Salina Art Center

The Artist Exchange program is a mentoring process that enables local and regional artists to teach and learn together while engaged in challenging, innovative work over the course of eight to ten months.

Each year, three regional artists are invited to serve as one-on-one mentors to three mentorees selected through an application process which seeks artists who are embarking on new work, taking their work in new directions, or striving to advance the level of their work, with mentors serving on the selection committee.

These artists, working in one-on-one pairs, communicate and meet regularly as they develop work for the culminating experience of a month-long exhibition at the Art Center. Participants document their methods and insights in personal journals as they share ideas, discuss concepts and techniques, and refine their artistic philosophies.

In addition, all mentors and mentorees come together at least three times during the work period to participate in retreats with Art Center staff members. These activities are designed to enrich the process for all concerned, with the goal of fostering exchanges that are beneficial regardless of participants’ ages and/or levels of development. Discussions are intentionally wide-ranging, inviting diversity and questioning as the means for deeper exploration that will inform subsequent artmaking.

The first Artist Exchange took place in 2006, with the added component of a keynote mentor, Lawrence artist Stan Herd, who served as a consultant to the program, interacting with participants and sharing in discussions of working concepts and methods that have guided the process.

2009 – 2010 Artist Exchange participants announced.

2008 – 2009 Artist Exchange program: Artist Statements
2007 – 2008 Artist Exchange program: Artist Statements
2006 – 2007 Artist Exchange program: Artist Statements