2026 Biennial

Mountain Plains

Contemporary Art Biennial May 20 - September 6, 2026

Cover: Audrey Powles Lives/works: Bingham, NE Where the Hills Whisper, 2025 Fine Art Photograph 16” x 22” x 2”

May 20 - September 6, 2026 2026 Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial is a juried exhibition highlighting contemporary visual art from the Mountain-Plains region of the United States. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, this exhibition encourages artists to reflect on identity, place, belonging, and transformation through the lens of a region often considered the country’s heartland. The Biennial was established in 2018 to highlight artists who are balancing the traditions and history of our region with a larger, global contemporary practice. The artists of the Mountain-Plains region are equally defined by their place while also defining it, and continuing to redefine it. The Biennial continues our tradition of exhibitions that pose important questions and encourage meaningful interactions.

2026 Juror, Hesse McGraw Hesse McGraw is a nationally respected curator, writer, and cultural strategist known for artist-centered exhibitions and public art initiatives that bridge institutions and communities.

Most recently Executive Director of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, McGraw has held leadership and curatorial roles at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, and El Dorado. His groundbreaking work spans more than 75 exhibitions and commissions, including The Rainbow by Michael Jones McKean, The Proposal by Jill Magid, and the CAMH Court by Trenton Doyle Hancock.

PHOTO BY MIKE SINCLAIR

Hesse McGraw

Consider what has lately grabbed your attention. Increasingly, I feel my attention adrift. It scatters across an array of inputs, most of which I haven’t chosen to engage with, but that operate with such pervasive persistence as to become a kind of dehumanized filter for life. There is politics, and its incessant dilution of truth. Our attention algorithmically dilutes into evernarrower channels that present as tailored to personal interests but serve the stock function of igniting our impulse to shop or grinding our ego against others’ staged feats. And before we begin to imagine a fertile cross-current of human creation that might hedge against our collective loss of attention, we must brace for the increasing speed and sophistication of large language models, which may ultimately subsume human capacities for intelligence and research.

Much of this feels dire. And, yet. We still have trees. We have our breath. There are animals in need of our care and land to tend. We still need each other. This might sound stupid, or soft, or pleading.

Or possibly, in the dense matrix of this exhibition, we find things worth paying attention to.

Each of these artists has an actual stake in this question. They decided to step outside the pull of consumption to create.

Today, this is more than a step; it feels like a profound leap.

We might even go further — that any artist who consciously decides to move outside the algorithm, outside ads, outside the predictability of influence, to try to grab us through an idea, feels maverick.

Many of these artists were new discoveries for me. I am from this region and have been engaged with the artists of the mountain plains for some 25 years, but these voices still offer new and vital perspectives of this place. Although often monolithically derided as flyover country; the heartland; Anywhere, USA; or simply as red states; I think of the region as representing the Middle of Everywhere.

How can an artist own their place in the middle of everywhere, within a broader frame that overlooks their region, or even disregards their work itself? I found these artists to hold their agency in unexpected and moving ways. It’s not through

shouting, flash, or other performative gestures. When feeling overlooked, one’s head can easily go to the clouds, yet these artists remain firmly grounded in their place.

What throughline have these artists created, across disparate landscapes, diverse families, and multiverse views? It is a kind of neighborism, or the commitment to care for those around you, regardless of where they are from. It’s recognizing we’re in this together, so I choose to contribute to our communal whole.

Recently coined by journalist Adam Serwer to describe the upswell of community support and mutual aid in Minneapolis, neighborism offers a path forward centered on directing our attention to the needs and talents of our most local communities. You can see this in action throughout this exhibition — in the care of a lamb, in a sister’s embrace, in a landscape vista, in a restored building, and in myriad expressions of love for one’s neighbor.

These artists, each in their own way, focus their attention on what is right in front of them, their symbolic neighbor, and offer us each the gift of seeing into their worlds.

In our polycrisis era, as we confront ever-mounting and cascading risks, the battles for our attention are the most consequential. Distraction is peril. How, and whether, we focus our attention offer paths forward through empathy, ingenuity, and human creativity.

These artists root that path forward in neighborism. This is not the path compelled by our political landscape, by media, AI, or nearly any dominant force in our lives, but it is likely the path to a future that we can bear to live in.

This survey of 62 voices from ten states in the middle of everywhere is a clarion call that resounds with the greatest urgency and uplift: artists humanize our future.

