This year’s “12 Squared Small Works Open Exhibition” at Gallery 12 proves that artistic punch isn’t measured in square footage. By restricting participating artists to a format no larger than 12 by 12 inches, the show creates an intimate, jewelry-box setting that invites viewers to lean in and appreciate the multi-faceted detail in each of the 51 works on display.

Take, as an example, the vibrantly colored abstract collage titled simply “#2” by Matthew Hilyard. Set off by a predominantly white background, gently curving bold yellow and black lines that evoke tree trunks or blades of grass will draw you in for a closer look. Jagged, irregular, geometric blocks of black and deep blue stand or float behind the tree or grass-like lines of color. As you look deeper, splotches of blue, red, green, and one delightful burst of pink resolve into view. Lines that look like the outlines of wings take shape, and then you spot the little orange sun, not knowing whether it’s rising or setting.

By contrast, Chiaw-Weai Loo’s realistic “Nest for the Blue Eggs” is a delicate ink and watercolor on rice paper work that arrests your attention with its elegant and true-to-nature rendering of a bird’s nest in the subtle shades of leaf-green, flower-pink, twig-brown, robin's-breast orange, and robin’s egg blue.

Jackie Long also chose to portray her subjects naturalistically. Her acrylic painting “I’m Grooming, of Course!” imagines in beautiful detail a cottontail rabbit’s cheeky answer to a sparrow’s query.

Valencia Pardo takes another artistic tack with her ink work “Valencia.” Delve into this black-and-white, fractally complex piece and at first you’ll see the shapes and forms of flowers, then, with a little imagination, everything from shorelines and spinal columns to one-celled organisms and spiral galaxies. “Valencia” reflects the recursive interplay between large- and small-scale reality — something that is totally on point for this exhibition.

Gallery 12’s “12 Squared” exhibition has been a Wichita arts-scene happening for well over a decade. It was originally organized by the co-op gallery’s members who own and operate the space.

“I’m not sure exactly when the exhibition started, but a yearly small works exhibition was begun in order to give artists from all across our area an opportunity to show their work in our gallery,” explains Susan Fellows, a Gallery 12 member and the lead organizer for this year’s show. “At first, the exhibition was titled ‘Crazy 8s’ because it also included pieces of eight inches square, as well as 12 inches. About eight to 10 years ago, the show was renamed the ’12 Squared Small Works Exhibition,’ to reflect the 12 in our gallery’s name, as well as the show’s main rule — entries must measure 12 by 12 inches.”

All artists, whether they are dues-paying members of Gallery 12 or not, are allowed to submit works to the exhibition.

“I like to think of it as our outreach to the Wichita artistic community, encouraging artists of all ages and skill levels. This year, we had our first international entry, from Italy,” Fellows says. “As an open exhibition, ‘12 Squared’ has no jury, but we do have a gallery non-member judge, who changes each year. This year it was Brian Hinkle, a well-respected artist and art educator in our community. We have cash awards for first, second, and third places, as well as for the Bayles Memorial Photography Award. There are also two honorable mentions and the people’s choice award, which gallery visitors vote on — with the winner to be announced during our closing reception on February 27.”

Hinkle’s own practice demonstrates expertise in both abstract and realistic styles, and the 2026 winners he selected showcase a sophisticated range of subjects and mediums.

Jason Crile’s first-place piece, “Stage Presence,” anchors the show with its engaging illusion of three-dimensional depth. Crile employs photography, acrylic paint, and LED lighting to create an ethereal female figure in blue. She beckons from a stage set featuring a prominent wooden door, table, chair, and two photographic portraits (of old stage actors?) hanging on the wall.

In contrast, the second- and third-place works are beautifully executed two-dimensional pieces that mirror scenes from the natural, non-staged world. Rendered in pan pastel, ink, and collage, Elaine Rusk’s “Where Wonder is Shared” is abstract with hints of figures and subtle, unreadable scraps of text that work together to form an exquisitely colored landscape in muted but shimmering rust-reds, orange-golds, gray-blues, and blacks.

Lisa Findley’s “Little Birdie” is a bold, vibrantly colored glass mosaic that, despite its singular name, introduces viewers to ever more birds the longer they look.

Two artists received honorable mentions. Martha Wherry's “Pollen” is a mixed-media piece depicting the pollen grains of plants in lively blues, greens, and sunshine yellows. The other was Kathy Hisel for her “Consider the Lilies,” a striking oil painting that pleases the eye with its natural colors and layers upon layers of shapes and flowing forms in the lilies, roses, and other flowers arranged in a flower-patterned vase on a round table covered in a flowery print tablecloth.

The inclusion of the Bayles Memorial Photography Award — this year presented to Nora Strasser for her expansive “Grand Sunrise” — is another of the exhibition’s highlights, showing how grand scale can be successfully captured within a small format. Indeed, each of the artworks in “12 Squared” proves that small works can leave large impressions.

A final Friday closing reception is slated for 6-9 p.m., February 27 at the gallery. The winner of the people’s choice award will be announced at this reception. This final honor is chosen by gallery visitors over the course of the exhibition’s run.

The Details

“12 Squared”
February 6-28, 2026, Gallery 12, 412 E. Douglas in Wichita.

Gallery 12 is open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and noon-6 p.m. Fridays. The gallery is open until 9 p.m. on the first and final Fridays of the month.

A closing reception will take place from 6-9 p.m. during Final Friday on February 27.

Admission is free to the public, and the facility is accessible to people with physical disabilities.

Connie Kachel White is a writer and editor who has written about the arts in Wichita for going on three decades now. White, whose communications gigs range from book-editing to investigative reporting, is the founding and current editor of Wichita State University’s The Shocker magazine. More of her writing can be found online at theshockermagazine.com and shockerconnect.com.

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