Grassroots Art Center
Lucas, KS
May - September Hours:
Monday - Saturday 10am- 5 pm / Sunday 1 -5 pm
November-March Hours:
Thursday-Saturday 11am-4pm
April & October Hours:
Monday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11am-4pm | Sunday 1-4pm
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibits are always changing! Check here for new, upcoming and past exhibitions!
Kathy Ruth Neal
Immerse in the vibrant world of visual arts at Grassroots Art Center. Discover the creative vision of Kathy Ruth Neal in the exhibit titled "Pass the Popcorn" This sneak peak through you'll get to experience captivating artworks inspired by Kathy's love for American cinima.
For now... Be inspired by the letter from Kathy's partner, unveiling the soul behind the art. Experience unveiling our new exhibit on April 1st, 2025, at our annual April Fools - A- Palooza.
A Letter from Susan Sanders
"To all past, current, and future fans of Kathy Ruth Neal’s laugh-out-loud, colorful, clever wood carvings: I’m here to tell you that the Kathy Ruth Neal Gallery at the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, Kansas, is about to open…soon. Why has it taken so long, 10 years and counting? Have you ever tried installing an elevator in the middle of Kansas?
Enough about logistics! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. My name is Susan Sanders. I was a fan of Kathy Ruth’s whimsical, joyful, and, yes, laugh-out-loud carvings of monster creatures sprouting high heels, circus performers balancing on tilted chairs, movie scenes like The 50 ft. WOMAN ATTACKS, from the get-go! We’re talking at least 35 years ago.
Out of the blue, when Kathy Ruth died unexpectedly in 2009, I felt her artworks needed to be preserved for everyone to see, not stored in a basement in boxes! But where? There were hundreds of her creations. Getting Kathy Ruth’s artwork in a unique, well-visited art center became my mission. I met Rosslyn Schultz, Executive Director of the Grassroots Art Center, introduced her to Kathy Ruth’s art, and told her about my mission. Our conversation began.
Kathy Ruth had often visited the Grassroots Art Center from the 1990s through the early 2000s; she loved the place! I knew this and realized the vibe of Grassroots resonated with Kathy Ruth’s art. Rosslyn agreed. We struck a partnership and, for the next decade we worked on making this KATHY RUTH NEAL GALLERY a reality.
There are, as I said before, hundreds of carvings large and small that Kathy Ruth created. And soon they will be available, in a wonderful setting, for all to see. Once her gallery opens, her work will never be sold. This will be their forever home. The Kansas Department of Commerce & Tourism as well as the Patterson Family Foundation has given $175,000 to assist in the preparation for this KATHY RUTH NEAL GALLERY. I can’t wait (darn that elevator)! It’s gonna be soon, folks. ENJOY!
May-September 2024
Things Imagined
in memory of Robert "Scarlett" Joy
1943 - 2023
"When asked if he had ever witnessed anything comparable to his creations, Robert "Scarlett" Joy responded, 'No one can do what I do...' For Robert, creating consumed his day-to-day existence—it was his sole pursuit, even during visits to the Shafer Gallery on the campus of Barton County Community College, a serene haven for his sketches. Armed with sharpie pens, watercolors, and colored pencils, he immersed himself in his craft, ceaselessly producing art at any given moment. He described his artistic process as akin to 'taking notes,' akin to journaling every thought and experience.
Despite graduating with a teaching certificate and a master's degree from Fort Hays State University, Robert maintained that his education was not solely responsible for his success. He credited art and speech classes as the primary drivers behind his graduation. In 2019, he asserted, 'My work is authentic, extending from my 76 years of life down into the soil, the grass, and deeper than the roots.' He added defiantly, 'If you think I'm not grassroots material... so be it.'"
In his later years, Robert began adopting the name "Scarlett," and many depictions of himself from around 2020 onward reflect this identity shift. You can identify the drawing from this period by the new Scarlett and cat signature of his own creation which he added to every drawing.
Artist Statement
“What was it that actually influenced my artistic ability the most? Well, I guess it was a little fluke in my brain and something I was completely unaware of until very late in life. I had a learning disability, but I didn't know it and maybe it was best that I didn't. In the 1950's and 60's, I was diagnosed by my teachers and peers as stupid and lazy. All I had to do was apply myself and I'd be as productive as everyone else. elieve me, there would have been no greater joy in my life than to be like everyone else.
