October 2010                                                                                                Issue 4

Written and Edited by Kiya Richter

Balance: Nature and Industry

The Power of Wind

Powerful gusts of wind whip continuously across the still-flatness of Kansas.

Tall prairie grasses bend flat, clouds build high towers in the sky, dozens of species

of migratory birds ride the gusts south every autumn.

Nature works in harmony and balance with the power of the wind.

Only in the recent past has man begun to work with, not against, this inescapable force.

The foreground of Matthew's painting will feature a flock of Sandhill Cranes sailing in for their evening rest.

Each fall, these long-winged birds spend a critical portion of their migration in the wetlands of central Kansas.

As Sandhill Cranes slowly flap their wings in the foreground of the painting, the shining

silver wings of wind turbines oscillate in the distant background. Just as the cranes thrive

on the constant wind of Kansas, so do the wind turbines depend on the same

source of power. Like the beating heart of the Sandhill Cranes, the nacelle is the heart

of the wind generating system. Both the Cranes and nacelles will leave Hutchinson

and cross the American continent, arriving in their places.

The focus of the painting is the wind's presence as part of nature's harmony

and how that harmony is mirrored in the generation of electricity through the power of the wind.

Much of Matthew's work focuses on preservation of disappearing wildlife and its habitat.

Siemens Wind Power called for proposals from artists with significant connections to Kansas.

Matthew's roots in Kansas grow deep and entwined as the roots of the Cottonwood tree.

Matthew has been a Kansan for over half a century and made a living as a professional artist focused on Kansas for the past three decades. Matthew grew up in a house filled with the art of his mother, noted Kansas painter and sculptor Marilyn Richter. His mother taught him how art can manifest the highest aspirations of the human race and bring individuals self-actualization.

"I am glad to have become a recognized artist, giving flight to the eyes and heart

of a prairie-dwelling people." --Matthew Richter

Matthew's family has resided in Kansas since 1854. That year his great-great-grandparents, Joseph

and Sarah Jane Denison, first arrived in the wind-scraped Flint Hills. After struggling across the endless

prairie, the Denisons founded Kansas State University, which has developed into a world-class agricultural research facility. The limestone prairie house of Matthew's great-great-aunt, Ellen Denison Goodnow,

sister to Joseph Denison, now stands as a Kansas State Historical Site in Manhattan, Kansas.

Matthew's deep roots in Kansas, born of generations of struggle in the relentless wind,

give him the background necessary to portray, through his painting, the power and balance

the wind brings to the lives of the Kansas people.