Mural to be painted at Old Town’s Harvester Arts will ‘validate’ organization

By month’s end, there will be a new splash of color in Old Town.

From Oct. 15 to 19, internationally recognized painter James Marshall (aka Dalek) will paint a blue-green geometric mural on the facade of Harvester Arts, 215 N. Washington.

“This mural is our chance to say to the city, ‘We’re here; this is an established place,’” said Kate Van Steenhuyse, co-founder and CEO of Harvester Arts. “It’s definitely more than a paper sign in the window.”

The artist

Marshall, who is widely known as Dalek, is considered an expert on color selection and geometric art.

He started his career in graffiti and is known in skateboarding and punk subcultures as the creator of the “Space Monkey” character.

About 10 years ago, he turned his focus to geometric art. His work has been featured on sneakers, various forms of apparel, a Scion car, and a Target home furnishings line.

He said he “always enjoys painting outdoor spaces,” having done a similar project at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Interiors of buildings are one thing, but when you can do an exterior, you can really kind of transform the way the building sits in the environment and the way people interact with the space,” Marshall said.

Marshall said public art like the forthcoming mural at Harvester “brings art to everyday people.”

“People don’t understand how art can affect their lives until they see it in public spaces,” he said. “It’s much different to go to a gallery or a museum and see it in those very sterile environments, but when you drive by a building – they’re all gray, brick-red or brown. I’ve always found that’s not reflective of society. It’s just blandness – it needs more energy.

“I’ve found that, when I paint outdoor murals, when people drive by or walk by, they’re excited by it. They’re energized by it. As an artist, if I can affect the quality of somebody’s everyday life, that’s a pretty powerful thing.”

‘Hopefully it will get them talking’

The mural, in addition to providing a new piece of public art in Old Town, will also serve a practical purpose for Harvester.

It will let the general public know where the gallery is physically located. The building has no signs, save a paper printout taped to its window.

The mural, Van Steenhuyse said, will “shout to people that walk by that there’s something creative happening here.”

Before moving to the Washington space, Harvester operated above the old Bluebird Arthouse in Delano, which closed in 2014. It didn’t have a permanent home until it moved to 215 N. Washington in March of 2015.

Beal said settling down in Old Town has been ideal – “we didn’t want to be on Commerce Street, because there’s already so much happening down there,” said Kristin Beal, co-founder and chief operating officer of Harvester Arts.

“The whole idea is to bring art to where the people are, and I feel like this mural is exactly that,” Beal said. “People work in this neighborhood; people go out – they’re walking from Mort’s to Joe’s and they’re not thinking of contemporary art. Then they look at this and they’re like, ‘Whoa, what is that?’

“They might hate it but they’re going to notice it and, hopefully, it will get them talking.”

What is Harvester Arts?

On a recent weekday, crews spent a majority of the day power-washing the exterior of Harvester’s building to prep for the painting of the mural.

Inside, Van Steenhuyse and Beal prepped for a panel discussion they were hosting at the space that evening. The progress Harvester has made as an organization since moving to the space on Washington has been impressive.

It regularly invites nationally known artists to Wichita to complete two-week residencies. In addition to creating new pieces, the artist spends that time getting to know the city, hanging out with locals and having discussions about art.

It’s the personal interaction that Harvester affords that makes it unique, Van Steenhuyse said.

“We wanted to do something that was showing artists you might see at (the Wichita Art Museum) or the Ulrich, but you get to hang out with them and you can chat with them,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to be such a love fest, so to speak – we were just excited to do something experimental in town.”

Harvester then pairs local artists and creatives to its resident artists to create what it calls “satellite exhibitions.” The local artists create pieces in response to the work the resident artist performed.

That concept – which few organizations in the country currently do – enables artists “to have a historical significance in real-time,” Beal said.

“Typically that doesn’t happen to living artists unless you’re super-famous,” Beal said. “We designed the program and we weren’t really thinking about the resident artists. We were thinking about local artists and wanting to be able to provide them with networking.”

The fact that Harvester, in the short time it has existed, has attracted national names like Marshall, Robyn O’Neil, Wayne White and James Trotter, speaks to the quality of its programming.

“To have artists calling us back, which has happened, wanting to bring their projects to Wichita – that means Wichita is an arts destination and that’s phenomenal,” Beal said. “I didn’t imagine that we would have that sort of impact as quickly as we have, but it definitely puts wind in our sails.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Mural to be painted at Old Town’s Harvester Arts will ‘validate’ organization."