Painting 
A Thing for Feet : Eric J. Persson(0)
September 7, 2010 —
Eric J. Persson excecutes his “foot portraits” with bold brushstrokes, a clear affection for his subject matter and a vision of depicting personality rather than one of fetishistic depersonalization.
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ICONIC MOTIFS DEPICT HISPANIC EXPERIENCE
From the Statue of Liberty to Western Union forms, the juxtaposed images in Tony Ortega’s exhibition help make his themes identifiable and interesting. “Mi Frontera Es Su Frontera” is on display at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art through September 5.
Tree Tales: Leto Blackman
Viewing Leto Blackman’s mixed-media work is like looking at a picture storybook with no words beyond the title. You know something’s going on … but it’s up to you to write the tale.
THE QUIET DOMESITC PAUSE
Jonah Criswell discusses his drawings and paintings of domestic interiors that make up a solo exhibition, “Reside,” opening at Cocoon Gallery September 3. Fellow artist Erica Mahinay writes, “Common associations with comfort and familiarity are inverted as spaces become charged with apparitions and traces of history and memory,” and explores these ideas further with him.
Painter Provocateur: Jenny Meyer McCall
Jenny Meyer McCall’s abstracts stake unapologetic claims on the viewer’s attention — and reward that attention with both up-front revelations and subtle detail.
Dressed to Impress: Suze Ford
When Suze Ford created a series of paintings with classic party dresses as the dominant image, the statement was one of more than fashion.
Numbers Game: Jennifer Jarnot
“Real art” and “paint-by-numbers” are largely incompatible phrases. Largely, but not entirely, as Jennifer Jarnot’s show at the Lawrence Arts Center demonstrates.
A Head for Art (in Several Senses): Maryann Gravino-Askew
An exploration of how people think and respond to stimuli clearly informs Gravino-Askew’s work. In her paintings, shapes echo and reinforce each other, leading to a feeling of unforced “rightness” for the harmonious whole.
Coded Messages: Trish Breed
Breed’s abstract oil paintings, on display at the MOJO Collection in the Crossroads through Saturday, are more than assemblages of color, shape and texture. They’re inner self-portraits, reflecting her life and circumstances at the time of creation.
Through the Brush of a Child: Marissa Hitt
Marissa Hitt’s adoptive parents have encouraged her, but never pushed her, to explore her Chinese heritage through art … and that shows in her work. It’s simple — and yes, childlike in the sense of being filled with wonder — but also possessed of thoughtful intent and a certain raw elegance.
BRAVO, NELSON-ATKINS
Recent exhibitions at Kansas City’s anchor museum show a tendency toward including more local artists in the permanent collection: “Magnificent Gifts for the 75th” at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art earlier this year includes five prolific and significant local artists and sets a welcomed trend that continues in “Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute,” on view through January 2, 2011.
Watercolors that Pop: Barbara Tull
No matter where you look in one of Barbara Tull’s paintings, there’s something interesting going on.
Victoriously Victorian : Eric Doucette
Eric Doucette has an eye not only for recreating the past, but for updating the classics and making them his own.
A Sense of Place, a Sense of Play: Zak Barnes
While Zak Barnes might refer to himself as an “artist’s artist,” there’s plenty here that will resonate with viewers from all walks of life. Even if it’s hard to pin down the “when” in Barnes’ work, there’s no mistaking why it works.
Light and Darkness: Toni Berry
Sometimes, the smallest things make the biggest impressions. That’s certainly the case with Toni Berry’s show of portraits, animal paintings and landscapes at the main branch of the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library.