The Queen’s Muse is being built adjacent to the Artificers, at 10 N. National Avenue. Construction items can be seen in front of the building project. The green space will be used for an outdoor event space in the future.
Trent and Kate Freeman finally have great weather to make progress on their newest project, called The Queen’s Muse.
A muse is a source of inspiration, according to the dictionary.
“The Artificers is in a ‘Queen Anne’ (style architecture) and we are building her muse. Hence, ‘The Queen’s Muse,'” Kate Freeman said.
“It’s to house our out-of-town artists,” she said. “Our artist’s respite, while here teaching a workshop and doing art shows. It will help our artists have a space close to stay (near their business) and hopefully attract more artists to Fort Scott with a place to stay as well as show their work.”
The building is an addition to the Artificers art gallery and teaching studio, at 8 N. National Avenue.
Currently, there is no designated completion date, she said.
“It will be two suites on the upper level, Airbnb, each with a bathroom. The lower level will be to cater out of and a bathroom, an event space.”
In front of that building will be an outdoor event space and a sculpture garden.
“We’ll have large, mixed-media pieces on concrete pads. The space will also be available for events such as a bridal shower or wine-tasting event.”
“We started to plan this after we acquired the land. It’s something awesome for the community and our business,” she said.
The Queen’s Muse will be an addition to the Artificers Gallery. Pictured are materials and the start of the build, May 29, 2025.
“We are proud to be supporting local and regional businesses every step of the way. Keeping our investment close to home is a priority, and we’re grateful to work with such talented peeps in our community,” she said. “Such as Redbud Nursery, Fort Scott-the plants and trees; Henry Witt Fabrications, Fort Scott- the sculpture garden gate; Red Logic, Mound City, the website; Ron Hurd Construction, Fort Scott, concrete work; Cedar Valley Metal, Garnett, materials; Gibson Construction, Paola is the builder/contractor.”
“And the Bourbon County Garden Club has helped design the garden area. They got together and plotted it all, for us.”
The Freemans received a $25,000 Kansas Tourism Attraction Development Grant in December 2024 that is helping to fund this newest project.
Kate and Trent Freeman, from the Artificer Facebook page.
About the Artificers
T.E. Freeman Studio, Trent and Kate’s art business, moved to Fort Scott during the COVID-19 Pandemic, from the Kansas City area.
“We bought the building in October 2022 and opened the art gallery in January 2023.”
In addition to the Artificers Gallery, in 2024, another business, Bourbon County Clay, was launched, utilizing clay extracted from the county for creations sold in the gallery.
Currently, they have a gallery assistant who helps with all three LLC businesses they own and an apprentice who helps with Kate’s Bourbon County Clay business.
Earlier this year, they were awarded the 2025 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award for Art in Business.
They initiated a First Friday event each month, where their gallery is open until 9 p.m. when they first opened. The First Friday event includes some artists’ openings.
“The City of Fort Scott is trying to get all the businesses on board to have more events on the first Friday of each month,” she said.
Photos from the Artificers Facebook page.
This First Friday, June 6, will feature Trent’s first show since opening in Fort Scott. He will be featuring outside mixed-media art sculptures, called luminaries.
Artist Roxi Hardegree, Texas, will be showing, selling, and teaching about her art medium, botanical arts, on June 6, as well.
Check out the calendar below for all events happening at your favorite
Art Gallery & Teaching Studio!
Join us for an Artist Opening Reception!
June 6th, at 6:00pm!
Who is Roxi Hardegree?
Roxi Hardegree is a full-time artist based in Lubbock, Texas. She grew up on a farm in North Dakota, where a childhood spent outdoors sparked a lifelong sense of exploration and creativity. Her days were filled with fishing in the river, crafting, and tending to flowers in the garden.
Roxi draws deep inspiration from the women in her family—her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother—whose flower beds overflowed with peonies, roses, delphiniums, and seas of irises and lilies. Their creativity left a lasting impression that continues to shape her artistic path.
Over the years, Roxi has created both traditional and art quilts, authored books, and taught quilting classes. She also nurtured a lifelong passion for photography, earning numerous sales and awards along the way. Today, she has come full circle, returning to hands-on creation through botanical prints using cyanotype and collage techniques, including eco prints and metalwork. You will be able to view her work on June 6th, 2025!
