ABOUT THE BOOK
A bold collection of art to be enjoyed in your kitchen.
This beautiful 288-page full color book includes over 100 works of art from the Wichita Art Museum, over 500 time-tested recipes from Carlene Banks and Friends and engaging stories about the art and recipes.
The works of art include favorites from the WAM collection, such as Mary Cassatt’s Mother and Child, John Steuart Curry’s Kansas Cornfield, and Winslow Homer’s In the Mowing. There are also many not previously in publication including Donald Roller Wilson’s Cookie Had Seen One Before, Frederick Carl Frieseke’s The Yellow Tulip, Birger Sandzén’s Early Fall, Smoky River and many of the museum’s decorative arts. You will delight in the over 100 works of art beautifully photographed by Kirk Eck, with stories told by WAM Senior Curator Stephen Gleissner. Edited by RoxAnn Banks Dicker
RECIPES FROM CARLENE BANKS AND FRIENDS
Locally acclaimed cook Carlene Banks and her friends share poignant memories and the recipes, which make them ones to share.
Carlene’s talent for food and styling contributed to community work and support of the arts in Wichita, Kansas. Although Carlene was neither a caterer nor a professional chef, she was always planning a party or cooking for one. She had a plentiful supply of ideas, plates, silverware and large coffee urns. But she also knew where she could borrow the 200 bowls needed to serve soup for a particular community fundraiser, enjoyed perfecting the best recipe, and then making it from her kitchen at Willow Banks Farm and serving it up.
Her recipe days began at age 12 when she took over daily cooking at the family farm, working with available fresh ingredients to feed a full table. She later attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas where her interest in art and design developed. After her children were raised she became an active volunteer, including serving concurrently on the Trustees or Board of Directors for the Wichita Art Museum, the Wichita Symphony and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. She also contributed in many leadership capacities for the Wichita Center for the Arts, Friends of the Wichita Art Museum, Women’s Association of Wichita Symphony, Designing Women, Symphony Showhouse, WHiMS, the Wichita Bar Auxiliary and the Association of Petroleum Wives. Her devotion to her family and community was so evident in her passion for life, creative spirit to confront challenges, and ingenuity to gracefully get the job done.
The recipes in this book show fresh ways with old favorites and celebrating beauty in everyday life. Among the recipes are tips specially suited for ease in preparing for “having people over” and aim to help novice cooks learn the joy of feeding family and friends. Her voice is also joined by the generations before her in passing along her mother and grandfather’s favorites, as well as comments from her daughter and granddaughters. With this book she passes along to new generations the practical advice and wisdom that have made her a treasure to her family and her community.
