A Manhattan artist is nearing the finish line on a mural in the state capitol.
Phyllis Pease’s work honoring women who fought for voting rights in the state will be the featured piece of the Kansas Suffragist Memorial and will go up in the capitol early next year.
The project began in 2020, the centennial anniversary of women getting the right to vote. The Capitol Preservation Committee in Topeka cast out the net for artists to represent the stories of Kansas women, hoping to celebrate the state’s rich suffragist heritage. The committee selected Pease from a group of five finalists in 2023, and she began work in the fall.
Since her start date, Pease said she has spent approximately six hours a day chipping away at the mural. What began as a tissue paper sketch is now an 8-by 19-foot in-progress oil painting that occupies most of her dining room.
The mural will feature 13 important Kansan women who fought for the passage of voting rights. Figures like Lutie Lytle, Laura M. Johns and Jane L. Brooks stand side by side, with iconic lobbyist Clarina I. H. Nichols at their helm.
A sketch of “Rebel Women” is set up in local artist Phyllis Pease’s Manhattan home. The mural, when complete, will be installed at the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka.
Set chronologically from left to right, the painting will illustrate the timeline from the Sacking of Lawrence in 1856 to the ratification of women’s voting rights in Kansas in 1912. The piece also pays homage to activists from later in the 20th century who protested gender pay gaps, child labor and war crimes.
“My idea about the composition was to show these women as superheroes, which is why they’re in a V formation,” Pease said. “It was also to show the span of time it took for women to be able to vote.”
Extensive research helped Pease form her vision. In the three months artists had to prepare presentations for the committee, she contacted county historical societies, read autobiographies and records and studied the accurate attire of each era. She said honing in on regional suffrage is what secured her the project.
“That’s the approach I took — a Kansas approach,” Pease said. “There’s a lot of information on some of these women and not a lot on others.”
The mural is a special project for Pease, a lifetime Kansas resident and a first-generation American. Her mother, who immigrated from Michoacán, Mexico, passionately encouraged her 10 children to perform their civic responsibilities.
“A thing she always said was, ‘You need to register and vote, because I moved from a country where I had no rights,’” Pease said.
Local artist Phyllis Pease had to do extensive research on the many women depicted in the mural “Rebel Women.”
Pease also co-owns and helps run Little Batch Co. and Parkside Station, two Manhattan eateries, with her daughter. When long work days become draining, Pease said she finds inspiration in remembering the stories of the women in the mural.
“I think about how I’m just painting,” Pease said. “These women had to, you know, drag five kids across Kansas in a horse or a buggy, or even the things my mother had to go through working hard to feed her children, so I think I can do this.”
The Kansas Suffragist Memorial Committee is a collaboration between the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the American Association of University Women and the Kansas Capitol Preservation Committee. Kansas was the first state in the nation to battle for full women’s suffrage, making the mural especially relevant.
Pease said she wants to call attention to the important work the League of Women Voters has done.
“They’ve been in existence for so long,” Pease said. “They’re a non-partisan group that’s advocating for young people to vote, and they are so passionate about it. I want to shout out to them.”
Pease plans to complete in December, giving it a month to dry. It will be dedicated on Jan. 29, 2025, which is Kansas Day.
