Art exhibit to feature collection from local manufacturer highlighting American West

Art exhibit to feature collection from local manufacturer highlighting American West

Northwest Missouri State University's Olive DeLuce Art Gallery opens its 2026-2027 season in September with "For Love of the Land and Its People: Highlights from the Gray Manufacturing Collection," an exhibition featuring contemporary art that explores the American West.

The exhibit, in conjunction with America's 250th anniversary this year, opens at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, with a lecture and reception with Pete Gray, the chief executive officer of Gray Manufacturing Co., in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. Gray will discuss the collection assembled by his father and its importance to their family and the company.

The exhibit continues through Oct. 23 at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. Dr. Karen Britt, a Northwest associate professor of art, is co-curating the exhibition with Ashton Markt, a 2014 graduate of the University, who is curator of Gray Manufacturing's collection.

The artwork appearing at Northwest includes paintings and sculpture that are part of the extensive collection owned by Gray Manufacturing in St. Joseph, Missouri. Pete Gray attended Northwest and generously offered to loan artwork from the collection developed by his father, Joe, who was passionate about art and its contribution to communities and workplaces.

"The artwork is displayed throughout Gray Manufacturing's facilities because Joe believed in the importance of integrating art within the workplace," Britt said. "He understood that art plays a powerful role in making workplaces more creative and more productive. My sense is that Pete feels the same."

Britt noted the Northwest exhibit celebrates the beauty of the land and its people while providing opportunities to reflect on America's complicated history.

"I hope that visitors will look closely at the pieces in the exhibition and, in doing so, discover the invisible threads that bind us together," Britt said.

The exhibit will feature two additional lectures at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, with Britt and Markt in the Charles Johnson Theater, and at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, in Room 244 of the Fine Arts Building with Dr. Elyssa Ford, a former Northwest faculty member who is now an associate professor of history at Washington State University. Ford will discuss the American West cowboy and gay rodeo culture.

The Olive DeLuce Art Gallery is free and open to the public in the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. Fall gallery hours are noon to 3 p.m. on Monday, 3 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, 2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and 9 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday.

For more information about the exhibit or the Olive DeLuce Art Gallery, call 660.562.1326 or send an email to [email protected].