The library meeting room serves both as a space where community organizations and others can meet as well as a small art gallery. If you’re planning a special trip to view a show, don’t hesitate to call us and check if the room is open.
My Kansas: Landscapes
by Debbie Wagner
September 8 through October 27
As a native Kansan, Debbie Wagner knows that the state is frequently described as flat, drab and colorless. Over the past 25 years, she has used her art as a vehicle for demonstrating a more colorful view of Kansas. She’s changing that old myth in the eyes of others one painting at a time.
Debbie lives in Bennington, Kansas. She paints every day, often working on a series of themed subjects. One of her most important series is her sunrise paintings. Debbie has been painting the sunrise nearly every day since December of 2005.
The subsequent discovery of two brain tumors in 2002 resulted in parallel surgeries, and as Debbie recuperated, she realized there were internal changes and limitations she would have to accept. The abilities to multi-task, read novels, write fluently, use mathematics, and sleep through the night were restricted. However, her visual acuity increased several fold, similar to the sensitive touch a person develops when they go blind. Debbie began a journey into her art, a place she was able to find sanction and release from the mental struggles that challenged her.
Her studio in Bennington is in the town’s old Santa Fe railroad station. Her husband, Don, a retired English teacher, owns Wagner Organic Farm, outside of Bennington, where he raises longhorn cattle – a subject of several paintings in this show.
Header image: detail from “After the Sandman”, by Matthew Miller
