Artwork from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (ASC) Wichita Center will be on display from late November into December at the Cultural Arts Faith Exploration (C.A.F.E.) gallery of Inter-Faith Ministries, located at 829 N. Market St. in Wichita.
The exhibit will open with a Final Friday reception from 6 to 9 p.m., Nov. 28 at the gallery. The reception will include free refreshments and beverages, and live music performed by several of the ASC sisters. The artwork will be on display through Dec. 19.
The exhibit is called “Hidden Treasures” because the art, all from the Wichita Center where many Adorers in Wichita live, is seldom seen by the general public. The exhibit will include oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings, and works of print media. The collection also features textile pieces and metal work.
“About 30 sisters will be represented in the exhibit,” said Janet Rowley, ASC, who is helping coordinate the exhibit. “Artists include several Adorers who are alums of Newman University’s predecessor institutions.”
The ASC founded Sacred Heart Junior College, the school that eventually became today’s Newman University, in 1933. Rowley said artists represented in the exhibit include several professional artists who have taught at the school over the years, including Bernadette Hotze, ASC; Theophila Baumann, ASC; Regina Bucholz, ASC; Euphrasia Faus, ASC, and Ambrosine Comerford, ASC. Other artists who have had a relationship with Newman include Edwina Pope, ASC; Aquinas Stieferman, ASC; Bernice Taylor, ASC; Mi Sook Francesca Kwak, and Diana Rawlings, ASC, among others.
Rowley noted another Adorer whose work will be in the exhibit, Bridget Smith, ASC.
“Her creativity took many forms,” Rowley said. “She wrote a religious drama for the 1954 Marian Year that was performed in her hometown of Okarche, Okla. She was an inventive teacher and sang in the community choir well into her 80s. Besides painting, Sister Bridget enjoyed making floral arrangements, often using dried plants and grasses.”
Rowley added that several musicians will offer entertainment at the exhibit opening.
“Andrew Hild, a Newman student, will play guitar,” she said. “Two Newman alums, Sister Betty Adams, ASC (recorder) and Sister Nylas Moser, ASC (piano) are playing a sonata. Sister Nylas will also play some original compositions, and Sister Janet Sue Smith, ASC, one of the artists, will also be playing piano.”
The Cultural Arts Faith Exploration (C.A.F.E.) gallery of Inter-Faith Ministries regularly displays art of many faiths in Wichita. For more information, call 316-264-9303 or visit www.interfaithwichita.org.
This article has been revised to reflect the following additions:
Nov. 20, 2014
A photo of a painting and information about its creator Bridget Smith, ASC were added to this article.
