Anyone that wants to learn about art in Wichita has definitely found the right blog and our first section will fully cover the best art galleries and museums near you.
After that we will get into a variety of other topics like art supply stores, events, festivals, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, local sculptures and statues, art classes, studios for rent, and the top frame shops in your area.
You can jump straight to any section that interests you most by using the table of contents on the left and we are also including a Wichita art map with all of the spots we mention throughout the post pinned on it.
Read more of our posts on cities around the Midwest right there if you want.
Best Art Galleries & Museums In Wichita
If you want to visit the best art galleries and museums in Wichita you can go to:
The Wichita Art Museum is open from 10am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sunday has a long and illustrious history in South Central Kansas and the Midwest after beginning back in 1935. Mary Cassatt, Arthur G. Dove, Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, Douglas Abdell, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, John Marin, Paul Meltsner, Horace Pippin, Maurice Prendergast, Albert Pinkham Ryder, and Charles Sheeler are among the artists represented in the collection while Dale Chihuly designed the Museum’s foyer ceiling and chandelier.
The Midwest Photography Center is located in the Museums on the River District and is dedicated to the creative exploration of photography as a medium offering exhibiting opportunities in a commercial setting for new creators as well as regionally and globally recognized mid-career artists.
As a local non-profit group Harvester Arts was created in 2013 providing intelligent high-quality visual arts programs that engage the community through critical dialogue and new work development.
From 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday you can visit ShiftSpace Gallery which opened in 2005 and got its name from its early days as a roaming gallery. ShiftSpace was on the move again in 2019 leaving Commerce Street for a new location at Groover Labs on Third and St. Francis in the Old Town neighborhood.
The Ulrich Museum of Art is open from 11am to 5pm every day but Sunday located on WSU’s campus and is one of the main sources for modern and contemporary art in Wichita offering a one-of-a-kind opportunity to see our planet through the views of today’s finest creative minds.
Gallery XII is open from noon to 6pm Tuesday through Saturday and was established as the first cooperative art gallery in your area specializing in both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional fine works in a variety of genres and media.
You can see the work of local photographer John D Morrison at Prairie Vistas Photography who specializes in Kansas landscape photography, particularly Flint Hills photography.
Matthews Gallery features outstanding American, European, and Santa Fe/Taos fine art from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Their art advisory services help collectors with sales, acquisitions, and appraisals.
The Kansas African American Museum is open from 10am to 5pm Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4pm on Saturday and was once the historic Calvary Baptist Church which was the heart of the city’s thriving black community. It was constructed in 1917 and housed jazz musicians and Negro League baseball players amongst other icons of the generation.
Materials & Supplies Near You
These art stores in your area are good places to buy new supplies or materials:
Mrs. O’Leary’s has an eclectic collection of paper craft supplies, metalsmithing equipment, charms, antiques, and much more including weekly arts workshops that will stimulate your creative side.
You probably already know what chain stores like the Michaels, Joann, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby near you have to offer.
Dollar Tree may not have anything high end, but they are a good place to buy cheap art supplies in Wichita a pinch.
Shows & Events
There are some great local art shows, festivals, and events like:
Over 50 local merchants will be on-site at the Wichita Festival of the Arts to display their community’s talents in arts and entertainment and you can enjoy the music, see a show, or browse the vendor booths.
As an annual festival held in Bradley Fair in September that combines creativity, cuisine, and fun into a large crowd Autumn & Art is a great place to browse and purchase one-of-a-kind artwork in a range of media while listening to live music and entertainment. The juried fine art event is open to the public and draws not just 100 creators from throughout the country but also thousands of patrons who admire their work in photography, painting, sculpture, and other genres.
The First Friday gallery crawl provides a unique chance for thousands of students, families, and art lovers to engage with local art at various venues throughout the city each month.
Art Dealers & Appraisers
Art dealers and appraisers near you are places to find new unique pieces or learn the value of something you already own:
Mid-America Fine Arts has over 700 pieces of traditional art for sale by great Kansas and American creators like Aaron Bohrod, Joseph Meert, John Edward Costigan, Alfred Montgomery, John Steuart Curry, James Penney, Marion Greenwood, Henry Varnum Poor, Bill Harrison, Doris Rosenthal, Herschel C. Logan, Birger Sandzen, Karl Mattern, Clayton Staples, and many Prairie Privilege artists.
Stacy and David Sasson established overstockart.com in 2002 and the company that is headquartered here employing over 20 people across three continents. The company provides the most comprehensive selection of oil paintings and frames to choose from in the online oil painting industry including works by Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Klimt, Degas, Munch, and many others.
