After Nearly a Hundred Years Local Art and Stories Come to Light

 There they are, six of them. They are lithographs by a nationally recognized artist, Birger Sandzen, who was born in Sweden but painted in Lindsborg, Kansas. But there they are, in a most unlikely of places, in a hallway at the Concordia Unified School District 333 office.

   Today, we'll try to figure out how and why they came to be at the board of education office. The fact that they are there fits into a new exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, featuring works of art owned by Kansas public schools including nine paintings and prints by Birger Sandzen, the aforementioned artist.
    "Birger Sandzén was an artistic force of nature during his lifetime," said Ron Michael, director of Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery. "Fortunately that power extended into the Kansas school system as well. He, and many of his students from Bethany College, promoted having original art in buildings and classrooms throughout the state. They encouraged kids to enjoy the art, participate in art competitions, and deepen their overall appreciation for the visual arts. Today, students continue to benefit from this practice and Concordia is fortunate to be a part of this legacy."
    Sandzen had connections to Concordia. The Blade-Empire reported on August 26, 1920, that Sandzen would be speaking to the Women's Community Club and exhibit paintings. October 18, 1920: Sandzen has "brought fame and renown to a wheat stack, a cottonwood tree, [and] a Kansas windswept prairie." December 11, 1920: "The money taken in at this bazaar will be turned into the art fund which will be used to purchase a painting by Sandzen for each school in town." These dates and clippings were obtained from Vicki Katz from the Cloud County Historical Museum.
    One of Sandzen's students, Annie Lee Ross, taught art in Concordia from 1935 through 1943. She encouraged her students to submit art to Sandzen's annual art contest. Birger Sandzen taught art in Bethany College. The Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery owns 6,000 works by Sandzen. In February 2003, on the PBS Antiques Roadshow, a Sandzén painting, Mountain Stream of 1937, was valued at $30,000 to $50,000.
    The lithographs owned by the school district are: Blue Valley Farm, 1929; The Sentinel of the Mesa, 1933; Dry Creek, 1916; Poplars, 1918; Meadow Pond, 1934; Abandoned Farm House, 1920.
    One local person with more than a passing knowledge of Sandzen is Quentin Breese, superintendent of the Concordia School District. Breese graduated from Bethany College. As a music student he frequently attended concerts and performances at the Sandzen Gallery. Breese says he hopes that, in cooperation with art, journalism, and history students from Concordia High School, more research can be done and signage produced so that the Concordia public can have a better understanding of the legacy of Birger Sandzen.

(Don Lamber, who now lives in Kansas City, has been writing for The Concordia Blade-Empire for more than 50 years, since he was a student at Cloud County Community College)