Art & speech class seemed to be the only places I could excel. I actually did better in the speech class, because it had the least pressure on me to conform. Art class in high school was really geared to conformity, but I could at least fake conformity there and thus, I survived to graduate. Ieven ended up with a Master's degree in art from Fort Hays State University. I was eventually drafted, went to Vietnam, came home, got married, had kids, went back to college on the Gl bill, got a teaching certificate and taught junior high school art in Great Bend, Kansas for nine years.
I hadn't gone to college to hone my handwriting skills, but realized it was my own style and I didn't have to work at anything special to produce that style. I just moved my pen on a paper and there it was without the slightest effort. Why couldn't I just do the same thing in drawing and painting as when I wrote? So, I just simply started drawing and all the magic began to happen. My wonderful screwed up brain, with all its crazy way of seeing things just locked on to that freedom and off I went.
One of my two wonderful, talented daughters diagnosed this old head as ADHD and maybe my own little diagnosis of dyslexia has cleared up the mystery as to why I had such a horrible time in school. till, all that being said, being stupid and lazy on one side of my head helped the other side to become more developed. My brain just waited until I decided to stop trying so hard to conform to be with all those other motivated folks.It just waited until 1: finally did what came natural.
For me, creating is really just a matter of lines, and it just kind of goes through my mind. It's kind of a meditative state that I get into. It's like an addiction. l've got to have it. I wake up in the morning, and all I want to do is draw. People try too hard sometimes. They talk about "working on their style." Your style is already there. Some artists stay on the same thing forever. Me? I just can't do that.“
-Robert "Scarlett"Joy
Scarlett and Jesus walking into the sunset, exactly one year to date before Scarlett's passing. Dated March 28th, 2022 from one of Scarlett's sketchbooks, inquire more about this sketchbook when visiting the Grassroots Art Center summer exhibit.
Paint. Paper. Sculpture.
August 2023 - March 2024
Paulette Harp Nicholson
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of artistry brought to life by the talented grassroots artist, Paulette Harp-Nicholson, hailing from Ellis, Kansas. This exhibit has elements of oil paintings, natural wood and bone sculptures, and unique paper cutting collages – all crafted with an incredible touch of creativity.
The natural wood and bone sculptures carry an organic essence, each piece telling a story of its own through the intricate forms shaped by nature's hand.
Join us in experiencing this remarkable fusion of artistic expressions, a testament to Paullette Harp-Nicholson's dedication and ingenuity. This exhibit promises to transport you to a world where materials and imagination converge, leaving you inspired and awestruck by the boundless possibilities of creativity.
Wood & Wire
April 1st - August 11th 2023
About the Exhibit
Still on the Hill
The Ozark folk duo, Still on the Hill curated this exhibit of Ozark instruments. Kelly and Donna Mulhollan (from Fayetteville, Arkansas) have toured the country and Europe for 28 years, keeping Ozark stories alive in song. They stumbled upon Ed Stilley in 1995, when he was still building instruments at a furious pace, and developed a friendship that would last the rest of his life. "The duo discovered Jim Lee in 2009 and were immediately enchanted by his finely crafted instruments. Their friendship with Jim has only deepened over the years. He built several instruments specifically for Kelly and Donna, and they have written several songs based on the stories Jim Lee shared with them.
Ed Stilley
Ed Stilley of Hogscald Holler, Arkansas At age 50, Ed Stilley (1930-2019) received a pivotal vision. God tasked him to make musical instruments and give them children, and he did just that for about 25 years until his hands could no longer do the work. He made over 200 instruments and gave them all away. Isolated deep in an Ozark holler and without knowledge of how to make a guitar Ed Stilley reinvented the guitar.
The first step was to bend what would become the sides of the instrument. Stilley boiled strips of wood in a hog trough overnight and then threaded the supple pieces through pegs on his makeshift pegboard. After they dried, these pieces would determine the shape. He would join these pieces into a closed form and then fit the arched cross braces. Next, he pieced together whatever local woods he had on hand to form the gracefully arched top and back. The frets are made from brazing rods. The nut and saddle are made from steak bones.
Ed Stilley never considered what he was doing an ‘art.’ It was an act of pure devotion to God. This allowed him the freedom to create without the burden of ego. He wanted you to read True Faith, True Light, and Have Faith in God. He was most surprised to see his work featured at prestigious art exhibits, including the Arkansas State House Museum and the Walton Arts Center. He appreciated the attention, but his driving force remained pure devotion to the end.
Watch video of Ed Stilley at his workshop and playing the handmade instruments here.
