Mulvane Art Museum

Mulvane Art Museum A free art museum at Washburn University. The Mulvane Art Museum is located on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. We're glad you're here.

Open to the public since 1924, it is one of the oldest art museums west of the Mississippi River. The Mulvane houses a collection of almost 6,500 objects in a broad cross-section of materials and techniques. The mission of the Mulvane Art Museum is to empower diverse communities to connect, appreciate, and think openly about art as a means for communicating human values. It functions as a hub for

creative thought and academic discourse centered on art. Through art exhibitions and public programs, the museum facilitates community conversations about wide-ranging themes and socio-cultural issues. As an academic museum, the Mulvane collects, preserves, and interprets works of art with special consideration to the educational and cultural needs of Washburn University. The Mulvane serves the broader region beyond the university through outreach programs in public schools and on-site educational opportunities for children, families, and members of our community. When posting:

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We are thrilled to be hosting StoneLion Puppet Theatre today at the Mulvane Art Museum as a part of Washed Ashore: A Com...
08/29/2026

We are thrilled to be hosting StoneLion Puppet Theatre today at the Mulvane Art Museum as a part of Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration of Art to Save the Sea! Recycled puppet workshops are happening right now and until 2pm today. Join us and stay for a visit to the Art Lab and Galleries, which will be open until 4pm!

We have an incredible face painting artist onsite!  Shea Freeman is here until 2pm with a variety of ocean themed option...
08/29/2026

We have an incredible face painting artist onsite! Shea Freeman is here until 2pm with a variety of ocean themed options for our Washed Ashore community celebration. Free and open to the public!

The Topeka Public Schools Monarch Butterfly sculpture is on display in the Art Lab and our amazing student workers are r...
08/29/2026

The Topeka Public Schools Monarch Butterfly sculpture is on display in the Art Lab and our amazing student workers are ready to make some recycled art with visitors of all ages! Join us from 11am–2pm today for Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration of Art to Save the Sea. The Art Lab and Galleries will be open until 4pm. Free and open to the public!

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center Mobile Museum is all set up at the Mulvane Art Museum! Join us today from 11am–2p...
08/29/2026

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center Mobile Museum is all set up at the Mulvane Art Museum! Join us today from 11am–2pm for Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration of Art to Save the Sea and experience an exciting array of outdoor, interactive experiences for all ages! Free and open to the public.

The truck from Flint Hills Pints has arrived at the Mulvane Art Museum! Join us today from 11am–2pm for Washed Ashore: A...
08/29/2026

The truck from Flint Hills Pints has arrived at the Mulvane Art Museum! Join us today from 11am–2pm for Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration of Art to Save the Sea, and enjoy some of these delicious flavors, locally made in Alma, KS!

This is the ideal weekend to visit the Mulvane and view our exhibition, "71%: Picturing Waterways," which highlights bod...
08/28/2026

This is the ideal weekend to visit the Mulvane and view our exhibition, "71%: Picturing Waterways," which highlights bodies of water and the diverse life forms they sustain.

This exhibition features work from the museum's permanent collection and supports The Washed Ashore Project, an art installation of marine sculptures made entirely from plastic debris, bringing a global conservation message to Topeka. Together with Washed Ashore, "71%" reminds us of the vital need for each of us to protect sources of water across the planet.

Join us this Saturday, August 29, from 11am–2pm, as we celebrate this collaborative community project with a free and family-friendly closing celebration! We'll have art activities for all ages, featuring the Kansas Children's Discovery Center Mobile Museum, StoneLion Puppet Theatre, Washburn Ecobods and Mulvane Art Museum Art Lab Outdoors. The museum and Art Lab will also open early for the event, and Flint Hills Pints will be onsite!

Barbara Latham, "Watering the Horses," c. 1938–50, oil on canvas. Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University.

Today we're celebrating the abundance of creativity in our state with a look at Kansas artist Lisa Grossman (b. 1967) 🌻 ...
08/27/2026

Today we're celebrating the abundance of creativity in our state with a look at Kansas artist Lisa Grossman (b. 1967) 🌻

Lisa Grossman's paintings and prints have been inspired by the rivers and tallgrass prairies of Kansas for decades. As she put it, "I revel in the lyrical sweep of the Kansas River, particularly an oblique, aerial view of the floodplain stretching to the prairie horizon... There’s nothing like painting to really see and develop affection for places, and, for me, it was a way to honor the river as a whole, one painting at a time.”

This work is currently on view in the exhibition "71%: Picturing Waterways."

Lisa Grossman
"Blue Kaw—Near Desoto," 2012
Relief-roll woodcut on silk tissue and mulberry, tinted with acrylic
Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University

The Mulvane Education team is excited for this Saturday's Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration! This free event has gr...
08/26/2026

The Mulvane Education team is excited for this Saturday's Washed Ashore: A Community Celebration! This free event has great hands-on activities for kids including our friends the Kansas Children's Discovery Center and StoneLion Puppet Theatre! EcoBods will be on site to discuss the importance of environmental health and things you can do to protect our waterways. Finally, you will get a chance to see the TPS Student Monarch Butterfly before it flutters away on migration! 🍃 🦋

Our Washed Ashore Celebration is this Saturday, August 29, from 11am-2pm! There will be so much to explore and enjoy, in...
08/26/2026

Our Washed Ashore Celebration is this Saturday, August 29, from 11am-2pm! There will be so much to explore and enjoy, including: Kansas Children's Discovery Center's Mobile Museum, two workshops with StoneLion Puppet Theatre, ice cream from Flint Hills Pints , a Washburn Ecobods booth, as well as ocean and butterfly-themed face paints. We look forward to celebrating this important exhibit from The Washed Ashore Project with the Topeka community!

We are thrilled to share that our latest exhibition, "Reviving Connections: Topeka Artists Adeline and Frank Peers," is ...
08/21/2026

We are thrilled to share that our latest exhibition, "Reviving Connections: Topeka Artists Adeline and Frank Peers," is now open and on view in our Main Level Galleries through December 12, 2026.

Guest curated by Washburn University graduate, Sam Snyder, this selection of work by two twentieth-century Kansas artists highlights some of their artistic interests, including a shared passion for capturing their travels around the world.

Visit our website and experience two related digital exhibitions, also curated by Sam! https://www.mulvaneartmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibitions-blocks/2026-Exhibitions/reviving-connections-peers.html

Frank Peers, "Untitled" (detail), 1925, watercolor. Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University.

Address

1700 SW College Avenue
Topeka, KS
66621

Opening Hours

Tuesday 12pm - 7pm
Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 4pm

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