By Genevieve Waller

I’ve lived out of state for over 20 years now, but my love for the arts, culture, and lesser-known histories of Kansas has endured and deepened over time. I recently visited the Wichita Art Museum (along with the SHOUT editors) for the first time in a few years and was impressed — just like I was as a high school and college student — by the gems in their permanent collection.

Seeing works like Kenneth Noland’s wonderful diamond-shaped “No Night” (1967) and Josef Albers’ “Study for Homage to a Square: Alto Pluno” (1956) with its vibrating color combination reminded me that my passion for geometric abstraction originated in my art and art history classes in Wichita. And encountering two paintings by Yasuo Kuniyoshi, an artist whom I first learned about at WAM when I was a teenager, I remembered how unmistakable his works are. His “Bouquet and Stove” (1929) caught my eye during this visit as a still-life for everyday people, with the humble cast iron stove seemingly coming to life with dancing feet and the intricacy, line work, and luscious colors of the flowers contrasting with the bare wooden landing and stairs rendered in earth tones.

The Wichita Art Museum is a treasure. I’m grateful I had access to it as a young person with humble origins and can revisit it now as a trained artist and art writer.

— Genevieve Waller is the SHOUT's visual arts editor and the founding editor of DARIA.

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