered the digital world early, switching to digital in 1996. I call my photographic process “pre-visualization.” When making the exposure, I see the final image in my mind. Unfortunately, the camera is an im-perfect instrument. Post-production is necessary to achieve the desired product.”
He founded Stan Reimer Photography LTD and The Photography Gallery in Pratt Ks in 1976, as owner and photographer. His accomplishments include Certified Professional Photographer in 1981; President of the Kansas Professional Photogra-phers Association in 1984; Named Master Photographer by the Professional Photog-raphers of America in 1985; Named Master Photographer Craftsman by the PPA in 1995; Board member and officer, Heart of America Photographers Association for 12 years; Member, Council of the Professional Photographers of America for 19 years.
 

FLORA AND FAUNA 
Permanent Collection and Guest Exhibition

August 6th, 2022  – March 18th, 2023

This show will be a vibrant celebration of all that encompasses the two great kingdoms (plant and animal) that surround us at all times. They press in on the edges of our human civilization, always ready to retake what we have claimed – wildflowers spring from cracks in the asphalt, birds build nests in the letter “O” on the huge store sign, a deer strays into a backyard. These life forms are all around us pulling us back to chaos and yet they have a glorious order of their own – a dance of life that moves with the winds and rains, the sunlight and shadows, and the slow change of seasons. How do we as caretakers of the earth interact with this dance? “Flora and Fauna,” will explore this interaction as well and how it is really a delicate balance of knowing when to interfere and when to simply stand back in silent wonder.

Several pieces from our permanent collection bring attention to details and aspects
of the natural world will be featured. A number of guest artists’ works will also be a part of this exhibition. Pieces by Bambi and Mark Freeman, Laura Krusemark, Carol Long, Cammie and George Lundeen, Angie Pickman, Dustin Sypher, David Vollbracht, Andi Burnum, Lori Jones, Dick Bixler, Cally Krallman and Joshua Tobey will add to this colorful, joyful celebration of plant and animal life. As the viewer moves through the show, they will have the opportunity to visually participate in the dance of life as they see work that brings attention to the blurring edges of those unique places where the natural world bleeds over into the human world. They will also see work that sheds light on those moments when humanity needs to only be still and appreciate these exquisite wordless things…these gifts of flora and fauna.

2022

CAPTURING THE LIGHT
Cristine Sundquist and Kim Casebeer
August 6th – October 21st

NINNESCAH LANDSCAPES

Charles Baughman
March 25th – July 22nd

CORRIDOR EXHIBIT 
Nathan Novack
March 25th – May 25th

KANSAS SUNSETS AND SUCH
Darren Parker
January 29th-March 18th

2021

KANSAS REGIONALISM
Virgil Penner
TWO VISIONS-ONE PRAIRIE
April 23rd through August 7th: Cally Krallman & Beverly Dodge-Radefeld
Ninnescah Art Exhibit
January 30th through April 10th

2020

Jon Swindler “Traced and Terraced”
July 25th through October 30th

Lori Jones Exhibition
“A Western Perspective”
January 24th through July 10th

2019

James Kandt Exhibition
Landshapes: The landscape reimagined
August 9, 2019  through November 2nd

National Invitational Biennale
April 27th 2019 through July 20th

Bob Benson
January 25th through April 13th

2018

Ninnescah Art Exhibit
October 5, 2018 through April 13th

Earth to Table Pottery by Marsha Shrack
August 3rd through November 3rd

Doug Herren
April 20th through July 21st

Eufloria
January 12th-April 14th

2017

Anything But Flat: Dimensional Artwork of the Old West
August 4th through November 3rd

“Vernon Filley Invitational Art Show and Sale”
April 22 through July 21st

Michael Walsh
January 13th through Friday April 7th

2016

Carol Long
August 26th through December 3rd

“Prairie Painters and Potters”
April 22nd through August 12th

Artist of the Red Hills
February 6th through April 8th

Dennis Hodges “A sense of his soul”
January 14th through March 18th

2015

Artist Dick Bixler, Metal Art Work, Guest Exhibition
November 6th through December 4th

Kansas Photography Trio Guest Exhibition
August 1st through October 30th

Roger Williams and Robin Laws
April 11th through July 25th

Images of Hometown Teams in the Pratt Region
May 9th through Jun 21st

Master of Fine Arts Ceramics Exhibition
January 9th through March 28th

2014

KANSAS TIES
August 22nd through November 30th