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Jerry Gaddis is a Washburn University graduate with a degree in fine arts and a well-known Topeka artist whose paintings grace the walls of thousands of homes and corporations in Northeast Kansas. A native Kansan, Gaddis spent a lifetime studying the Midwestern landscape, and it shows in his paintings, which capture the soul of this part of the world. Working primarily in acrylic, his landscapes reflect the ever-changing natural beauty of Kansas.

Throughout his professional career, his work has won many awards including first prize in the Landscapes category in the 1997 Smoky Hills Arts Competition. His work has been exhibited at the Birger Sandzen Museum in Lindsborg, Kansas, and the Mulvane Art Museum in Topeka.

For many years Jerry’s series of “Snowman” paintings were featured on Christmas cards and posters produced for the Capper Foundation’s annual fundraising event. Today, his “Snowman” cards and posters are considered collector’s items. Jerry Gaddis is represented by SouthWind Gallery of Topeka. -Bio courtesy of Southwind Gallery

Night Sounds - Jerry Gaddis

“The auction theme 'Colors in The Night' lead to my painting the violin black to represent night. The gold notes introduces a color that flows out of the instrument and moves in a wave toward the back as though they are floating on air. The title Night Sounds suggests the sound of music in the night.”

  Night Sounds

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Stan Herd is a native Kansan known worldwide for his gigantic earthwork creations. For over 20 years he has worked the earth using indigenous materials to produce evocative and mystical works of art. From 160-acre plowed portraits to one-quarter-acre intimate stone designs, his earth works have become a platform for discussion of mankind's contemporary relationship to the land.

Stan’s earthworks have been published worldwide and reached audiences from Sri Lanka to Moscow, appearing in numerous U.S. publications such as Smithsonian, National Geographic, People Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. Film crews from South America, Japan, and England have captured Stan's unique art for presentation to fascinated television audiences. He has been featured on CBS's Sunday Morning, NBC's Dateline, CNN News, ABC's Good Morning America, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered. He also is the author of Crop Art and Other Earthworks, a chronicle of his work from 1976 to 1993. Stan’s inspiration can be traced to his childhood.

While making a name for himself in a genre he virtually pioneered, Stan has continued to paint. His paintings are prized by private and corporate collectors worldwide. In the past several years he also has branched out into other art forms including lithography, serigraphy, printing, etching, sculpture and film making.
-Bio courtesy of Southwind Gallery

Cultiva una Rosa Blanca - Stan Herd

“This piece is based on my Cuba trip back five years ago. My hope is to return to Cuba to finish our work down there in the next year.”

Judith Mackey is a native Kansan who lives in the Flint Hills, painting landscapes of the prairie, working cowboys and the ranch life that surround her rural Chase County home. She has won many professional honors during her 43-year career, including acceptance into the Salon International Competition (San Antonio) in 2003 and 2004.

In the prestigious international competition Arts for the Parks, she has won multiple awards, placing in the Top 200 in 1997, 2003 and 2004. Three of her paintings were accepted for the 2005 Arts for the Parks Mini Competition, and that same year her work was accepted in the National Oil Painters of American competition. In 2001, 2005, and 2007, her work appeared in the American Women Artists competition, and she is now a signature member.

She has been featured in the New York Times and in a CBS documentary about the Red Buffalo Ranch in Sedan, Kansas, and her tenure there as artist in residence. Her work hangs in the Kansas State Capitol and the governor’s residence at Cedar Crest and is prized worldwide by private and corporate collectors.
-Bio courtesy of Southwind Gallery

A Symphony of Sunset Colors - Judith Mackey

“Musical notes and a good piece of music are very much interrelated to the composition in a good painting. Keeping this in mind, I composed a painting consisting of one of my favorite subjects, the prairie sunset. At the time of painting the prairie sunset on the violin, I did not know the theme was Colors of the Night. This is much more than a coincidence, I believe.”

  A Symphony of Sunset Colors

    
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Larry Peters
Larry Peters received a BFA from Washburn University and an MFA from Souther Illionois University. He retired from the Topeka Public Library as Director and Curator of Collections for the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery. He has shown at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Wichita Center for the Arts, Mulvane Art Museum, Alice C. Sabatini Gallery and the Kabul, Afghanistan, Singapore and Athens, Greece United States Embassies. Currently he shows at the Collective Gallery in Topeka and the Stecker/Nelson Gallery in Manhattan. A juror of exhibitions and art fairs, his work is in the collections of the Wichita Center for the Arts, the Mulvane Art Museum, the Union Pacific Corporation, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and private collections. A recipient of the Kansas Governor's Arts Award for Arts Advocacy, he also received an Alumni Fellow Award from Washburn University and the Distinguished Service Award from the Kansas Museums Association.

Dot's Good! - Larry Peters

"I did this violin with an overall pattern rather than a pictorial image so that it would relate to the black and white chevron pattern of last year.  Subliminally I selected green and white polka dots which reflect the design on my infamous welder's cap."

Barbara Waterman-Peters received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Washburn University and her master’s degree from Kansas State University. She has taught art at both institutions. As a professional artist, she has been active in many arts organizations.

Her award-winning work has been shown internationally, and appears in museums and corporate and private collections worldwide. Her work was shown in both the Kansas Inaugural and the Kansas Masters Exhibitions. In 2007, her work for the Washburn University Theatre was exhibited at the Mulvane Art Museum in Topeka. In 2003, she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to the State of Kansas. In 2008 she was invited to design the image for the Sunflower Music Festival. Barbara also is a published author and currently writes for TOPEKA Magazine.
-Bio courtesy of Southwind Gallery

Flight of the Butterflies - Barbara Waterman-Peters

"The violin is such a strong form in both the plastic and symbolic sense that to alter it is difficult.  Because of this, I have tried to maintain a visual and literary connection with its musical history both last year with 'Sound of Roses' and this year with 'Flight of the Butterflies.' "

Jancy Pettit is a professional artist and energy practitioner from Topeka, Kansas, with a B.F.A. from Kansas State University in Manhattan. She has had extended studio study from the University of Kansas and Washburn University in Topeka.

Her experience as an artist also has opened her to meditation and an interest in chi, or universal energy and energy healing. In addition to creating art, she has spent the past 15 years studying and teaching energy modalities and how they relates to visual arts, creativity and our health and well-being. She uses chi to create artwork, which assists with the sense of well being of both individuals and organizations where her art is displayed.
-Bio courtesy of Southwind Gallery

Pathways to the Soul - Jancy Pettit

“Music and art are direct pathways to connect to the highest part of ourselves.  The artwork on the violin creates an additional path through the heart to the soul.  When the instrument is played, the additional vibration from the artwork will amplify the effect of the music.“ 

  Pathways to the Soul
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For more information, call 785-272-5850
or e-mail awolgast@cox.net