By Emily Christensen

My car broke down about 30 minutes after visiting the 2026 Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial at the Salina Art Center in June. In the ensuing new-vehicle shopping/gnashing of teeth, I forgot to write about the fifth iteration of this major juried exhibition, composed of works by 62 artists living in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Chloe Lang wrote about the 2024 biennial for The SHOUT.

The experience rushed back as I reviewed the photos taken that ill-fated morning. (The exhibition closes September 6; tick tock.) While some of the selections by juror Hesse McGraw are less successful than others, the show makes a strong case for the originality of contemporary visual art in this region. 

Selections in the first gallery are particularly outstanding, and many of the works therein share a pleasing tension: brooding but defiant or maybe despairing but stubborn. Or alienated but seeking connection — a defining characteristic of this region. The other two, less dynamic galleries are loosely organized around more traditional regional subject matter and portraiture.

But there are thoughtful curatorial choices throughout, like a painting of a man at a buffet that hangs next to a pair of drawings that include a loaf and a fish, the ingredients Jesus miraculously multiplied, according to the Gospels.

The biennial includes works by artists I already admire, including Kevin Kelly, John Oehm, and Kelly Yarborough. But the real pleasure was discovering the work of artists such as Heather Schulte, Jessica Teckemeyer, Joe Bussell, and many more.

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