Belger Arts is pleased to present Heartland 5, a juried exhibition of the Midwest’s finest glass art. The exhibition opens with two nights of programming at two Belger Arts locations:

• Opening reception on Friday, April 7 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery (2011 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108). Artists whose work was selected as “Best in Show” and “Honorable Mention” will be recognized at 6:30pm.

• Free glassblowing demonstration on Saturday, April 8 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Belger Glass Annex (1219 E. 19th Street, Kansas City, MO 64108).

The idea to host an annual “Heartland” exhibition began at Monarch Glass Studio in 2017. Since 2022 Belger Arts has carried on the tradition.

Glass artists from Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma were invited to submit work to Heartland 5. The exhibition includes selected works by: Miguel Alaniz, Shelby Allen, Katie Burkett, Megan Chalifoux, Kate Clements, Brian Corr, Ethan Crawford, Hannah Fine, Robert Flowers, Katie Hogan, Cole Kennedy, Ryan Kepler, Tyler Kimball, Sara Sally LaGrand, Cecilia Labora, Jeremy Lampe, Jessalyn Mailoa, Kayla Ohlmer, Mary Peterson, Nadine Saylor, Evan Seeling, Alison Siegel & Pamela Sabroso, Kat Weltha, Casey Whittier, Nicole Woodard, and Hoseok Youn.

This year’s guest jurors were Jessica Jane Julius, Associate Professor and Program Head of Glass at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, and Tera Hedrick, Curator at the Wichita Art Museum.

ART OPENING RECEPTION — Open Studio/Gallery – FIRST FRIDAY – APRIL 7th — Landscape Paintings by Anne Garney – 5PM– 8PM — 1920 Wyandotte St., Unit 5, KCMO 64108 (entrance — NW corner of the building) 

Hope you can stop by!
www.annegarneypaintings.com

The group exhibition will feature resident artists: Lilly McElroy, Yoonmi Nam, Peregrine Honig, Harold Smith, Hong Chun Zhang, Emily Sall, Kate Clements, Hadley Clark, JT Daniels and Leon Jones

This year, Studios Inc welcomed 4 new artists to the artist residency program: Leon Jones, JT
Daniels, Kate Clements and Hadley Clark. STUDIOS INC | 2023 will be on view through May 20th.

Exhibition hours are Wednesday thru Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 12 – 4pm.

The gallery will be closed on Saturday, April 8th for the holiday weekend.

Launched to serve mid-career artists, Studios Inc is Kansas City’s only nonprofit arts organization
offering pivotal three-year residencies to mid-career artists who are poised to significantly expand their careers. Studios Inc offers a unique immersion experience for resident artists, who use their studio and exhibition space to produce and exhibit work, network and learn from one another, and attract and cultivate relationships with art patrons, collectors, and arts professionals.

butch Murphy’s sculpture practice came late in life when searching for a meaningful form of expression and creativity. Through his journey, Murphy was mentored by long-time friends, artists Michel Beaudry and Bonnie Baxter, as well as life-long partner, Corva with her foundation in Art History. Murphy’s work has been exhibited in several local galleries, with a solo show at the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art. He has developed several ongoing venues for public display of his work throughout mid-Missouri, the Kansas Flint Hills, the Kansas City metro area, South Carolina and Oklahoma.

I’m the creator, fabricator and abstract metal sculptor, autodidact by training, combining new and found carbon steel producing representational forms. I make no drawings beyond a simple chalk drawing on my work bench. Stealing words from Jackson Pollock, as I’m producing my sculptures there is a definite period where I spend time just getting acquainted, thus providing direction and evolution. I create to instill a degree of spectator confusion asking for responsive participation. Although in recent years I’ve focused on horse sculptures, I’ve been inspired by such things as a reflection on the ceiling or an early morning dream, many that just vaporize, fortunately. I don’t see myself being trapped by a leitmotiv, however, I am definitely captured by geometry and the Cubist movement. I’m taken by the layering three dimensional effect seen in paintings by Braque and best described by what Donald Baechler defined, and I borrowed, ‘editing’. For now, each production is a study … never expecting perfection, as that would eliminate the search, and for me, the end. — Murphy

Exhibit Events:

Artist Talk + Closing Reception: Saturday, April 23, 2 – 4pm

Exhibit Open Hours:

Saturdays 2 – 4pm: 3/11, 3/25, 3/30, 4/1, 4/22, 4/29
Thursdays 6 – 8pm: 3/23, 4/20, 4/27

About the exhibit:

In Healing Sanctuary, Kammy Downs blends drawing, natural dye, fiber, and needlecraft to create beautiful installations.

She uses her work to explore the connections between God and nature and the particular ways that the mysterious life cycle of plants reveals aspects of the hidden spiritual world. She creates and uses many natural dyes herself, and through this process she considers the role of plants as a God-given remedy for the healing of our bodies.

As one member of a multigenerational line of artists and seamstresses in her family, Kammy’s work also uses many familiar domestic materials and practices that have been passed down between women in families and communities throughout history.

About the artist:

Raised in rural South-Central Kansas, Kammy Downs enjoyed a supportive childhood that allowed exploration of creative pursuits and nature. Downs attended Emporia State University where she was inspired to teach art. Her love of the art-making process has deepened through the experience of teaching for 35+ years in a variety of institutions from Montessori to public schools in California, Kansas, and Missouri. She has had the privilege of creating several murals with students and has written public art grants, two of which included work with internationally known Kansas artists, Stan Herd and Shin-hee Chin.

Recent highlights of her work include participation in the 2020 Salina Biennial Exhibition, a Social Practice project called ‘Seeds4HOPE,’ which brings attention to resources for creating resilience in the midst of depression. Downs completed her Master of Fine Arts program at Fort Hays State University in 2022.

Downs and her husband, Gary, live in Kansas City and have five grown daughters and four grandchildren.