Bringing Public Art to Downtown Garden City

Born and raised in garden city, I grew up loving anything art, painting, sculpting, and even paper crafts. Throughout high school, I was pushed to test my limits and keep working on my portfolio. I am so very proud to have gotten the chance to add the banner to the list! Although I've worked with big projects and with acrylic before, this has made me think things through a bit more. I have worked hard with color over the years to find my own personal touch of "subtle yet bursting with color", trying to push the limits of realistic but colorful. I have enjoyed painting this year's banner a lot and I can't wait to see all the others, as well as hopefully continue on in the years to come!

I am a mixed-media artist based in rural Kansas whose work is rooted in nature, memory, and quiet resilience. My paintings blend ink, acrylic and embroidery inspired linework to explore the spaces between fragility and strength. Branches, roots, insects, and layered landscapes appear often, acting as visual metaphors for connection, growth, and the stories we carry beneath the surface.

My process is intuitive and tactile. I build in layers, allowing color and mark-making to respond to one another until a piece feels alive. Each work holds movement and texture, inviting the viewer to slow down and look closely.

Hello, my name is Emma Wedel. This year I am a College Freshman at Kansas State University. I am majoring in Entrepreneurship and Innovation with a minor in art, and hope to open my own business one day that embraces the arts and the community. I work in just about any medium, but I prefer colored pencil drawings. This piece was exploratory for me as I worked with much brighter colors than I normally would, and of course included my signature bit of glitter to make it pop. I focused on a Kansas theme including a buffalo and native flowers as I wanted to capture the vibrancy of our culture, and also the colors of our beautiful Kansas sunsets. I have worked closely with Garden City Arts for years and I am excited to be able to participate in my first banner art project this summer!

Cephas Lee, also known as Cephas Lobmeyer, is an up-and-coming artist from southwest Kansas. At a young age, he excelled at drawing and creative approaches. Growing up in a split household, Cephas relied on art to escape his chaotic family life. His love for comics, superheroes, and the stories they tell was a significant part of his life. After dropping out of high school and getting his GED, he moved to Missouri but lost touch with art. At this time, he was dealing with mental health issues that led him to seek help and to take a look at his future. He was given a chance to move back to his hometown to attend college, where he received a scholarship to study visual arts. This reignited his passion for art and led him to explore more ways of creating using oil paint, watercolor, sculpture, and printmaking mediums. Cephas’ current work primarily focuses on figures and portraits, maintaining a strong connection to his love for comics. Cephas is completing his art associate degree at Garden City Community College and has plans to continue his education.

I was born and raised in Nebraska before attending college in Kansas for my studio art degree. After living in various mid-west states, I have settled in Illinois where my art centers on the ambiance of the American mid-west highlighting the beauty in the most common activities.

I have worked in a variety of mediums and locations; from bronze statues in Illinois, murals in Iowa, painted banners in Kansas, and various other works in Nebraska and Wisconsin. I have a realistic to impressionist style, often with acrylic paints on canvas, not hiding the brush strokes or build-up of color. This leaves the viewers to do the blending. I have a variety of experience from large scale museum walls, to the small pages of a children’s book. I enjoy painting what is around me; such as the beauty of motherhood, the joy of a landscape, and the life of animals.

My future plans are to add the experiences I live and witness to my art library. Painting my kids as they grow, expanding into new genres and taking on new challenges in dramatic lighting and complex compositions. I’m also excited to find ways to blend my painting and sculptures

Robin is a visual artist and workshop instructor whose abstract work is built on bold color, texture, and process. Working in acrylics, mixed media, or oil and cold wax, she creates spontaneous, expressive pieces with deliberate cut-in lines, marks, and shapes. For Robin, the layering process is where the work becomes familiar. She draws a direct parallel between that process and human experience: the many layers we carry, visible and buried alike.

Robin is an active presence in the Garden City, Kansas art scene, participating in local shows, area exhibitions, and fundraisers. Her work has been shown in multi-state juried festivals and galleries, earning recognition along the way.

Erica Nordling has always been passionate about art, drawing inspiration from her deep love of nature. Through her paintings, she seeks to invite viewers into her world, sharing the beauty and serenity she finds in the natural landscape. Her artistic journey began with painting trees and flowers on the walls of her first home, which soon led to requests from friends to create murals for children’s rooms. This passion evolved into her first business, Break-Away, specializing in murals and decorative painting.

Erica’s love for both art and teaching led her to open Lynnie’s Nest, a studio where she offers step-by-step painting classes, helping others find joy in creating. Over time, Lynnie’s Nest expanded into a floral and art studio, offering fresh flower arrangements, home goods, and art workshops—allowing Erica to work daily with both flowers and paint, blending her artistic and botanical passions.

Dedicated to continuous growth, Erica pursued her education at Seward County Community College and Fort Hays State University, where she took several art courses to refine her skills and expand her artistic vision.

To explore more of Erica’s work, visit www.EricaNordlingArt.com

Krista was born and raised in eastern Missouri, but spent most of her life in Kansas. She graduated from Ulysses High School in 2013, Garden City Community College in 2016, and Fort Hays State University in 2019 with a Bachelor's Degree in Studio Arts. She currently resides in Salina, KS and enjoys making art for the sake of personal creativity and self expression. Her favorite mediums are oil painting, pastels, and charcoal. Her favorite subjects are portraits and figures, be it human or animal.

Michael Kent Knutson is an artist, educator, and art activist whose multi-media practice spans diverse media and themes. He currently serves as Professor of 2-D Art at Garden City Community College in southwestern Kansas and sits on the board of Garden City Arts.

