November 11-December 31–CRIS CHAPIN, MARCIA KENLEY, PHYLL KLIMA
CRIS CHAPIN, a Lawrence artist, is originally from Wellington, Kansas. She considers herself a landscape painter, especially in the Flint Hills of Kansas..Art has always been a part of Chris’s life. Growing up, she excelled in art classes in school, later graduating from KU with degrees in Art Education, Textile Design and Graphic Design. Graphic Design allowed her to freelance and work from home while her children were growing up. She later taught for several years at Washburn and KU. During these career changes, art was the common thread. After many detours, she discovered soft pastels and the wonders of landscape painting. Cris uses soft pastels on a sanded surface. She starts with a loose, wet underpainting before beginning with the pastels. Pastels allow for many layers, one on top of another. Cris is a member of the MidAmerica Pastel Society, The Lawrence Art Guild and the Rockport Center for the Arts in Texas and has participated in many regional and national shows.
MARCIA KENLEY has lived in the Kansas City area for more than 70 years. It was when she got off the interstate and started taking the old highways through Kansas that she discovered the vastness and natural beauty of the prairie. It was an eye-opening experience. She likes to explore the Flint Hills, small towns, and urban areas for those moments when it hits her that what has captured her attention is begging to be painted. Communicating the richness of the moment through her medium of choice, soft pastels, is always a challenge, but she says, “I’ll never stop trying.” She is self-educated with “some great mentors along the way” and hopes her paintings have done justice to the beautiful scenery in the Midwest.
PHYLL KLIMA found her passion for the functional ceramic world 50 years ago. Her love of great food presented on beautiful handmade pottery married her two passions. “Serving well cooked food in beautiful, functionally sound clay vessels makes me smile. My highest customer compliment is always…I use your pottery every day!” Phyll grew up in on a farm in Nebraska’s central Platte River valley with two sisters. The 3 shared a lot of happy hours serving mud pie “hamburgers” in their restaurant…a cottonwood tree wind break. While working on a Masters in Agriculture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a secretary in the Animal Science Department convinced Phyll to take a night class in ceramics at Southeast Community College. In 2014 Phyll began sharing her clay passion with the Salina, KS community. She taught wheel throwing for the Salina Parks and Recreation Department. For her, teaching has become a way of building a clay community and a source of inspiration. She counts among her ceramic mentors Carol Long, Ervin Dixon, Linda Ganstrom, Lorna Meaden, Doug Casebeer, Steven Hill, Dianne Caton, Mike Stumbras and all the students in her studio workshops. Phyll’s functional ceramics can be found at Gallery XII, Wichita; SNW Gallery, Manhattan; Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln KS; and Fire Me Up Ceramics in NOTO Art and Entertainment District, Topeka, KS. She also exhibits at several juried art shows annually.