– Hesse McGraw, April 2026

THE ARTISTS

Unless otherwise noted, all work is courtesy of the artists. Dimensions are given in inches, height preceding width, preceding depth.

Brad Bachmeier Lives/works: Fargo, ND Teddy’s Topo Trails, 2025 Wheel-Thrown, stamped, carved, multi-fired ceramic 22” x 22” x 4” Lisa Bang Hoffman Lives/works: Lincoln, NE Hanging Bananas, 2025 Archival Inkjet Print 13.25” x 20” x 0” Three Chairs, 2024 Archival Inkjet Print 13.25” x 20” x 0” Kassy, Indian Cave State Park, 2025 Archival Inkjet Print 20” x 13.3” x 0” Annie Bell Lives/works: Glenwood Springs, CO Blue, 2025 Mixed Media 50” x 40” x 1.5” Yellow, 2025 Mixed Media 50” x 36” x 1.5”

Left: Cindy Chinn, Seymore “See no Evil”, 2025 Above: Brady Scott, Joyland, 2024

Ang Bennett Lives/works: Omaha, NE Saint of the Everyday, 2025 Acrylic and gold metal leaf on wooden panel 20” x 16” x 0.125” Big Grillz Don’t Make Lil’ Saints Immortal, 2025 Acrylic and gold metal leaf on wooden panel 48” x 24” x 0.06” Charles Bowling Lives/works: Council Grove, KS Tranquility, 2025 Oil 24” x 18” x .5” The Silo, 2025 Oil 24” x 12” x .5” Kent Broberg Lives/works: Derby, KS Anthozoa, 2025 Acrylic 40” x 30” x 1.5” Ant Hill, 2024 Acrylic 30” x 40” x 1” Derrick Burbul Live/works: Kearney, NE Sweetwater River, Wyoming, 2025 Archival Ink Jet 9” x 12” x 0” Laramie Mountain Range, Wyoming, 2025 Archival Ink Jet 9” x 12” x 0” Joe Bussell Lives/works: Rosedale, KS Pink Scrape #1, 2024 Acrylic 72” x 60” x 4” Pink Scrape #5, 2024 Acrylic 72” x 60” x 4”

Cindy Chinn Lives/works: Chester, NE Seymore “See no Evil”, 2025 Mixed Media 38” x 24” x 24” Horatio, Hear No Evil, 2024 Mixed Media 4’ x 2’ x 2’ Aaron Crim Lives/works: Lawrence, KS Dave, 2025 Soft Pastel 16.5” x 11.5” x 0” Burnell, 2025 Soft Pastel 16.5” x 11.5” x 0” Tegen, 2025 Soft Pastel 16.5” x 11.5” x 0” Jonathan Dankenbring Lives/works: Colorado Springs, CO ante-shroud, 2025 Carbon fiber, thread, black fabric, fuse 58” x 58” x 3” Reflector with Housing Accessory, 2025 Plywood, walnut, rose gold mirror acrylic, steel, tar, MDF 18” x 14” x 2” Click Farm I, 2025 Brass, AR500 steel (target) 12” x 8” x 1.5” Citlali Delgado Lives/works: El Paso, TX Tierra Transversal, 2025 Oil, acrylic, spray paint on canvas 6’ x 9’ x 0”

Caitlyn Dolphin Lives/works: Denver, CO Watering Hole, 2025 Oil on canvas 30” x 48” x 1.5” Dwellers, 2025 Oil on canvas 40” x 30” x 1.5” Scavenger, 2025 Oil on canvas 48” x 36” x 1.5” Quinn Domini Lives/works: Topeka, KS Complementary Contemplation, 2026 Oil painting on panel, from photo reference 30” x 32.5” x 1.75” Brianna Donahue Lives/works: Manhattan, KS To Hold, 2025 Oil and charcoal on canvas 39” x 35” x .5 cm Tobias Flores Lives/works: Hays, KS Brown Chicken, Brown Cow, 2025 Cast Stainless Steel 24” x 12” x 5” Morgan Ford Willingham Lives/works: Waco, TX Sisters (Nada & Manar) + Ikhat, 2025 Cyanotype on cotton organdy 26” x 18” x 0” Amena + Sat, 2025 Cyanotype on cotton organdy 33.5” x 19.5” x 0” Dana Fritz Lives/works: Lincoln, NE Post-fire Postscript, 2024 Artist book 8” x 10” x .5”

