The Kansas Masters' Invitational 2011

The diversity of artwork in this year’s Kansas Masters Invitational is as varied as the backgrounds and visions of the Kansas artists who created it. 

This exhibit respects Kansas artists who have made and are making significant marks, figuratively and literally, on this state.  They have achieved their own recognizable yet ever-changing visions on local, regional and national levels. 
   
This exhibit, like Kansas itself, has its share of treasured traditions as well as, often unexpectedly and diversely, an ability to see beyond them. 

Statement from our curator: Don Lambert: 

Among the good things about "maturing" are that, finally,  you can discard what hasn't worked and  proceed only with what does.  You have absolute freedom.  The wisdom after the winds. So it is with this year's Kansas Masters Invitational at the Strecker-Nelson Gallery.  I am pleased to be its guest curator.  The 50+ mid-career and mature-career artists bring their proud visions to this exhibition.  They have found their own voices, most have struggled mightily to get there. In their maturity, they are able to take more  chances--add that dab here and delete it there--just as they have done in their lives.  What we see here is both tried-and-true and surprising.  All have retrieved old places and are climbing to new ones both higher and farther. We, as viewers, go with them.
- Don Lambert