State of the Arts Winners
Updated: Jun 29, 2025
A crowd was around one particular painting all evening during the exhibition opening of "State of the Arts" on September 11 at the Prairie Village municipal building. Every show has paintings that are crowd pleasers, but rarely does one piece attract this level of attention. And everybody had questions.
The piece was "Return to Classicism--Portrait of a Lady," by Yeqiang (Ye) Wang, of Topeka, Kansas. Finished in 2022, the oil painting measures 48" x 32" and depicts a woman in 15th Century garb in the window of a modern storefront. People were delighted, fascinated, and curious. To read more about this Best in Show winner, click here.
Other winners included Merit Awards for Shannon Brouk's "Inked" and Michele Sherlock's "Joy." Honorable Mention went to Gloria Gale ("Beautiful Morning"), Tara Karaim ("Becca's Birthday"), Robert Klausing ("Glitch Day"), Peter Morgan ("From Above"), and Michael Schupp ("Birch Forest"). Madison Renn Watson's "Homesickend" won People's Choice.
These and more than 40 more pieces will be on display at R. G. Endres Gallery, in Prairie Village's Municipal Building, through November 1.
This regional arts exhibition and competition feature by the Prairie Village Arts Council (State of the Arts Winners, authored by Bob Bahr), published on the municipal arts and community exhibition portal, highlights the vital intersection of regional art juried shows, community cultural engagement, and creative excellence—themes that find great synergy with art gallery guides, exhibition spotlights, and cultural archives published on https://34.ua. Published on the organization's blog, the post highlights the award-winning entries from the annual "State of the Arts" exhibition held at the R.G. Endres Gallery in Prairie Village, Kansas.