Eduardo Gardea Lives/works: Santa Fe, NM Beyond, 2026 Acrylic on canvas 18” x 11” x 2” Russell Horton Lives/works: Baldwin City, KS Emporia Archway, 2025 Oil on canvas 48” x 42” x 2” Ottawa, 2025 Oil on canvas 30” x 30” x 2” Robert Hubbard Lives/works: Manhattan, KS My Uncle’s Farm, Winfield, KS, 2025 Acrylic on canvas 24” x 36” x 2” Shaun Ilahi Lives/works: Omaha, NE On the Road, 2025 Mixed Media 45” x 30” x 1” Lota, 2024 Mixed Media 42” x 30” x 1” Betni Kalk Lives/works: Omaha, NE Sisters who Flourish, 2024 Ink and acrylic on canvas 30” x 30” x 1” John Keeling Lives/works: Centennial, WY Neon Cowboy, 2024 Watercolor 24” x 18” x 0” The Gaze, 2023 Watercolor 19” x 28” x 0”

Michael McCaffrey Lives/works: Lawrence, KS SUMMER TO FALL, 2025 Oil on canvas 72” x 120” x 2” WINTER GARDNER, 2025 Oil on canvas 72” x 162” x 2” Brad Bachmeier, Teddy’s Topo Trails, 2025

Kevin Kelly Lives/works: Wichita, KS If You Can Find it in Your Heart, 2025 Acrylic on canvas 30” x 39” x 2” Haunt, 2025 Acrylic on paper mounted to canvas 47” x 35” x 2” Ellie Lieber Lives/works: Kansas City, MO My Mother’s Boot, 2025 Ceramic, dried flowers 10” x 8” x 5” Hannah Lindo Lives/works: Lawrence, KS Veiled Tenderness, 2025 Oil on canvas 68” x 78” x 1.5” David Manzanares Lives/works: Omaha, NE Night Vigil, 2025 Ceramics 12” x 8” x 4” Brad Marr Lives/works: Omaha, NE Infinity, 2025 Acrylic and gold leaf on wood 48” x 48” x 1.5”

Todd McCollister Lives/works: Omaha, NE One Day I’m Going to Be Someone Else, 2025 Wood, thread, beads, paper, acrylic paint, clear finish 16” x 35” x 7” PP30 Once Upon a Time in the West, 2025 Wood, acrylic paint, cyanotype on paper, clear finish 10” x 8” x 1.5” Madison Mccullough Lives/works: Wichita, KS Space Travel, 2025 DIgital media, colored pencil, acrylic 19” x 22” x 1” Lilly McElroy Lives/works: Lawrence, KS Distress Signal 1, 2026 Archival Inkjet Print 30” x 20” x 0” Tanis Meyers Lives/works: Lenexa, KS Brand New Geode, 2025 Fiber 7’ x 4’ x 4” Taylor Miller Lives/works: Lenexa, KS Interment, 2025 Oil on canvas with embroidery thread 48” x 35” x 1” Sabine, 2025 Oil on panel 24” x 36” x 2”

Rachel Mindrup Lives/works: Omaha, NE Living Through Play, 2025 Oil on canvas (3 panels) 40” x 40” x 1.5” A Twist of the Light, 2026 Oil on canvas 48” x 36” x 2”

Michael Ramey Lives/works: Rapid City, SD Making Weight, 2025 Photograph 30” x 20” x 1” Family Business, 2025 Photograph 30” x 20” x 1”

Jennie Mizrahi Lives/works: Fort Collins, CO Cameron Peak Burn Scar, 2024 Oil on canvas 16” x 40” x 1.5”

Dave Reiter Lives/works: Parker, CO Light Within the Shadows, 2024 Oil & mixed media on canvas over board 36” x 48” x 0”

John Oehm Lives/works: Bel Aire, KS Dead Crabapple Tree, 2025 Oil on canvas 40” x 30” x 2.5” Us, Indelibly, 2025 Oil on canvas 48” x 60” x 2.5” Under a Yucca, Over El Paso, 2025 Oil on canvas 48.5” x 36.5” x 2.5” Courtney Porto Lives/works: Omaha, NE Wipe, 2024 Acrylic on stretched canvas 24” x 24” x 0” You Can, 2025 Acrylic on stretched canvas 24” x 24” x 0” Audrey Powles Lives/works: Bingham, NE Where the Hills Whisper, 2025 Fine Art Photograph 16” x 22” x 2”

