New downtown Wichita gallery to highlight works of artists with visual impairments

A new art gallery that champions art accessibility and inclusion is opening on Douglas Avenue this weekend, with a grand opening celebration planned for Saturday.

Located in the old Patrick Hotel building in the Union Station area at 801 E. Douglas, Suite 106, the Envision Arts Gallery and Community Engagement Center is the first in the nation that will primarily exhibit artists with vision impairment, according to officials with Envision. Envision is a Wichita-based national service provider to and employer of individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

To introduce the nonprofit organization, its arts program and the work created by artists often marginalized, the gallery’s inaugural exhibition is called Envision Your Community and includes portraits of each artist displayed along with their works.

The 18 artists included in the exhibition, which will run until April 15, range in age from a toddler to seniors. The majority of the artists are from Kansas with at least one from New York, said Sarah Kephart, Envision’s arts program manager.

The works displayed will range from a colorful mixed media collage created by 2 ½ -year-old Grace Rosson — described as having a vivid imagination and a consistent smile — to ceramic sculptures, 2D art and conceptional video. All but one of the artist’s portraits were taken by Dale Small, the new art gallery’s coordinator.

Several of the displaying artists are involved in programs and services offered by Envision, including its child development center, its adult day program and its expressive arts workshops. Envision, which started more than 80 years ago, created its arts program in 2009.

For Kephart, who’s been with Envision for the past decade, the gallery’s purpose is two-fold. It’s a place to showcase works of artists often marginalized because of their physical and other abilities and it’s a way to help create an inclusive community.

“Everyone has a story to tell. Whether you’re sighted or blind from birth or in an accident, we all want to tell our story. The sighted world has put perceptions and parameters around what the blind and visually impaired community wants to do and can do. Envision is expanding these limits. We help people realize their potential through self-expression,” Kephart said in a release that noted while the blind and visually impaired community tops 23 million people in the U.S., according to government figures, art education and access favor those who are sighted.

“This gives agency to artists who have long been marginalized. … This is the right time to start a gallery and a movement, in that sense, of coming together and celebrating commonalities and honoring differences,” Kephart said in an interview.

Along with having a major exhibition space with new shows rotating in every quarter, the 3,000-square-foot gallery includes a smaller space where displays change monthly. Visible to walkers-by from the street, that space is called the Patricia A. Peer Window Gallery. Envision will work with other organizations serving individuals with challenges to display their art in that space.

The gallery will also offer educational programming and host an artist-in-residence program.

In creating the gallery, an idea Kephart presented to Envision’s board in July, it was important that the gallery be easily accessible. Working with Gary Oborny, chair of the commercial real estate company Occidental Management, Envision found a space on both the public transportation route and the free Q-line trolley route on Douglas Avenue.

“It’s the perfect location for us,” Kephart said.

Activities planned for the gallery’s opening celebration Jan. 15 are family-friendly artmaking from noon to 3 p.m. and an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., singer-songwriter Charlie Wilks, a familiar performer at venues such as the Artichoke and R Coffee House, will perform. Wilks is also an Envision employee.

All proceeds from artwork and merchandise purchased from the gallery will directly support the artists as well as help fund artistic endeavors for the Envision arts program, according to the news release.

Envision Your Community exhibit

What: inaugural exhibition for the new Envision Arts Gallery and Community Engagement Center opened by the Wichita-based Envision, a national service provider to and employer of individuals who are blind or visually impaired

Where: 801 E. Douglas, Suite 106

When: through April 15. Grand opening celebration activities from noon-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, plus 5-9 p.m. for First Friday art crawls and third Thursdays, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. second Saturdays.

Admission: free

More info: envisionus.com/envision-art-gallery-and-community-engagement-center

This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 4:19 AM.