Hutchinson art is amazing
OPINION: This article reflects the author's opinion, not tied to the publication
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
— Thoms Merton
I’m not an artist. I draw at the level of a 1st grader. I haven’t painted anything but some walls. I don’t sculpt.
I don’t understand the mechanism of art. I can’t define it.
But I do know it when I see it.
I do know beauty. I know wonder. I know that feeling when I see something that makes me pause, and everything around it fades away.
I have been noticing the multiple works of art popping up around town, particularly more murals. The former Larabee Mill on East 1st Ave., the Family Community Theatre’s building at 2nd and Plum, and the gorgeous piece on the information kiosk on the Kansas State Fairgrounds have added beauty to otherwise unremarkable structures.
Today, I interviewed Hutchinson Art Center Director John Eberly about Friday’s 75th anniversary celebration. The main gallery exhibits items in the permanent collection featuring Hutchinson Art Association members. Merton’s loss of self settled over me as I admired a painting by Jinx Wright, one of the earliest art association members. The painting featured a brick-style walkway with two female figures walking, with roses and what I think were carnations dotting the bushes. It was a simple vignette, but it struck me with the wonder of Monet’s summer impressionist works, Caravaggio's light and dark precision, Jackson Pollock’s abstract drip technique, and, my favorite, Kandinsky’s geometrical patterns on canvas.
This next week, Hutchinson’s residents will have unique opportunities to see and participate in individual and community art projects on Third Thursday in DCI Park. The following day, they can celebrate the art association’s 75th anniversary, have a chance to admire and, perhaps, lose themselves, and then sign up for an art class or a Friday morning art session.
Merton lived a life of contemplation and meditation. He used art to focus his thoughts and prayers, to focus on the essence of the universe and the meaning of life. He found divinity and purpose through art. I think he would have lost — or found — himself wandering through Hutchinson.