The Wichita Art Museum proudly announces the establishment of the C. A. Seward Print Study Center, a museum focus on cultivating the premier collection of Prairie Print Makers and offering exhibition and education programs on this Wichita artist collective.

The Prairie Print Makers group was formed on December 28, 1930, when 11 of the best artists in Kansas gathered in the Lindsborg studio of artist Birger Sandzen. These Prairie Print Makers planned to offer affordable artwork that would appeal to collectors. The Print Makers created etchings, silkscreens, linoleum cuts, block prints, and lithographs. Within four years of its founding, the group boasted 47 active members and over 100 associate members. The collective continued until 1965--creating 34 gift prints between 1931 and that year.

Leading the formation of the group was artist C. A. Seward (pictured at left). Seward settled in Wichita in 1907 and soon after established one of the few fine printing services outside of New York City, wrote a foundational text on lithography, organized low-cost traveling exhibitions, and helped to establish the Prairie Print Makers. His efforts fostered a vital arts community in Wichita with a singular goal--to bring art into everyone's life.

PRINT FORUM ON AQUATINTS
This Forum is held in conjunction with WAM’s fall exhibition "Charles Capps: Prairie Print Maker" honoring one of the 10 founders of the Prairie Print Makers. Capps was born on September 14, and the C. A. Seward Dinner immediately following the Forum will include a toast on what would have been the artist’s 121st birthday.

The afternoon Print Forum is free and open to the public. Reservations are required for the C.A. Seward Dinner.

Please visit the 'External Link' below for more information.