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.

Ammy McCollum | Entangled Ecosystems

September 6 & October 4 | 6 – 9pm

Ammy McCollum identifies as a queer visual artist and illustrator who creates work that tells the stories of unique characters and personalities found in nature. Elements of her work are fantastical, but they are built on a foundation of realism. Her work is for people looking for a connection to nature around them. The art takes the viewer on a journey of interconnectedness; exploring compelling and complicated relationships inherent in the natural world. By focusing on our local natural resources she hopes to bring them into the vibrant light of awareness, appreciation, and inspire curiosity about the world outside of four walls.

Ammy McCollum | Entangled Ecosystems

September 6 & October 4 | 6 – 9pm

Ammy McCollum identifies as a queer visual artist and illustrator who creates work that tells the stories of unique characters and personalities found in nature. Elements of her work are fantastical, but they are built on a foundation of realism. Her work is for people looking for a connection to nature around them. The art takes the viewer on a journey of interconnectedness; exploring compelling and complicated relationships inherent in the natural world. By focusing on our local natural resources she hopes to bring them into the vibrant light of awareness, appreciation, and inspire curiosity about the world outside of four walls.

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. This month, every pint of the Local Motive Pale ale benefits Project Green Light.

We are also hosting Point Flat BBQ Food Truck from 5pm until he sells out! Inside you’ll find additional local vendors including Good Taste by Grace, Paige Ledom Studio, and live pet portraits by Lauren Allen KC and Edward Lee Cavazos. Don’t miss this!