HUTCHINSON — Maybe art is a little like music.
Great Bend artist Rose Dudek was surrounded by artistry because her father was a successful commercial artist in Chicago. She remembers her father, Thomas Burke, bringing home markers and paper and the children would express themselves by drawing something in their mind. Dudek’s father developed advertising concepts for magazines and television. The children often visited the Chicago Art Institute.
“It was fun,” she said. “It made us all become fascinated by the arts. Art is like any other medium — painting or music. I had started a lifetime of looking at art when I was young.
She’s taught occupational therapy at Barton Community College and worked as a nurse’s aide. Her brothers have worked as architects, for print shops and as commercial artists.
But Dudek’s artistic talent was brought to fruition when she encouraged to take classes at Barton Community College by her husband Steve Dudek, a Barton Community College art instructor. She enrolled in independent study classes where she could control her pace of work.
Rose and Steve met when they attended St. Dominic College in St. Charles, Ill.
“Steve was very positive and encouraging,” Rose said. “I’m convinced that anyone can teach themselves how to be a better artist. Art work is an independent study. I encourage anyone thinking about art work to try a class.”
Dudek works in an impressionistic style, creating her masterpieces with vivid red and bold colors, mostly of landscapes. She prefers to not name her art work, suggesting it’s better for a potential buyer to name the piece.
Her style was so striking she was invited to display her artwork at the Hutchinson Art Center, 405 N. Washington in Hutchinson. Her 14 pieces of oil painting are featured for sale. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The Dudeks are longtime members of the Hutchinson Art Center. They’ve helped start a local group, “Artists and Friends,” in Great Bend.
“They are expressive landscapes of nature, a place you might imagine in Colorado or southwest Kansas,” she said. “I don’t use images from photos. An image in my mind starts coming out on canvas.”
Dudek uses a style of German impressionists and French impressionists, who might be freer in their form and line. Each painting creates a visual image that each person can interpret. Dudek mixes waves of colors into a unique scene for each piece. Only a few incorporate a living creature.
“I provide an impression of a landscape. It’s beauty, simplicity, kind of a grand but very abstract work,” she said. “I put parts and pieces that work together.”
Dudek may work on several pieces at once. But since it requires several hours for her work to dry perfectly, it takes times and patience.
Rose’s work will also be featured during a membership gathering Nov. 20 at Russell’s Deines Cultural Center.
Dudek has also inspired other artists. Her rendition of a hypothetical “Alice,” inspired fellow artist Robert Joy that drew Joy’s artistic creativity.
“Rose is one of my favorite artists,” Joy said. “She drew her idea of “Alice.”
Joy started creating his own versions of “Alice” and responded to an invitation from Rose’s husband, Barton art instructor Steve Dudek, to show his work at the college. Joy created 32 colored pencil drawings, each portraying a different “Alice,” that were titled “Under the Influence of Alice.”