 Following a 17,000 square feet expansion and a two month closing, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art reopened on October 21, 2007. The Beach Museum originally contained 1,500 pieces of artwork when if first opened on the Kansas State University campus in 1996. It now has more than 6,000 pieces. The Beach Museum boasts the largest collection of work anywhere by Kansas artist John Stuart Curry with over 900 drawings, sketches, prints, and paintings. Unfortunately, only one of Curry's works was on exhibit during the reopening. My favorite exhibit during the reopening was Let Me Show You the World: The Sewn Drawings of China Marks. The temporary exhibit will only appear at the Beach Museum of art until December 16. The exhibition features 26 works by New York artist China Marks. Marks' compositions are drawings sewn from fragmentary bits and pieces of commercially printed fabric, They are simultaneously whimsical and sophisticated. Admission to the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art is free and free parking is provided in an adjacent lot. The museum is located at the southeast corner of the Kansas State University campus. The Beach Museum is well worth visiting and I believe that most visitors will spend 1-2 hours.
Marianna Kistler Beach
Museum of Art website
copyright 2007-2008 by Keith Stokes |
