Review

Holly Swangstu, detail close-up of "Springtime in Winter," cotton fabric and dye, three-wall installation (20' x 10'9" each section), 2009-2010, fills a the Esson Gallery room at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. Her site-specific installation, along with an annual membership exhibition and an exhibition called "Flora and Fauna" that draws on the museum's collection, open January 15 with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Swangstu is gallery director of the Leedy-Volkous Art Center and a long-time arts educator. Her work is described in detail in the January 15th Art365KC article on Review Magazine. Image: photo Andrew Birgensmith, courtesy of the artist

Larry Thomas at work on "Poser's Decoy," mixed media, 70" x 68", 2009. Thomas's solo exhibition opens January 17 at the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom (Kansas City Jewish Museum), with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. He will give an informal talk about his work in "Ploys and Decoys," which includes large-scale mixed-media paintings and portfolio prints. This exhibition marks the start of the gallery's 10th anniversary season. Thomas is chair of the Johnson County Community College Art Department, and his work "combines digital and actual collage with traditional painting techniques and state-of-the-art printing methods to address the concept of camouflage as a means of both concealing and revealing thoughts, ideas, and emotions." Image: courtesy of the artist; quoted text, courtesy of the gallery.

Terry Ownby, "Hippie Daz," photograph, is part of "WUNDERKAMER," opening at the UCM Gallery of Art and Design (along with "Playful Things") on January 14 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Ownby is a faculty member of UCM whose work explores a nostalgic past as a series of cataloged events, complementing the all-female Playful Things that "exemplifies the role of female identity as a point of departure in producing a body of work." Image and quoted text: courtesy of the gallery

Sharon Shapiro, "Badlands," acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48", 2006, is one of her paintings featured in the four-person exhibition, "Playful Things," opening at the UCM Gallery of Art and Design January 14 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Shapiro writes that her images "suggest hidden stories, playful or private moments that speak to vulnerability within strength, sensuality within power." Her work is widely collected and featured in magazines, including the juried "New American Paintings" (three times, including cover). The Charlottesville, Virgina-based artist will be in town for a lecture at the gallery. The exhibition includes Magda Gluszek from Roswell, Georgia, Sarah, Knobel from Baltimore, Maryland, and Christina Vantzou from Brussels, Belgium, and is memorialized in an 88-page full-color exhibition catalog, produced by the Gallery of Art and Design. Image and quoted text: courtesy of the gallery

Clare Doveton, "Tim," is part of "Quicker and Deader," a duo exhibition with Travis Pesnell opening at the Bourgeois Pig with a reception January 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. The project is a collaboration of illustrators, writers and editors who are rewriting, editing and illustrating an autobiographical text by Richard Rathwell. Doveton has been in correspondence with him to create art and to bring new creative minds into the project. Image and information: courtesy of the curator, Molly Murphy

Garry Noland, "Six Ranges," pencil and charcoal on paper, 42" x 92", 2009, is part of a new exhibition of his sculpture and drawings opening January 14 with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at the UMKC Gallery of Art. Noland most recently was visiting artist at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. In Kansas City, his work has been shown at Paragraph (and Project Space and la Esquina), Dolphin (window), and the H&R Block Artspace Flatfiles. A duo exhibition — "Pitty Patt(rn)" — with Cory Imig, who designed the "Unorganized Territory" exhibition at UMKC's gallery, is planned to open February 21 at the Durwood Gallery of the Kansas City Public Library (Central branch downtown). Image: courtesy of the artist