Coutts Memorial Museum of Art

El Dorado, KS

316-321-1212

The Art of Trio Plus: Nancy Arroyo, Lesia Beard, Marion Geeding and Annie Starkey

"The Art of Trio Plus: Nancy Arroyo, Lesia Beard, Marion Geeding and Annie Starkey" will be on display at the Coutts Museum of Art June 1 - 28, 2000. A special public reception for the artists, viewing and sale will be held at the museum Sunday, June 4 from 2 - 4 p.m.

The paintings by this group of artists are mainly focused on watercolor, oils, pastels and colored pencils. This show features a compilation of various impressions and perceptions of the artists subjects and media. The group as a whole has shown at places such as Nations Bank, Fidelity Savings and K.U. Medical Center. (left: Annie Starkey, On the Surface, watercolor)

Nancy Arroyo lives and works in Derby, Kansas and is currently a partner and showing her work in the Marketplace Gallery in Old Town. Nancy studied drawing and painting while living in Pensacola, Florida. She works primarily in watercolor and feels that the luminosity and glow of her paintings can only be achieved with that medium. Using good design and bold color, blended with softer, transparent images she hopes to involve and share her feelings with the viewer.

She has taken workshops with several well-known artists, including Nina Fritz and Joyce Bennink in Florida and Steve Dudek in Kansas. Nancy is an award-winning artist and has participated in a number of juried shows. She has work in private collections all over the U.S. and is a member of the Kansas Art Guild and Wichita Women Artists.

Lesia Beard grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas and now makes her home in Wichita. Lesia is not ashamed of painting her impressions, the colors, poetry and the spirituality of the Kansas Landscape. She dabbled with painting for ten years, but has only seriously worked at it for the last four. Although she is experimenting in watercolors and acrylics, she works primarily in oils, painting mainly landscapes and florals. She is more concerned with the impressions and feelings towards a place than with the actual rendering of the subject matter. She strives for a more idealized world, preferring to use her memory and imagination to make her art. Color and sometimes fantasy is a dynamic force behind her work. She is especially interested in using color in unusual ways. Her ultimate desire is to leave her viewer with a sense of poetry or even spirituality.

Besides college, Lesia has studied at the Wichita Center for the Arts and taken workshops with several local and regional teachers. Most recently she participated in a three-day seminar with Doug Dawson. Her works are included in private collections both locally and out of state. She is in the permanent collection of the Chanute Art Center and her work has been shown many places throughout the state. The Marketplace Gallery in Wichita currently represents her.

Marian Geeding is a native of Chanute, Kansas though she has lived in Wichita for many years. After her children were grown, Marian decided to pursue the study of art at Wichita State University. She proceeded to oil paintings and studied under Betty Dickerson who taught life drawing and painting, and James Avant who is well known for his mastery of the use of colors in all mediums. Having produced works in oil and acrylics, the impressionist style is her primary interest. Marian is at this time working to acquire an impressionist's understanding and treatment of the use of colors, values and the handling of lights and darks.

Marian is active in the Kansas Art Guild. She has entered many shows and exhibitions, winning prizes and awards. Her works have been shown throughout the state of Kansas and is represented in the permanent collection of the Chanute Art Gallery and in private collections. Marian works out of her home studio and is currently represented by the Marketplace Gallery in Wichita.

Annie Starkey was born in Leavenworth, Kansas and now makes her home in Andover. She has been involved in the visual arts since she was a child. Annie has attended KSU, WSU and St. Hays State where she graduated with a B.A. in Studio Arts. She is continually inspired by her natural surroundings. She gets excited by the effects of light on buildings, leaves or petals, the colors that make up the grasses of the field, and she loves the hidden mysterious edges that may not be noticed by the everyday viewer. The unfamiliar becomes an invitation to look beyond the object or structure itself and acknowledge the life that surrounds it. Annie works primarily in watercolor but loves to combine this with colored pencils to bring out subtle color changes and textures. She has once again discovered pastel and enjoys the process of laying down color and its response to different surfaces.

Annie has studied with Oscar Lamar, Joel Moss, Kathleen Kuchar, Jim Avant end Ron Christ. She has exhibited locally and throughout the state, as well as in the National Watercolor Oklahoma Exhibit. She is a longtime member of the Kansas Art Guild

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This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 2/28/11

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