Mercer Gallery Hosting Art Exhibition by Chuck Bonner through September 27th
[Garden City, KS] August 21, 2024 -- The Mercer Gallery begins the Fall 2024 art exhibition season with Western Kansas legend Chuck Bonner of the famed Keystone Gallery. His exhibition "Abstracted Realities" exhibition consists of brightly colored paintings and collages that challenge the viewer's perceptions of what is real and what is imagined. The exhibition will be at the Mercer Gallery from now through September 27th. An opening reception with the artist will be held on August 23rd from 5 pm to 7 pm, with light refreshments provided.
All are welcome to view this exhibition during regular gallery hours: Monday through Wednesday, 9 am to 4 pm; Thursdays, 9 am to 10 pm; and Fridays, 9 am to 4 pm. For more information, please contact Gallery Director Michael Knutson at michael.knutson@gcccks.edu.
ARTIST BIO
Chuck Bonner was born in Scott City, Kansas in 1950 and grew up in the western Kansas town of Leoti. His formative years were spent in an artistic and scientific background, his father was a fossil collector and his mother an artist. Chuck attended Fort Hays State University where he received an A. B. in art and an M. A. in painting.
While at the University, Bonner worked at the Sternberg Memorial Museum, where he prepared exhibits, painted scientific restorations and portraits, and prepared fossils for exhibit. This experience has helped him with his latest venture, Keystone Gallery, which he and his wife, Barbara Shelton, opened in the fall of 1991. The gallery combines an art gallery, a fossil museum, and a gift shop. Chuck has painted a 24' by 6' mural of prehistoric life in the Kansas Cretaceous sea to enhance the museum fossil collection.
Bonner has completed many other public works of art, including murals for Fort Hays State University and the Ellis County Historical Museum–both in Hays, Kansas. He also painted a Kansas prehistoric sea mural for El Quartelejo Museum in Scott City, Kansas.
In 2007, Chuck was commissioned to paint two prehistoric scenes and a tribute painting to his father, Marion, for the Museum of the Great Plains in Leoti, Kansas. The following year, he completed four murals of paleontological and archaeological themes totaling 200 square feet for the Stanton County Museum in Johnson, Kansas.
Chuck enjoys the challenge of commission work, whether for public organizations such as museums or for individuals. He continues to produce various styles of artwork and sells them to collectors worldwide.
"Diversity is the key to my artwork, business, and life. My approach to making art follows the ebb and flow of my lifestyle. I tend to get more painting done in the winter because my outdoor activities are limited. My paintings tend to develop at their own pace, just waiting for me to say they are completed. Whatever direction my artwork takes, I feel my lifestyle directly contributes to its freedom and natural progression,” Chuck shared.
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Garden City Community College exists to produce positive contributors to the economic and social well-being of society.
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