Review

Spring into sports — from an art perspective

Matthew Dehaemers, installation view of "Hero," handknitted nylon basketball netting, approx. 65' with suspended basketballs, which is part of "You're Such a Good Sport," opening Friday, March 19 at Paragraph gallery. This sculpture is about the artist's sequence of life experiences with the game of basketball and how it has related to being mentored or becoming a mentor. Dehaemers will be one of the artists in this group exhibition performing on opening night. A series of other events and performances is planned during the coming weeks, including at Urban Culture Project Space. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Third Friday opens new exhibitions in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the two new exhibitions open in St. Louis, Missouri. Saturday, Cara and Cabezas Contemporary in the River Market area of Kansas City presents a new exhibition (making sure you can see all the performances you wish at Urban Culture Project Space/Paragraph without missing out on the open studios either).

Fast approaching (from our artist calls page) — the April 2nd deadline to apply for Rocket Grants, organized by the Spencer Museum of Art and the Charlotte Street Foundation, with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts . Rocket Grants are new forms of direct support for innovative, experimental, artist-driven, and artist-centered projects in the Lawrence-Kansas City area (within 80 miles of either). Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to attend one of the following FINAL informational sessions, if they have not been to one already: March 19, 5 p.m. at the Mattie Rhodes Northeast Satellite, 148 North Topping Avenue (one block north of St. John Avenue; 816-241-3780) and March 21, 2 p.m., Hudson Auditorium at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, 12345 College Boulevard, 913-469-3000. More application information is available here.

Third Friday (+Saturday) exhibition openings and events in Kansas City metro:

(NOTE: Artist Entrepreneur Series is March 30; see below)

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Bonfils (an Urban Culture Project Studio)
125 East 12th Street
Kansas City, Missouri
(one block east of Paragraph and Urban Culture Project Space galleries)

March 19, 6-9 p.m. Open Studios
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Cara and Cabezas Contemporary
218 Delaware, Suite 208
Kansas City, Missouri
816-332-6239
Receptions, open house dates, and by appointment
Kansas City Limited Editions prints

Marcela Díaz, "Stacked," 2006, is part of her "En Trama" sculpture exhibition opening at March 20 in Kansas City, before it travels to the west coast. "'En trama' translates to 'in weft,' referring to the traditional Mexican sisal weaving process used by Díaz. Working from her studio in Merída, Yucátan, the artist creates free-standing sculptures that challenge our notions of weaving. Díaz is clearly adept at the craft of weaving: she uses the roughness of her materials (henequen, coconut, and other indigenous fibers from the Yucátan) with care, shaping them to her design without denying them personality. Her work foregrounds the very concept of weaving: Díaz's objects weave seduction with repulsion, old techniques with modern forms, soft with rough, the familiar with the obscure, the natural with the synthetic." Image and quoted text: courtesy of the gallery

Marcela Díaz: En Trama
Textile sculpture from Mérida, Yucátan
Opening night reception: March 20, 7-10 p.m.
Open house dates: April 16, 7-10 p.m. & April 17, noon-6 p.m.
March 20 — May 29
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City Center Square (an Urban Culture Project Studio)
1100 Main Street
Kansas City, Missouri

March 19, 6-9 p.m. Open Studios, with performance at 8 p.m. by the Black House Improvisers Collective, led by Hunter Long, featuring new compositions by its largest group of musicians to date, including Stan Kessler, Matt Otto, Allen Myers, Russell Thorpe, Chris Burnett, and Hunter Long.
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Paragraph & Urban Culture Project Space
21-23 East 12th Street
Kansas City, Missouri
816-221-5115
Thursday & Saturday, noon-5 p.m., opening Fridays, 6-9 p.m.

