Gifts from the HeART: Meadowlark's Art Collection Began & Continues with Donations

By Becky Fitzgerald on February 15, 2024
An oil landscape titled "Riverlight," by Lisa Grossman of Lawrence.
"On the Sidelines," donated by residents Nelson & Marilyn Galle, is by Cheri Graham, Manhattan.

On Feb. 14 about 25 years ago, Meadowlark resident Marion Pelton, a retired professor of music at Kansas State University and longtime supporter of the arts, walked into the chief executive officer’s office with a rose and an envelope. According to then CEO Steve Shields, his first thought was that Pelton, a friend and mentor, was bringing him a Valentine’s Day remembrance, but when he opened the envelope, he found a signed check.

“What is this for?” Shields asked.

“To buy art,” Pelton replied. “We need beauty around us at every age.” In addition to the monetary contribution, Pelton also donated her personal art collection to Meadowlark, including paintings by several K-State artists, as well as two baby grand pianos.

Pelton’s donations and a decision several years later to renovate Meadowlark’s first floor community spaces prompted the formation of Meadowlark’s Art Committee in 2005. Original members Jay Nelson, the former owner of Manhattan’s downtown art gallery, and resident Jo Lindly wrote that the committee’s purpose was to use a portion of the project budget to purchase art for the renovated spaces and to document and place the existing art collection.

As the committee’s time together continued, they created a Mission Statement—to acquire and exhibit tangible fine art objects in all media that will enrich residents’ lives—and an acquisitions policy. Nineteen years later, the Art Committee continues to meet regularly and evaluate donated works of art, choosing items for permanent display in most of Meadowlark’s first floor community spaces and the Independent Living hallways, excluding the Monarch. The criteria developed in 2005 generally still is followed. Works of art accepted into the collection must:
   1) have esthetic merit
   2) be painted or shaped by a Kansas/Kansas area artist, have a Kansas/Kansas area subject, and/or be of historical interest
   3) be created by a significant member of the art community
 
Art committee members have relaxed this policy in recent years, accepting pieces that do not fit guidelines two and three, but do have esthetic merit. The committee agreed that such items may be displayed and catalogued as “non-collection” additions.
 
Many other residents and friends of Meadowlark have followed Pelton’s example, donating funds with which to purchase art, and/or donating pieces from their collections. For example, an anonymous monetary donation allowed for the purchase of numerous square ceramic plates created by K-State graduate Bo Bedilion; these were hung to create a dark-to-light design on the north wall of Prairie Star Restaurant.
 
Two paintings recently donated by Meadowlark residents and accepted into Meadowlark’s collection by the committee include a vertical landscape donated by Donna Alexander and a still-life donated by Nelson and Marilyn Galle. Both of these paintings fit the 2005 criteria. The landscape was painted by Kansan James Borger, who is represented by four galleries. The committee agreed to place his piece just west of Alexander’s 3rd floor West Tower apartment, where she may continue to admire it often.
 
“On the Sidelines,” a pastel depicting a trunk full of vintage sports equipment, was painted in 2003 by local award-winning artist Cheri Graham, the daughter of former residents Bill and Wy Johnson. The committee recently voted to hang it on the east tower’s 1st floor near the breezeway door.
 
Sometimes, the Art Committee evaluates framed items and does not vote to display them. Instead, the works may be sold at auction, with the funds benefiting a program or project, or the pieces are sold at Meadowlark Market, where proceeds benefit the Good Samaritan Fund. An example of a piece that usually wouldn’t be accepted for exhibit is a mass-produced “art” print or poster.
 
Jayme Minton, Support Services Director, and Becky Fitzgerald, Development Director, are employee liaisons to the Art Committee, which meets quarterly. If you’d like to serve, please watch the Messenger for a meeting announcement or contact Jayme Minton or Monte Spiller, Resident Services Leader.
 
If you would like to make a contribution to purchase art for the benefit of Meadowlark or have a fine art object you’d like to donate, please contact Becky Fitzgerald. A receipt or donation form is available to donors.