Jim Lee
For this exhibit, Jim Lee is considered an 'Honorary Ozarker.' A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, he routinely explored the Arkansas Ozarks. On one such visit, Lee stumbled upon Jesse Jones, a legendary old-time storyteller and keeper of Ozark traditions. Jesse was also well known for the pressure cooker banjos he built. The two developed a close friendship, which nurtured Lee's deep and lasting connection with the Ozarks.
For Jim Lee, it is essential to 'know the tree before it could become an instrument.' His relationship with the tree was paramount. His work exhibits superb craftsmanship, respect for the wood, and unique and innovative design features. The carved backs are utterly unique to the guitar-making tradition.
These instruments represent a small sliver of Lee's artistic output. Born in 1936, Jim worked most of his life in a packing plant in Lincoln, Nebraska, and later in construction and as a river guide on the Niobrara River. He still managed to find time to build an astonishing collection of rocking chairs, coffee tables, lamps, covered wagons, picture frames, dioramas, and anything else that crossed his mind. Fortunately, Lee took snapshots of many of his creations, and a good representation of his work can be seen in the scrapbook included in this exhibit.
Watch video of Jim Lee speaking and performing at April Fools A Palooza (4/1/2023) with his handmade instruments here.
Paintings and Environment
 Mood Indigo1986 |  Contagious Pernicious Inertia1988 |  Nuclear Winter - Kansas1985 |  Origin of Fossils1986 |  Kansas Wind1988 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Prophecy1988 |  Untitled1989 |  Wichita KS HomePresent Day |
DAN BECK BIOGRAPHY
Dan Beck was the ultimate free spirit and a true Renaissance man. Excelling at debate, he attended the University of Kansas on a debate scholarship and twice competed in the final rounds of the National Championship. After college, he was co-captain of the U.S. International Debate Team. He debated and toured the British Isles, even becoming the debate champion of Scotland. He remained in Europe, working and living in Amsterdam and exploring Europe by train and hitchhiking. Returning to Kansas City, he worked many jobs, including as a lay bell-ringer for the Salvation Army! He moved to Wichita where he taught his wife, Chris how to find the good rocks and she taught him how to silversmith. Eventually he gave back 7 years to debate as the volunteer debate coach at Wichita East High. He mentored scores of students from across the state and the country. After that, he embarked on artistic pursuits full time, sculpting and painting close to 2000 paintings. Inspired by Samuel P. Dinsmore, he installed tons of limestone, sculptures, and flowers in his yard. This work is documented in ‘Grassroots Artists of Kansas’ ( or as Dan liked to call it ‘Kooks of Kansas’), in the PBS documentary Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations: Back to the Breadbasket, and on the Kohler Foundation’s Spaces Archives. The yard installations were included in a tour of Wichita historic homes during the 2000 River Festival. Dan continued to work with young people by volunteering with the 5th grade Interactive Sculpture Project which teamed area artists with students to create art for their schools. Part of the project included a bus tour of Wichita’s outdoor sculpture. Dan’s installations were on the tour and described as an example of ‘The Compulsions to Create.’ In later life, his love of rocks led him to become a jade carver and collector, especially of wearable art. He particularly enjoyed encouraging new carvers by buying their early work. The research skills he learned in debate enabled him to explore and benefit from many cultures around the world. Multicultural elements can be found in much of his work. Dan loved his art. He passed away on August 6, 2020 at the age of 71, leaving an extensive and eclectic body of work.
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Marlynne Snare
I2
25 Year Retrospective Exhibit
Discover Midwest Outsider Art at Lucas, KS
November 15, 2020 - October 31, 2021
Outsider, Self-taught, Recycled Art Environments
Featuring
121 Kansas artists
19 Out-of-state artists
This is Grassroots Art.
Permanent Exhibit
Expect the unexpected at the Grassroots Art Center! Exhibits include Midwest self-taught artists that create recycled outsider art environments. Ordinary people have a vision and spend 15-20 years, usually at retirement age, creating an environment around their home. They use unconventional art materials such as limestone, pull-tabs, debris from a lake, and chewing gum. Visitors will be challenged to think, question and laugh out loud.
Click on circular Shop button at top of page for 25 year commemorative exhibit catalog, t-shirt, and mug.
Click on the 25 year exhibit tab at the top of this page to see more photos and extended text about 140 self-taught artists across the nation. The Grassroots Art Center has documented all of these environments.
