Works by 570 Wichitans included in Wichita Art Museum’s “Foot in the Door” exhibit

As Wichita Art Museum staff and volunteers accepted submissions for “Foot in the Door” during three days last week, they couldn’t stop gushing about the variety, quality and creativity of the artwork coming through.

Three middle-aged girlfriends who each created scenes using glass.

A found object collage by a recent art school graduate.

A realistic painting of a cow by a 90-year-old woman.

The mother who brought in works by her elementary school-age children, taking their drawings once limited to the refrigerator to a much grander venue.

Every drop off was like opening a present, organizers said, and not knowing what was inside: styles including abstract, representational, pop art, street art and all types of media – painting, drawing, photography, mixed media, sculpture, found object collage in shadow boxes, quilting.

“I am blown away by the amount of talent,” said Tera Hedrick, curator for the Wichita Art Museum. “We are getting work after work after work that is just phenomenal.”

Now it’s your turn to be impressed: “Foot in the Door” opened Saturday and runs through April 18, 2021. WAM is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is always free on Saturday, other days it costs $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for ages 5-17 and college students with ID, free for children younger than 5.

“Come be impressed by your friends and neighbors,” Headrick said. “There’s some really spectacular work. There’s a ton of talent in hidden in Wichita and it’s been fun to see it come out.”

About 730 people registered for one of the 1,032 spots available in the Paul Ross and Scott and Carol Ritchie galleries. About 570 followed through with bringing in artwork and meeting the exhibition requirements. Submissions were open to anyone who identified as an artist and currently lives in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area (Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick and Sumner counties) and chief among the rules were that each artist was limited to one piece that had to be hangable and 12 inches by 12 inches.

As expected, there are a few professional artists you would recognize if you follow the Wichita art scene, but more to the point of this exhibition, most work is from unknown or budding artists.

“We’ve had a lot of people come in to drop their artwork off who have been painting and drawing at home for 10 to 15 years but told us they were really nervous because they had never shown their work before,” Hedrick said. “Often, it’s been pretty spectacular and shown a lot of technical ability.”

For the majority of the artists, this is their first time seeing their artwork hanging on the wall of a museum. As the name implied, the exhibition was to give professionals or hobbyist artists a literal foot in the door at the art museum. Plans for an opening reception had to be scrapped because of restrictions on gatherings. The museum is continuing its sanitizing and safety protocols it instituted when reopening during the pandemic, including following national and local government directives and health guidelines.

“Our hope is that even folks who are being quite careful will feel they can come out safely to the Wichita Art Museum,” Hedrick said. “The museum is really safe: we’ve got big spaces so it’s easy to social distance, you don’t have to touch anything because you can hit all the doors with your elbows and we have museum quality HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).”

“Foot in the Door” art exhibition

Where: Wichita Art Museum

When: on display through April 18, 2021

Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

Admission: The museum is always free on Saturdays. Admission is $10 on other days with discounts for youth, seniors.