WAM Nights | Shaping Vision: Wichita Painters on Process and Practice

Name: WAM Nights | Shaping Vision: Wichita Painters on Process and Practice
Start: 2025-10-17T18:30:00-05:00
Location: 1400 Museum Blvd, Wichita, KS, United States, Kansas 67203

Schedule

Fri, 17 Oct, 2025 at 06:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

1400 Museum Blvd, Wichita, KS, United States, Kansas 67203 | Wichita, KS

WAM Nights | Shaping Vision: Wichita Painters on Process and Practice
◆ October 17, 2025 | 6:30pm
◆ Free event. No reservations required.
◆ Wooden Lecture Hall
Featuring Sarah Chavez, Rachel Curtis, Sloane Dyer, Mary McCoy, and Kate Van Steenhuyse, and moderated by Chloe Lang, this panel highlights the contributions of Wichita-based women painters while situating their practices within broader art historical dialogues. This program is presented in conjunction with Wichita Art Museum’s current exhibitions Abstract Expressionists: The Women and Framed in Friendship: American Women Artists and Their Networks.
Artist and Moderator Biographies:
Moderator: Chloe Lang ◆ Registrar and Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Wichita Art Museum, Chloe Lang currently serves on the City of Wichita’s Design Council. As an artist, she works across painting and cultural production. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Sarah Chavez ◆ Sarah Chavez’s work draws from the surreal, symbolic, and sensual, merging food, the body, and nature into richly layered scenes. Inspired by art history, pop culture, and personal memory, her paintings often hide deeper meanings beneath playful surfaces. Chavez studied Studio Arts & Art History at Kansas State University and is based in Wichita, KS.
Rachel Curtis ◆ Rachel Curtis is a figurative oil painter living in Towanda, Kansas, and teaches visual art at Butler Community College. She received her BFA from Kansas State University and her MFA from Wichita State University. Curtis has participated in group exhibitions from Massachusetts to California and has presented solo shows in Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, and Missouri.
Mary McCoy ◆ Mary McCoy is an abstract painter who creates vibrant and dream-like pieces. Her work blurs the boundaries between reality and imagination through her intuitive artistic process. Rather than following traditional oil painting techniques, she works with raw, ever-evolving composition and palette choices. Her process becomes a dialogue between artist and materials. By blending and stacking thin, transparent layers of paint, she creates dreamy forms that emerge and recede like half-remembered visions.
McCoy received her BFA in Visual Art from the University of Kansas, where she was awarded the Beatrice L. Bonine Painting Scholarship. She studied painting at Florence University of the Arts in Italy and was an artist resident at Château d'Orquevaux in France, where her work became part of the gallery's private collection. She has exhibited extensively, including a notable solo exhibition "Neverwhere" at Wichita City Arts. She is currently preparing to take her work to The Other Art Fair Chicago this fall.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, McCoy continues to push the boundaries of abstract painting through her explorations of color, texture, and form. Her work invites viewers to discover new worlds within her canvases, creating spaces for contemplation and wonder through thoughtfully composed abstractions.
Sloane Dyer ◆ Sloane Dyer (b. 1996, Kansas) is a Native artist from the Midwest whose work centers on the intersection of neurodivergence, Native identity, and emotional healing. Through abstract forms, Dyer explores her lived experiences, using art as a means of processing and expressing the complexities of her inner world. She graduated with a BFA in 2019 from Emporia State University (KS) and is currently pursuing her MFA at Wichita State University (KS). Dyer’s work spans large-scale paintings, ceramic sculptures, and mixed media. Characterized by vibrant colors, bold brushstrokes, and deep engagement with texture and surface, each piece invites viewers to connect on emotional and physical levels, reflecting her belief in the power of art to foster personal and cultural healing.
Kate Van Steenhuyse ◆ Kate Van Steenhuyse (she/her) received her MFA in Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and a BFA in Painting & Women’s Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Economic Development from Wichita State University. Kate maintains an active studio practice, exhibiting nationally and internationally. In 2014, she co-founded Harvester Arts in Wichita, KS, serving as its Executive Director for 7 years. She has also served as Ulrich Museum of Art Alliance Board President (2014–2017), graduate faculty at Wichita State University (2011–2017), and board member of the Mid-America Arts Alliance (2017–2020). She currently serves on the boards of Harvester Arts and Groover Labs in Wichita, and is a Fellow of the Kansas Future Fellows program at the University of Kansas. Kate worked as Program Manager at Arts Partners Wichita (2017–2019) and since 2019 has held numerous roles with the Kansas Arts Commission, including Interim Director (2022–2023). She now serves as Assistant Director.
◆◆◆
About WAM Nights: We’re open late on Fridays until 9 pm! Get your weekend started with after-hours access to the galleries and shopping in the Museum Store. WAM Nights will include programs with artists, musicians, and performers–don’t miss your chance to see the art at WAM in a new way! Connect with artists in the area during fun gallery experiences through WAM’s partnership with Harvester Arts.