Inez Marshall
Limestone Carving
Inez started carving Kansas limestone in the late 1920's while recuperating from an accident. Her prior jobs included auto mechanic, truck driver, and traveling evangelist. She carved in native Kansas limestone for over 51 years.
John Woods
Mixed Media Collage
John Woods came to Kansas from California around 2000. In the 1970's a nearby lake in MacArthur Park was drained. Woods began to collect the objects found at the bottom in layers of mud. Some of the found objects include toys, tools, cosmetics, dice, rings, guns, and even a WWI bomb! In addition art works created with puns are a specialty of John.
Florence Deeble
Concrete Rock Garden
Since 1955, local Lucas resident and school teacher, Miss Deeble has created miniature "postal card" scenes of places she visited or read about in books in her own back yard. Some of these include Mount Rushmore, Estes Park and the Tetons.
Paul Boyer
Animated Carvings
Paul Boyer has a unique ability to combine carving and mechanics. Working with pine, cedar, and walnut, finely shaped wires, gears from clocks, meters, timers, chains from old necklaces and motors, he creates whimsical animated scenes.
Adolph Hannemann
Wood Carving
Adolph Hannemann retired from farming in 1985, when he was 69 years old and devoted his time to carving. He was inspired to carve groups of people partially because he was one of 13 children growing up. He also carved animals furniture and scenic narrative sculptures.
Ed Root
Concrete Mosaic
Ed Root and his wife Lydia raised 10 children on their farm south of Lucas. In 1937, he suffered a broken hip in an accident. This ended his farming career. During the next 20 retirement years, he spent most of his time building a unique sculpture garden of hundreds of cast concrete pieces studded with rocks, broken glass, ceramics, and jewelry.
Ernie Poe
Barbed Wire Art
Kansas is FULL of barbed wire fencing. Rancher, Ernie Poe saw an opportunity and took it. Barbed wire is the medium he uses to create life-size buffalo, oxen, horses located at Sharon Springs, Ks to assorted smaller sculptures like this Kansas Jayhawk.
Ida Kingsbury
Mixed Media
After her husband passed away, Ida spent the next 17 years filling her yard with these grassroots art treasures. Painted metal chickens and fencepost farmers are just some of her creations. From Pasadena, Texas, this grassroots artist pushes past the Kansas borders.
M.T. Liggett
Metal Totem Poles
Freedom of expression takes an artistic turn at the outskirts of the small rural community of Mullinville in southwest Kansas. In 1989 M.T. Liggett began to weld oddly shaped pieces of scrap metal together into totem poles. Each totem pole carries a message or story and soon finds a place along his fence row(s) North of Highway 54.
Jim Dickerman
Mixed Media
He creates creatures. Jim Dickerman is known for the crazy metal and organic bone media that he combines to make these creatures. He uses old farm equipment and bicycle parts and mixes that in with skeletons and bones from different animals. Jim has a very stylized method of painting his creatures.
Earl Slagle
Metal Machines
Metal machines are what Earl loved to make in his working days. Working for Kansas State University, Earls job was to create machines for the forestry department. But as Earl retired, he wanted to make machines that did not necessarily do anything. Many of his wood and metal work are called, "play pretties" and a flat bubble machine was created for his grandchildren.
David Gustafon
Wire Sculpture
David meticulously uses small wire clippings to piece together these awesome works. Bending each small wire and soldering them together. He resides in Topeka, KS.
Gary Pendergrass
Steam Punk Machines
Gary worked in construction for 30 years, then jumped head first into creating these steampunk machines. He creates small intricate pieces to sculptures that are ten feet tall. Come view his magical world of recycled materials at the art center.
Betty Milliken
Chewing Gum and Grapefruit
Meet Betty, a little "spit-fire" of a woman. She took what you and I throw away like chewing gum and grapefruit rind and spent 75 years of her life creating hundreds of cameos, creatures, and portraits.
Doren A. Spillman
Mechanical Wood Carving
Doren owned and operated a filling station throughout his lifetime. One of his many creations is this tabletop farm. Carved out of wood, this interactive and moving farm shows chickens feeding, wood cutting, wheat harvesting and farmers tending to their crops. This creation sat in the window of his Hoxie filling station for years before landing here at the Grassroots Art Center.
Bob Mix
Metal Sculptures
A conventional metal fabricator by day, Bob Mix lets his imagination run wild by night and on the weekends. In his skilled hands, bearings and bushings and sickle guards take on new life and function in whimsical machines and creatures lurking about in his yard surrounding his home.
