New PVAC Vice Chair Abby Magariel: Experience at the Helm

Abby Magariel, flanked by Laurel Thomas (left) and Bonnie Limbird (right).

Who's in charge here?

On the Prairie Village Arts Council, the answer is now Abby Magariel. The council, which plans, promotes, and hosts visual art exhibitions and promotes all the arts in the city of Prairie Village, consists mostly of volunteers, with at least one City Council member on board to ensure the Arts Council adheres to the vision and requirements of the City. But as in any organization, things move most smoothly if one person is overseeing all the activities with a bird's eye view. That person on the PV Arts Council is its Vice Chair, and the council recently and unanimously chose Magariel for the role.

She takes over for Bonnie Limbird, who remains on the Arts Council following her turn at leadership.

Magariel is perfect for the role, even if she modestly claims that she is simply "as right for it as anyone." She holds a Master's degree in Museum Studies and has served stints at regional museums such as the Kansas Museum of History, in Topeka, and the Watkins Museum of History, in Lawrence. She now serves as Educator and Curator of the Michael Klein Collection at The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah, in Overland Park.

A view of the Michael Klein Collection, at The Temple, Congregation B'Nai Jehudah

The Michael Klein Collection is a gift from a Prairie Village resident to B'nai Jehudah, and it consists of artwork and ritual objects that help to explore Jewish culture and history around the world," Magariel says. "Klein's intention in giving this magnificent collection of Judaica is to use this collection as a way of teaching about Jewish history and culture, so along with collection itself he has provided the funding for my position to not only care for the collection but help interpret it. People can make appt to take a tour of the collection in small groups or as individuals; the tours are led by me or my volunteers.

"As you walk through the front doors, there's a large gathering space, and as part of that, on two walls are very large museum-style cases of objects," continues Magariel. "The pieces include ornaments to adorn a Torah scroll, objects used at home for celebrating holidays such as Passover and Hanukkah, objects for ceremonies and rituals such as marriage, and objects for daily rituals, such as boxes for collecting money for charity, mezuzahs, and cups for wine. The goal is to illustrate all aspects of a Jewish life. In addition to those objects there is 2-D art by Jewish artists on Jewish themes. You are able to see the diversity of creativity in all of these works from all over the world. What's interesting is that we have different traditions, but we share the same source material. Pieces may look different from one another, but they have so much in common."

We asked Magariel an impossible question--which object in the Michael Klein Collection is your favorite--and she gamely tried to answer. "I like the local connection in this ordinary looking ceramic pot with a handle and lid," says Magariel. "It is not a beautiful, elaborate piece of silver or a finely embroidered textile. This pot was made for making a stew that would be consumed on the sabbath. It has the name of the family that used it on the pot, which is called a cholent pot. People would take their cholent pot to the communal oven on Friday and build up the fire so that after the fire was extinguished, the ingredients in the pot would continue to cook. By picking up the pot on Shabbat, they would have a hot meal on that day without having to cook. It's like a slow cooker, and it was the inspiration for the electric crock pot. The Crock Pot's inventor looked at his grandmother's cholent pot and said, 'Oh, if I make that electric, we can slow cook things for our own home.' It's from Poland, from the turn of the 20th century, and it was donated by a local resident. I really like the objects of ordinary use; they are so humble, but they play an important part in everyday life."

Cholent pot in the Michael Klein Collection

The visual art shows that rotate through the Prairie Village municipal building and the Meadowbrook Clubhouse may be the initiative from the Prairie Village Arts Council that is most visible to the public, but the Arts Council is dedicated to other forms of art as well, helping and holding a presence at the Jazz Festival, the Juneteenth Festival, and the Shooting Stars program, for example. The new vice chair promises to be a strong advocate for the performing arts.

"The art that I am involved in is music," says Magariel. "I sing at B'nai Jehuda and I recently joined a chorus in Johnson County named Chorus Kansas City. That has been fantastic. The songs we are performing in a couple of weeks is a major work with eight movements. It's an ecumenical work but rooted in sacred music. Aside from one folk song, all of the songs are contemporary. Each movement feels like it is in a different language, and for good reason--the work has several musical languages and several spoken languages. There's Swahili, Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, and Mandarin. It's a challenging. We are 120 singers. I think that chorus music is fantastic for the brain. I know it keeps me healthy."

Magariel came to the PV Arts Council during the COVID pandemic. "My husband and I were talking about getting more involved in the operations of the city of Prairie Village because we both enjoy being part of the community," she recalls. "He joined the diversity committee, and I had a phone conversation with Bonnie [Limbird] during the COVID years in which we talked about what the arts council does and my background. I guess Bonnie and the other decision makers decided I passed the audition. I have really enjoyed getting to know the other arts council members and seeing the contributions they make and the work they are willing to put in to make living in Prairie Village just a little bit better. I was glad to meet others who feel like they want to give back to their community in some way. By volunteering their time, they are making this a better place to live."

The PV Arts Council meets regularly, and the council has subcommittees that also meet to maximize the strengths of their volunteers. While the subcommittees come up with concrete actions to take to pursue the council's goal, the overall direction of the group needs to be consistently considered--and continually tweaked. "I think that we have a great start in writing our mission statement and identifying what we want to accomplish and the ways that we want to direct our energy," Magariel says. "We are now in a place to think about HOW to do that. We decided, for example, that one of our goals is to support artists and the creation of their work. That means facilitating connections between artists and art supporters and developing partnerships with other art groups in the area. We can help facilitate that--help with exhibitions and performances and be that bridge to help artists make the most of their work."

Abby Magariel

Being part of the arts council has been fun for me, seeing what this council can do in working with the city council to provide opportunities and ways to enjoy art.

"Being part of the arts council has been fun for me, seeing what this council can do in working with the city council to provide opportunities and ways to enjoy art," she continues. "The gallery space we have really enriches City Hall. The exhibitions showcase Prairie Village residents who are artists, and all Prairie Village residents are always invited to attend the openings, chat with artists, and talk with councilmembers who attend and talk to us--the art council members--about what they might want to see artwise in their community.

"Our goal is to connect artists with places that already exist here, venues that are set up for art. If a Prairie Village resident wants to show their work, we could be that connector. We could know about businesses who are looking for something on their walls, or want musical performances in one of their spaces. That makes the most of what Prairie Village already has to offer."