Drop in for art-making Inspired by “The Chain Gang”
August 8, 2025 | 6 - 7:30 PM
◆ Free and open to the public
◆ Host: Emily Wittler
◆ Artwork: Stephen Towns' The Chain Gang (2021)
https://wam.org/our-collection/collection/chain-gang-the/
Drop in at WAM for informal artmaking inspired by a quilt in WAM’s collection, Stephen Towns’ The Chain Gang (2021). We invite you to meet up with a friend, bring a loved one, or join us on your own! Painter and WAM museum teacher, Emily Wittler, will guide you in creating a collage in response to Towns’ stitched storytelling. Supplies are provided, and the program is free and open to the public.
Emily Wittler received her Bachelor’s degree in Art Education from the University of Kansas, followed by a Master’s degree in 2018. While at KU, she found a passion in working with oil paints. While painting is Emily’s personal focus, she enjoys teaching exploration practices for all mediums of art. Emily spent 8 years teaching elementary art in the Park Hill School District in Kansas City. Then, a move this past summer brought her back to her hometown of Wichita. Emily knew she wanted to continue in art education, but used the move as an opportunity to explore her interest in the art museum setting. She began working with WAM in the fall, as a museum educator, and says she has thoroughly enjoyed the teaching experiences that she has had here! The years, and various settings Emily has worked as an educator have further emboldened her excitement for the arts. Through both her personal art endeavors and teaching practices she wants to be an advocate for the arts, instilling an admiration and excitement for the process of creating.
Stephen Towns, born in 1980 in Lincolnville, SC, and based in Baltimore, MD, is a painter and self-taught quilter with a BFA from the University of South Carolina. His first museum exhibition, Stephen Towns: Rumination and a Reckoning, was held at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2018. Towns’ work has been featured in prominent publications like the New York Times and Artforum. He received the 2016 Municipal Art Society of Baltimore Travel Prize and was the first Black artist-in-residence at the Fallingwater Institute in 2021, the same year he was awarded the Maryland State Arts Council’s Individual Artist Award. His works are in numerous collections, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Wichita Museum of Art. | Instagram: @stephentowns. Photo credit: Malik DuPree.
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