YOU’RE SUCH A GOOD SPORT
Artwork and performances about sports and sports culture by Miki Baird,  Shelley Buffalo, Matt Dehaemers, Chris Doyle, Megan Gallant,  Robert Heishman, Pablo Helguera, Adriane Herman, Mike Hill, Megan Mantia, Pellom McDaniels,  Ray Noland, Phil Peterson, Brian Reeves, Brett Reif, and Linda Trunzo, and materials borrowed from the Kansas City Museum and the Negro League Baseball Museum. Engaging traffic on 12th Street, Kansas City artist Alexander Austin will be creating a mural on gallery windows of local and national sports figures. The exhibition represents both sport and art as deeply rooted into our definitions of ourselves, individually and culturally and invites viewers and participants to discover commonalities within the meanings of gamesmanship and art-making. Click here for more details.
Third Friday opening reception: March 19, 6-9 p.m., featuring a performance by Rah! Booty and an appearance by the Kansas City Roller Warriors
Gallery Tour: April 3, noon, with curator Michael Schonhoff and art historian Milton Katz
WHB 810 Sports Radio live broadcast: April 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at the gallery
Urban Connections, 90.1 KKFI: April 17, 4 p.m., with Donna Wolfe and Michael Schonhoff, with artist Pellom McDaniels
March 19 — May 6

Urban Culture Project Space
21 East 12th Street
Kansas City, Missouri
816-221-5115
Thursday & Saturday, noon-5 p.m., opening Fridays, 6-9 p.m.

The Training Room
With performances related to YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD SPORT, such as "Calvin Ball," bicycle-made prints ("Printcycle"), interactive training sessions, and an overnight gallery camp-out. See the Charlotte Street Foundation press release for performace times and details (dates given below).
60wrd/min art critic project: April 15-17, with Chicago-based art critic/historian Lori Waxman, who travels the country to deliver rapid-fire, on-the-spot written art reviews to artists in need, on a first-come, first-served basis.
March 19, 20 & April 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30
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pARTnership Place (an Urban Culture Project Studio)
906 Grand, 13th floor
Kansas City, Missouri

March 19, 6-9 p.m. Open Studios
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Wichita Art Museum
1400 West Museum Boulevard
Wichita, Kansas
316-268-4921
Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Sunday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

InterACTIVE
Kinetic sculpture by Christopher Gulick, Tom McGuire and Lee Shiney
Closing meet-and-greet: March 20, noon-3 p.m.

St. Louis, March 19:

Bruno David Gallery
3721 Washington Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri
314-531-3030
Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and opening nights

Decadense: Cindy Tower
Decadense [sic] includes recent paintings of decrepit, isolated and condemned architectural settings
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Front Room: Heard but not said: Nanette Boileau
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Media Room: Membrane Moments: Journey Through Loss, by Dickson Beall, with music by Chris W. Treloar and about Tower's work
Opening reception: March 19, 6-9 p.m.
March 19 – May 8
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Hunt Gallery
Webster University
8342 Big Bend Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri
314-968-7171
Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and by appointment

Bring Me A Lion: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art
Jaishri Abichandani, Dhruvi Acharya, Rina Banerjee, Chitra Ganesh, Tushar Joag, Jitish Kallat, Reena Saini Kallat, Bari Kumar, Yamini Nayar, and Rakhi Peswani, and curated by Jeffrey Hughes and Dana Turkovic
Opening reception: March 19, 6-9 p.m.
March 19 — April 17

After Third Friday weekend:

Kansas City Art Institute
4415 Warwick Boulevard
Kansas City, Missouri
Usual events contact: 816-802-3423

Current Perspectives Lecture Series
In honor of the college’s 125th anniversary, most of the speakers selected for the spring 2010 series are alumni of KCAI. Unless otherwise noted, all lectures are free and will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursdays in Epperson Auditorium in Vanderslice Hall, 4415 Warwick Boulevard.

