A retrospective of artist Rose Marie Wallen will fill the Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center January 30-March 1. The exhibition titled Been Around the Block: Prints et cetera from my 75 years will have an artist reception, 2:00-4:00pm on Sunday, February 1.
Although her emphasis is on printmaking, Wallen also works in painting, photography, and occasionally jewelry or stained glass. She designed and painted Bethany Church’s Wild Dala in 2011. In 2019, she and her husband, Mike, co-wrote the official Lindsborg song, “Käre Lindsborg.”
“I learned to make block prints in high school and found my niche,” said Wallen. “Although drawing and painting are always a starting point for any artist, I mainly use these media to develop my ideas for prints. I make my prints in an artisanal method. I do not have a press, so I make all my prints by hand rubbing.”
For the exhibition, she has selected a sampling from her 93 editions as well as the Christmas card collection that she has produced every year since age nine. She is drawn to the strong impact of block print images and because of the detail often required, she makes linoleum cuts more often than woodcuts. For her other work, she is attracted to wildlife and landscapes, usually local scenes.
Wallen grew up in rural McPherson County and has been a resident of Lindsborg since 1977. She studied art at McPherson High school, where her teacher was Elizabeth Liljegren. She also studied at the University of Kansas. After college, she spent two years in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua with her husband and then returned to Kansas to establish their home. They have two children, Anne and Miriam, and have renovated several houses, including the historic Teichgraber-Runbeck House on Mill Street. They moved to another home in 2023, where her art studio is now located.
She participates in the Christmas Artists’ Studio Open House and the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery’s Holiday Gift Show each year and donates her work to the Art Lover’s Affair and Auction for the Lindsborg Arts Council. She is an occasional presenter about her art for local clubs and organizations and has been a docent at the Sandzén Gallery for 25 years. Some of her other interests include archeology, Mexican culture, historic preservation, environmental issues, and travel.
Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center, a volunteer-run organization, is located at 114 1/2 S. Main Street. Business hours are Friday-Sunday, 1:00pm-5:00pm. SVAFC is supported by the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the McPherson County Community Foundation, and the Raymer Society.