In her downtime, Roxi enjoys traveling the country in an RV with her husband Blake and their labradoodle, Sofi.
Moody Blues: Wet Cyanotype Workshop by Roxi Hardegree
Saturday, June 7th 11:00am-3:00pm
Discover the magic of botanical printmaking in this hands-on cyanotype workshop—no experience necessary! In this 4-hour class, we’ll explore the wet cyanotype process using natural materials to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind prints.
You’ll learn the basics and some intermediate techniques of this alternative photographic method, including how to work with various liquids, texture-enhancing additives, and UV light. Each student will receive a materials kit and have access to a wide selection of botanicals, both fresh and pressed, to experiment with.
We will take a lunch break while our art processes, so bring a sack lunch or visit a local restaurant.
By the end of class, you’ll leave with at least one finished 5×7 cyanotype print—and plenty of inspiration and extra papers to keep creating. All supplies provided—just bring your curiosity and love of botanicals!
Provided supplies include a variety of botanicals (pressed and fresh) and texturing materials.
Your Kit includes:
9×12 Backing board, Felt, Plexiglass and Clips, 6 assorted pre-coated papers, 3 Spray bottles of different liquids.
Trent Freeman is a mixed media sculptor and ceramic artist, as well as the gallery owner and ceramic instructor at The Artificers in Fort Scott, Kansas. Originally from DeSoto, KS, Trent earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emporia State University, where he also pursued graduate work in sculpture.
Trent has been working professionally since 1997. For over two decades, he operated a teaching studio in Kansas City, KS before relocating to Fort Scott. His work is deeply influenced by Japanese ceramics, though his primary inspiration comes from the tactile and expressive qualities of materials such as wood, metal, and natural clay.
His notable bodies of work include the Luminaries: Guardians, Sentinels, and Guides series that you will be able to view on June 6th, 2025!
2025 ARTEFFECT AWARDS WILL BE
ANNOUNCED ON JUNE 2! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL FINALISTS!
ARTEFFECT celebrates the 2025 Competition Finalists! Congratulations to the 115 incredible students and their dedicated teachers whose powerful work brings Unsung Heroes to life through art! There are 64 different Unsung Heroes represented, including all 7 Spotlight Unsung Heroes. Finalists projects come from 16 middle school and 99 high school students from 24 states across the U.S. as well as 5 other countries around the world: Australia, Canada, Lithuania, South Korea, and United Arab Emirates. Explore the artworks and impact statement excerpts.
Stay tuned! 2025 ARTEFFECT Competition winners will be announced on the website on June 2!
Stay connected with the expanding
ARTEFFECT network
ARTEFFECT is expanding its social media presence. Be sure to keep connected as part of our growing community of learners. Follow us on these platforms for announcements, news, and resources about the competition, Ambassadors fellowship, and more.
Carl, played by Matthew Wells, and Opal, played by Alissa Cook. Submitted photo
A long-standing theatre tradition in Fort Scott, the Melodrama, is returning to Good Ol’ Days this year.
Bourbon County Community Theatre presents the world premiere of “Beauty and the Bull OR Chaos in Fort Scott’’ written by BCCT Vice President Mark Bergmann.
Bergmann says, “It was a challenge offered by other members of the BCCT board to write an original show about Fort Scott. I hope people find it highly entertaining. The whole goal is for people to laugh and have fun with it.”
Jason Silvers returns to the stage as Barnard Cleaner, 18 years after the last Fort Scott melodrama that Silvers starred in, “It feels really good to be back on the stage after so many years. Melodramas are about fun, they’re interactive shows, and I hope the audience has a great experience cheering the hero and booing the villain.”
This is Silvers’ first show with the newly formed BCCT, “You feel camaraderie working together with everybody with different levels of ability and talent. I’ve enjoyed watching everything come together.”
The show is directed by Bergmann with Regen Wells serving as Assistant Director. Featured roles include Alissa Cook as the heroine Opal Openheart, Levi Fairchild as the hero Bull Driver, and Matthew Wells as the villain, Carl Connor.