Ezra Johnson, still from "What Visions Burn." Image: courtesy of KCAI

March 25, 7 p.m. Ezra Johnson lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He received his B.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco and completed an M.F.A. at Hunter College in New York. During his M.F.A. studies, he participated in an exchange program with the Universitat der Kunst in Berlin. His work has been shown at numerous exhibitions including solo gallery shows in New York, Los Angeles and Turin, Italy. His first solo museum show was at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 2007.
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The Kansas City Museum
in Corinthian Hall, celebrating 100 years in 2010
3218 Gladstone Boulevard
Kansas City, Missouri
816-483-8300
Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sunday, noon-4:30 p.m.

March 23, 6 p.m. Community Curator Program Historians and history educators share perspectives on artifacts they choose from the Museum collection, providing fresh insight about artifacts and collections of Kansas City Museum and Union Station, usually on the fourth Tuesday of the month and including presentation of actual artifacts. Pat Gold, Smithsonian Associates Visiting Scholar will explore the artistry and craftsmanship of several tribal baskets from the Museum’s Dyer Collection of Native American Artifacts. The scholar’s presentation is supported through a gift from The Kansas City Southern Charitable Fund and the Haverty Family Foundation, and is coordinated by the Regional Programs department of The Smithsonian Associates, which presents educational events to highlight and complement the work of the Smithsonian Institution to audiences outside the Washington, D.C. area. Lectures are free to the public and held in Union Station's Town Hall, 30 West Pershing Road.
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Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Boulevard
Overland Park, Kansas
913-469-3000
Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday, noon-5 p.m. (Usually closed on school holidays.)

March 25, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Third Thursday Visiting Artists Presentations with Todd Cero-Atl and Amy Myers. Free and held in Hudson Auditorium; no reservations are necessary (delayed one week because of spring break).

Final Friday select preview:

The Old Monarch Gallery
3829 Main Street, 1st Floor
Kansas City, Missouri
Open for receptions and by appointment (through various artists)

The Glee Medicine Show: Curing Cynical Disorders in Art
A group exhibition curated by Amanda Bowles, Lori Bury, and Christina Carnes
Final Friday opening reception: March 26, 7-11 p.m.
March 26 — April 16
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Wichita Art Museum
1400 West Museum Boulevard
Wichita, Kansas
316-268-4921
Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Sunday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

The Art of Norman Rockwell
A collection of more than forty oils and pencil works of art, the explores the popularity and broad appeal of Norman Rockwell's imagery through six decades of his career.
Final Friday reception: March 26, 5-8 p.m.
March 7 — May 30

Special Events March 30 and April 1:

Arts Incubator
Artists' studios, printshop and galleries
115 West 18th Street
Kansas City, Missouri
816-421-2292

2010 Artist Entrepreneur Speakers Program
Held four times throughout the year, Artist ESP brings experts from across the nation to discuss innovative ideas and opportunities for the diverse community of Kansas City artists. This series highlights experiences, lessons learned, opportunities, and the unique issues and challenges faced by artists of all disciplines in the business side of their work. Advance registration required to attend and is $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Artist Entrepreneur Speakers Program is presented by KCArtistLINK, a program of The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City (ArtsKC), Charlotte Street Foundation, and Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Center at UMKC, and it is sponsored by Spencer Fane Britt & Browne.

March 30, 5:30-7 p.m. Artist ESP, Caitlin Strokosch “Strokosch has served the Alliance of Artists Communities since 2002 and was appointed Executive Director in 2008. Her 12 years of arts management experience in marketing, development, communications, and programming includes serving as General Manager of Bella Voce, one of the country's premiere professional chamber choirs, and as Executive Director of CUBE, a new music ensemble based in Chicago.” This session is held at the Arts Incubator, address above. (NOTE: date was incorrectly posted earlier.)
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Luminary Center for the Arts
4900 Reber Place
Saint Louis, Missouri
Wednesday-Saturday: noon-6 p.m.

April 1, 7-9 p.m. The Luminary Panel Discussion Series The discussion series will begin with panel of artists discussing what artists need to flourish in St. Louis. The panel will address topics such as: What is the draw to larger markets?, What kinds of opportunities attract artists?, and How do we address the needs of artists practically?

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