February 3 - April 11, 2021

"Artists are charged with transporting us to unexpected places - the weird, the unseen, or new perceptions of the ordinary. Artists experiment with materials and juxtapositions that challenge us while connecting with our common humanity. The young artists included in this Sunflower Biennial demonstrate these qualities in abundance. For me, this is what artists do best and it is exciting to see a new generation of artists finding new ways to surprise us.”
- Nelson Smith

This juried exhibition highlights emerging Kansas artists. We have received over 400 submissions from over 120 artists this year for the Sunflower Biennial 2021. There are two divisions, ages 15-18 and 19-24. Cash prizes are awarded in each division.

The Sunflower Biennial asks young artists to share their voices: What are the issues they face, what is their view of the world, what challenges do they see, in what do they find beauty? Salina Art Center provides a platform for emerging artists that encourages exchanges of ideas and respect, and allows them to gain experience with exhibition submissions, building a portfolio, public speaking, marketing their talents, and much more.

JUROR: NELSON SMITH

Nelson Smith has received wide-spread recognition for his work as a painter and sound artist. He has been awarded four state Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artist Grants, the national Art Matters grant, several artist residencies including a Residency Fellow at Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Senior Artist in Residence, Harvestworks (New York), Vermont Studio Center, and many other honors and commissions. Smith's work reveals his ongoing exploration of relationships between objects/images, language, and sound. Whether working with the surface of a painting or with an installation environment, he integrates his vocabulary of images, texts, schematics, sounds, and objects into a variety of inventive distinctive compositions. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He studied with Agnes Denes, George Ortman, and George Olson. His paintings are included in many significant public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art's Artist Book Archive, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and University of Kansas Medical School. Besides composing for his own installation and performance productions, his sound designs and scores have also been commissioned for the films and performance works of Sue Carman-Vian, among others. His installation and performance works have been presented in a variety of galleries and non-traditional art spaces in Detroit, New York, and Cleveland.

Exhibition Guide