Courtney Porto, You Can, 2025

Jennifer Rife Lives/works: Cheyenne, WY 106° 33’ W x 44° 34’ N no. 32, 2026 Photograph: mirrored steel, bullets, environment 10’ x 10’ x 10’ Danielle Robinson Lives/works: Hays, KS A Tight Grasp, 2025 Cast iron, steel 13.5” x 7.5” x 2” Desiccation, 2025 Cast iron, steel, aluminum, reflective vinyl, dirt 7” x 11” x 8.5”

Carissa Samaniego Lives/works: Las Cruces, NM Flaming Lips, 2024 Fabric, silver wire, lead weights, brass beads, maple board 102” x 48” x 8” Quilt Halo Drawing #15, 2024 Colored pencil on paper (unframed) 11” x 11” x 0” Reese Schmidt Lives/works: Moundridge, KS Cooper as Batman, 2017, 2025 Acrylic on canvas 10” x 8” x 1” Heather Schulte Lives/works: Boulder, CO Beware the Ides of Augustus, 2025 Cotton embroidery thread on newspaper 22” x 12.37” x 0” For Whom the Whistle Blows, 2025 Cotton embroidery on newspaper 22” x 10.5” x 0” Brady Scott Lives/works: Hutchinson, KS Joyland, 2024 Acrylic on canvas 40” x 76” x 2” Cooper Siegel Lives/works: Kansas City, MO grate, 2024 Glaze, ceramic, jesmonite, recycled ceramic 9” x 9” x 8” sigil, 2024 Glaze, sand, gabbro, granite, grog, steel 10” x 11” x 6” Kate Simmons Lives/works: Loveland, CO Rubus phoenicolasius, 2025 Ballpoint pen and natural dye on watercolor paper 22” x 30” x 0.25”

Valerie St. Pierre Smith Lives/works: Omaha, NE Dazhwaangeni: Spread Your Wings, 2025 Hand drawn, laser engraved velveteen; ribbon; fabric 28” x 30” x 6” Jessica Teckemeyer Lives/works: Stillwater, OK The Fall of the Predator, 2024 Polyurethane, glass, silicone, automotive paint, vinyl 64” x 40” x 13” Divided, 2024 Laser-etched mirrored acrylic, stainless steel 70” x 65” x 6” Little Red Riding Hood, 2025 3D print (PETG), laser-etched board, rope, paint 47” x 41” x 11” Hank Tilbury Lives/works: Prairie Village, KS Highway Sentinel, 2024 Oil stick on wood panel 32” x 36” x 2” What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?, 2025 Watercolor crayon on mylar film, laid over mineral paper 11” x 14” x 1” VS Torneden Lives/works: Oklahoma City, OK 33.3 Miles North of Mexico, 2024 Archival inkjet print 12” x 18” x 0” A Dying Town, 2024 Archival inkjet print 12” x 18” x 0”

Zo Ulibarri Lives/works: Kansas City, MO Dawn to Dusk, 2025 Ceramics 19.5” x 30” x 2” Ofrenda, 2025 Ceramics 8” x 19” x 6” At The Beginning It Was Only Noise, 2025 Ceramics 1’ x 6” x 3”

Kelly Yarbrough Lives/works: Manhattan, KS Zoning Meeting: Save the Konza, 2025 Acrylic on canvas 48” x 60” x 2”

Ting Wang Lives/works: Stillwater, OK There Trying Times-Being Chinese in America Then and Now, 2024 Screen print and digital print on Shimarein paper 64” x 40” x 0”

Shelby Zasacky Lives/works: Aspen, CO Calved: Archive in Melt, 2025 Hot sculpted glass 17” x 7” x 7”

Anne Yoncha Lives/works: Edgewater, CO Crosstimbers, 2024 Graphic score, video 22” x 22” x 1.5”

Carolyn Wedel Lives/works: Salina, KS The Weight We Carry Two, 2025 Mixed 30” x 30” x 3” Hayden Wells Lives/works: Topeka, KS Humble Servant, 2025 Colored pencil 22” x 30” x 0” Provider, 2025 Colored pencil on paper 22” x 22” x 0” Aaron Wilder Lives/works: Roswell, NM Invisible Self Portrait: On Shapeshifting and Privilege, 2025 Video, 1920px x 1080px, 18:43min Body4Body: January 11, 2025 / 46,537 Dead Bodies in Gaza..., 2026 Collage 20” x 20” x 0” Above: Shelby Zasacky, Calved: Archive in Melt, 2025 Right: Aaron Crim, Burnell, 2025

June 5 | First Friday Opening Reception and Awards 5-7 PM | FREE & Open to everyone.

