Autumn & Art returns, featuring Oklahoma painter who creates big, bright blooms

It should be easy to find Sharon Sudduth’s booth set up along Bradley Fair Parkway during the three-day Autumn & Art fine-art show and sale next weekend.

It’ll be the one “bursting with joy and color” in the form of massive 48-by-48-inch and 36-by-36-inch oil paintings of up-close flower blooms in strikingly bright colors and an almost unnaturally extreme value range.

Or, look for the Evergy Featured Artist sign hanging from her tent.

Event organizers chose the Enid, Oklahoma-based painter as the featured artist for the 12th annual Autumn & Art from Sept. 17 to 19. Her “Let’s Tango” painting of a popping red poppy is the featured artwork on this year’s commemorative poster.

When Sudduth makes the 125-mile drive north on Interstate 35 to Wichita, it’ll be a special homecoming.

“When I left Kansas I wasn’t an artist,” said Sudduth, who grew up in Atlanta, Kansas, about 50 miles southeast of Wichita and attended school in Burden. “My friends and family back in Kansas have watched me become an artist while I’ve been in Oklahoma. I’m a pretty humble person but coming back as the Autumn & Art featured artist is big for me. It validates that I am an artist now and not just the girl who ran the chamber.”

Sudduth lived in Kansas for her first 40 years, working in the Wichita and Augusta areas in a variety of non-artistic jobs. She was director of the Augusta Chamber of Commerce for seven years before her family moved to Oklahoma in 2011 for her husband Allan’s career.

Instead of taking a job when they moved, Sudduth stayed home to pursue her passion for art that she had shelved in college. Although she attended Butler County Community College for one year on an art scholarship, she eventually transferred to Emporia State University and got an education degree.

She said she might have created 20 pieces of art in the 20 years after college, mostly using colored pencil and marker. But she never gave up her dream of being a professional artist one day, and by the end of this year, the 50-year-old will have created 900 artworks in the past decade.

She started in 2012 by teaching herself to paint, an artistic medium she had never tried. She considers herself mostly self-taught, though she has taken a few online classes and watched many YouTube videos. Her style has evolved over the years, she said, becoming bolder as she gained confidence. In 2018, she moved from acrylic paint to a wet-on-wet method of oil painting that fits her spontaneous personality and work style. In spring 2020, she began painting the large-scale contemporary flowers that eventually became her Big Blooms Collection.

That collection includes “Let’s Tango,” which before becoming the featured art for this year’s Autumn & Art poster was one of two Sudduth paintings appearing in Mark Arts’ juried 2021 Oil Painting National Exhibition. In the past four years, Sudduth has exhibited and sold her work at juried, group and solo gallery shows in Oklahoma and Kansas. Marketplace 67010 in downtown Augusta has several of her paintings for sale, and Sudduth also sells her work directly through her website, sharonsudduthart.com. For those who don’t have the space or the budget for a statement piece, Sudduth creates artworks as small as 4 by 4 and also sells prints, cards and accessories featuring her work.

Although this won’t be her first time returning to Wichita — she visits as often as once a month to see friends and family, and to get inspiration from the flowers at Botanica and Bartlett Arboretum — it’s a dream come true to return as Autumn & Art’s featured artist.

“It took a lot of work to get to this point,” she said, “but I really feel like I’ve hit my style and I know where I’m going.”

Sudduth is one of 55 artists scheduled to exhibit at the free festival organized by Wichita Festivals in conjunction with presenting sponsor Fidelity Bank. Participating artists, down from 100 at the 2019 event, will show and sell original works and compete for cash awards totaling $7,000. They represent 15 states and work across 11 media: 2D mixed media, ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, jewelry, metalwork, painting, photography, sculpture and wood.

Artist booths are open 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Festival-goers on Saturday and Sunday also will find free art-themed fun for all ages: Artie’s Masterpiece Games are games and photo ops throughout the parkway tied to classic artworks. Mark Arts is coordinating art activities for kids at Artie’s Art Studio and will have instructors demonstrating fine art media at the Mark Arts Demo Tent.

Last year’s Autumn & Art festival was online only. Wichita Festivals recently released updated safety policies that include mandatory masks for unvaccinated attendees and encourage mask wearing for vaccinated individuals when distancing isn’t possible. The policies apply to the outdoor art event as well as Riverfest, scheduled for Sept. 30 through Oct. 3.

A few small changes were made to the Autumn & Art format. The main festival will not have live music or restaurant booths. Three bars serving soft drinks, water, wine, beer and spirits will be set up, however, and the popular The Art of Bloody Marys event returns from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Bradley Fair restaurants are within walking distance of the parkway.

The event remains free to the public, though supporters can purchase a $140 Patron Pass. The pass provides access to a ticketed opening-night patron party with food from Bella Luna, Newport Grill and YaYa’s EuroBistro; live jazz by William Flynn Trio; specialty wine and spirits; wine and whiskey pulls; and patron gifts. Pass-holders also get reserved parking and complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks throughout the weekend.

Autumn & Art

When: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19

Where: Bradley Fair Parkway just east of Bradley Fair, which is located at Rock Road and 21st St. North

How much: Free to attend all three days or $140 per person for a Patron Pass that includes a Friday evening party, plus reserved parking and complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks. Purchase Patron Passes by calling Wichita Festivals at (316) 267-2817; online at autumnandart.com; or at Bradley Fair Guest Services from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

More info: autumnandart.com