12/10/2010
By GARY DEMUTH Salina Journal
What do famed aviator Amelia Earhart, temperance pioneer Carrie Nation and silent film icon Louise Brooks have in common with Kate Bender, part of the "Bloody Benders" family of serial killers?

Good or evil, they're all remarkable Kansas women.

They're also the subject of a series of colorful paintings by Hutchinson-based artist Jennifer Randall that showcases famous and infamous Kansas women.

The seven paintings in "Remarkable Kansas Women," depict the kind of women "who blazed trails for others," Randall said.

"Strong characters come out of Kansas, and these particular women fascinated me," she said. "I love history, I love researching things, and these women spoke to me."

Randall's exhibit of remarkable women can be viewed today through Jan. 30 at the Smoky Hill Museum, 211 W. Iron.

Each work is a large-scale painting, ranging from 48 by 48 inches to 84 by 96 inches, revealing what Randall sees as the inner essence of each woman in bold and vibrant colors.

"Some are collages, and others are stark," said Randall, who reads at least three biographies of her subjects before painting them. "I painted with whatever feeling I got when I read about them."

Susan Hawksworth, director of the Smoky Hill Museum, said the stories behind each woman was fascinating, especially the lesser known ones.

"Why haven't we heard about them before?" she said. "These women changed the cultural make up of places like Topeka and Wichita."

Opening 'Pandora's Box'

Capsule biographies will accompany each painting. Portraits include:

nAmelia Earhart -- The famous aviator from Atchison became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She disappeared on March 17, 1937, while making a flight around the world. Her body was never found, creating a mystery that has lasted nearly a century.

nLouise Brooks -- A dancer and actress from Cherryvale and Wichita, Brooks was a silent-film icon and free spirit who went to Germany to make the controversial silent film classics "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl." In her later years, she became a talented critic and film essayist who wrote a classic memoir, "Lulu in Hollywood."

nKate Bender -- One of the first serial killers in the U.S., Bender seduced weary travelers from 1871 to 1873, who were then killed by family members. The Benders had a farm along the Osage Trail, in what now is Cherryvale. In the spring of 1873, more than two dozen bodies were recovered from the family orchard and garden, thus prompting the moniker "The Bloody Benders."

nMillvina Dean -- Born on Feb. 2, 1912, Dean was the youngest passenger to sail on the ill-fated Titanic, which sank after striking an iceberg the night of April 14. Dean's family was emigrating from England to Wichita, where her father planned to open a tobacco shop. While she, her mother and her older brother made it on the lifeboats, their father perished. The family returned to England, where Dean lived until her death on May 31, 2009.

"She never made it to Kansas, but she was headed to Wichita, so I wanted to include her," Randall said.

nEva Jessye -- Born in Coffeyville in 1895, Jessye was a singer and choir director who formed the "Dixie Jubilee Singers," a choir that appeared on national radio and singing commercials. She also appeared in many Hollywood films and was choral director of two landmark musicals: Gertrude Stein's opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" and George and Ira Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess."

nTeresa Cuevas -- Born in 1920 to parents who fled the Mexican Revolution, Cuevas grew up in Topeka, where she developed the first all-female Mariachi band, Mariachi Estrella, which became popular in Topeka and other Kansas cities. In 1981, as Cuevas' band walked along the second-story skywalk at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, the skywalk suddenly collapsed, killing four band members along with 110 others. Cuevas was among the 200 people injured in the tragedy.

n Carrie Nation -- Although best-known for wielding a hatchet and a Bible while destroying saloons and raging against the hazards of whiskey during the late 19th century, Randall chose not to portray Nation as the stern, humorless older woman dressed in black. Instead, Randall said, "I chose to paint Carrie Nation in the style of a Mexican Santos. She is depicted as a full woman, feminine, glorious, rising from the flames of her burdens."

"She was an incredibly compassionate woman who helped people all her life and thought she was doing the right thing because alcohol affected so many people's lives."

Now living in Hutchinson

Randall is a remarkable woman herself. Born in 1963, she grew up in South Pasadena, Calif., where she began drawing and painting at an early age. She studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe and studied French and art in Paris.

Randall said she and her husband moved to Hutchinson six years ago after falling in love with the historical downtown area of the city.

"We visited an acquaintance here and really felt connected to the community," she said. "There were renovated historical buildings downtown, and we love to fix up old places."

Randall said she is thrilled to be exhibiting her work in Salina, which she said has "amazing art and music events," as well as an impressive historical museum.

Although she has painted just seven portraits of remarkable Kansas women, Randall said she plans to add to the collection in the future.

"It's going to be an on-going series," she said.

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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