Clements’ installation titled Blue Hydrangea references historical wallpaper and ornamental architecture. Her work explores the ambiguity of style and its capacity for imitation and distinction; its juxtaposition of the artificial and the natural; and its intersection with class, modernity, and taste. The fragility of the glass becomes metaphorical for the impermanence of beauty, the fleetingness of taste, and the constant pursuit to grasp and possess them.

Clements’ distinctive technique uses finely pulverized glass (frit) to create intricate patterns that get fused in a kiln and installed on walls or hanging in space. The wafer-thin panels reference naturalistic designs and floral motifs that explore ideas of beauty, taste, and impermanence.

Kate Clements received her MFA in Glass from the Tyler School of Art & Architecture in Philadelphia and her BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute. She has been awarded residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, Pilchuck Glass School, S12 Gallery in Bergen, Norway, and the Charlotte Street Foundation. She has exhibited nationally, and her work can be found in private and public collections including, the Chris and Angie Long Collection at CPKC KC CURRENT Stadium, Kansas City, MO and Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI. Clements’ work has received numerous awards including, Best in Show in the Heartland 6 exhibition in 2024 at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery. Her work has also been featured in Italian Vogue Gioiello, American Craft Magazine, and New Glass Review 36,37,38, 42, and 43.

Jones Gallery October Art Show!
First Friday October 4th., open from 6pm till 9pm.
Show also runs thru October 31st.
All welcome and always free, thanks!
Regular Gallery hours are by appointment,
from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed Sunday
Jones Gallery 1717 Walnut, KCMO. 64108
816 – 421‑2111
https://jonesgallerykc.com/

Studio Above has a new artists joining the group: Vanessa Lacy! Vanessa is a well known Kansas City artists with many talents and we are thrilled to have her. The other long term artists at Studio Above are Nancy Clay, William Rose, Noelle Stoffel, David Uhlig, and Jackie Warren. These artists work in various mediums and invite the public to come view their work.

My art for me is a sort of language, far more descriptive than written language. Reflecting on meaning, I feel my individuality, my existence and my place in the world is represented in the works. The process of painting for me is an investigation, questioning beauty, and the functionality and purpose in the beautiful forms and subjects I focus on. Abstracted, hybrid forms that were originally life at the microscopic level, I refer to them as atomic flowers. To me, they contain this incredible energy. They are small in and of themselves, but they are powerful, and this is where the everything comes into play. It’s the relationships in between them, what is around them, what patterns they are creating and how I am representing them as subjects. I invent my own world with these forms and create my own visual language, and then the experience one can have with them is something entirely different than they can have with anything else.

Kelly Porter is from Dallas, TX. She received her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO in 1997, where she studied printmaking and philosophy. Upon receiving a full scholarship, she continued her education at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY, where she received an MFA in 1999. Porter returned to Kansas City for a teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute and began showing her work in galleries across the country. Kelly Porter’s work has been described by critics as “unique, composed and calming, with layered and labor intensive surfaces.”

As a full-time professional artist, Porter has simultaneously produced work for multiple solo exhibitions, as well as creating and running the successful textile and wall covering company, Porter Teleo.

Her honors include being named as one of the “21 Under 30 Top Artists to Watch” in 2004 by Southwest-Art Magazine, “Top Visual Artist” in 2006 by Kansas City Magazine, a “Merit Award for Best Product Design” from Interior Design Magazine, 2008, and a number of editorials in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, Town and Country, Women’s Wear Daily, Veranda, Metro- politan Home, House Beautiful, Spaces Kansas City and IN Kansas City Magazine for her surface design work for Porter Teleo.

Kelly Porter’s personal contemporary artwork can be seen in private and corporate collections nationwide, including: Poetry and Rare Books Collection of New York, NY, Utilicorp, KC, MO, Sprint Corporate Collection, Overland Park, KS, Brandmeyer En- terprises, LLC, Leawood, KS, Shook Hardy and Bacon, KC, MO, Houlihan’s Restaurant Corp, Chicago, IL, American Century, KC, MO, and other public spaces including New York Fashion Week VIP Lounge, the Greenville Symphony Auditorium and the New York Palace Hotel Lobby. She has received numerous accolades in the art and design community and was recently honored as a guest speaker at the Creative Leadership Symposium through Hallmark, KC, MO.

Porter lives and works in Kansas City. She has been represented by Blue Gallery in the Kansas City Crossroads Arts Districts since 2000.

Artist Statement
My work has been shaped by my background growing up in a rural community in Iowa. Industrial farming is a common practice in Iowa. It wasn’t a world that I was quite a part of until I began working as a mower at an industrial hog farm during the summers when I was in college. Growing up in Iowa, I was taught from a young age about agricultural practices and where our food comes from. There was a general knowledge of industrial farming in rural communities even without working on a farm. I worked on an industrial hog farm for four years mowing their operations. My work depicts my experience working around industrial hog confinements for four summers in Iowa. I navigate this industry in my work through my memories, through the things I saw and experienced. I focus on the things that impacted me. This collection of work depicts the workings of industrial hog farming and the complications of operating a large-scale farm. Much of this is not seen by many. Through my work, I shine a light on the realities of an industry that are usually invisible.

Bio
Sadie Goll was born and raised in eastern Iowa. She studied printmaking at the University of Iowa and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019. She completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas in 2022. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate career, her work has been focused on industrial hog farming and her experiences with the industry as she grew up in Iowa. She works in a variety of printmaking techniques such as lithography, intaglio, relief, and monotype.