Capitol Police Break Up Art Resurrection

Artists upset with Gov. Brownback's line item veto of funding for the Kansas Arts Commission, gathered at the Capitol this afternoon. Capitol police soon intervened, but not before an impromptu Art Resurrection was performed. The group handed out a flyer (text below) to explain their purpose. On the reverse of the flyer was a take-off on a popular iPod advertisement with John Brown holding a fiddle and paint brushed under the text iSupport the Kansas Arts Commission.

You’ve heard the story-

The B-back disparaged me and called me names,

said I was unimportant.

He tried to abolish me, but was turned back by his own

party in an embarrassing defeat.

He fired my allies and stripped me of my supplies, but the

People would not be silenced and soon my name and modest

budget were reinstated.

So then, in a desperate and cowardly last ditch effort and

Hiding behind a long weekend, he tried to kill me once and

for all with a line-item veto.

He probably thought that would be the end, but we know

better, Governor…

You can’t kill Art.

Art lives! And will be here long after we sign your pink

slip to talking-headland.

John Brown Supports the KAC

What do artists mean to America?

Art R.I.P. ?

Topeka, Kansas

A procession for Art slowly moved through downtown as mourners, dressed respectfully in black, paid respects to the one who had done so much for the culture and vitality of our state. But wait, could it be? Someone said they heard a sound, a whisper soft but sure that said "Don't bury me yet. I'm still kickin'! Just 29¢ per person a year and I can be brought back to life. All you need to do is convince 21 senators to vote against the Governor's plan to abolish the Arts Commission. Do it now before it's too late."

Arts Funeral

join the

Kansas Arts Funeral Procession

Tuesday, March 1st

4:00 pm

meet at the Blue Planet Cafe

110 SE 8th Street, Topeka

Baton Rouge Arts Funeral, 2009

This will take the form of a New Orleans style jazz funeral. We will meet at Blue Planet to coordinate and then walk slowly to the south steps of the Capitol. Please wear formal attire that expresses your feelings about your long time friend Art. Bring condolences in the form of poems, drawings, photos, letters, etc. to be placed in an open casket and delivered to legislators.

Day Without Art at Bethel College in North Newton

Thanks to the arts advocacy of a large group of Bethel College students and some faculty colleagues, our campus woke up to a constellation of black shrouds. An exhibition in the Fine Arts Center Gallery, the distinctive fountain on the green, and many other pieces of publicly visible art around campus have been covered in black, a gesture that protests Governor Brownback’s executive order to abolish the Kansas Arts Commission. Statements accompanying the veiled artworks invite viewers to imagine Kansas (or at least Bethel College) without art and provide information about the many tangible benefits of arts funding. Through this action, arts supporters at Bethel and in Newton and North Newton are standing in solidarity with arts advocates around the state, whose work is documented on such sites as imaginekansaswithoutart and Kansas Citizens for the Arts. 
*click here to read the Newton Kansan article about the Bethel College Day Without Art

Capitol Rally Art

Click here to see video of the Rally

Tin Man

Armband from Erika Nelson

- 

I made this black armband the weekend after I heard Gov. BB's State of the Union address.  I've worn it whenever I'm in public, including during a recent lecture about Folk Art in Kansas, celebrating 150 years of self-taught art in Kansas and the traditions our immigrant ancestors brought with them, and during the World's Smallest Mural Project on Kansas Day.  It was bittersweet, as the mural was devoted to all that I love and admire about the pioneering spirit of Kansas, but with the armband as a reminder that it IS a continual struggle, and the arts are currently in peril.  Today came the executive order to eliminate the state entity known as the Kansas Arts Commission, a move that hurts partnerships in the wider national art network, destroys opportunities for the rural folks and communities that use this funding as a tool for community improvement, and sends a message to the world at large that Kansas doesn't value it's Art, nor its Artists. 
 

The armband will eventually be worn to rags, but will accompany every public appearance, every daily interaction, every artist activity, as the Arts are a part of my daily life, as the Arts should be for Kansas as a whole.  - Erika Nelson, Lucas, Kansas

Eudora High School

 Eudora High School Art Exhibition, Eudora, KS  2011

Kansas Without Murals

"El Baile / The Dance" Great Bend, KS  1998

         "Aspects of Negro Life: Slavery Through Reconstruction" recreation of the 1934 Aaron Douglas mural, Topeka, KS 2005

"The East Lawrence Waltz"  Lawrence, KS  2005

"Ad Astra" Hutchinson, KS  2002

"Pollinators" Lawrence, KS  2007

The Great Mural Wall of Topeka, 2007 - 2011

"Waiting in the Wings" Salina, KS  2010

"The Imagineers" Newton, KS  2010

Paschal and Eudora Fish

"Paschal and Eudora Fish"  by Jim Brothers, Eudora, KS  2006

Hashinger Hall's Blackboard

Messages on the blackboard at the University of Kansas' Hashinger Hall.

A discussion about the KAC crises and the dialogue initiated on the blackboard will be in the Hashinger Hall Lobby at 7:00 pm on Friday, February 4th.

Welcome

Imagine Kansas Without Art collects and posts photos, video, audio, and writing of artists, arts organizations, and arts advocates responding to Governor Sam Brownback's proposal to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission. 


Submit Your KWA material

Those interested in submitting to this blog, should respond to the following statement.

Imagine that tomorrow across the state from Atchison to Liberal and Pittsburg to Atwood all the arts centers, sculpture,  community theaters, murals, poets, filmmakers, choirs, quilters, orchestras, and painters that have been supported by the Kansas Arts Commission were covered over, hidden from view, and silenced.

Send  your photos, video, audio, or other KWA material to:

kansaswithoutart@gmail.com

Make sure to include your name, location, and a brief description about your submission and the potential impact that losing the support of the Arts Commission would have on your community. And after you submit here, please send your work to local media outlets along with the address for this blog. 

We will review all submissions and post as many as we can as soon as we can.
Thank you