Looking Back at Last Year
Exhibits: 2024
Revisit phenomenal exhibits that were on view at the Museum last year. Following Mr. Hansen’s example, we seek to build up our community by sharing local and global art.
From the notorious to the noble, the Notorious traveling exhibit at the Hansen Museum introduced visitors to some of Kansas’ most unforgettable characters. This engaging exhibition explored a fascinating lineup of historical figures—some infamous, some celebrated—challenging visitors to reconsider what truly defines a “notorious” reputation.
The exhibit featured three interactive activities to enhance the experience: visitors could test their eyewitness skills with a screen-based puzzle, experiment with dowsing rods to decide their effectiveness, and step inside a recreated jail cell for a unique photo opportunity. A scavenger hunt also encouraged deeper exploration of the exhibit’s intriguing stories.
Kansas’ history is rich with colorful personalities who shaped the state as we know it today. Over time, legends grow, perspectives shift, and the line between hero and villain blurs. Notorious invited guests to examine the past through a new lens, questioning who truly deserves the title.
Figures Featured in the Exhibition:
- The Bloody Benders
- Bonnie and Clyde
- John Brown
- Carry Nation
- Susanna Salter
- William “Buffalo Bill” Cody
- Wild Bill Hickok
- Satanta
- John Steuart Curry
- John Brinkley
Since 1976, the Hansen Museum has proudly collaborated with art instructors to offer high school students a professional gallery experience. By displaying their artwork in the Museum, we strive to inspire these young artists, ignite their passion for creativity, and encourage them to continue their artistic journey beyond high school.
Schools participating in the 2024 show:
- Brewster
- Cornerstone Classical
- Hill City
- Phillipsburg
- Pike Valley
- Norton Community
- Republic County
- Smith Center
The Art and the Animal exhibition, the flagship show of The Society of Animal Artists (SAA), showcased the finest in animal-themed art at the Hansen Museum. Founded in 1960, the SAA is recognized as the most prestigious artist membership organization dedicated to portraying animals in fine art. For over six decades, SAA artists have set new standards for artistic excellence, blending natural history and creative expression.
The 2023-2024 exhibition featured 45 flatworks and 15 sculptures, highlighting a breathtaking array of wildlife from around the world. Visitors marveled at exquisite paintings, drawings, and sculptures depicting exotic birds, majestic big cats, magnificent mammals, and even endangered species. This stunning collection offered something for art lovers, animal enthusiasts, and nature admirers alike.
Curated under the expertise of noted wildlife art scholar and author of American Wildlife Art, Dr. David J. Wagner, Art and the Animal provided an unforgettable experience—celebrating the beauty, diversity, and artistic mastery of the animal kingdom
The Sonic Sensation exhibition invited visitors to explore the fascinating world of sound and hearing through hands-on activities and interactive displays. Surrounded by everyday sounds, guests engaged in exciting experiments—testing their hearing, adjusting pitch, creating a movie soundtrack, and even stepping into the Scream Chamber to measure just how loud they could get!
This fun and educational experience provided insights into the science of sound, covering key concepts like decibels, amplitude, frequency, pitch, and sound waves. Visitors also learned about the anatomy of hearing and discovered practical ways to protect their ears from harmful noise levels.
Spanning 1,500 square feet, Sonic Sensation featured 14 interactive exhibits, each designed to spark curiosity, conversation, and connection among families, friends, and fellow museumgoers. This dynamic exhibition made learning about sound an engaging and unforgettable experience!
Developed by Aurea Exhibitions and produced by Imagine Exhibitions, Inc., Da Vinci The Exhibition was a hands-on examination of da Vinci’s life, research and art. It featured more than 65 fully built, life-size inventions, fine art studies, and dozens of stunning displays, guests learned the complex beginnings and lifetime achievements of da Vinci through his discoveries in art, engineering, flight, hydraulics, music, light and more.
Throughout the exhibition’s themed galleries, visitors discovered the breadth and scope of da Vinci’s incredibly advanced understanding of science, mathematics, nature, and the relationship between the three. The artist’s intricate designs and extraordinary early concepts were spotlighted, including his designs for SCUBA, crane, clock, submarine, and his plan for an ideal city. Additionally, various multimedia experiences and documentary presentations provided a multitude of supplementary information on da Vinci’s discoveries and creative process.
Each invention featured at Da Vinci The Exhibition was handcrafted utilizing a modern translation of da Vinci’s unique mirrored writing style in an ancient Florentine dialect. Trained artisans used these translations to construct full-scale models and bring the master’s two-dimensional plans to life.
Throughout his lifelong devotion to the sciences and fascination with nature, da Vinci also extensively explored the world of anatomy. Da Vinci The Exhibition’s in-depth and enlightening explanations of his famous studies on subjects such as the golden ratio and “Vitruvian Man” were complemented by enlarged examples of the artist’s sketches and notes made during his controversial research on the human body.
The Hansen Museum was honored to be the debut venue for Thomas Zimmerman’s latest artistic venture—drone photography. Known for his captivating images of the Kansas landscape, Zimmerman took his work to new heights, capturing never-before-seen aerial perspectives that transformed familiar scenery into breathtaking works of art.
In photography, perspective is everything, and drones offer a vantage point that reveals the landscape in an entirely new way. From the sky, Zimmerman showcased Kansas in a way that ground-based photography simply couldn’t match. His work masterfully seized fleeting moments of perfect light, capturing scenes that would otherwise disappear in an instant.
While vibrant landscape photography presents its own challenges, navigating the Kansas wind with a drone added an extra layer of difficulty. Initially skeptical about using a smaller, more mobile camera, Zimmerman quickly adapted, refining his techniques and pushing his creative boundaries. Every shot required precision, patience, and post-processing expertise—resulting in an awe-inspiring collection that deepened both his artistic expression and his connection to the land.