Wichita Art Museum-Wichita, Kansas

Jonathan Elmore
Jun 21
2 min read

Updated: Jul 10

Wichita has become a place I've travelled to quite a bit in recent history. Mainly because my daughter and her wife live there. I like to see them and their animals whenever possible. But while I'm there I like to eat in places I don't have in OKC, like my favorite breakfast joint Livingston's Cafe. I also like to look around and what kind of Museum Crawler would I be if I didn't go see some art while in town?

One afternoon, I made my way to the Wichita Art Museum. When I've never been to a museum before, I always have high hopes of it being epic. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. But the Wichita Art Museum was a hit. I honestly feel lucky to have come at the time I did because there was an etheric, mystical exhibit from the artist Anila Quayyum Agha. The photo below of the red cube just doesn't give you the sense of the space it was in. This was a full sized room where the lace metal cube hung in the middle and emitted light in all directions. It enveloped me like no other piece I've experienced. I took about 12 pictures to get the feeling I was having but to no avail. So I settled for one that captured most of the room in one frame. That room led into the rest of her works and they were all fantastic.

On the other side of the museum was what I assume is a permanent or semi-permanent collection. They had some great works in there as well. At one point, I rounded a corner and was blown away by a giant Motherwell. I audibly said "OHH!" like Sil from The Sopranos. After I checked to see if anyone was staring at me, I gathered my composure and continued on. There were many cool works of art, but one caught my eye so much that I started following him on Instagram. Stan Squirewell's piece had me standing and staring at it for an indeterminate amount of time. When I came to, I snapped a picture and headed toward the exit.

If you're ever in the middle of the country and looking for something to do, go see the Wichita Art Museum. Well worth the trip.

1400 Museum Blvd

Wichita Kansas

316-268-4921

https://wam.org/