Performances are at 8 p.m. on June 6 and at 10:30 a.m., and 12:30, 4:30, 6:30 and 8 p.m. on June 7 at 123 S. National (former St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church). Tickets for the show are $5 at bcct.ludus.com or at the door, but seating is limited. Concessions will be available. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
Carl, played by Matthew Wells, and Horse played by Theodore Bowman. Submitted photo.
Visit fsccfoundation.org to find detailed information about each event and to RSVP.
Questions:
Call 620-223-2700 x5830
We are excited to bring back our ‘Senior-versity’, a vibrant and welcoming program designed especially for our retired community!
This reimagined initiative is all about keeping you young at heart, active, and connected – with a full calendar of free or low-cost events, activities, and outings tailored just for you. Whether it’s a local adventure, a cultural experience, or a fun social gathering, Senior-versity takes the hassle out of participating – no parking worries, no stress – just great times and even better company.
It’s your time to explore, engage, and enjoy life to the fullest with a group that’s all about living well at every age!!
Kick-off of Senior-versity!!!
June 12th – Bourbon County Mural Trolley Tour
1:30pm – Meet at Ellis Fine Arts Building on campus of FSCC. Enjoy light refreshments and meet & greet.
2:30pm – Take a trolley tour of our amazing BOURBON COUNTY MURALS. Learn the history and significance of each one while riding Dolly the Trolley! Space is limited.
Check out the calendar below for all events happening the rest of the year!
Join us for an Artist Opening Reception!
June 6th, at 6:00pm!
Wet Cyanotype Workshop
by Roxi Hardegree
Available June 7th! 11:00am-3:00pm
Moody Blues: Wet Cyanotype Workshop by Roxi Hardegree
Saturday, June 7th 11:00am-3:00pm
Discover the magic of botanical printmaking in this hands-on cyanotype workshop—no experience necessary! In this 4-hour class, we’ll explore the wet cyanotype process using natural materials to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind prints.
You’ll learn the basics and some intermediate techniques of this alternative photographic method, including how to work with various liquids, texture-enhancing additives, and UV light. Each student will receive a materials kit and have access to a wide selection of botanicals, both fresh and pressed, to experiment with.
We will take a lunch break while our art processes, so bring a sack lunch or visit a local restaurant.
By the end of class, you’ll leave with at least one finished 5×7 cyanotype print—and plenty of inspiration and extra papers to keep creating. All supplies provided—just bring your curiosity and love of botanicals!
Provided supplies include a variety of botanicals (pressed and fresh) and texturing materials.
Your Kit includes:
9×12 Backing board, Felt, Plexiglass and Clips, 6 assorted pre-coated papers, 3 Spray bottles of different liquids.
Tanner Streeter in front of some of his work. Submitted photo.
Tanner Streeter, 25, is an artist whose specialty is animals.
“I’ve been an artist my whole life, with a primary focus on animals,” he said. “I grew up hunting and fishing, so I’ve always been surrounded by nature. I spent much of my time studying animals I saw in life, in books, or on TV so that I may understand their anatomy well enough to draw them accurately.”
“My parents would take me on trips to zoos to satisfy my fascination with animals, as well as places like Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops. In those places, the taxidermy on display captivated me at a very young age. I would think of taxidermy as almost magical, since I could not comprehend how it was accomplished.”
“When I was 18 and about to graduate my senior year of high school from Christian Learning Center, I began practicing taxidermy on small animals that I could acquire.”
He was inspired by a taxidermy how-to book that his parents, Bernard and Torrie Streeter, had given him for Christmas.
“Much to my surprise, after making a Facebook post about my endeavors in taxidermy, a mutual online friend, Dale Robertson of Wild Heritage Taxidermy in Young, Arizona, reached out to me and offered me an apprenticeship with him. He had followed me for my artwork that I would post, and I followed his taxidermy work, so that’s how we were connected. Dale is a renowned taxidermist with multiple prestigious awards.”
