Last week, Emily Christensen and I took a road trip to northern Kansas. Our first stop was Lindsborg's Red Barn Studio Museum, the former home and studio of prolific Kansas artist Lester Raymer.

This was my first visit, so we got the full tour. I learned that Raymer made most of the objects inside the house as well as the decorations in the courtyard. Our tour guide told us that Raymer also designed the brick patio behind The White Peacock, the coffee shop where we had a delicious breakfast on our way into town. Art communities and their endless Easter eggs never cease to amaze me.

The museum has an artist residency program, though we visited in between resident artists. We did get to admire new acquisitions of art by Raymer, all donated by the late JoAnn Myers.

Next, we stopped at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery to check out the exhibitions Kate Storhoff reviewed last week, plus the other two rotating exhibitions (which have since closed): "All Encompassing," paintings & drawings by Anthony Benton Gude of Frankfort, Kansas, and "Go Figure," an invitational exhibition featuring works by 30 regional artists.

I was struck by the way some male artists choose to render the naked female body in the aforementioned exhibitions (and in the art world in general). Often hairless with pronounced nipples and visible, unnatural skeletal structures, the uninspired narrative these figures offer distracts from what may have been technically great artwork. #UnleashTheBush.

That said, “Go Figure” had rewarding moments.

Detailed works like those pictured here treat us to a conversation about the body existing within spaces and as a site for countless moving parts. Many pieces paid homage to different bodies and the stories they tell, intentionally or not.

Lucas offered a portraiture bounty to match Lindsborg, with additional points for a visit with beloved SHOUT contributor Lori Brack. Upstairs in the Kathy Ruth Neal Gallery, the Grassroots Art Center displays the second of three planned exhibitions that honor the late artist.

This installation, "Greatest Show on Earth," offers a new set of Neal's playful imagery, mostly rendered in carved wood. However, the exhibition also includes intriguing examples of her 2D work.

With a stop in Salina for Cozy Inn sliders on our way home to Wichita, the trip took just over 12 hours. It was a thoroughly satisfying Kansas art adventure.

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