Leadership Lens

"How do you view leadership through your camera lens?" 

That was the question K-State's Staley School of Leadership proposed to professional and amateur photographers as they looked to refresh their building's artwork.  

The Leadership Lens initiative generated 86 images from 28 artists from Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and Texas. From the entries, a juried panel selected 19 photos from 15 different photographers to refresh the hallways and conference rooms of the Staley building.  

There was a photo from the South Pole. Another showed a desolate desert scene from a world away. And even from among those unique, far-flung places, I had two photographs chosen for inclusion - taken by a farm wife in South Central Kansas. It just goes to show that there is beauty everywhere. It's in city skylines, but it's also found on an early morning down a dirt road in Kansas or reflecting off water at sunset. It's just a matter of opening our eyes to the wonder.

Last Friday, March 27, the Staley School of Leadership hosted a reception for Spirit of Leadership, an annual event  where alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff come together to reconnect, reunite, and re-energize around leadership. They also recognized the photographers whose work was chosen for display in the 2025-26 version of Leadership Lens.

They moved into the Staley School of Leadership building on the K-State campus in 2010. At that time, they chose photos to include in the hallways and conference areas. In 2017, they offered the opportunity to submit photos for a "refresh" of the space. (I had two photos chosen then. Click HERE for more about those photos. They auctioned those 2017 pieces off to raise money for programs at the Staley School.)

Last fall, they again offered the chance to submit photos and to focus on how leadership could be reflected in the images by submitting artist's statements.  

 

My artist statement for A New Day Dawns: The best sunrises and sunsets occur when there are clouds in the sky. The clouds create a unique texture of light, shadows and color to make the sky an interesting tapestry. As leaders, we may wish for blue skies and an easy path. But the “clouds” in our lives build our tapestry, too. It gives us empathy for others and helps us persevere. Likewise, milo is known for its resilience in difficult growing conditions. Success seems sweeter when we have faced obstacles and come out on the other side.

I took this photo of a sunrise over a milo field south of our house last fall. It now hangs in a second-floor conference room. 

The second photo chosen was taken at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge during a December 2021 sunset. It hangs in a second floor hallway at the Staley School.

Taken at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Stafford County, Kansas

My artist statement for Ripples:

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

 --Mother Teresa

Effective leadership radiates outward like ripples in water. The ripple effect underscores the power of small leadership actions in creating significant, positive changes. When leaders recognize small wins, practice active listening, demonstrate empathy and foster open communication, they can build a strong, cohesive and motivated team and make "ripples" in the world at large. 

The artist statements hang by the artwork. 

I was thrilled that several members of my family could join Randy and me at the reception. (Brooke had a birthday party for one of her best buddies.)

Eric's parents, Alan and Christy, also joined us.

It meant a lot to me that they all made the effort to be there.

 

There is art other than photography in the building, too. Susan and Kinley did their best statue impression.

 

Organizers of the event used the monarch butterfly as a central theme for the evening's festivities, handing out lapel pins.

 

It seems to be a lesson we could all use these days: Practice leadership by nurturing growth within yourself and others. Like the monarch butterfly, embrace and celebrate transformation.  

 

This Facebook reel shows some of the process of selecting and installing the new artwork. 

 

What an honor it was to have photos chosen! If you're ever on campus, check out all the artwork. 

 

Picture Perfect?

I love purple. As K-State fans, my family often jokes that we have purple coursing through our veins. Of course, I love what our school calls "royal purple," that dark and intense color of royalty.  

 

But I'm pretty fond of lavender, too. (My childhood bedroom had blue and lavender carpeting, which I picked out when my sister and I moved to individual basement rooms after the birth of our brother.)

And this year, lavender was the color of ribbon I received for my top-rated photo at the Stafford County Fair. The photo I took the morning of Flag Day was the Reserve Champion in open class at last week's fair. Nothing like a strong southerly Kansas wind before 6:30 in the morning to make a flag fly!

As I've said before, I enjoy entering open class photos at my county fair. As always, the rankings reflect one judge's opinion on that particular day at that particular time. A different judge would likely have yielded a different outcome.

Me in 4th Grade

As a Pratt County 4-Her, I entered foods, clothing construction and reading and leadership posters or notebooks in the fair. I suppose photography was one of the options back then, but it wasn't one I explored. Still, old habits die hard.

