Annual Report (2003)
ARLIS/Central Plains Chapter


Submitted by M. J. Poehler, Secretary-Treasurer 

mpoehler@kcai.edu
phone:816-802-3393
fax: 816-802-3338

Leadership Update

2003 Chapter Officers

Chair: Kay Logan-Peters, U. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Vice Chair/Chair Elect: Rachel Crane, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Secretary/Treasurer: M. J. Poehler, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Newsletter editor: Susan Bobo, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK  

2004 Incoming Officers

Chair: Rachel Crane, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Vice Chair/Chair Elect: Susan Bobo, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Secretary/Treasurer: M. J. Poehler, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Newsletter editor:  Susan Bobo, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 

Narrative

At the close of 2003, Central Plains listed a total of 19 members.

Central Plains Chapter’s spring 2003 meeting was held May 29- 31 in Topeka, Ks, with the business meeting held at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.  Susan Craig and Rachel Crane organized the meeting.  Among issues addressed at the meeting: identifying potential new CP members and encouraging new membership.  Suzy Frechette, CP member, in her role as ARLIS/NA regional representative provided a report on executive board news.  CP members were interested to learn about the follow-up on the streamlining reorganization decisions made last year.

Mr. Larry Peters, curator of art for the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, introduced the group to the library’s Sabatini Gallery and its collection.  Mr. Peters spoke on the experience of enduring the recent library renovation and expansion.   The renovation architect was Michael Graves.  Other programming in Topeka included tours of the Tiffany windows at the First Presbyterian Church, the Kansas State Capitol and the Kansas Museum of History.

The fall 2003 meeting was held October 9-11 in at the Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS.  It was jointly hosted by Lois Crane, of the Wichita Art Museum (WAM), and Rachel Crane, Wichita State University.  Suzy Frechette, Midwest Regional Representative, reported on news from the Executive Board.  Chapter business included addressing the departure of our chapter web page creator, Chris Jorgensen, from the Joslyn Art Museum and from the chapter.  Susan Bobo volunteered to take over the web page.  It will not go live from its new home at Oklahoma State University until Susan receives official approval from library administration.   Plans for future chapter meetings include St. Joseph, MO, and Oklahoma City.  The chapter has also started a dialog with the Mountain West Chapter about the possibility of a joint meeting in Santa Fe, where long-time CP member Mari Russell now works and resides.  A joint meeting is likely to take place in October, 2005, in Santa Fe.

Activities of the CP fall meeting included a tour of the WAM, which completed a renovation and expansion in 2003 with fantastic results.  Architects on the project were the Wichita firm Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey.  The museum’s American art collection was a highlight of the Wichita meeting.  Other highlights included an outdoor sculpture tour at Wichita State University and a visit to WSU’s Edwin A. Ulrich Museum, a tour of the headquarters/museum of the International Society of Decorative Painters, and a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen-Lambe House. 

Issues for the Executive Board

The chapter donated $50 to the New York annual conference.