Join us on May's First Friday for the opening reception of one of the region's epic talents: Troy Swangstu.

Paola, Kansas-based painter, Swangstu is bringing us fresh work inspired by his daily observations: In the words of the artist:
"I believe that a good painting always begins with an experience or an accumulation of experiences.

When my life became focused on farming in my early thirties, I was desperate to reconnect with art, and the stuff of my everyday life was the most obvious resource for subject matter. Working with cattle, bulls became a symbol for the fertility of the entire herd, and so it became in my work. The bulls became increasingly stylized, increasingly remote from the source of inspiration, not an animal observed, but a symbol projected. Dogs, another constant fixture of farm living, became the bull’s nemesis, eventually transforming from domestic animals to wolf-like symbols of predation. My color palettes range from the earthen to the hyper-saturated, and the choices I make in this regard are as intuitive and emotionally charged as my relationships with my subjects. "