Arts SHAPED BY THE
It’s hard to imagine that walking in to get a loan or make a deposit at a bank might feel more like wandering through a gallery of an art museum, but that is exactly how you might feel when you visit any Emprise Bank location in Kansas. And that seems to be just fine with Emprise Bank owner Mike Michaelis.
An unlikely art gallery For the past 20 years, Michaelis has focused his attention on collecting art done by Kansas artists and today has more than 3,000 works in his collection, which is on display in 40 Emprise Bank locations in 20 Kansas communities. The collection is so impressive that Professor Michaela Groeblacher, assistant professor of art, makes it part of all of her advanced art classes and takes students to Wichita every year to tour it. “It is such a treat to visit the Emprise Bank art collection, especially when Mike leads the group,” Groeblacher said. “His anecdotes add so much to the experience, and to see the sparkle in his eyes when he tells the stories about Kansas art and artists shows the true appreciation of an art patron.” Michaelis was honored last spring at McPherson College during ArtKansas, a two-day art forum hosted at the college that celebrated creating, curating, and collecting Kansas art. The two-day forum included two gallery shows, presentations by Kansas artists, and an evening gala featuring the premier of a documentary about Michaelis produced by Larry Hatteberg.
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MCPHERSON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
