We will have an open house this Saturday, November 29, 2025 to celebrate Country Christmas. Come hungry because we will have snacks, and a friend will be selling baked pies, rolls and other goodies on the front patio. Come inside to attend a workshop by one of our artists 11am – 3:30 pm: Rhonda Denney paints, cuts and sews on fabric unique pictures of people and animals like you haven’t seen before. Also do hands on paper crafts with Chris Sechler, an Hallmark Card artist for 20 years and known for unique paper mosaics which are small and funny. Annie Wilson and friends will jam and have a sing along 4pm – 5:30pm. Register for a drawing for art by five of our artists.
It’s not often you find an artist that produces great paintings, and who also is a star vocalist. Meet Julie Sutton from Winfield. Julie began her creative career writing and editing for Hallmark. From greeting cards to freelance writing (co-creator of the “Just Us Girls” line of products with illustrator Angela Jarecki), Julie eventually found her niche as a singer-songwriter and recorded several CDs of original music.
Her more recent transition to visual art, with informal training and mentoring from artist/muralist Amy Harvey, led to a passion for oil painting and pet portraiture along with sketches and colorful poster prints.
LuAnne creates one of a kind handmade robot sculptures from unexpected sources. She uses up-cycled materials such as vintage printers blocks, typewriter keys, rusty bolts and nails. She gathers unexpected finds and turns them into unique little treasures with their own tiny personalities.
A former floral designer, she has always been able to see things differently. “Where some see a stain on the wall, I see an angel or I find a piece of wood and see an animal. It’s my special creative gift”.
LuAnne still makes repurposed jewelry and junk journals.
The use of bags goes back centuries. And yes, guys, men were the first users of bags as apparel. Luckily we have all sorts of bags at Prairie PastTimes.
Melissa makes cloth bags, some from tea towels:
Rhonda starts with a pigment and quilted fabric image and makes magnets, prints and bags:
Emily is a fabric multi-tasker. She weaves, appliques, dyes and quilts:
Margie likes to try new patterns, so she has a variety of types of bags: backpacks, changing stations, lunch bags:
Babies? or Small children? We have some great items:
Martha Knudsen, 93, died Sunday, September 20 2020) in Newton.
She was born February 19, 1927. She was the adopted daughter of Rex Moody, Newton, KS. She spent most of her childhood years with her foster family, Jacob & Marie Dester of Newton.
Martha graduated from Moundridge High School and went on to Northwestern University in Chicago where she graduated as a Dental Hygienist. She worked 40 years in dental offices in Memphis, Tennessee; Wichita and Newton, Kansas before retiring in 1986.
She married Ivan Knudsen on September 1, 1956
After retiring, Martha, who was a self-taught artist, found her passion for drawing, her specialty being pen and ink. She started with barns and windmills because they had straight lines and very little shading. Over the next couple years, she developed more of an architectural style of drawing. This led to a series of Kansas things: stone houses; schoolhouses; courthouses; churches; windmills and three sets of barn notes. She became known as the Kansas Barn lady. In 1991 she published her first Kansas Barn Calendar. She started with four different barns from different counties and then set out to find eight more barns from an additional eight counties She ended up publishing 20 annual calendars, every barn different. She developed and published 4 Kansas Barn Book with barns from her calendars and as many histories as she could find. Barns from every county in Kansas were represented in her books. Martha was featured as one of “Hatteberg’s People” in 1993 and was included in his book, “More Kansas People”.
Bryan creates stunning wall hangings using the techniques of quilting, embroidery, collage, and beading. His pieces also often include “found objects” such as fence posts and barbed wire.
Bryan received a BSE in Art Education from Kansas State Teacher College of Emporia, and an MA and PhD in Art Education from Ohio State University. After 42 years of public school teaching in Alaska, Washington and Ohio he returned to the Flint Hills to teach at Emporia State University. Bryan is now fully retired. We have a limited number of his outstanding works in our shop.
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