Juliet Raven is a senior at the Kansas City Art Institute and is from Dodge City, Kansas. Here is what the artist has to say about her piece:

“I am interested in the interactions between humans and nonhumans, creatures and their environments, and exploring the complex interconnected ecosystems which we are all a part of. I develop a fluid narrative through the process of making each piece using a natural stylistic approach with a gentle hand. I intend the result to be interpreted as visual poems that emotionally engage the viewer rather than requiring intellectual analysis. I work empathetically, and as such, my art is very much an extension of my emotional self. Through these representations of my experiences, I am working to know myself better and to share this journey with the viewer. For this piece I was working to show the commonalities between humans and birds with the act of nesting; building a home or a safe place to rest. Specifically comparing humans to ravens as they, especially when young, like to collect shiny objects and bring them back to their nests or show other birds. Scattered throughout this piece you can find various objects relating to humans, birds, or both.”

The Belger Glass Annex offers Introduction to Hot Sculpting, taught by assistant glassblower Jessalyn Mailoa, September 9 through 11. Jessalyn is a talented artist who incorporates glassblowing and hot sculpting techniques in her work. The workshop will focus on hot sculpting, a spot-heating technique that involves using a torch to sculpt glass. Students are encouraged to come with project ideas to employ new workshop techniques, and bring their projects to life. To learn more about the workshop and Jessalyn, visit our website, or so sign up today. Space is limited and fills up quickly.

Introduction to Hot Sculpting is a three-day workshop that introduces students to basic hot sculpting techniques with a focus on working with solid glass. In this workshop students will become familiar with specialty equipment like the garage and the “hot torch.” Students will learn how to bring and apply bits of glass to their sculpture, how to add patterns using glass stringer and powder, and how to texture the glass using unconventional tools like knives, forks, meat mallets, and dental picks.

This will be a project-based workshop where students are encouraged to employ the techniques learned in class to create their own unique sculptures.

*Glass 2 or equivalent required.

Click here for more information

At the Heart of the Matter is a solo exhibition of new work by artist Judith G. Levy. Throughout the exhibit, she wrestles with the heaviness of contemporary life, saturated by gender-based violence, racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, ecological disaster, and the global pandemic. In the midst of seemingly ceaseless emergency, this exhibition stakes its claims on empathy, care, and a shared humanity. Like all forms of representation in her practice, the individual works are both real and metaphorical, playful and sincere. Using still and moving images and found objects, she moves across mediums, gently nudging visual and material cultures toward more compassionate horizons.

Levy depicts everyday objects as agents that reveal a shared human vulnerability. The front door acts as a threshold into the sanctity of home, while doubling as protection from the potential perils of the world beyond. The exhibit also reflects on the fluidity of global and local identities in a series of portraits photographed in simple, natural light. All of the participants are connected to the artist through trusted, word-of-mouth networks. Often dressed to reference their countries of origin, they cradle vegetables and fruits that are common, though not native to the United States. The series is a complex expression of immigration provoking viewers to consider their assumptions behind feelings of familiarity and difference. Old travel postcards are overpainted to reconstruct their locations, transformed by drought and flooding in present times and our not too distant futures. Through worn away landscapes and monuments, this work turns ironically on the souvenir’s inherent nostalgia for a lost world that was always predicated on the devaluation of lives and ecologies.

Exhibition hours: Tuesday through Friday from 10 – 4pm and Saturday from 12 – 4pm
Location: 1708 Campbell Street, Kansas City, MO, 64108

SUMMER GROUP EXHIBITION

Rich Bowman

Luis Garcia-Nerey

Lisa Noonis

Joe Ramiro Garcia

Brooke Golightly

Marv Graff

Bernal Koehrsen

Kelly Porter

Eric Zener

William Rainey