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Marc Bosworth, "Land O Lakes", collage, crayon, aluminum and objects on panel, 24x31.5"
Jennifer Wallace, "Mannequin Orange", Acrylic on Panel

Christopher Gulick, Untitled

Brad Hart , "Exhibition Poster After Mucha", watercolor, 22"x30"
Curt Clonts, "Today I Said a Prayer for Thelonious Monk", Painted Paper Collage, 12"x12"

Wade Hampton, "Sunlight", Acrylic and oil pencil

The Famous Dead Artists will present new and recent works at the Lee Shiney Gallery in an exhibition entitled, "Create Or Die." The exhibit will open with a free public reception on Saturday, October 12, from 7:00 p.m. to midnight. The exhibition will continue on Sunday, October 13, from noon to 4:00 p.m. The Lee Shiney Gallery is located at 214 S. Commerce in Wichita, KS. Contact Lee Shiney at (316) 208-8108.

"Create or Die" will feature the return of original members Pamela Terry and Scott Steele. Terry, who lived in Los Angeles for about a year before returning to Wichita earlier this year, last showed with the Famous Dead Artists in 1996. Steele, who has not shown with the group since 1997, is currently a resident of Boise, Idaho, where he works as a freelance designer and teaches graphic design. The other members of the Famous Dead Artists are Marc Bosworth, Curt Clonts, Christopher Gulick, Wade Hampton, Brad Hart, Leigh Leighton-Wallace, and Jennifer Wallace.

The Famous Dead Artists first came together in May of 1993 to hang works that would enhance the environment of a retro-furniture gallery located Old Town's antique district. The group occupied the FDA Lounge, at Big Sky Heights, 518 E. Douglas, from 1994 until 1999. Exhibiting about twice a year as a group, the loose cooperative of artists maintained an active presence in Old Town's art and gallery scene, where the FDA Lounge was a cornerstone of the early Final Fridays gallery walks. During the past three years, the Famous Dead Artists have shown on college campuses across the region, including Pittsburgh State University, Kansas State University, and Southwest Missouri State University. The most recent Famous Dead Artist's show was the well-received exhibition of handmade prints, "Road Kill" at CityArts in January of 2001.

For more information, feel free to contact Marc Bosworth at (316) 264-9178, Curt Clonts at (316) 264-8218, or Wade Hampton at (316) 267-4325.

Famous Dead Artists Manifesto 09/15/02:

We believe that art is a powerful means of communication, one that can challenge the viewer to explore new ways of understanding the world. As artists with a passion for our creations, we feel that exhibiting our work is a vital way to communicate that passion to others. Living in an area that offers limited opportunities for artists, we have taken responsibility for our own promotion, and have chosen a group effort as the most efficient means toward this end.

There is a common ground among our membership, an affiliation that favors a mixing of media, and is loosely grounded in representational imagery. But the group exists not to encourage conformity, rather to strengthen the unique voice of each individual within it, with a variety of voices making for a more interesting and complex dialogue.

We hope that through our cooperative efforts, by showing our work in a comfortable and inclusive environment, and by interacting with and offering encouragement to other artists, we can extend the dialogue of art to the whole community, artist and non-artist alike.

We believe that creativity is an instinct, as primal and ingrained as the urge to survive. Therefore, there is no questioning our desires, so squelching the passion. We must CREATE OR DIE!