Painting at Spencer Museum vying to be a wonder of Kansas / LJWorld.com

Archive for Friday, August 29, 2008

One of the '8 Wonders of Kansas Art' could be right here in Lawrence.

August 29, 2008

A painting from Kansas University's Spencer Museum of Art is a finalist for the Kansas Sampler Foundation's 8 Wonders of Kansas Art.

"The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley" by Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton depicts three musicians in the foreground around a table. In the background, a man stands above a wounded woman with a bloodied knife in his hand.

Museum director Saralyn Reece Hardy said she was honored that the painting was chosen as a finalist.

"It has story, it has style and it has intrigue," she said. "In the words of my associate Kate Meyer, 'It's the quintessential painting of the American scene.'"

Other finalists include:

¢ Blue Sky Sculpture, Newton.

¢ Boyer Museum of Animated Carvings, Belleville.

¢ Buffalo Bill Bronze Sculpture, Oakley.

¢ Martin Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, Ulrich Art Museum, Wichita.

¢ John Steuart Curry Murals, State Capitol, Topeka.

¢ Davis Memorial, Hiawatha.

¢ "Dreamers Awake" sculpture, Wichita Art Museum.

¢ Pete Felten Stone Sculptures, Hays.

¢ Garden of Eden/Lucas, Grassroots Art Mecca.

¢ Stan Herd Earthworks, Atchison and Lawrence.

¢ Justice statue, Kansas Judicial Center, Topeka.

¢ Kansas Art Collection, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan.

¢ "Keeper of the Plains," Wichita.

¢ Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton, Wellsville.

¢ M.T. Liggett's Metal Sculptures, Mullinville.

¢ Gordon Parks, Fort Scott.

¢ Post Office Section Art, statewide.

¢ Red Barn Studio, Lindsborg.

¢ St. Mary's Catholic Church, St. Benedict.

¢ Birger Sandzen, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg.

¢ "Do-Ho Suh's Some/One," Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park.

¢ Tiffany Windows, First Presbyterian Church, Topeka.

¢ Wichita High School North exterior paintings.

The public is encouraged to visit 8wonders.org to vote for their top eight. Voting began Thursday and will run until midnight Oct. 15. The top eight will be announced Oct. 31.