DNA Art Gallery is a DNA Portrait firm that expertly combines art and science to produce your individual genetic mark on canvas.
Walking Tours
The Arts Council has been particularly supportive of the Environmental Art Walk project approving five big environmental interactive artworks by six creators with public experience in the region.
Don’t forget about the First Friday events held each month that we linked you too earlier either.
Sculptures & Statues
Another fun thing to do on a sunny day would be to check out some of these statues and sculptures in your area:
Wichita Stonehenge at 720 Nims St
The Keeper of the Plains at 339 Veterans Pkwy
Bumper Bulls at 3701 North Tyler Rd
Troll Statue at 777 W Central Ave
Stonehenge is a junior member of the American Stonehenge family and is a collection of limestone megaliths with colored glass ornaments built as a solstice calendar.
The Keeper of the Plains is a 44-foot-tall steel sculpture located downtown near the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers.
Wichitan and Native American artist Blackbear Bosin made the American Indian sculpture.
Bumper Guard Bulls is one of two large longhorn bulls that stand as a mascot in front of a high school and it was made in 1978 out of chrome automobile bumpers.
In May 2007 the Troll first emerged, tethered to some pipes beneath a massive sidewalk grate near the Arkansas River. A local sculptor Constance Ernat made him.
Wichita Art Classes
Whether you are trying to find private lessons or group classes for kids, teens, or adults some of the best art schools in Wichita are:
Mark Arts has a long history dating back to its founding as the Wichita Art Association in 1920 and in 1990 it was renamed the Wichita Center for the Arts and in 2016 it was renamed again to Mark Arts. Painting, drawing, culinary arts, ceramics, sculpting, printmaking, enameling, jewelry, and other creative endeavours are taught to adults, youths, and children there.
You can learn from a studio artist whose work may be seen in collections in Barcelona, Spain, and Italy at Jennie Becker Studio where public installations of tile murals and clay sculptures, hanging wall murals, functional shapes, oil paintings, and other works comprise what they have created.
At Pottery Wichita you can learn basic methods while working on one-of-a-kind masterpieces as they offer fast-paced enjoyable classes in which you build clay items with your hands and a few tools.
Paint the Towne provides everything you need to create your own work of art.
For over 30 years Karen Peck Art has been teaching and today she offers small group workshops as well as paint parties for people of all ages.
Art classes are also available at Mrs Olearys Art who we mentioned earlier.
Studios For Rent Near You
There might be some studio space to rent available at Studio School at 751 George Washington Boulevard who serves as a creative hub for local artists and entrepreneurs who are in the early phases of their professions. It is housed in the former Metro Boulevard High School and features 16 studios, a commercial kitchen, and multi-use event space.
Fisch Haus who we mentioned in our initial best galleries in your area list is a multi-disciplinary art facility located in the Commerce St. Art District that now houses five full-time local creatives as well as a continuous stream of regional and international artists and performers.
Framing
When you need art framing services in Wichita you can try:
For nearly 20 years Art & Frame has been family owned and operated and they are a cheerful family of artists and designers who provide bespoke picture frames, shadowboxes, fine art printing, photo restoration, and digital image services to individuals and businesses.
Specializing in frame restoration and conservation The Frame Guild also offers a large selection of high-quality frames. Their French matting distinguishes out due to their creativity, amazing design, and craftsmanship while they also offer beautiful stitching that is tailored to their clients’ aesthetic preferences.
Heart’s Desire Cross Stitch & Custom Framing sells fibers, charts, floss, charms, and fabrics in addition to pre-made pieces and framing services. They even sell Russian punch needle supplies, which is a simpler kind of embroidery done in a style akin to cross stitch.
Art & Frame is a service provider that offers high-quality image framing, printing, picture frames, and artwork near you.
In case you might be interested we have also written guides about:
Well guys, we tried to cover the full art scene in your area to the best of our abilities. We listed the best galleries, museums, events, shows, supply stores, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, sculptures, classes, studios, and framers near you.
If you are still here you probably are a really big fan of the local art scene. Feel free to share your own tips, or to let us know if you noticed anything incorrect.
Have fun going to the galleries, museums, buying supplies, or doing anything that has to do with art in Wichita!
This post and all of the posts on our site are edited by Dan Soloman who has been a huge fan of art since he was a little kid. His mother was a good local artist, and she taught him the trade from a very early age. He studied art and its history in both high school and college, has worked at multiple galleries, and recently has begun creating and editing online content for this site and some other online media platforms.
