Wichita Community Matters October 2015

Commun ty Matters Wichita Presbyterian Manor

Presbyterian Manor announces winning competition entries Presbyterian Manors of MidAmerica has announced the winners of its annual, system-wide Art is Ageless® competition, which features entries by artists age 65 and older throughout Kansas and Missouri.

Six winning artists in Wichita Presbyterian Manor’s annual Art is Ageless® juried competition will join nearly 50 senior artists from Kansas and Missouri whose work will be featured in the 2016 Art is Ageless calendar and note cards.

“Bala Railway Bridge,” a pen and ink drawing by Fredric Cowart was named Best in Show in the professional division.

Local winners are automatically entered into a masterpiece level competition with winners from 17 other PMMA campuses. The winners of the masterpiece level competition are featured in the annual Art is Ageless Calendar and notecards.

October 2015

Art is Ageless®

Railroad trestle inspires Best of Show artist There’s a good chance Fredric and Carol Cowart have seen more of the Sunflower State than most native Kansans.

The couple moved to Wichita from Texas in 2006 and began touring their new state right away. Fred Cowart, a lifelong illustrator and draftsman, often sketches the scenes they encounter on their travels. He was especially taken with the Bala Stone Bridge, built in 1887 in Riley County, northwest of Manhattan. The bridge is considered to be one of the “The Bala Railway Bridge” by Fredric largest in the state.

Cowart.

“This bridge is kind of special because it was a railroad trestle, and now the forest has grown all the way across the top of it,” Fred said. “It’s massive.”

Fred captured the scene in a pen-and-ink drawing that went on to win Best in Show (Professional) in this year’s Art is Ageless® system-wide competition. Winners were chosen from the top local entries at all 18 Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America communities. Fred’s piece will be featured in the 2016 Art is Ageless calendar, along with the works of more than 50 artists age 65 and older throughout Kansas and Missouri.

“I’m pleased and honored” by the win, Fred said.

In addition to Cowart’s work, five other pieces from the Wichita competition will appear in the 2016 Art is Ageless Calendar.

Art and illustration were Fred’s career for decades. He was a draftsman for a petroleum company and served as chief illustrator for Reese Air Force Base. For leisure, he also painted with acrylics and watercolor and created mixed-media pieces. He even composed “The Firepower Theme” in 1983 in honor of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerobatics team.

• “Waiting for Lunch,” a photograph by Gary W. Stahl

The Cowarts also spent a lot of time in New Mexico, where Fred studied Native American petroglyphs and reproduced them in pen and ink.

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“Kansas High-rise,” a drawing by Elizabeth Corbett

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“Perfect Pair,” a photograph by Paulette Mattingly

• “Little Miss Muffet’s Spider,” a needlework submission by Mary Tomlinson

Community Matters

is published monthly for residents and friends of Wichita Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at PresbyterianManors.org.

Dawn Veh, executive director Jill Coleman, marketing director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Amy Watson, life enrichment director, awatson@pmma.org.

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“Pretty in Red,” a painting by Jo Harris

In addition, two pieces from the Wichita competition will be featured on greeting cards, “Iris Aglow,” a painting by Marie Simmons, and “Heaven Came Down,” an entry in the Christmas category by Carol Renshaw.

Art is Ageless, open exclusively to people age 65 and older, is a copyrighted program of Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America. For the competition, works must have been completed in the past five years. Artists not interested in competition were invited to enter the Art is Ageless exhibit only.

Telephone: 316-942-7456 Fax: 316-941-3806 Address: 4700 W. 13th St., Wichita, KS 67212-5575

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Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.

The couple moved to Wichita for Carol’s new job as a dental hygienist at McConnell Air Force Base. Fred has since drawn several Kansas icons such as the Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls and Mount Sunflower. And he’s had to learn a few new techniques in the process to capture a hallmark element of Kansas structures.

WichitaPresbyterianManor.org

Fred published three interpretive sketchbooks of the rock art left by the Jornada Mogollon tribe at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.

“I had to learn how to draw limestone. It’s difficult because of the shadow effects you get with it,” Fred said.

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Community Matters October 2015

Accomplished singer takes on opera Jean Duncan has been singing most of her life, performing as a church soloist and giving recitals. She had even studied with a voice teacher in Heidelberg, Germany. But one thing she had never studied was opera.

That all changed in the early 2000s, when Jean was encouraged to try out for the fledgling Wichita Grand Opera.

“I wondered, what would I do? I had to have an aria,” Jean said. But she did well enough to be chosen

by WGO founder Margaret Ann Pent for the first company of 26 performers.

After that, Jean performed with the opera for eight years. “It was night and day, all kinds of rehearsals,” she said. “It really was wonderful.”

Jean said she seemed to play a nun more often than anything else, which struck her funny because she is married to a minister.

Jean was born in Canada, and her family moved to Oregon when she was 12. That’s where she met her husband, Bob. The couple moved to Germany early in their marriage for Bob’s studies, and Jean was able to study music there as well. Later, Bob came to pastor churches in the Topeka area. When their daughter in Wichita started a family, they moved here to be near their grandchildren.

In Wichita, Jean taught special education students in Goddard. She later joined a community choir affiliated with Friends University. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the choir was invited to perform Handel’s “Messiah” together with other groups at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“When we were through singing, people came from the audience and hugged us and thanked us for coming, and it was really overwhelming,” she said.

In August, the Duncans planned to see the opera’s production of Puccini’s “Turandot” together for their 65th anniversary. Unfortunately Bob became ill and could not attend, but Jean had invited other Wichita Presbyterian Manor residents to go. She even got to greet her old friend Margaret Ann Pent, now WGO’s artistic director.

Jean Duncan, right, poses with Margaret Ann Pent, artistic advisor of the Wichita Grand Opera.

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Walk to End Alzheimer’s Above: From left, Executive Director Dawn Veh, resident Irene Sims and Life Enrichment Director Amy Watson participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Sept. 12.

Left: Resident Irene Sims walks to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease.

Everyone has a story to tell Christmas will be here before we know it, and we’ll be talking about celebrations and traditions in an upcoming issue of Community Matters as we celebrate the holidays. Does your family have a special tradition? Is there a song that immediately conjures up memories of Christmases past? Do you have a memorable Christmas story to share? Contact Marketing Director Ken Hanson, and your story may be selected to appear in an upcoming Community Matters.

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Community Matters October 2015

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