Past and Present: Wichita’s Legacy and Today’s Creatives is a series of exhibitions organized in celebration and recognition of the city’s artistic heritage.

The second exhibition in this series highlights Lester Raymer. Raymer’s eclectic subject matter–which spanned a range of subjects from religion, to theater, to people and objects from everyday life–was matched by his embrace of a variety of materials. Raymer took ordinary things, generally discarded mundane objects, and transformed them into beautiful works of art and crafts, gifts, toys and decorative elements for his studio. The exhibition will feature work drawn from WAM’s permanent collection and key loans from Raymer’s Red Barn Studio in Lindsborg, Kansas.

This exhibition celebrates Raymer’s signature style and its echoes in today’s Wichita arts scene–especially in the cut-paper vignettes, sculptures, and prints of featured Wichita artist Clark Britton.