When my youngest sister was in high school, she took a college math course at Barton County Community College one summer. (I think it was calculus, but math abilities skipped my genetic code.) I was a journalism student at K-State, and BCCC had a photography class offered at the same time. I figured it was a good skill for a burgeoning journalist. So we car-pooled to Great Bend. It was my first opportunity to work in a dark room.

When I was a beginning reporter at The Hutchinson News,  I'd carry a camera along if a "real" photographer wasn't available to go with me. And I loved entering that "tube" at the north end of the news room and retreating to the dark room there, even though I wasn't the one usually developing the film. 

Blue in Digital Composite

Then, both Jill and Brent chose 4-H photography. Jill moved on to other things, but Brent kept that project through his 4-H years. As often happens when you have kids in 4-H, you take on the role of a project leader. I always felt like I learned just as much as the 4-Hers (and maybe even more) as we went to workshops and did our own photo project shoots in parks, backyards and mini field trips. And I was always eager to hear what the judge at the county fair had to tell Brent and my other photographers. I usually got the opportunity to listen in when I'd help with the behind-the-scenes organizing, etc. I learned a lot.

The photos I took of my kids fill multiple plastic tubs in our basement. (Oh, if only things had been digital sooner!) Even though I did a lot of purging last year, that's still on my to-do list (way, way down the list). 

Starting the blog in January 2010 further spurred my interest in photos to illustrate a story. I look at food photos I took in the beginning of the blog, compared to now, and I think there's been significant progress. 

Blue in People category

Weeding through hundreds (OK, thousands) of photos is a daunting task. Thankfully, I kept a notebook with some of my favorites, which speeds the process some. Decision making has never been my strongest skill. Just ask my parents or my siblings or Randy. OK, the list goes on. I polled the kids via text as I was vacillating on a few entries. (Kudos to them: All four responded ... though not all four agreed. And that illustrates the whole idea that the ribbon placings are one person's opinion.)

The flag photo was in the "miscellaneous" category. In open class, only three ribbons are awarded in each class. Stafford County fair contestants can enter two per class, so you're competing against yourself and anyone else who enters that particular category. 

Blue in Agriculture, Black and White

True confessions: I entered a lot of photos, so that raises my chances, I suppose. It's not inexpensive when you buy enlargements, mat board, etc. But, as Randy says, I could have worse vices. 

This year, I collected eight blues, seven reds and four whites. Seven of my photos didn't place. Besides the regular open class photography competition, there's also a photo contest sponsored by Stafford County Economic Development. Two of those photos got first in their category and two were honorable mention, with two not placing.

 

I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't give me a thrill to have my work recognized. But entering the fair is also about being part of a community. Having entries to look at gives people a reason to come to the fair. 

Wheat appeared to be a theme throughout several of my blue-ribbon winners.

Blue in Agriculture, Color

 But wheat wasn't the only subject matter.

 

Blue in Nature

A bumblebee visiting my backyard lilacs made an appearance.

Blue in Human Interest

So did lighted "butterflies" from a Wild Lights display in December at the Sedgwick County Zoo - both in color ...

Blue in Human Interest, Black and White

... and in black and white. (Which do you like best? I could never decide.)

You never know how things will do. One of my favorite photos from this year just got a 3rd place ribbon. It was taken in December at Quivira. I liked it well enough that I made it into a canvas for my new daughter-in-law, and she has it in her office at school. (And I may get a canvas for myself, too.)

My winning photos from the Economic Development contest are below:

1st Place in People, Stafford Eco/Devo contest

Thanks to my friend, Linda, for serving as my patriotic model at the Nora Larabee Memorial Library's July First Friday event.

1st place in Commerce, Stafford Eco/Devo contest, Corn harvest

This sunflower photo was from corn harvest.  

I also entered a couple of my books in the computer-generated scrapbook division in Arts and Crafts. My fourth-quarter blog book from 2021 got 1st place. A book I did for Kinley and Brooke after our February ski trip got 3rd place in the same class. (The books arrived after the girls were here for harvest, so I am more excited about giving them their copies than I was about how it placed in the fair.) I think this is the 11th book I've done for the girls. I use my photos and write the stories in rhyme as a remembrance of outings.

We'll see how retiring from farming affects my photo taking and subsequent entries into the fair. There may be less wheat next year (though maybe not). But perhaps there will be more from places beyond The County Line.
 

From Camera Click to Museum Wall

It started with a camera click on the way to a pasture on a September afternoon and ended up on the wall of an art museum.

