History of the museum

For many decades Kansas State University's art collection was housed in campus public spaces and offices. The focus was art from Kansas and the region. As part of the university's 1990 Essential Edge campaign, K-State First Lady Ruth Ann Wefald led the efforts to raise private funds to build a 26,000 square foot museum on the southeast corner of campus. The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, made possible with a generous lead gift from Ross and Marianna Beach of Hays, Kansas, opened in the fall of 1996. Mr. Beach named the museum in honor of his wife in celebration of the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. Arthur Andersson of Moore/Andersson Architects (now Andersson•Wise Architects), Austin, Texas, designed the museum. Andersson’s 1996 building had five galleries, two art storage spaces, an auditorium, classroom, offices, and workspaces. An adjacent parking lot was provided for museum visitors. Andersson created the building in a postmodern style that is sensitive to the campus’s historical limestone architecture and open green spaces.

The triple-fold growth of the art collection within the museum’s first five years, a desire to showcase the permanent art collections as well as offer an active temporary exhibition program, and the desire to expand the educational programs, prompted the university to initiate a private fundraising campaign for a building addition. Private fundraising began in 2001 as part of K-State’s Changing Lives campaign and Andersson•Wise Architects was hired to design the expansion. The Mary and Morgan Jarvis Wing of the Beach Museum of Art opened in October 2007. The new addition houses three additional exhibition galleries, three new art storage areas, and renovated and new office and work spaces.

The museum's collection has grown from less than 1,500 pieces of art when it opened in 1996 to over 11,000 objects. The collection continues to focus on art of the region. In addition to free gallery displays and special exhibitions, the museum presents public programs and educational programs for audiences of all ages. Annual attendance is close to 30,000 visitors, of which approximately 30% are students, 30% are University students, faculty, and staff, and 40% are general visitors. The museum was reaccredited by the American Association of Museums – now called the American Alliance of Museums – in November 2017.

Collection history

The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art’s permanent collection contains over 11,000 objects and emphasizes the art of Kansas and the surrounding region. The museum collects historical through contemporary work in all media. The collection forms the basis of the museum’s activities as a center for the study and research of the visual art of Kansas and the region.

In January 1928 K-State dedicated the Farrell Library (now Hale Library). This new building featured a “fine well lighted art gallery” displaying a temporary exhibition of over 100 paintings and prints by Birger Sandzén, the Swedish-born painter and professor of art at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. The following month students, faculty, and the Manhattan community organized a successful fund raising campaign to acquire two of Sandzén’s large oil paintings. These became the first objects in the K-State art collection.

In 1934 the K-State Friends of Art formed as an outgrowth of an art lecture series sponsored by the local branch of the American Association of University Women. Now known as the Friends of the Beach Museum of Art, the group was established to raise funds for the acquisition and care of work in the permanent collection. The Friends has been responsible for many notable acquisitions and continues to support the museum’s collection through annual fund raising events and membership.