5:30 PM Brief Award Presentation June 6 | Brunch with the Juror, Hesse McGraw 10am-11am | FREE & Open to everyone.

June 24 | Granite Rapids Moon by John Charles Meyer & Biennial Passport 6 PM | Art Center Cinema, 150 S Santa Fe “See Kansas. Share the Story.”

In celebration of the Salina Biennial, we’re inviting you to explore the landscapes that shape our region—through art, film, and firsthand experience.

The Biennial Passport challenges participants to visit 10 iconic Kansas sites, capturing moments of curiosity, beauty, and connection along the way.

We’ll kick it all off with a special screening of Granite Rapids Moon by John Charles Meyer on June 24 at 6 PM—where passports will be released and your summer journey begins.

June 28 | Expressive Portrait Drawing with Aaron Crim 1-5pm | $85 Join Aaron as he shows you basic drawing concepts applied to portraiture, under drawing, and finishing the piece. Charcoal, soft pastels, pencils, and more will be used to create a dynamic portrait.

PROGRAMMING

July 10-15 | Four Days in June (2026) Friday-Monday, 6pm with a 2pm screening on Saturday & Sunday Art Center Cinema, 150 S Santa Fe In a nation defined by division, a Midwest arts festival creates space for joy.

It transforms a normal city park into a space where tens of thousands feel welcome, trying the same foods, dancing to the same beats, experiencing the same art. For four days in June, this rural American community proves there are still ways we can find common ground.

July 14 | Mini Masters, Preschool 5:30 PM | $5 and open to participating families.

Start your evening with curiosity, creativity, and a little bit of wonder. Join Executive Director Misty Serene for a special preschool-friendly tour inspired by the Salina Biennial—designed just for young learners and their grown-ups.

Together, you’ll explore the exhibition through fresh eyes, ask big (and small) questions, and create hands-on art inspired by what you discover.

July 19 | ART BYTE 12:15 PM | FREE Join Darren for a 30-minute deep dive into a single work of art in the gallery.

These small “bytes” of insight spark conversation around viewing, interpreting, and discussing contemporary art in all its forms. This interactive experience will leave you feeling inspired and more confident on your next visit to an art museum. Each session features a new work to explore.

July 23 | Tour with the Director Coffee and donuts at 8:30 AM, tour begins at 9:00 AM. Free and open to all.

Start your morning with coffee, donuts, and curiosity. Join Executive Director Misty Serene for a special personal tour of the exhibition—led not as a curator or art historian, but as a genuine art lover guided by instinct, observation, and a deep sense of wonder. This informal, conversation-driven experience invites you to look closer, ask questions, and explore what the work reveals to you.

August 9 | Tulipiere Ceramic Vessel with Ellie Lieber 10am-6pm | $119 We will compositely assemble multi-part wheel-thrown vessels, based on historical tulipiere forms. We will start with sketches and a group discussion, followed by demos.

After lunch, we will throw and attach our components. This class will not cover the basics of wheel throwing, but instead focus on more advanced techniques like throwing spots, lids, and attaching handles. Along with honing advanced wheel-throwing techniques, students will be able to work on their own personal form language. Supplies will be provided.

Connecting art, artists, and audiences since 1978, the Salina Art Center is an accredited contemporary art museum, education studio, and independent Cinema in the heart of downtown Salina. As a 501(c)3 not-for-profit arts organization, creativity thrives, powered by our dedicated members, local businesses and foundations, grants, and the City of Salina. Together, we’re enriching lives through art.

Elevate your creativity by becoming a member of Salina Art Center. Your membership enriches your journey and ensures that quality art experiences remain accessible to all.

Discover how you can make a difference at www.SalinaArtCenter.org.

Supporters include artists, educators, and community members who envision a center to engage people in art experiences of quality, relevance, and significance to our global community. A heartfelt thank you to our patrons, sustainers, advocates, and benefactors for their generosity.

Sponsored in part by the State of Kansas through the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Salina Art Center, 242 S Santa Fe Ave. Salina, Kansas SalinaArtCenter.org Catalog published by Salina Art Center to accompany the exhibition, Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial May 20 - September 6, 2026

Text by Hesse McGraw Design by Hannah Crickman All images courtesy of the artists Exhibition design by Hesse McGraw and Daniel Picking