Current Exhibitions

A Family Affair 

CityArts Students and Instructors | Main Gallery

CityArts is pleased to present A FAMILY AFFAIR: CityArts Student and Instructor Exhibition. This collection of work encompasses all that CityArts has to offer – from Glass art to Silversmithing to Pottery and so much more. 

“It has been an absolute pleasure seeing this exhibit come to life. Our students and instructors are extremely creative and it’s an honor to be able to showcase their work. I wanted to find a way to give back to our artists and provide a voice and recognition for what they have accomplished - If it weren’t for our students and instructors, we wouldn’t be here. 

Over the past 13 years, I have seen it all. I’ve enrolled students for their very first class and have watched them grow into artists. I’ve seen artists come in and want to try a completely new and different medium for a challenge and these are beautiful things to witness. Being creative in your daily life helps with mental health and expressing your emotions. Ultimately, seeing the community engage and create is my reward.”

—Caitlin Waugh, Operations and Gallery Manager

Participating artists: 

Elizabeth Barker, Susan Bowers, Gary Buettgenbach, Julie Close, Doug Cravens, Scott Dixon, Sloane Dyer, Sheryl Esau, Kathy Fathi, Wil Fathi, Janet Federico, Tina Fuller, Phil Gegen, Barbara Harrison, Barbara Haynes, De’Andra Hughes, Aaron Jasso, Bonnie Johnson, Tom Kirk, Arthur Marshall, Bryce McCoy, Debra Mitchell, Stephanie Palmer, Kristen Pease, Kim Pepper, Phyllis Provost-Saas, Angela Rangel, Susan Randall, Mary Reisig, Joey Rincones, Sonya Schifferdecker, John Skelton, Kat Smalley, Troy Smith, Christy Snodgrass, Steffanie Steele, Clinton Willis and Hugo Zelada-Romero.

Exploration of Life

Kat Smalley | Boardroom Gallery

As I create I reflect on my past experiences in my childhood and my young adult life. Growing up I moved often due to my father being in the military. One of my biggest influences is the plant life that I have witnessed from the areas I have lived. Texas, Florida, Washington and Kansas. Each place is so different from one another. I create from everyday life. That can be the content or what I find in my everyday life.

Katherine Ryann Smalley is a studio artist. She was born in Killeen, Texas on Fort Hood in 1996. Her Father was in the Army for 20 years. During his time of service that meant the family moved around. She has lived in Texas, Florida, Washington and Kansas all before the age of 12. The different landscapes and forms of nature from these very different locations influence her work. While growing up she spent a lot of time outside and in nature. Filling her free time with hikes and crafting.

Being in Kansas for the last 13 years. She graduated from Valley Center High School in May 2015. Where she helped start the Valley Center Annual Art Show. She received her Associates in Art from Butler Community College in May 2017. Where she was on a books and tuition scholarship for art. In May 2020 she received her BFA in Studio Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics from Wichita State University. During her time at Wichita State University she has been in three different roles for the WSU Ceramics Guild; Public Relations (2017-2018), Secretary (2018-2019), and the President of the Guild (2019-2020).

Still residing in Wichita, KS. She is establishing her own studio practice and teaching youth art classes.

Click to view Kat's work and shop the exhibit online!

Kansas Regionalism

Virgil Penner | Balcony Gallery

Virgil Penner is known for his ink drawings of homes and buildings with an architectural perspective. Since retiring, he has focused on acrylic landscape paintings. Virgil studied art under Marie Orr for four years at Newton High School. After college, he taught and coached in the Wichita High Schools and at Bethel College putting painting aside in 1964 until retirement in 2009. Since 2009, he has painted more than 500 acrylic paintings and have sold 300 paintings. 

“My paintings are colorful and bright. I construct my paintings from memory as I do not paint on location or from photographs. By developing my paintings from memory, I feel I have more freedom to develop balance and movement in my final work. Growing up in central Kansas, my pictures represent a regional nature. I also get much pleasure in painting more whimsical paintings as well.”

Level 5 Photography Competition

CityArts Photography Students | 3rd Floor Hallway Gallery

After completing all five levels of CityArts digital photography classes, students are encouraged to submit their work in the juried Level 5 Competition. 

Students may enter one photo per award category. Categories include: Black & White, Nature & Landscapes, Animals, Night Photography, People, Macro and Unclassified. Awards were given for Best of Show, People's Choice, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each of the categories.

On View at City Hall

AN EXPRESSIONIST SKETCHBOOK

BC (Brad) Rupp | City Council Office - City Hall

"While I may be known for works in a more representational style, I have always used the spontaneous sketch as an exercise of joyful exuberance that seeks to be free of some of the constraints that can build up during the completion of more formal works.

While they were not done to be shown, I must say that I have a certain affection for them and they speak back to me when I look at them about energy, joy, and many things that go into a work of art that, if allowed, rush in from the edge of consciousness."

It is my hope that these things might transfer to the viewer."

BC Rupp: b. 1952, Wichita, Kansas.

Brad Rupp regularly attended summer classes at The Wichita Art Museum as a young child. At the age of ten, applied and was accepted into the Longstreet Academy of Oil Painting. Placed second in a statewide art competition as a fifth grader. Graduated from Wichita State University in 1974. Achieved some

notoriety with a self-published book of prose, poetry, and drawings, The Road, Visions Along the Way in 1975.

A life-long, low-profile, artist, he has worked in a number of mediums (best known for drawings and paintings in watercolor, oil, tempera, and pastel). He is most familiar to a small coterie of faithful followers and his works appear in numerous private collections.