What's there to do in Wichita, Kansas? Why not see breathtaking art?

No matter where I go in the world, I swear I could find the most interesting things to do in any given town. Wichita, Kansas was no exception. In fact, there were so many interesting things to do around Wichita, I couldn't fit them all in.

Walt and Mary, my couchsurfing hosts in Columbia, Missouri, had recommended two attractions nearby in Mary's hometown, of Hutchinson, Kansas.

I didn't get around to seeing: the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center or the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. Why, you'd have to go all the way to Poland or Austria to see something similar to this salt mine! I didn't get it done. Next time.

I ask you, however, what is something really wonderful in your neighborhood you haven't yet experienced? The problem isn't finding interesting things to do - it's actually doing them! What are you waiting for? Go see it! There may never be a next time.

I am mesmerized with this Modernist view

from the main lobby in the Wichita Art Museum.

These pictures make me giddy!

One of the fun things my friend from Prague, Gulnara, and I did while I was visiting her in Wichita was go see the Wichita Art Museum. I love the surprise of finding this modernist museum in the middle of the prairie.

I was enthralled to find two fantastic exhibits there: the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art and another exhibit called "Visions of Mexican Art."

Surprise matters.

Respectfully,

a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture

in the main lobby or entrance foyer

has become an American art museum cliché.

I say that respectfully, because I recognize

the energy, power, and majesty of his pieces.

Please surprise me, curators.

Is there a new way his works could be exhibited?

From the visions of Mexico exhibit:

a new representation of Chac Mool,

the ancient Mayan God.

Another artist's homage to Frida Kahlo.

Love her!

These paintings were from Mexico's innovative art-for-taxes program that allowed Mexican artists to pay their taxes with their creative output.

The African-American collection represented works from three centuries. I love African-American art and music, especially jazz. Two of my favorite American artists are Romare Bearden and Jean Michel-Basquiat. Romare Bearden is represented in the collection, yet there were many drop-dead gorgeous works new to me. How proud these collectors must be to have assembled this collection of extraordinary works on paper. Thank you for sharing it, Dr. and Mrs. Kelley.

Sharecropper, 1952

by Elizabeth Catlett

"Jitterbugs III," ca. 1941-42

by William Henry Johnson

"Dance Composition, #35," 1981

by Eldzier Cortor

"Anyone's Date," 1940

by Ernest T. Crichlow

"Thistle," 1966

by Walter Williams

an expatriate artist who lived in Denmark

during the 1960's.

You can see the Scandinavian influence

in the background, yes?

"Boogie Woogie"

by Charles Louis Sallee, Jr.

I loved the energy communicated

in just these few simple lines.

"Street Car Scene," 1945

by John Woodrow Wilson

What do you suppose he's thinking?

"The Carpenters," 1977

by Jacob Lawrence

Do you know any carpenters?

Lawrence completely captured

their stance, their energy, &

the dignity of their work.

I love this piece.

What I deeply appreciated about the Wichita Art Museum's mounting of these two shows is their highlighting of the best of the America's minority populations (here assuming that Mexican culture carries over into America).

All over the world, institutions are in crisis for breaking their social contracts with their publics, but I've noticed museums have really stepped up to help their citizens cope with change, prepare for change, and accept change.

In Wichita, it was these very visible celebrations of two ethnic groups that will make up a larger segment of American life in the future.

In Prague, I saw the City Museum of Prague put on a terrific exhibit explaining Vietnamese culture to the Czech population, because Czechs have a hard time relating to their new Asian immigrants.

In Istanbul, the Istanbul Modern Art Museum mounted a show celebrating all of the Armenian-designed buildings in Istanbul, generating recognition for Armenian contributions to the beautiful city people experience today.

I admire the work of these museums. Our globe thirsts for this level of strategic engagement. Acceptance of "the other" can't happen fast enough. These institutions, probably operating with very small budgets, are engaging their publics beyond the museum's artistic mission, to an even larger mission of cross-cultural understanding. Bravo!

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Welcome to Capitalism!