Wabaunsee County Wonders Open Call
Sunday September 15 | 2pm
24098 Volland Rd Alma, KS
Share your art, handiwork and collections for all to see!
Volland is looking for creative objects to share for an upcoming exhibition,
Wabaunsee County Wonders. Do you make quilts or paint? Have you found you have a knack for leatherwork or amassed a collection of plants? Are your recipes the envy of all your friends and family? Volland wants to see the creative things you make and collect!
On September 15th, Volland will host an afternoon for sharing the objects that make us unique. Erika Nelson,
Wabaunsee County
Wonders ‘ curator, will be present to document all of the submissions and ask some to exhibit their pieces in the exhibition. Erika Nelson, who hails from Lucas, KS, is the creator of the
World’s Largest Collection of the World’s S mallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction and Museum (and as her website says, a “Pretty Smart Cookie”). Nelson has launched similar projects and sits on the Board of S.P. Dinsmoor’s
Garden of Eden, another Lucas, KS art environment.
Nelson’s work reminds us the tent for creative practices is large. Forget any hesitations about whether or not what you make is worth showing. If you are a Wabaunsee County resident making or assembling things, Erika and Volland want you to bring them to Volland for all to see! Long-time Volland patrons might remember our past program of a similar nature,
Flint Hills Collects.
Wabaunsee County
Wonders expands on Flint Hills Collects’ spirit of sharing without hesitation. With a designated exhibit your neighbors will have many chances to see your creative endeavors (and maybe showoff a bit to our surrounding counties too).
This project relates in a direct way to the addition of eight M.T. Liggett sculptures, gifted by the Kohler Foundation, to Volland’s permanent outdoor sculpture collection.
M.T. Liggett, an eccentric, boisterous maker from Mullinville, Kansas in Kiowa County, represents the creativity that resides in many of us. Liggett never received formal art training, yet made a large impact on the art world through the 600 plus metal totems he lined up along his property. The gift of eight of his sculptures will be revealed at Volland on September 29th. Join us to hear from Liggett’s friends and collectors, Dick and Gloria Anderson and Larry and Cindy Meeker; Beth Wiza from the Kohler Foundation; Ann Dixson, longtime friend of Liggett and the Co-Executive Director of the 547 Art Center in Greensburg, Kansas, who oversees the M.T. Liggett Art Environment; and Erika Nelson, a friend of Liggett’s, who assisted in preservation efforts funded by the Kohler Foundation at the
M.T. Liggett Art Environment
and wrote the content for the exhibit in the Visitor Center there.
Festivities begin at 2pm with music, food, and
a sneak peak at
Wabaunsee County Wonderswhich officially opens October 5 with a reception honoring the exhibitors and celebrating creativity in Wabaunsee County.
All you need to be an artist is to make art. All the rest is a lot of words. I think that’s what we forget in talking about art or teaching art or attending conferences about art. It’s really about people making stuff to make their lives better. – Erika Nelson
