Widely known for her lively caricature art illustrations, Eileen McCoy is a Kansas City artist who has a reputation for “drawing the crowds”. For over 35 years, Eileen provides proven professional art services, specializing in caricature art entertainment and custom orders.
Eileen is award-winning prolific painter. Essentially self-taught, the artist has enhanced her skills over the years with study in private studio settings and workshops with other prominent artists. She holds a degree from the University of Missouri in Speech Communications/ Public Relations/Art. Eileen’s award-winning paintings have placed first in juried exhibitions and are in collections world wide.
Her artist’s work resume began at Hallmark Cards as a production artist where she honed her brush skills and line work. Then, as a freelance artist, she mixed and applied color to complex figurines in the Keepsakes Ornament department. She also worked as a display artist for Macy’s where she crafted large complex displays for merchandising.
Since then, in addition to Caricature art entertainment, her freelance services have been employed as a courtroom sketch artist, a muralist, a car-decal designer, a logo creator, an illustrator, landscape painter and portrait artist.
The paintings of Roger Shimomura pack a visual knockout punch. They are loaded with imagery ranging from pure Pop Americana to cringe-worthy racial stereotypes, visual puns, humor, and barbed wire. Shimomura’s complex pairing of influences is masterfully composed and depicted in bold flat color and confident line. The thought-provoking content is filtered through the lens of his personal experience as an American of Japanese heritage.
As a child, Shimomura was imprisoned, along with his family, in Minidoka (Idaho), one of ten concentration camps for Japanese Americans during WWII. The long-lasting impact of that experience and the subsequent reckoning with what it means to be an American have provoked and sustained Shimomura over his career, spanning more than fifty years.
Shimomura’s most recent exhibition American Muse at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art consisted of more than 100 paintings from three series, The Great American Muse, Minidoka and Beyond, and Muslims and More. These three series of paintings offer visual stories of our time and serve as a metaphor for the anxiety and threat posed by current events. The paintings sound a warning and remind us not to repeat past mistakes. If paintings can effect social change, then these are the paintings that lead the way.
Roger Shimomura is in the permanent collections of over 125 museums nationwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of American Art, National Portrait Gallery, LA County Museum and American Art Museum, Smithsonian. His personal papers and letters are being collected by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
By Blue Gallery
A pentimento is the reappearance of an original painting or drawing that has been painted over by the artist.
You may have heard of the pentimento that was found under the Mona Lisa, giving new information about the most famous painting in the world.
As I have been in the process of simplifying my work, I find that there is much more going on that is unseen. I believe painting is a series of adjustments no matter what the subject matter or lack thereof.
Continuous change occurs until the painting says we are done. My job as artist is to know when to stop.
Take time to look…there is more than first meets the eye.
Rainey received he first art award 52 years ago and since has attended Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO and the Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts, Masters Program. Represented exclusively by Blue Gallery since 2000, William Rainey’s paintings can be found in private and corporate collections worldwide. Select corporate collectors include; Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City, MO, Data Systems International, Kansas City, MO, Restaurant Management Company, Wichita, KS, Missouri Bank, Kansas City, MO, Lanard Toys Ltd., Hong Kong, and The Conafay Group, Washington, DC.
Belger Crane Yard Gallery presents Holidays at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery opening Friday, November 4 at 2011 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108. The exhibition will remain on view through December 31, 2022.
Holidays at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery is an annual tradition. Artists from across the country are invited to create artwork for the holiday season that make the perfect gifts for family and friends. Shoppers can choose from an array of unique ceramics, glass, metal, and more. Artworks will be available for purchase through December 31, 2022.
This year’s artists include Rachel Akin, Miguel Alaniz, Nicole Aquillano, Ian Bassett, Conner Burns, Mike Cerv, Kate Clements, Josh Dickens, Chris Dufala, Genevieve Flynn, Annette Gates, Josh Goering, Bianka Groves, Pierce Haley, Katie Hogan, Annie Honn, Brian Horsch, Nell Hull, Tyler Kimball, Caroline Meek, Jacob Meer, Joe Meinecke, Didem Mert, Kelsey Nagy, Dan Ohm, Brent Pafford, Ashley Pedone, Ronan Peterson, Will Preman (Yum Yum Ceramics), Justin Rothshank, Jamin Shepherd, Lilah Shepherd, Melanie Sherman, Lauryl Sidwell, Amy Smith, Madeline Steimle, Mike Stumbras, Wanda Tyner, and more. For the most current list of participating artists please visit BelgerArts.org.
