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Call it a dream realized, or crossing off something from her bucket list. Whatever you call it, the opening of Cookie Wiebe’s “The Eyes of A Stranger” exhibition at a Wichita art gallery is a big deal to the Newton resident.
“It’s amazing. I’m overwhelmed with the generosity,” Wiebe said. “This is on my bucket list, and I have a very short bucket list.”
There will be an opening and reception from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, with the main showing from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday at The Fiber Studio at 418 Commerce, Wichita.
Three other items remaino on her bucket list — and she will pursue those. She’s been working on one, updating and growing her Web site at charitableliving.net
Bucket lists have become more poplar after a movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson came out. The acting duo portrayed two cancer sufferers trying to live life to the fullest before they pass away.
It’s a story Wiebe can identify with — she is fighting a battle with cancer now. Last week she wrote decades-late thank-you notes for wedding gifts, and put on her wedding dress.
Since her diagnosis, she has lost 20 pounds.
“My gut is still big though, it’s full of cancer,” Wiebe said.
She’s applying for a clinical trial — but that’s a topic she doesn’t really want to talk about for the next few days.
There’s an art opening, featuring 30 prints of her photographs, that she’s excited about.
“I took pictures at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a month while I was in India,” Wiebe said.
She and her husband Dave spent a year in India working at the Woodstock School — Dave taught math while Cookie worked in human resources.
They had done four years at the school in the 1990s and had hoped to be there for a few years again this time around.
“I got sick, and that’s spaghetti sad,” Cookie Wiebe said.
During the year the couple did a lot of hiking, and o those hikes Cookie toted her small digital camera with her.
She took portraits, and a few thousand snapshots, to remember her trip. Some of the images are haunting, others a glimpse into the daily life in India.
When she got back, the art major was asked if she would like to display her work at a Final Friday show in the Fiber Studio Gallery in Wichita.
Friends donated cash for expenses, and time to help put the show and display together. The result is 30 museum quality mounted photos.
“There is always extra information that goes with the photo,” Cookie Wiebe said.
Each photo tells a story — and the exhibition tells the story of the people of India.
It also tells a story about Cookie Wiebe.
“I never felt like I could claim to be an artist,” Cookie Wiebe said. “I never kept working and pushed myself to develop something to what it could be. I thought if I had to work at it, it wasn’t really talented. I would only do things I knew I could do fairly easily. ... I’m finally doing something.”
Call it a dream realized, or crossing off something from her bucket list. Whatever you call it, the opening of Cookie Wiebe’s “The Eyes of A Stranger” exhibition at a Wichita art gallery is a big deal to the Newton resident.
“It’s amazing. I’m overwhelmed with the generosity,” Wiebe said. “This is on my bucket list, and I have a very short bucket list.”
There will be an opening and reception from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, with the main showing from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday at The Fiber Studio at 418 Commerce, Wichita.
Three other items remaino on her bucket list — and she will pursue those. She’s been working on one, updating and growing her Web site at charitableliving.net
Bucket lists have become more poplar after a movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson came out. The acting duo portrayed two cancer sufferers trying to live life to the fullest before they pass away.
It’s a story Wiebe can identify with — she is fighting a battle with cancer now. Last week she wrote decades-late thank-you notes for wedding gifts, and put on her wedding dress.
Since her diagnosis, she has lost 20 pounds.
“My gut is still big though, it’s full of cancer,” Wiebe said.
She’s applying for a clinical trial — but that’s a topic she doesn’t really want to talk about for the next few days.
There’s an art opening, featuring 30 prints of her photographs, that she’s excited about.
“I took pictures at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a month while I was in India,” Wiebe said.
She and her husband Dave spent a year in India working at the Woodstock School — Dave taught math while Cookie worked in human resources.
They had done four years at the school in the 1990s and had hoped to be there for a few years again this time around.
“I got sick, and that’s spaghetti sad,” Cookie Wiebe said.
During the year the couple did a lot of hiking, and o those hikes Cookie toted her small digital camera with her.
She took portraits, and a few thousand snapshots, to remember her trip. Some of the images are haunting, others a glimpse into the daily life in India.
When she got back, the art major was asked if she would like to display her work at a Final Friday show in the Fiber Studio Gallery in Wichita.
Friends donated cash for expenses, and time to help put the show and display together. The result is 30 museum quality mounted photos.
“There is always extra information that goes with the photo,” Cookie Wiebe said.
Each photo tells a story — and the exhibition tells the story of the people of India.
It also tells a story about Cookie Wiebe.
“I never felt like I could claim to be an artist,” Cookie Wiebe said. “I never kept working and pushed myself to develop something to what it could be. I thought if I had to work at it, it wasn’t really talented. I would only do things I knew I could do fairly easily. ... I’m finally doing something.”
