Wichita’s Great Plains Transportation Museum hosts benching art exhibit

Darnel Marley has always been fascinated by the art that would roll by every day on the trains passing through her hometown of Macksville, Kansas.

“It was something a little edgy,” she said.

A few years ago, Marley started capturing photographs of those rolling canvases, and she now has around 30,000 images in her benching collection. In the graffiti culture, benching refers to the practice of spending time watching, photographing or documenting graffiti on trains.

As part of the Great Plains Transportation Museum’s first First Friday art event, several of Marley’s photographs will be on view in a free opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on April 3.

The event will also feature a display of model trains that have been tagged by various graffiti artists, the unveiling of a new mural by artist Nervz painted on a shipping container on the museum’s grounds, several food and beverage trucks and a DJ.

After the free opening reception, the exhibition can be seen from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through June 27 with regular museum admission of $9.75 for ages 13 and older, $6.25 for ages 4-12 and free for 3 and younger.

While hobo monikers and graffiti art started appearing on rail cars almost from the beginning of trains moving across America, the term benching reportedly goes back to about the 1970s, when it was common practice for graffiti writers to gather on a bench in a New York City subway station on 149th Street to observe and comment on the graffiti of other artists.

“The graffiti that benchers photograph is an art form, albeit illegal,” said Lon Smith, director of the Great Plains Transportation Museum, which received a $3,000 cultural partner grant this past year from the Arts Council. “Since there’s that marriage between that art form and railroading, it seemed like a perfect fit to have an art exhibit based on it.”

Marley, a full-time local floral designer, spends as much time as she can photographing graffitied rail cars. Most days, she spends her lunch hour on the Union Station platform downtown, hoping to capture images. She’s also been rail side to capture trains at various locations at sunrise, sunset and even all night long. She listens to a rail traffic scanner as well.

“There’s art rolling through town all the time,” Marley said.

She always packs her two Nikon digital cameras and four lenses during trips around Kansas, to Texas, to St. Louis and elsewhere so she can continue benching. And, of course, she always has her phone’s camera with her.

She and her boyfriend, Rob Lewis, have just purchased a drone to start capturing aerial shots as well. The graffitied model trains included in the train museum’s exhibition are part of Lewis’ extensive collection. He had contacted various artists with a request to tag some of his models.

“I think it’s important to capture the art,” Marley said. “These rolling canvases are ever-changing. It’s fun to see a piece stay around. If you catch a piece from the early 2000s, it’s shocking.”

She belongs to several online benching groups, where fellow benchers share their images and sightings, which helps her figure out where else particular cars and their artwork have been seen.

One of her favorite artists is the legendary Ichabod the Rail God, who also goes by Ick. She also likes capturing hobo monikers by well-known artists.

“Some of them that are no longer with us, so that if you capture them, it’s like catching gold, you know,” she said, citing pseudonyms of moniker artists that included buZ blurr, Kodak Kidd and Coal Train.

“I’m kind of hoping that through this exhibit . . . when someone gets stopped at a train, they’ll look at it as being able to enjoy the artwork as it rolls past, instead of it being frustrated,” Marley said.

First Friday opening: ‘The Art of Benching’

What: a First Friday opening reception for “The Art of Benching,” an exhibition by local photographer Darnel Marley who photographs railcar graffiti. The event includes a display of model train cars with graffiti, the unveiling of a shipping container mural, food and beverage trucks and a DJ.

When: 5-8 p.m. Friday, April 3

Where: Great Plains Transportation Museum, 700 E. Douglas

Cost: Free on First Friday. After that, the exhibition can be seen from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through June 27 with regular museum admission of $9.75 for ages 13 and older, $6.25 for ages 4-12 and free for 3 and younger.

More info: facebook.com/events/761492127050932