Tex-Kan Artist Retreat: Queer Creators Explore Grassroots Artistry in Rural Kansas

By Stephanie Saint Sanchez

“Hey, Toto! We are in Kansas!” I shouted out the open car window as we crossed the state line. Yeah, I had been saving that cornball comment ever since I signed up for the Tex-Kan Artist Retreat—a yearly retreat that sends Texas artists to Kansas to experience local grassroots art, explore family farming, and work with rural artists. It was part of the bad dad jokes repartee I was developing as a soon-to-be first-time parent. After close to a year, my wife and I had hit the baby jackpot and were expecting our first kiddo, which made this artsy-pants outing extra special. The retreat was a chance to get some adventures in before my lengthy tour in Diaper City was to begin. So with the wife’s blessing, I filled up my Nancy Spungen duffle bag and ran off with the circus…err, I mean the artists.

Our small group of four set out just after 2 a.m. Along for the ride were retreat returnees Mel Petersen, Jennifer Marie, and Koomah.

Artist Mel had just come off of a great run of a play called Space Junk: Do People Dream of Electric Children. It was billed as “The World’s First LGBTQIA Drone Play.” This trip was Mel’s third time on the retreat. “I’ve been three times between 2015 and 2017 with slightly different groups each time,” she said. “The whole trip is like The Wizard of Oz in reverse, where the colorful crazies from Oz take a vacation in the seemingly sedate heartland of farming. You would be surprised about the kind of wacky adventures that can be had in America’s backyard.”

Jennifer Marie, a.k.a. DJ Scratch and Sniff—with whom I had just finished a set for the Catastrophic Theater Gala—is a MacGyver of a creative, always ready for anything. Jennifer was also returning for another year. “The isolation forces a creativity out of you to combat ennui,” she remarked. I should mention she is a huge Morrissey fan.

Acting as ringmaster and guide, Koomah—the Houston-based performance artist and self-declared part-time hermaphrodite unicorn who started this whole retreat—shares the story behind it: “My family has a farm in Waldo, Kansas—a small farming town of less than 30 people in North Central Kansas. Every year, I would make the trip out there at least once to help on the farm and retreat away from big city life. The farm is a great area to disconnect because there is no Internet, and to use a cell phone you have to climb a hill. In 2013, I brought an artist friend along with me to help with art making shenanigans. In the years following, I began reaching out to additional artists of different mediums to attend the retreat while creating specific programming and experiences.”

I totally get it—while a common shared experience in the South is moving from a small town to the big city, your hometown will always have a piece of your heart. You will always want to go back. Back in the day when I really liked someone, I would take them on a day trip to my old stomping grounds of Beaumont, Texas—where I grew up—and I would be like a kid showing another kid my room for the first time, dragging out the coolest toys.

That’s exactly what the Tex-Kan Artist Retreat is like. So the following is a pictorial of the coolest toys in all of Kansas.

Pies for breakfast
Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies
4145 U.S. 77, Davis, OK
Driving through the night, we got here bright and early right when they opened. Offering sweet fruit and savory selections, I opted for both an apricot and pizza style. Remember—retreat calories don’t count. These substantial fold-over-style fried pies would have Bobby from King of The Hill in heaven.

An American classic
Post Rock Motel
1907 E. Highway 18, Lincoln, KS
Next stop was the Post Rock Motel in Lincoln, Kansas. This is one of those old-timey motor inns one might find just off of the highway. Koomah brought a projector, and that night we had a mini film festival right on the wall of the motel room.

Lucas at last!
Backstreet Bakery
208 S Main St, Lucas, KS
We arrived in Lucas—known as the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas—for an event at the Backstreet Bakery. This was my first real glimpse of this small community. The bakery was a mom-and-pop setup with mismatched tables and a small bar. The night we were there, they hosted a fundraiser for a sick friend featuring the standard BBQ plate, raffle, silent auction, and live band doing Jerry Reed covers. When the crew and I rolled in, we did raise a few eyebrows—our fabulousness stood out amidst the sea of camo and un-ironic mesh trucker caps. The news spread like wildfire that them arty folks were back in town. Added bonus—we sat at a table with an older couple that was cool as hell!

Let’s get stoned!
Garden of Eden
305 East Second St, Lucas, KS
Folk artist S.P. Dinsmoor made it his life’s work to build this incredible limestone cabin and garden of fascinating sculptures that tell the history of the world through his eyes. A radical for the time, he believed in equality for all. Tours are held daily, with a surprise ending you have to see to believe.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Grassroots Art Center
213 S. Main Street, Lucas, KS
Grassroots art is defined as art that is made from ordinary materials by people who have no formal artistic training—those of you familiar with The Orange Show in Houston can relate. The Grassroots Art Center in Lucas is an entire space dedicated to wild, weird, and wonderful works in that vein. One of the center’s spotlighted art environments is Mri-Pilar’s Garden of Isis, which is decked out top to bottom in repurposed Barbie dolls.

It’s the little things that count
World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Versions of World’s Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction and Museum
214 South Main Street, Lucas, KS
This traveling roadside attraction and museum is the creation of artist Erika Nelson—whose mini bus you may have seen in Houston’s Art Car Parade. A true kindred spirit, she keeps the light on for visiting artists and welcomed us into her studio. We enjoyed experimenting in her space with some video, movement, shadow play, and with her big ‘ol parachute.

Fun on the farm
Koomah’s Family Farm
Waldo, KS
No Tex-Kan Artist Retreat is complete without a visit to Grandma’s. This go around, we all pitched in to tear down an old fence. It was kinda cool for a soft city slicker like me to get a chance to butch it up. Also, I hadn’t been that close to live cows since that meet-and-greet with Elsie at the rodeo some years back.

Pretty as a picture
Equality House/Westboro Baptist Church
1200 SW Orleans St, Topeka, KS
If you’ve never heard of the Westboro Baptist Church, consider yourself lucky. This hate-filled group is often in the media because of its anti-LGBT protests. Well, just to be awesome and sassy, the gays got together and created the rainbow-tastic Equality House right across the street. During the retreat, we collaborated on a few video projects. Using the Robert Rodriguez filmmaking method of using what you have handy, we chose this spot. It’s amazing what you can whip up with a fab location, eyeshadow, and a blow-up doll named Miguel.

And now for the random weird…

That’s not the set of Teletubbies, that’s the road around Lake Wilson.

Insert your own caption here. I was asleep when Jennifer caught this on camera.

America, what a country!

The next Tex-Kan Artist Retreat for adults will be held in summer 2018. For more information, visit the retreat’s Facebook page or email [email protected].