Herman Divers
Pull-tab Engineering
Herman Divers was the master of pull-tabs. Divers used to construct his models in the evenings after his day job, letting the materials dictate the pace of the work; "I'd work on pull-tabs until one broke, sometimes after an hour, sometimes after 2 or 3 hours. His first project was a bedspread, then eventually he created a full-size automobile.
Kathy Ruth Neal
Wood Carving
Kathy Ruth Neal was an extraordinary wood carver. After a bout with cancer, she tried to carve a wooden walking stick on a trip to the mountains. She progressed in skill and creativity to create masterpieces in wood. Her joy for living and laughter is expressed in her art.
Bob Fredericks
Bottle Whimsy
Bob Fredericks was always taught growing up, "If you want something, you had better learn how to make it. His dad taught him how to make boxes out of wood and hammering nails before he was in school. He later found a passion for carving in wood. Bob carves detailed figures, creating scenes inside glass bottles and sometimes they even move.
James Perucca
Yard Environment
James Perucca spent 30 years quietly surrounding his home in Overland Park, Kansas with a yardscape of plastic bottles, figurines, stuffed animals and anything else that pleased his eye. He loved color and movement.
John Scott
Mixed Metals
Salvaging scrap metal pays the bills, but creating sculpture from that junk is what makes John Scott happy.
Most of John's small sculptures are extremely detailed, whether it's a Harley Davidson motorcycle, hand gun or an oil pumper unit. He created the 9 foot tall metal free range chicken that roams at Kansas Originals, Wilson, KS.
Mri-Pilar
Mixed Media
Mri-Pilar is an eclectic mix of international traveler, mystic, vegetarian, independent, poet, and alien. She lives part-time in Lucas and part of the time at Lindsborg, Kansas. Over 1800 recycled sculptures reside in a foil lined house and are created from computer motherboards, kitchen utensils, game boards, clock gears, farm machine parts, toys, metal, plastic remnants, and other items.
Lawrence Reynolds
Scrap Wood
An imaginative artist created with found or discarded materials from Fort Hays State University dumpsters. Lawrence Reynolds' work is usually an illustration of a text, either Biblical or from popular culture.
Using discarded scraps of metal, he portrays a sprawling man tripped up by his own tongue with the title, "Man is judged by the transgressions of his lips."
Paul Seiwald
Wood and Putty
Seiwald's paintings are not created on canvas but rather plywood adapted with some coatings of wood putty to give it texture. He just likes to paint on that surface better. Paul retired to find a world of creativity.
Marlynne Joy Snare
Painting
Simply walk into her home to take a trip down memory lane. Marlynne's paintings include 1950's memories of her childhood holidays at Easter, Independence Day, Memorial Day and Christmas in downtown Kansas City, MO.
Each painting, greeting card, wooden cut-out is extremely detailed, and Snare can tell you a special memory about each little detail that has been included in the painting.
Glenn Stark
Wood Carvings
When Glenn was just a boy he taught himself how to carve. It wasn't until later in life that he started creating an environment around his house with a western theme. A mural painted on a retaining wall and large concrete Indians, buffaloes, horses and longhorn cattle began appearing in his yard as well.
Dennis Clark
Pencil Drawings
From Topeka, KS, Dennis Clark creates "Imaginary Cities," new lands with simply a pencil and poster paper. He works 2 1/2 - 3 years designing and drawing maps of imaginary cities, such as "Isconsigan."
Ole McKellip
Metal
Ole was rather shy to share about his metal yard environment that is evolving at Newton, KS. He creates various animal, human figures and more out of recycled metal. He uses a farm fencing staple, the ordinary T-post, as the central component of many of his sculptures.
S.P. Dinsmoor
Concrete Sculptures
Dinsmoor, a civil war veteran and school teacher from Illinois, farmed in Lucas, Kansas and was active in Populist politics. He moved to town in 1905, built a stone log cabin, and started making concrete sculptures in his yard. By 1915 Dinsmoor's yard had attracted 2,000 visitors
Roy Miller
Rocks and Concrete
Roy and Clara Miller created the one-half acre, "Miller Park" at their home located in Lucas. The rock garden began in 1932 and evolved until Roy's death in 1964. It took over 50 trips to Colorado for the Millers to acquire their building materials. Each time they brought back a trunk load of beautiful rocks from the scenic places they had visited.
Barbara McCreery
Sequin Diorama
Janet Fish
Janet Fish
Heading 2Fabric an
Jim Mathews
Clay