 

As an amateur photographer, I am honored that one of my photos was chosen by Artist Charles Baughman for an exhibit at the Vernon Filley Art Museum in Pratt. I am certainly not alone: 23 other photographers also had images chosen by Baughman. He recreated the photographs as paintings in his signature style, which he calls Splatterscape. He uses only his fingers, sticks and oil paint to produce abstract works. In the exhibition at the Filley Museum, his paintings hang side-by-side with the original photographs they are based upon.

From the Vernon Filley Art Museum Facebook page (You can see Baughman's rendition of my photo at the fair right.)

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the year, the museum advertised the opportunity for photographers to submit up to three photographs to be considered. (Thanks to my friend, Nancy, for bringing it to my attention.) The artist didn't want photos with animals, people or structures. It's tough to try and second-guess what might appeal to another person. I submitted three photos and just hoped for the best.

But I was really excited when I received notification that one of my photos was chosen. Baughman chose my photo of Maximillian sunflowers with a windmill in the background, though he opted to leave out the windmill in the finished painting. Those late-season sunflowers lined the road to the Rattlesnake Pasture. On a September day in 2018 when the sunflowers seemed to rival the sun, I stopped and took a few photos. I used the photo on my blog, of course, and it decorates my own mantel during sunflower season.

Last Friday, photographers were invited to be there with the artist for the opening reception. But the exhibit will be in place until July 22, so, if you're in the area, there's plenty of time to see it. 

Photo from www.pratttribune.com

Charles Baughman is a nationally known, contemporary Abstract Expressionist painter, as well as a long-time art educator. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts and Art History from Kearney (Neb.) State College and his Master of Fine Arts in Painting/Sculpture from Wichita State University. Since 2004, Baughman has owned and operated the Monart School of Art and The Art Park in Wichita with his wife, Kate Pepper.

"I'm happy to say that I'm a professional finger painter," Baughman said, generating a laugh among the crowd. "I'm open to happy accidents, which lead the viewer's eye on a journey." 

 A time-lapse video showed the process Baughman used to use paint interpret the photographs into paintings. This snippet features my photo.

Baughman told reception attendees that his  style of painting brings him closer to nature and celebrates all stages and seasons.

""Nature has a continuous process of destruction and rebirth," Baughman said in his artist statement. "Nature's rebirth often happens in unexpected ways - big events like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and fire. This destruction is always followed by new life - fresh, yet subtle, growth starts among grasses, trees and undergrowth first. Then, as the seasons cycle through, more and more regeneration happens. ... The spirit of life happens with the willingness to destroy and re-create something new."

With the Ninnescah Landscapes exhibit, he wasn't trying to replicate the photography. The cell phones in everyone's pocket make it possible to capture moments easily. He wanted to interpret the photos in a new and interesting way. And with his paintings he wants to remind people that nature is powerful, yet its beauty is also fragile.

That message definitely resonates with me, someone who often captures the fleeting moments of beauty that exist all around me in my everyday life.  

The artist statement I submitted with my photographs was this (in part):

The Kansas plains have always provided a backdrop for my life. Those scenes may not garner the same praise as towering mountains or waves hitting a seashore. In fact, Kansas is known as a “flyover state.” But these simple scenes are just as beautiful in a different way.

I’ve always enjoyed photography. As a fifth grader on a family trip to California, I took dozens of black and white photos of the Tournament of Roses parade. It became a bit of a family joke – dozens of black and white photos of scenes that were bursting with color! But that first experience of viewing the world through my very own camera lens served as a catalyst to a lifelong hobby....

Taking photos helps me pay attention. It helps me to see beauty in ordinary things. I look for beauty in my everyday life. And when you look for beauty, you often find it. 

Kim Fritzemeier Artist Statement

Baughman has been an instructor at the Wichita Art Museum, Wichita State University, Cowley County Community College, Butler County Community College, Wichita Center for the Arts, and Friends University. He has developed and taught classes ranging from Art Appreciation and Figurative Sculpture to advanced drawing courses and painting. 

Baughman doesn't believe in signing his name in the lower righthand corner of his work. Instead, he embeds a heart-shaped rock in the paint, and he signs the side of the work.

My photo and Baughman's rendition are also featured on the banner advertising the show outside the Filley. It was an additional thrill to see that!

 

This isn't my first time to have my photos on walls other than my own or my family's. Some of my work is also featured at the Kansas State University College of Business and K-State's Staley School of Leadership Studies.

But it's no less an honor. 

And the pair was sold the first night! That was a thrill, too!

Again, the exhibit will be on display at the Vernon Filley Art Museum in Pratt until July 22. Check it out!