My artwork explores my passion for native plants of the tallgrass prairie and acts of cultivation, in the context of ecological crisis. My mixed media studio paintings comprise playful, emergent, and responsive layers of printed and painted botanical forms, combining multiple material processes, to suggest the many simultaneous systems and relationships active in the natural world. It is my hope that my paintings, with their shifting language and saturated color, can create dynamic worlds where wildflowers come in and out of focus. In these works, vitality and entanglement are prioritized over traditional compositional resolution, in an attempt to bewilder the viewer and decenter the human perspective of the natural world.

I often spend my nights awake, anxiously thinking over the current and coming ecological challenges, reading and listening for new paths forward. My days follow a joyful curiosity about these wonderful indigenous flowers. My artwork dwells in this paradoxical intensity as both a requiem for the lost prairie and an incantation for hope.

I also create public-facing artwork in the Flowers for Marlborough Project. This project confronts and attempts to impact urban blight in the Marlborough neighborhood of Kansas City, MO by interjecting large-scale paintings of native plants on neglected and abandoned properties. In addition, I have conducted free workshops and host native plant seedling give aways to the community.

Julie Farstad was born and raised in Elmira, New York. She earned her BFA in Painting at the University of Notre Dame and her MFA in Painting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Farstad is a Professor of Painting and Social Practice at the Kansas City Art Institute. She lives and works in the Marlborough neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri with her husband and two sons.

Berman’s abstract images follow their own alluvial logic from the inside out; as fragments build, plates collide, and colors accrete. Time and space prove the strength found in softness and the solidity contained in transparency. Collectively, the works in this exhibition depict a pause in time, a reflection of unconformity.

Laura Crehuet Berman is a Spanish-American artist who creates images that layer time, space, form and color together. The natural world inspires her, and there is a focus on play, improvisation, and relational dynamics in her work. Berman has created site-specific exhibitions and exhibited her print work in over 150 exhibitions at galleries and museums around the country and internationally. Her prints are widely collected and she has made commissioned work for a number of institutions and public collections.

Please join us for a solo exhibit of new work from Kansas City artist Emily Cramer. In Reverberation: Faith in Motion, Emily invites viewers to contemplate elements of faith such as courage, love, perseverance, and discernment through works with intimate details and dreamlike perspectives. Using images of water and ripples, Emily invites us to consider the ways our faith is not just our own: each act of faith belongs to the broader body of believers, where it ripples outward, carrying with it a witness of the divine source of all beauty and wonder.

In my artistic practice, Billie S. is not just a subject but an integral part of my creative process. Billie S. serves as a catalyst for working through the past, finding liberation, healing, and self-assurance, a fearless persona within me that frees me from self-criticism and embraces every part of who I am. For the past four years, I have created this work in the basement studio of my home. This exhibition marks the first time much of this art has been presented to the public. It feels especially fitting to present this work in the basement of my second home, the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center. 

-Debbie Barrett-Jones

VIEW CATALOG

ust close your eyes and hold your breath and everything will turn real pretty is a quote from Close Encounters. I feel it reflects the bizarre world we’re living in currently. Sometimes we need to alter our state of mind to face the reality of the world. I tend to accomplish that through art. This work is a reflection of the lightness & darkness that surrounds us. The effects of religious wars, political violence and social media has taken a toll on the fundamental goodness intended for our species. Although optimism tends to hold strong, I can’t help but wonder what we’re heading into while the darkness continues to fight for control. 

Artist Statement

My artwork tends to reflect our current state in the world. Religion, social issues, politics as well as humor play an enormous role in my approach. No expectations. Look, close your eyes, feel or don’t. 

Bio

Lori Raye Erickson is a multidisciplinary artist working in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her BFA from The Kansas City Art Institute and continued working at Hallmark cards for several years after graduating. Taking a break from the corporate world she has worked in property management while continuing to create works of art shown throughout the US.