Located on the second floor of McKnight Art Center West, the Clayton Staples Gallery is a dynamic exhibition space for the work of visiting artists, faculty and master's students.

Every academic year, the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries produces four exhibitions of work by regional and national artists. In addition to exhibiting their work, visiting artists typically deliver a public lecture and conduct student critiques and/or facilitate a workshop or demonstration.

The Clayton Staples Gallery is also used as an exhibition space for graduate thesis shows.

 

Current Exhibition

Anthony Corraro: "To Dust"

March 18 - 22, 2024

Opening Reception: March 18th, 5-8pm

 

Exhibition Statement:

"To Dust" is a solo MFA Thesis exhibition from Anthony Corraro. "To Dust" is composed of prints made entirely out of dust which was meticulously gathered by sweeping up the artist's studio space and home. Using CMYK silkscreen techniques, Anthony creates intricate yet ephemeral designs which embody the tension between idealism and realism. The dust which makes up the work is not affixed to any surface and is susceptible to even the slightest disturbance. Described by the artist as a practice in mindfulness, the process is a representation of his relationship to the ebb and flow of time.
 

 

Past Exhibition

Arzu Ozkal & Irma Puškarević: "San Diego/Wichita/Mail Art/Design/Play"

February 5 - March 8, 2024

 

woman with flowers

 

Woman holding wire spelling the word play

 

(installation images forthcoming)

 

Exhibition Statement:

Clayton Staples Gallery is delighted to present a collborative exhibition, "San Diego/Wichita/Mail Art/Design/Play." In September 2023, Arzu Ozkal (San Diego, CA) and Irma Puškarević (Wichita, KS) agreed to collaborate on a mail art exchange project, drawing inspiration from the legacy of creative practitioners who utilized the postal system to send and receive art—a movement that gained momentum in the 1960s known as the International Mail Art Movement or Correspondence Art. This dynamic exchange culminated in the creation of the San Diego/Wichita Mail Art/Design/Play Exhibition.
 
Informed by the unconventional and experimental nature of Fluxus, their process embraced absurdity, spontaneity, noise, mess. Their intention was not only to intellectually disorient one another, navigating the realms of artistic expression with a deliberate disruption of traditional boundaries, injecting a sense of unpredictability and conceptual inquiry into their collaborative exploration.
 
Arzu Ozkal (b. Ankara, Turkey, 1976, lives and works in San Diego, CA) & Irma Puškarević (b. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1983, lives and works in Wichita, KS) Ozkal's practice is committed to fostering collaboration and inclusivity while critically engaging with social and cultural issues. Puškarević is a graphic designer, lettering artist, and educator whose work focuses on her passion for type and typography.
 
 

Previous Exhibition

WSU & ALU: "Wichita/Sarajevo Connecting Stories"

January 16 - 30, 2024

 

Overview of deck of playing cards

 

  Example of playing card with blue background and sunflowers   Playing card image with joker wearing a fez

          

Exhibition Statement:

Clayton Staples Gallery is delighted to present a special winter treat, "Wichita/Sarajevo Connecting Stories," an exhibition that spans between Kansas & Bosnia and Herzegovina. Senior Graphic Design students from Wichita State University and sophomore students from The Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo were given the prompt of researching a significant story from their own region as a means of introduction. Students were then tasked with creating a unique deck of playing cards and we invite you to see the results.
 
WSU and ALU created these playing cards with the aim of learning and expanding our world view through play and research. We hope you will join us for the special limited engagement at Clayton Staples Gallery.