Teresa Wasinger is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends texture, movement, and storytelling. Drawing from a background rooted in both creativity and everyday life, she explores the intersection of raw materials and emotional expression. Her process often incorporates layered mediums, paper, fabric, paint, and charcoal, resulting in pieces that feel both structured and organic.

Wasinger’s work is deeply intuitive, allowing each layer to respond to the one before it. She is particularly drawn to contrasts: soft and bold, controlled and chaotic, delicate and resilient. Through this approach, her pieces often reflect themes of growth, transformation, and the beauty found in imperfection.

In addition to her personal work, she is passionate about creating art that invites connection, whether through community, family, or shared experience. This banner project is an extension of that philosophy, serving as both a visual statement and a tactile exploration of layered meaning.

Born in Topeka, KS, Matthew Miller graduated from Fort Hays State University with a Bachelor of Fine Art, emphasis painting, in 2013. He previously earned a B.A. History of Art degree from the University of Kansas.

Jennifer Baffoe began her art journey in 2008 in South Dakota. She experimented with the Alla Prima style with brushes and oils passed down from her Swedish grandmother. By 2016 she was painting animal portraits and landscapes for her Midwest clientele as a means of fundraising for a school in Ghana.

Her art has been inspired by her life in South Dakota, Washington State, Kansas and her travels around the world. Her life's story has been woven into each painting.

Jennifer has artwork in galleries and private collections across the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. She also currently teaches classes in Western Kansas.

I began teaching art in the fall of 1988 at Kenneth Henderson and taught there for nine years with grade levels ranging from 6-9 over the years as the district made changes from 9th grade moving to the high school and the intermediate centers being built. I was mentored by Patricia Johnson during those years and learned a great deal about teaching those grade levels and budgeting for art classes.

A position became available at Garden City High School for a third art instructor. I decided to make the change to the high school and taught grades 9-12th for the rest of my teaching career. My colleagues at the high school, Phil Buntin and Jack Simpson furthered my education in teaching art with introducing me to new techniques and approaches to art. My experience with them was amazing and I loved having such excellent colleagues as well as friends. After they both retired, I mentored many art teachers over the years, served as Instructional Leader of Art and have truly enjoyed the experiences with all of them.

May of 2019, I retired from teaching art at GCHS. My total years of teaching comes to 31 years. I can honestly say the I miss Advanced Studio Class the most as those students were so very talented over the years. Teaching promotes learning for the instructor and I definitely took on that learning.

My favorite medias are watercolor, oil, acrylic painting, sculpting with clay, and felting. I will always create art as long as I live because it keeps me healthy and happy. I spend most of my time doing art in whatever media catches my interest at the time.

Carol Burnum is an abstract artist based in Ulysses, Kansas, working primarily in acrylic and mixed media. Her creative process is deeply intuitive, guided more by emotion than preconception. Rather than beginning with a fixed plan, Burnum allows each piece to evolve organically, embracing uncertainty and spontaneity as essential parts of her work.

Her paintings often emerge as layered expressions of feeling, where color, texture, and movement reflect internal states rather than external subjects. This instinctive approach results in dynamic, one-of-a-kind compositions that invite viewers to form their own personal connections and interpretations.

Burnum’s art is a reflection of the creative moment—unpredictable, expressive, and rooted in the belief that not knowing the outcome is part of the beauty of the process.

I’m an artist from Garden City, Kansas. I’ve been doing art for as long as I can remember, but I really started to enjoy it more in high school and connect with it on a deeper level. My favorite mediums are colored pencil and graphite, and I especially love creating animal portraits! They’re fun and full of personality. I enjoy focusing on the small details that make each piece feel real, simple, but true to my style.

Emily Dodge Sexson was born and raised in Garden City. Her degree is in Commercial Graphics. She enjoys photography and painting with acrylics, especially if the subject matter is an animal or something from nature.

Siddhesh is originally from Mumbai, India. He is a physical therapist, and has a background as an illustrator. He is intrigued by the locales, landscapes and cultures of southwest Kansas and tries to capture these in his art. He likes to work with wood and clay as well.

Genessa West is not a native of Southwest Kansas but over the last 27 years it has become home. She enjoys life as a wife, and mother to 3 amazing humans. She is a self-taught artist and loves a variety of mediums including watercolor and acrylic paint. Growing up near the beach and enjoying a childhood filled with outdoor adventure, she has always had a fondness for nature. Genessa is inspired by little details of color in the clouds, the light hitting a flower, or the details of a sunset.

The arts are very important in my life so I assume that everyone else feels this way too. I have worked to promote the arts, mostly visual arts, for many years and the Banner Art Project has been one of my favorite events since its beginning. I work mostly in acrylics, but I like to try different mediums as well.

Grown up and live in Garden City for over 15 year. Art and paining is the most amazing hobby/coping outlet for my own expression with feelings. Drawing is my life-long accomplishment, showing me milestones to look back through my progress within creativity and building skills.

I am a retired middle school teacher so therefore I call myself the worlds oldest 8th grader. I am a mixed media artist because I love to play with all sorts of art materials. I am also a member of 2nd Avenue Art Guild inDodge City.

Ariana Wheet has lived and made art in Garden City almost her entire life. She is a graduate of FHSU with a BFA in Studio Art. Primarily working in watercolors and pen and ink illustrations, her art is mostly influenced by fairy tales and stories of mythology she read as a child. Her goal with creating art is to explore different perspectives in familiar stories. When she isn’t painting or making comics, she can usually be found with her nose in a book.