Quartet of Sunflowers
by Eldon Swensson
watercolor

Hanging Garden V
by Bev Simonson
oil on canvas

Gifts of Art Added to Barton's Permanent Collection in Gallery

Barton County Community College recently received two gifts of art for the college's Permanent Collection in the Shafer Gallery.

"Quartet of Sunflowers"

Lindsborg artist Eldon Swensson and his wife, Dee, have donated one of his own watercolors titled "Quartet of Sunflowers." The 14½-by-10½-inch painting is a close-up view of sunflowers in a field of sunflowers. Swensson exhibited his work in the Shafer Gallery last October and was on hand to demonstrate his watercolor techniques at the opening reception for the exhibit. Best known for his lively florals and landscapes, Swensson is a teacher and the resident "Artist in the Window" at the Anderson Butik on Saturdays in downtown Lindsborg. After a 43-year career as an architect, he returned home to Lindsborg and embarked on his new career as a watercolorist. Since 1993, he has become a third-generation artist, following in the footsteps of his grandmother, Hannah Olson Swensson, and his mother, Rhoda Bengston Swensson. As a Wichita architect in the early 1980s, he drafted and designed the solar dormitories on Barton's campus.

"Hanging Garden V"

Karen Keller Becker has donated an oil painting by Beverly Simonson in memory of Norman Keller. The 24-by-48-inch painting, titled "Hanging Garden V," is a colorful floral work in vivid peach and green. A longtime Great Bend artist, Simonson now lives in Pagosa Springs, Colo. She began her studies in drawing and painting at an early age, and in 1968, she began painting seriously in oil and was winning prizes in juried shows in central and western Kansas. She has participated in many group and two-artist shows, and has presented eight one-artist shows. At the Shafer Gallery, she exhibited her work several times along with area artists. Her most recent gallery exhibit was as part of a close-knit group of five local artists, who dubbed themselves the IV Aquarians plus One. She began her studies under Great Bend artist and instructor Orlin C. Baker, a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute. She participated in numerous art workshops sponsored by the college and the local artists' organization, Art, Inc. Through the years, she received instruction from Barton art instructors, Ray Bachura, Jon Ulm and Steve Dudek. These new donations have increased the college's Permanent Art Collection to 772 works of art, which include the 507-piece C.E. Denman Collection donated in 1981 and many other works presented since that time.

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