‘Foot in the Door’ will allow 1,032 area artists to exhibit at Wichita Art Museum

Ever dreamed of seeing something you created on display in a museum? Now is your chance to get your foot in the door at the Wichita Art Museum – a square foot.

Visual artists of any age and skill level are invited to submit one original work to be included in an October exhibition at the museum. The showcase is appropriately titled “Foot in the Door” – the main requirement is that your submission must be hangable and must be 12 inches by 12 inches, a square foot.

“This is going to be a crazy quilt,” said Patricia McDonnell, director of WAM. “This is going to be soup, nuts and lots of other things in between. It’s going to be a riot of color and design, and a lot of positive energy.”

The exhibition has been in the works since last year when museum staff and volunteers developed events and activities for 2020 to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Wichita Art Museum. Started in 1935, WAM now has a permanent collection of more than 10,000 objects including a prized cache of 168 American works. McDonnell wanted this exhibition to celebrate the artists who add to the depth and quality of living in Wichita.

“This is going to be a spunky and fun project that sends an important message in our anniversary year: That the artists who call Wichita home are very important to us,” she said. McDonnell borrowed the idea for the exhibition from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She lived in Minnesota for a decade while serving as curator of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

“Foot in the Door” will open Oct. 10 and run through April 18, 2021. But now is the time to complete the free, online registration for one of the 1,032 spots available. There are few restrictions on who can enter but several specific limitations on what can be entered.

If you identify as an artist, you’re in as long as you currently live in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area (Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick and Sumner counties). McDonnell expects to see entries from professional artists as well as budding artists who have never displayed their work publicly. There is no age limit, though anyone under the age of 16 needs a parent/guardian’s signature.

Any media is allowed but it has to be able to hang on a wall, so sculptures will need to be in the form of reliefs, for example. Full details are listed at wichitaartmuseum.org/footinthedoor and cover specifics such as no pieces that require electricity and no art that incorporates living plants or animals, insects, hazardous or toxic materials, food, body fluids or wet objects.

You can register for one entry per person through Sept. 28, though registration could close earlier if they hit the maximum capacity of 1,032, the combined capacity in the Paul Ross Gallery and Scott and Carol Ritchie Gallery.

“We’ve never done this before at WAM and we have no idea how this is going to unfold,” McDonnell said of the maximum capacity. “We’re connecting with artists we know and have relationships with, for them to submit and for them to help get the word out within the artist community. We want anyone who self-identifies as an artist to feel welcome.”

You won’t deliver your art to WAM until the end of September: Submissions will need to be dropped off in person Wednesday, Sept. 30 through Friday, Oct. 2. The 12-inch by 12-inch requirement includes a frame, and the piece must use braided wire and have approved hardware to make it ready to hang.