An art show featuring Western Kansas artist Chuck Bonner will be on display at the Stauth Memorial Museum in Montezuma, KS from November 8, 2015 thru November 29, 2015. Mr. Bonner has been creating art his entire life inspired by the southwest Kansas landscapes where he grew up, the famous Bonner family fossil history, and the varied and humorous world around him.

The exhibit entitled, Stylistic Variations, explores various art styles and media Chuck uses. It is somewhat of a retrospective show, but also incorporates new pieces recently completed. The exhibit consists of 29 paintings within four categories; Invented Landscapes, Primordial Soup, Pure Abstraction, and Whimsical Application.

Chuck Bonner was born in Scott City, Kansas in 1950 and grew up in the western Kansas town of Leoti. His formative years were spent in an artistic and scientific background; his father was a fossil collector and his mother an artist. Chuck attended Fort Hays State University where he received an A.B. in art and an M.A. in painting.

While at the University, Bonner worked at the Sternberg Memorial Museum where he prepared exhibits, painted scientific restorations and portraits, and prepared fossils for exhibit. This experience has helped him with his latest venture, Keystone Gallery, which he and his wife, Barbara Shelton, opened in the fall of 1991. The gallery is a combination of art gallery, fossil museum and gift shop located 18 miles north of Scott City on US Highway 83. To enhance the museum fossil collection, Chuck has painted a 24′ by 6′ mural of prehistoric life in the Kansas Cretaceous Sea.

Bonner has completed many other public works of art, including murals for Fort Hays State University and the Ellis County Historical Museum–both in Hays, Kansas. He also painted a Kansas prehistoric sea mural for the El Quartelejo Museum in Scott City, Kansas.

In 2007, Chuck was commissioned to paint two prehistoric scenes and a tribute painting to his father Marion for the Museum of the Great Plains in Leoti, Kansas. The next year he completed four murals of paleontological and archaeological themes totaling two hundred square feet for the Stanton County Museum in Johnson, Kansas.

Some exciting news, PBS will present a three-part NOVA series, Making North America, on November 4, 11, and 18, 2015. Host Kirk Johnson, renowned paleontologist and Smithsonian Museum Director, explores how the continent was shaped—and how it shaped us. Part 2, on November 11^th, explains the Western Interior Seaway and features Chuck, Barbara, and Kirk out in the fossil beds in western Kansas.

Chuck enjoys the challenge of commission work whether for public organizations such as museums or for individuals. He continues to produce various styles of artwork and sells to collectors throughout the world. Now, Chuck invites you to come and enjoy his show while it is on display for this short, 3 week exhibit in his native, southwest Kansas. For information about his art, the history of the building that houses the Keystone Gallery, local Monument Rock or even Kansas fossils found in their area, contact Chuck Bonner, Keystone Gallery 620.872.2762. Keystone Gallery is located on one of the designated Kansas Scenic Byways. It is one of the primary sites along the Western Vistas Historic Byways (WVHB) route. Their historic limestone building plus the museum full of fossils make for a great interpretation of the past, both historic and geologic. Join them on their quest to increase the knowledge of western Kansas’ contributions to the realms of science and history. Check out their website at KeystoneGallery.com

Call the Stauth Museum at 620-846-2527 for more information about the exhibit or to set up a tour for groups of 5 or more. Museum hours: Tue -Sat 9-12 1-4:30, Sun 1:30-4:30. We are closed on Mondays and all major holidays including Thanksgiving Day. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted!