A new business is opening in the former Himali Eats, but it’s not a restaurant
Photographers Austin Mann and his wife, Esther Havens Mann, have traveled the world and now want to share what they’ve seen and captured in pictures through their new Maven Gallery in College Hill.
In 2019, the couple decided to split their time between Rwanda, where they’d been living, and Austin Mann’s hometown of Wichita. Then the pandemic hit.
“We just ended up staying here for the long haul,” Austin Mann said.
They’re living in his childhood home near College Hill and decided to lease the former Himali Eats space at 3238 E. Douglas, just down from Uptown Landing.
The Manns previously had collaborative work spaces for artists in Dallas and Nashville.
“That always has been something deeply meaningful for us,” Austin said.
“We started dreaming about a gallery,” he said. “Our thought was to build a gallery and to anchor it with our work.”
He said they’re also friends and colleagues with some of the most accomplished photographers worldwide and hope to share their work as well.
“We wanted to build something that was world class and that was worth traveling to.”
The gallery’s focus is contemporary photography.
Esther Havens Mann is a humanitarian photographer, her husband said.
“She’s almost always focused on social impact stories.”
He’s more focused on wildlife, such as animals, savannas and Antarctica.
“We see ourselves slowing down travel a little bit,” Mann said.
Their daughter, Olivia, is 2 1/2 and already has been to about a dozen countries.
“We plan to keep traveling as a family as we need,” Mann said.
He said opening the gallery will give them some freedom and do justice to their stories by putting them in a place to be highlighted.
Mann said he believes in physical spaces instead of an isolated digital world.
He said there are “so many amazing local art initiatives happening in the area,” and he and his wife hope Maven Gallery adds to that.
“We hope it’s a conduit of light and beauty and truth from around the world into this community.”
Maven Gallery is a portmanteau of their last names. Mann said maven also is a connoisseur and collector of information.
Since they want to share with the community, he said, “We’ve always resonated with that idea.”
The Manns’ first hire is Sheree Lutz, a Wichita native who previously worked at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
The gallery will have a grand opening from 6 to 9 p.m. on March 29.
Works will be available for purchase in limited editions.
Though Austin Mann said there are “some really strong options” to showcase Wichita work, he and his wife think their niche will be showing work from elsewhere.
That includes their own work, which Austin Mann said they intend to still create.
“It’s who we are.”
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This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 4:04 AM.