Covacevich exhibit to open at KSU museum

“Russian Sunflowers,” an oil painting on canvas, by Sue Jean Covacevich will be part of an exhibit of the work of the Winfield artist that opens next week at the Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University. (Special to the Courier)	
By DAVE SEATON
Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 10:00 AM CST 
An exhibition of work by the late Winfield artist and art teacher Sue Jean Covacevich opens next week at the Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University.
“Following the Sun: The Art of Sue Jean Covacevich, 1905-1998” will be on display from Jan. 29 to May 2.
Teresa Grana, daughter of the artist and a sponsor of the show, said she thought it and the accompanying catalog “captured the importance of Sue Jean’s life and the importance of art education.”
Elizabeth Seaton, who grew up in Winfield, put the show together and is editor of the catalog. Seaton is the associate curator at the Beach Museum.
Grana said she though Seaton’s background in Winfield gave the exhibition depth and personality. “They’ve done a wonderful job telling of the influence of an art teacher,” Grana said.
Sue Jean Covacevich died in 1998.
Today in Winfield she is best known for her mural of the history of Winfield at CornerBank. Her stainless steel sculpture, “Gateway to the Future,” stands near the entrance of Island Park.
Grana presented a paper on her mother and the mural at the Celebrate Winfield History conference in January 2009.
Sue Jean Hill came to Winfield from Wellington in 1929 to teach art in the public schools. She had studied with Birger Sandzen at Bethany College in Lindsborg and followed his model of placing art in the schools here.

The Winfield school district has several Sandzen paintings. A sunflower painting by Covacevich hangs in the library at Winfield High School.
The following year, Covacevich surprised friends and family by traveling to Mexico, where she later married Nicolås Salazar Covacevich. During her 10 years in Mexico, she produced prints of churches and city scenes that are among her outstanding works.
Covacevich taught in a variety of settings. In addition to Winfield High School, she taught art at the Winfield Art Center, Southwestern College, Derby Senior High School, Cowley County Community College and the Winfield State Hospital & Training Center.
Covacevich started the art department at Southwestern, according to Grana, and introduced art therapy at the state hospital. “A lot of people who studied with her say she made a real difference in their lives,” Grana said.
Joan Aistrup, a friend of Covacevich, recalled taking painting lessons with her at the original art center on E. 10th Ave. near the Veterans of Foreign Wars building. “A lot of teachers who needed credits came,” Aistrup said. “I just did it to paint.”
Covacevich started the art center with help from Ann Schwantes and led the establishment of Art in the Park here, according to Grana.
Again following Sandzen’s model, Covacevich mentored art teachers, among them Schwantes, Ardith Fell and Sarah Wilson here. Many Winfield women and men learned to do art with Covacevich before it became fashionable.
Seaton agreed with Grana on the importance of Sue Jean Covacevich’s life and career in this region.
“Sue Jean was one of the most dynamic artists and art educators in South Central Kansas during the last century,” Seaton said. “We wanted to recognize that in this exhibition.”
The exhibition builds on a show of Covacevich’s work at the Wichita Art Museum several two years ago.
The exhibition at Kansas State and the accompanying catalog also emphasize the artist’s yen for travel, Seaton added.
“Sue Jean grew up in hard times in a small community, and she wanted to see the world, which she did. It helped her appreciate the beauty of other places and also the beauty of her own state,” Seaton said.
The exhibition at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum is also sponsored by CornerBank, the Winfield Publishing Co., Heritage Investors Management Corp., Bethesda, Md., and several individuals,
The museum is at 14th St. and Anderson Ave. in Manhattan. For more information, contact Martha Scott at (785) 532-7718 or online at marthas@k-state.edu.