Artist Carolyn Kincaid Berry, a 1970 graduate of Ellinwood High School, recently donated two of her paintings to the Ellinwood School/Community Library. “Edward’s Barn” and “Broken House” will be on display during the 2025 Ellinwood After Harvest Festival. The Ellinwood School/Community Library is honored to showcase these pieces and celebrate her creative contributions.

Carolyn Berry has been passionate about teaching and making art for over 25 years. As a public-school teacher, she has been named Kansas Art Education Association Outstanding Art Educator of the Year. She has taught workshops for the Kansas City Art Institute Continuing Education, the Nelson Atkins Museum, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the New Mexico Art League and various art centers. She maintains a studio and exhibits in Rio Rancho, N.M. Her art can be seen at the Encaustic Art Institute in Cerillos, N.M., the New Mexico Art League, and other areas around Albuquerque, N.M. An extended digital profile can be found on her website at www.carolynberryart.com and on Instagram at #carolynberryart.

The artist provided the following information:

Reason for my donation

Here is a little bit of my family history in Ellinwood. My grandparents, Frank and Lucy Kincaid, came to Ellinwood in 1943 where my grandfather started Kincaid Well Serving Company. My father, Darrell Kincaid, continued this business until the late 1980’s.  I am the oldest of Darrell and Jo Ann Kincaid’s six children. Your board member, Joan Drees, might remember my family.

Because Ellinwood public schools believed in art education, I was fortunate to have Ms. Hirsch as my elementary art teacher and had the first high school art classes in the old high school library in 1969 with Ed Sturtz as my teacher. This set me on my career path as an art educator. 

I taught art in the Kansas communities of Winfield, Great Bend, Topeka, Salina and Lawrence. I currently live in Rio Rancho, New Mexico where I continue to teach and exhibit. More about my art experience can be found on my website.

As I look back, Ellinwood was an amazing place to grow up. A safe space where kids could ride their bikes, walk and explore the countryside. It was a place you could get penny candy, soda fountain drinks, shop and where people might not know your name but knew what family you belonged to.

I hope my work can inspire other young artists to pursue art for enjoyment or a career.

Artist Statement

As I walk around the world, I am compelled to pick up objects or photograph subjects that catch my attention – especially eroded or decaying surfaces, abandoned spaces and natural forms. Some of my art process centers around nostalgia for disappearing places on the prairie. Photographs of abandoned homes and barns are part of my subject matter. 

No matter what medium I am working in, most of my imagery involves layering as I often combine photography, collage, drawing, painting and sometimes three-dimensional elements in my art making. I choose to add encaustic wax paint to pieces depending on the amount of layering or transparency needed to achieve the emotional impact that I am looking for. Encaustic wax is a versatile medium made from beeswax, damar resin and powdered pigments that can be used for traditional techniques as well as a way to add texture, layer and join mixed media materials together.

Edward’s Barn

This piece started with rusting found objects on Rives BFK paper. I altered a barn photograph that I took in Photoshop, printed it on the Rives BFK paper and then mounted it on a birchwood panel. This surface was coated with encaustic wax paint. A small photograph of my great-uncle Edward was printed on Japanese paper and embedded it into the waxed image. Rusted wire was attached to the front and chicken feathers were embed into the wax.

I am interested in genealogy and find stories in how our ancestors might have lived in different environments.

Broken House

This artwork is a composite of images that I photographed and combined in Photoshop. This image was printed on Epson enhanced matte paper and mounted on birchwood panel. Encaustic wax was applied to the surface and a wax stylus was used to draw/paint and texturize areas of the composition.

I have often photographed exterior and interiors of abandoned houses. An old mop head, bolts on cracked painted walls become part of the mystery of what is left behind in the old homesteads.

Sheri Holmes is the director of library and media services for the Ellinwood School and Community Libraries. She can be reached by email at sholmes@usd355.org.