Crossroads Arts District

Kansas City's Creative Neighborhood

Rediscovering the Desert — Holly Swangstu

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The dyed fabric compositions are journal page expressions about time and place. The textile paintings that I produce are tributes, poems, love letters, prayers, and meditations. Creating this work provides peace, helps to heal hurts, and feeds my energy. The subject’s intention is always one of honor and gratitude. 

My plein air and oil painting practice was initially provoked by the desire to grow artistically. This activity was also inspired by the need to feel closer to family. Working in the elements seems to make time stand still. Although I find it terribly challenging, painting in the field heightens all senses and strengthens visceral memory. The imprint of experience is then used as an intuitive tool (in conjunction with formal photo documentation, color studies, and notes) to create textile paintings and installations. 

Studying the colors, textures and diversity of the Sonoran Desert has been my daily joy for the past eleven years. All of the work for Rediscovering the Desert was created within the past two years and celebrates the natural world where I resided in Southern Arizona. The Tucson Mountain/Saguaro National Park West area is especially dear to me and is often the subject of my landscapes. My work is also informed by multiple trips to San Carlos/Guaymas, Sonora and Cabo Pulmo National Park in Baja California Sur in Mexico. 

Although I anticipate creating art about my beloved desert for the rest of my life, I just relocated to the Southernmost part of Texas to research for a new body of work. During this self-imposed, temporary residency I will shift from “Where the Desert Meets the Sea”, to “Where River meets the Sea”. Living and learning in the sub-tropical climate and remaining natural habitat by the Rio Grande River by the Gulf of Mexico. I look forward to seeing how my work will be affected by this new adventure. 

Bio​
Born in Wisconsin and then raised in Bettendorf, Iowa, Holly holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kansas City Art Institute and is an Ewing Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurship graduate. Holly has exhibited her textile paintings in numerous group and solo exhibitions. Holly currently lives in the Rio Grande Valley with her husband.

Allen Halsey: “Tracing Her Lines — Precise Abstractions”

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Join us for our first solo exhibition in the new Firehouse Gallery #8! Allen Halsey brings his large scale carving/paintings to our humble space this First Friday and through the months of July and August.

Influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, art nouveau, stained glass, and more; Halsey presents a surprising contemporary twist on classic vintage styles.

In the words of the artist:

By the time I complete something, I often forget why I started, or the focus may shift
throughout the process. My mind races off in many directions and I try to wrangle my thoughts
to make sense of them – to see how they connect. Sometimes I pull back and relax, only to have
new thoughts come pouring into the vacant spaces. My paintings are the same. I try to
squeeze as many different ideas into one space as possible until it’s too much, then I edit. The
process is a roller coaster of ups and downs, a pushing and pulling between concise and
abstract ideas. Loose and painterly brush strokes are overlapped within precise boundaries.
The whole may seem to make sense from a distance, but the parts themselves are often
incongruous and undefined, an impressionism of sorts.

Painting to me is like verbalizing a dream, or replicating a memory – it exists in layers and can’t
always be explained. Some parts are defined, others are out of focus. Maybe it never makes
sense, or maybe only part of it does. Sometimes it’s a feeling trying to be captured in shapes
and colors. Some memories are only a snapshot, like a painting. The Bernie Taupin lyric from
Your Song comes to mind – He remembers the eyes were the sweetest but can’t remember the
color – an obvious detail is forgotten for the sake of the greater whole. It took me a long time to
understand that. And maybe it’s a misinterpretation on my part, or I’m overthinking it. I’m not
sure it matters. Anyway, it’s only one line from a much larger whole of a song.
When starting out to create these paintings, I wanted to involve computers and machinery in
the process – a compromise between the impending AI takeover and old-fashioned physical
painting. They begin as traditional drawings and paintings of mine that are fed into a program,
which simplifies them into a form that can be machine carved into wood. Literal negative
spaces, to expose the wall, and postcard borders are added. Then the images are routed into
the surface and painting begins. Sometimes the colors are well thought out, and other times
they are allowed to come together spontaneously… and then changed and augmented (it’s all
about the journey). Each piece follows a slightly different path to completion. They mean
different things to me at different times. I urge you to discover your own interpretation.

Sharif Bey: Ancestral Vestiges

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Sharif Bey is a Syracuse-based artist and educator inspired by modernism, functional pottery, Oceanic Art and Art of the African diaspora. His works investigate the cultural and political significance of adornment and the symbolic and formal properties of archetypal motifs, while questioning how the meaning of icons and function transform across cultures and time.
“As a consequence of colonialism and conquest, African and Oceanic ceremonial objects made their way into Western consciousness as looted artifacts, stripped of their original frames of reference, inspiring European modernists both for their aesthetic interests and perceived otherness. Specifically, I am interested in investigating how fetish, racism, science fiction and popular culture impedes interpretations of ‘non-western’ cultural objects. I play on ‘westernized conjecture’ by producing works that suggest nonwestern utilitarian, ceremonial or ritualistic purpose but are ultimately designed for ‘display’ for the Western spectator/consumer. I ultimately seek to expose the interpretative deficiencies of the colonized mind and place them on display beside my work.
Although I trained as an apprentice, in a state-of-the art ceramics facility, my current work evolves outside of conventional Western facilities. I primarily work at home (oftentimes with my children), firing in my back yard or fireplace, and resist the narrative that ceramic artists require expensive facilities, costly materials or concentrated periods of time. I employ a combination of traditional and nontraditional ceramics materials and processes to suit my lifestyle. For me, working outside of institutional structures not only affords me more time with my family but invites other material and aesthetic influences into my trajectory. ” — Bey

Tap Into Your Wild Side! + Tamaleon KC Food Truck

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Tap into your wild side at Casual Animal Brewing Company where local beer, plants, and art intersect! Our taproom brims with floor to ceiling greenhouse vibes and graphic design. Enjoy a pint or flight of our 11 rotating taps, including our Local Motive beer where $2 of every pint is donated to a different KC non-profit every two months.

PLUS: Tamaleon KC food truck will be onsite 5 – 9pm with their homemade tamales, birria quesadillas, and more!

This month, every pint of the Local Motive Kolsch benefits Thelma’s Kitchen, providing social & mental health services and reducing food insecurity for KC neighbors in need. Meet some Thelma’s Kitchen representatives onsite 5 – 8pm to learn more about the organization, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming events.

We’re also the site for Journey to New Life’s Vintage Sale 4 – 8pm. All proceeds from this sale go to removing roadblocks and restoring opportunities to those re-entering life after prison.

Jones Gallery July First Friday Art Show

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Jones Gallery July Art Show!
First Friday opening, July 7th.
Artist reception is from 5 till 9pm.
All welcome and always free.
Also with 150 pieces on display, both local and national Artists
Show runs thru July 27th.
Also open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed Sunday
Jones Gallery 1717 Walnut, KCMO. 64108
816 – 421-2111
https://jonesgallerykc.com/
Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund
Crossroads Community Association

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