Recently a few of the Beach Museum staff members were graciously invited by Rae Stamey to visit Meadowlark Hills to view the impressive collection of the Friends of the Beach Museum gift prints in the Stamey Gallery. The gift prints are an important part of K-State history and Rae has been instrumental in building and displaying the collection at Meadowlark Hills over the years. As Rae recounted to us, the gift print started as a yearly fundraiser for the Friends of Art to support the Department of Art. For $5, she and her husband Bill Stamey (former Dean of Arts and Sciences) would attend a dinner located on the 3rd floor of Willard Hall, and receive a gift print. The first gift print was created by John F. Helm, Jr. in 1934 and is on display at Meadowlark. Except for interruption caused by World War II, the gift print program has continuously featured a print by a regional artist every year since. Many of the gift prints on display at Meadowlark are from the Stamey collection, and Rae is working hard to find the prints from missing years. She has posted pictures of these in the Meadowlark Hills hallways, and friends from the Manhattan community have helped in locating and purchasing these to complete the gift print collection at Meadowlark Hills.
Many of the gift prints from years past are still available for purchase to the public and just in time for the holiday season we have added a gallery of photos of the gift prints on our website with their corresponding retail prices. We also have a notebook full of images available to view in the gift shop in the museum lobby. Please contact Robin Lonborg at 785-532-7718 or e-mail at rlonborg@ksu.edu for more information or to purchase a print.
We are excited to welcome Jim Richardson as the 2016 gift print artist and encourage anyone who is interested, to become a Friends member at the Sponsor level ($250 and above) to be eligible to purchase this limited edition print during the 2016 year.