Janet L. Mullen ’80, a well-known and respected member of Wichita’s art and music communities, spent the last weeks of her life doing what she loved best –– playing mandolin duets with her musical partner Krista Dahlinger and studying printmaking at Wichita State, where she had re-enrolled last spring.
Her artistic pursuits were far-ranging. Performing as The Chautaqua Wallflowers, Mullen and Dahlinger recently released a CD of their work, Mandolin Duets, and Mullen, a former portfolio manager for Bank of America, also was in the planning stages of a children’s book that would feature a story by musician Larry Spears.
She also was studying printmaking with John Boyd, associate professor in Wichita State’s School of Art and Design, whom she’d known for more than two decades and who’d been an enthusiast of prints made by Mullen’s late husband John Clampitt.
She was later married to local businessman Art Busch. A memorial fund in Mullen’s name has been established to fund visiting printmakers at WSU. Dahlinger reports that a portion of earnings from the duo’s current CD will be earmarked for the fund.
Janet Mullen died Sept. 25 in Wichita.
