Just 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. 

Headspaces is a show about two friends getting to know the ins and outs of each other’s art processes and interior landscapes that produce their most recent work.

John Raux and JT Daniels both grew up in KCK and connected some years ago while painting murals in the Midwest. Early morning coffee conversations about each other’s upbringing and spirituality in process is the heartbeat of their collaboration.

Piecing together symbols and caricatures of personality and community, Daniels graphically layers the complexities of tradition, culture, and societal nuance into playful and uplifting collages of intersectional representation. 

Carving polystyrene pieces into lightweight stonelike forms, Raux’s sculptural painting process layers collisions and contouring colors into poetic, social, and spiritual commentary.

Read KC Studio Article

White is recognized for her use of dagger-like honey locust thorns throughout her sculptures and her pyrographic works on paper.

“All of my work is about the relationship between order and chaos and the constant navigation between the two. Behind the burning process of the pyrographs lies the agrarian practice of burning the fields to restore nitrogen to the soil and the cauterizing of wounds. The thornworks respond to the architectural nature of their structure and the language of rhythm and pattern found therein. Other works express a search for structure, rhythm and underlying form in the everyday; an effort to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary. And finally, I’m interested in the role of fear and anxiety as the core of creativity, uncomfortable friends that catapult us forward.”

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.

The goblet or chalice has a long history filled with mysticism, power, and ritual. At its core, a goblet is defined as a footed vessel intended to hold drink. However, the common understanding of what a goblet is expands beyond its function to its inherent symbolism relating to ceremony and opulence. Playful or traditional, the artists in the exhibition offer their interpretations of the goblet’s history and form. The exhibition includes over 50 ceramics, glass, and mixed media works. Purchase awards totaling up to $2,500 will be offered. The public will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite goblet.

The exhibition includes work by Joel Pisowicz, Gina Pisto, and Logan Reynolds and is the culmination of their artist residencies at the Belger Crane Yard Studios. The past year has been one of growth and change for the artists and the exhibition is a reflection of the “passing moments” experienced during this pivotal time in their careers. Passing Moments explores nostalgia, memorial, and how objects present a view into the past.

While styles and techniques are unique to each artist, all three delve into themes of memory and the passage of time in their practice. Joel Pisowicz refers to monoliths with his austere, vertical sculptures. His forms and aesthetics pay homage to the post-industrial environment of his blue-collar upbringing. Gina Pisto creates sculptures referencing still life, flora, and domestic space. Pisto meditates on how objects are imbued with memory and emotion, transforming them into metaphorical portals to the past. Logan Reynolds’ familiar yet distorted domestic objects use humor to explore intergenerational relationships and value systems. Collections of cartoonish items referencing popular culture and consumer products are treated equally with “nostalgic fondness” and ambivalence.