The Smoky Hill River Festival is preparing to purchase additional artwork for the City of Salina's permanent public art collection in 2027, while City records identify 34 works previously acquired through the Festival Purchase Award program as missing.

The Festival announced this month that applications are open for its June 11-13, 2027 art show. The announcement offers $9,000 in merit prizes and says an additional $2,000 will be dedicated to purchasing works for the City's permanent public art collection.

“Your art could be part of our community for years to come,” the Festival said in its announcement.

The new purchase announcement comes as records obtained through the Kansas Open Records Act provide a detailed look at artwork previously acquired through the Festival.

Salina311's review of the Festival Purchase Awards database found 34 artworks for which the “Building” field is explicitly listed as “MISSING.”

The recorded acquisition prices of those works total $9,112.

That figure represents what was recorded as the acquisition price and should not be interpreted as the artwork's current market or replacement value.

Some pieces have been missing for decades

The records indicate that the issue extends back decades.

Several of the earliest pieces contain the notation “Missing prior to '03,” indicating they were already unaccounted for more than 20 years ago.

Those include:

“Grey Circle” by Susan Peeler, acquired in 1977 for $65.

“Ice Forms” by D. Lee Hull, acquired in 1978 for $85.

“Sunflower Sutra” by Pat Johnson, acquired in 1978 for $40.

“Contours” by Pat Austin, acquired in 1979 for $225.

“Bird Forms” by Bill Rutherford, acquired in 1980 for $315.

“Aspen Leaves” by Larry Humphrey, acquired in 1981 for $65.

Other entries provide more specific information about attempts to locate the artwork.

“Wooden Box,” a 1991 work by Jerry Huston acquired for $55, is listed as having been reported missing Feb. 28, 2001.

A 1992 work titled “Sculptured Fish Box” by Brandon Sherwood was acquired for $320. According to the City's database, the work had been missing since approximately 2003. The record says staff checked with the YMCA in 2019 and were told the organization did not have it.

A 1995 “Mobile” by Gabriel Stoner, acquired for $325, prompted another search. Notes indicate staff believed the artwork may have been transferred to another building. Buildings were contacted in 2019 in an attempt to locate it, according to the database, but the record states that “it has not been found.”

An untitled three-piece Raku work by Brad Anderson, acquired in 1990 for $210, is also listed as missing. The database notes indicate portions of the work became unaccounted for at different times.

Missing works include acquisitions from the 2000s

The missing artwork is not limited to the early years of the Festival collection.

An untitled work by Rebecca Lowber-Collins, acquired in 2001 for $1,000, is listed as missing.

Other missing pieces include works acquired in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Two works acquired in 2009 are also among the missing pieces, including an untitled work by Barbara Barkley with a recorded acquisition price of $1,100, the highest acquisition price among the missing works identified in Salina311's review.

The list continues into the following decade.

“Ceramic Trio (Bowls)” by Sheldon Ganstrom, acquired in 2012 for $500, is listed as missing.

An untitled work by Jerry Brown, acquired in 2014 for $160, is the most recently acquired piece among the 34 records identified as missing in the database reviewed by Salina311.

What the records do — and don't — establish

The City's use of the word “MISSING” is significant, but the records do not establish what happened to each artwork.

Salina311 found no basis in the records reviewed to characterize the pieces as stolen.

Some may have been misplaced, transferred without the inventory being updated, lost during moves or otherwise become unaccounted for. In several cases, the database itself documents later efforts to locate pieces.

The records also do not establish whether any of the 34 works have been located since the database was last updated.

Likewise, the $9,112 total is historical acquisition cost, not an estimate of what the artwork would be worth today. No current appraisals for the missing works were included in the records reviewed by Salina311.

Salina311 seeking additional answers

Salina311 is following up with Salina Arts & Humanities for more information about how missing City-owned artwork is handled.

Among the questions being asked are:

What efforts are made to locate a City-owned artwork once it is determined to be missing, and are those efforts documented?

What is the City's current procedure when City-owned artwork cannot be located?

Is there a point at which the loss is reported to Risk Management, law enforcement, an insurer, the City Manager or another department?

Salina311 will update this story once that information is provided.

Another $2,000 designated for the collection

The Smoky Hill River Festival is now looking toward its next round of acquisitions.

The 2027 Festival is scheduled for June 10-13, and its current call for artists advertises $9,000 in merit prizes and $2,000 toward purchasing art for the City of Salina's public art collection.

The Festival's announcement describes the purchases as additions to the City's permanent collection.

The Festival Purchase Awards database shows that Salina has used the program for decades to build that collection.

It also provides a historical record of an inventory problem that remains documented in the City's own files: 34 Festival-purchased artworks are marked missing, with $9,112 in recorded acquisition costs.

As Salina prepares to add more artwork to the collection in 2027, Salina311 is seeking additional information about what happens after a City-owned piece is classified as missing and what steps are taken to locate, document or report the loss.