Explore selected works
Barbara Waterman-Peters (BFA 1973)
MWS 2-26 Whisper III, 2002
oil on canvas
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
MWS 2-26 Whisper III, 2002
oil on canvas
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
After earning an MFA at Kansas State University, Washburn alumna Barbara Waterman-Peters established a decades-long career as an artist, writer, and arts advocate. Her work has been shown internationally in over 275 exhibitions. She has also co-founded art spaces, collectives, and a press. In 2016, Waterman-Peters was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Washburn University in recognition of her cultural contributions.
Robert Merrell Gage (BFA circa 1914)
Life Mask of Beethoven, after 1916
terracotta and wood
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
Life Mask of Beethoven, after 1916
terracotta and wood
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
Born in Topeka in 1892, Robert Merrell Gage graduated from Washburn College, where the head of the art department, Frances Davis Whittemore, encouraged him to become a sculptor. He continued his studies in New York with renowned artists Gutzon Borglum and Robert Henri. Gage then returned to Topeka and worked as a successful sculptor while also teaching at Washburn. He received prestigious monumental commissions, including a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and a statue honoring the pioneer women of Kansas, both on the grounds of the Kansas State Capitol.
Mary Huntoon (BA 1920)
Neighborhood Store, 1935-1950
oil on panel
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
Neighborhood Store, 1935-1950
oil on panel
Mulvane Art Museum permanent collection
Artist, educator, and pioneering art therapist Mary Huntoon graduated from Washburn College in 1920. She then moved to New York to study under influential artists Joseph Pennell and Robert Henri. In the 1920s and 30s, she created art throughout Europe and in Topeka. She then served as the director of the Federal Art Project in Kansas. She also taught etching and painting at Washburn and worked as an art instructor at the Menninger Clinic. She was the founding director of the Department of Art, Physical Medicine, and Rehabilitation at Winter Veterans Administration Hospital.
