Shafer Gallery Acquires Two
Shafer Watercolors From Leawood Couple

Barton County Community College Friends of the Shafer Gallery have purchased two Gus Shafer paintings from Barton and Mary Cohen of Leawood. In turn, the Cohens have donated $1,200 to the Friends of the Gallery Fund.

“The two paintings acquired from Barton and Mary Cohen are part of the legacy of the gallery’s name sake, Gus Shafer,” said Shafer Gallery Director Bill Forst. “Not only was he an outstanding sculptor he produced many fine paintings.”

“These works are excellent examples of his watercolor technique and his vision of the American West,” Forst added.

The watercolors are products of the many trips Gus and his wife, Eva, made to explore the ghost towns of the American West.
“Silver Slipper Saloon,” reflects the 1961 condition of Silver City, Idaho, which was “one of the finest ghost towns still in existence,” Shafer wrote on the back of the painting. The painting shows the saloon and what was known as the old Getchel Drug Store.

“There are approximately 30 old buildings in this ghost town, rated third best in the USA,” Shafer wrote. The painting’s original owner was Dr. John Broz of Twin Falls, Idaho.

“Desert’s Toll,” painted in 1970, depicts the sand dunes in southern Colorado. On the back of the painting, Shafer wrote: “The old wagon is a relic of the early days when Sprague’s toll road ran 30 miles across the dunes. Some of the old log road can still be found on a hillside south of the dunes before you cross the river. The dunes rise 1,500 feet high and run northwest or southeast in direction for 30 miles.”

The paintings are now on display at the gallery.

All Shafer Gallery exhibits are presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.