“I packed everything I owned into my little Chevy Blazer and drove to Arizona, where I lived for a year and a half in a trailer at the Robertson’s home and learned everything a beginner needed to know about taxidermy and then some. I competed at the last Arizona state show (their association is no longer active) in 2019 and won the title Best New Competitor and a 2nd and 3rd place with a coyote and a deer I had brought.”
Streeter learned much in that time.
“When I came back, I got a job at Outdoors Indoors in Pittsburg, KS. I got to do some taxidermy from all over the world…Africa, Greenland, and New Zealand, along with locals. My ultimate goal was to have my own business, and my first year on my own, I got an LLC (limited liability company business structure).”
He has competed at state, national, and the World Taxidermy Show, earning an assortment of first, second, and third-place ribbons.
He’s earned the titles of Best Professional Gamehead of Kansas 2023, Best Professional Small Lifesize Mammal of Kansas 2025, and Best Professional Open Mouth Whitetail of Kansas 2025.
Submitted photo.
“Competing is vital for me since it sharpens my craft and allows me to learn from the best of the best in seminars and from my judges during critiques.”
His business model prioritizes quality over quantity.
“I take a limited number of animals each year… I take extra effort to make each animal as accurate as possible, and I try to capture the unique qualities of each specimen. I’m recreating that particular animal down to the smallest anatomical detail. From muscles and hair patterns to glands and membranes in the corner of the eye. Nothing is too small to overlook.”
“Taxidermy is an art, and I treat it just as another medium. Just like if I choose to draw with a pencil or paint with a brush. I am trying to recreate God’s creation to the best of the ability He gave me.”
He started his business, Tanners Wildlife Artistry LLC, in 2022 and shares a business building with Whitetail Properties Real Estate at 306 E. 23rd, next to Riggs Chiropractic.
“I do roughly 70-80 animals annually. This keeps turnaround times and my workload reasonable.”
One of Streeter’s deer. Submitted photo.
“I am a mammal specialist, so I currently do not do taxidermy work on birds or fish. I have been blessed to work on a wide variety of animals from around the world, including baboons, warthogs, and antelopes from Africa; red stags, fallow deer, and wallabies from New Zealand; and black bears, elk, and deer from both the U.S. and Canada.”
A Philippine porcupine piece that won him a prize recently. Submitted photo.An African baboon piece. Submitted photo.
The Process
With large animals, the animal is skinned, then salted and dried.
“Once I get it, I rehydrate the skin, and then tan it in a chemical bath with a tanning formula. Then the leather must be thinned to put on a foam mannequin. I do a great deal of clay sculpting on the form. I then apply a glue to the form, put the hide on, and put everything into place and sew up any incisions.”
Streeter looks over a foam mannequin of a deer. Submitted photo.
“If an animal has antlers or horns, that part of the skull is cleaned, getting the meat broken down and cleaned off. This is to prevent Chronic Wasting Disease from spreading.”
He charges customers by the time factor plus materials.
“I go the extra mile on every piece,” he said.
Other Artwork Around Fort Scott
The bison mural on National Avenue, facing south. Streeter was one of the artists on this piece of art. From fortscott.com website.
One can view some of Streeter’s artistic work on the wall of Structure Hair Salon on National Avenue.
In 2023, he was part of a group of people creating wall murals in Fort Scott. “The Bison” was created by artists Cally Bailey, Emily Bailey, and Tanner Streeter.
Tanner is married to Johnnie, and they have a three-month-old daughter, Annabella.
ARTEFFECT is pleased to announce the 2025 Competition Finalists! Congratulations to all students selected as 2025 Finalists and their teachers! The range of topics across these exceptional projects is notable.
The 115 projects encompass 64 Unsung Heroes stories, including all 7 Spotlight Unsung Heroes. These projects are presented by 16 middle school and 99 high school students from 24 states across the U.S. as well as 5 other countries around the world: Australia, Canada, Lithuania, South Korea, and United Arab Emirates. Take some time to explore the artworks and impact statement excerpts.
The 2025 Awardees will be announced on June 2. Stay tuned!
Stay connected with the expanding
ARTEFFECT network
ARTEFFECT is expanding its social media presence. Be sure to keep connected as part of our growing community of learners. Follow us on these platforms for announcements, news, and resources about the competition, Ambassadors fellowship, and more.
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