:the press room
five artists chosen to receive traveling grants!
The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIEAP)
has announced five recipients for grants to travel and explore relationships with other
artists in various countries around the world. (PDF of Press Release)
JACKIE BATTENFIELD - Author -
The Artists Guilde: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 / 7 - 8PM / Artists Coalition / free to ARTISTS STUDIOS:KC participating artists, $20 for KCAC members, $40 non-members.
{PDF of Kansas City Star Article}
Jackie will spend an hour discussing issues particular to open studios events and will answer your specific questions. Learn how this artist has supported herself and put two children through college working as an artist. Jackie’s new book, The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, has been called the ultimate how-to manual for working visual artists willing to "challenge the myth of the starving, disorganized artist." Online reviewers have raved, calling it “the best book available” on the topic. A working artist herself, Jackie has already inspired dozens of artists in Kansas City during her previous visits with the Creative Capital professional development team. Three years in the making, this book captures the best of Jackie’s advice, insight and wisdom about how to build a successful career. FREE for registered Artists Studios: KC artists! $20 for KCAC members, $40 for everyone else. Books will not be available at this event. (Get them at Rainey Books or Amazon.com)
"TRAVELING ARTISTS: SPEAKER SERIES"
Featuring Shira Silverston, Michael Schonhoff and Meredith Host
Thursday, January 22, 2009 / 7 - 9 PM / Artists Coalition / free to all.
{ Full Press Release with PDF}
Three LIAEP Grant recipients will discuss their international experiences in a presentation entitled "Traveling Artists: Speaker Series" at 7 p.m. in the Kansas City Artists Coalition. Speakers will include Shira Silverston, visiting artist from Israel; Michael Schonhoff, Kansas City artist that traveled to Berlin; and Meredith Host, member of the Non-Fiction Design Collective, who traveled to Germany. Linda Lighton, head of the Lighton Foundation, will introduce the speakers. The participating artists were able to pursue their international experiences thanks to the help of to the Lighton Foundation and the Kansas City Artists Coalition. The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) began in 2002 with a generous grant from the Lighton Fund to the Kansas City Artists Coalition. As of 2008, 68 artists have received grants for projects around the globe.
###
"GLOBAL OUTREACH"
LIGHTON FOUNDATION & GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK
Monday, November 17, 2008 / 7 - 9 PM / Epperson Auditorium
4415 Warwick Blvd.
{Global Entrepreneurship Website}
Three LIAEP Grant recipients will discuss their international experiences in a presentation entitled "Global Outreach: KCAI Educators Abroad" at 7 p.m. in the Epperson Auditorium. Free and open to the public, the event coincides with the Kauffman Foundation's Global Entrepreneurship Week, which takes place Nov. 17-23. Speakers will include Michael Wickerson, chair of the sculpture department; Steve Mayse, a professor in the School of Design; and Laura Berman, assistant professor of printmaking. Linda Lighton, head of the Lighton Foundation, will introduce the speakers. The participating artists were able to pursue their international experiences in part to the help of to the Lighton Foundation and the Kansas City Artists Coalition.The Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) began in 2002 with a generous grant from the Lighton Fund to the Kansas City Artists Coalition. As of 2008, 68 artists have received grants for projects around the globe.
####
The Kansas City Artists Coalition's:
LIGHTON INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS EXCHANGE PROGRAM
2008 Grant Recipients & 2009 Prospectus
{Press Release with images PDF} {LIAEP Application Info.}
The LIGHTON International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) began in 2002 with a generous grant from the Lighton Fund to the Kansas City Artists Coalition. As of 2008, 68 artists have received grants for projects around the globe.
The LIAEP GRANT is an important asset for dedicated artists who create work of exceptional quality and whose work and career is at a level to benefit from international exchange with peers. The Program was created to make the world smaller by giving artists and art professionals of different cultures the opportunity to work together with the hope that lasting friendships and understanding will develop. The chance to work in another country and to see the world from a different perspective enlarges a person and expands their mythology. The experience can break down barriers and, one person at a time; promote world peace and cultural cooperation.
The LIAEP GRANT has sent individuals to numerous locations around the world, both obscure and prominent, from Tanzania to Berlin; Bamako, Mali to London, England. Raechell Smith, a local curator, comments on her 2005 trip to Slovenia, offering a sense of the benefits of this program: “I feel compelled to understand contemporary artists working with issues that we might not understand at first glance. This was my very first travel to Eastern Europe and I found remnants of communism/socialism balanced with a new optimism and fresh opportunities for artists in these places to enter into an international conversation and community. For example, how does an artist grapple with recent memories of war and conflict while contemplating democracy, artistic freedom, and international connectivity for the first time? "
While the grants dispensed are reserved predominantly for visual arts driven projects, they have also been awarded to programs that have an array of goals. For example, architects Philippe Barriere, Cassie Waddell and William Bourne worked on the Aqabat Jabber Refugee Camp Architectural Design Project in 2007 in Palestine. While there, they created architectural improvements on the Aqabat Jabber Camp for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), improving amenities and housing for Palestinian refugees.
The range of projects completed by LIAEP recipients is broad, and so are the achievements that recipients have since reached. Take Michael Kruger, who traveled to Belgium to complete a residency in 2007, and then had a solo exhibition at the Sunday L.E.S. Gallery in New York from December 14, 2007 to January 6, 2008. Or Hesse McGraw, a 2004 recipient who traveled to Switzerland, who the Pitch Magazine named Best Curator in Kansas City in 2005. He went on to be the associate director of Max Protetch Projects in New York and is now the Curator of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, Nebraska).
We are proud to announce the LIAEP GRANT Recipients for 2008. The array of media used by the artists, painting, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, speaks to the range of artistic practices that the program supports.
SHANE EVANS, Kansas City, MO illustrator, will travel to Lesotho, South Africa where he will research a book project that will shed light on HIV and how a community is affected by the disease. He will be working with local organizers and directly with children in the community creating artwork, which will give the youth in this community a platform to express their ideas, emotions and thoughts.
HUGH MERRILL, Kansas City, MO artist, will take part in Go Down Arts Residency Program in Nairibi, Kenya. There he will work with American and Kenyan artists to create a community artwork/mural for orphans and disadvantaged children in Kibera, a “slum” district of Nairobi. He will also be developing an ongoing exchange exhibition program between Kenyan and Kansas City, MO artists.
SHIRA SILVERSTON, ceramics artist from Israel, will travel to Kansas City, MO. In Kansas City she will expand her horizons by mutual exchange with local artists and the community. She will work with local children and teenagers on a ceramics workshop and special project.
MICKI SKUDLARCZYK, ceramics artist from Portland, OR, will travel to Yucatan, Mexico. She will take part in La Fundacion Gruber Jez Residency in Cholul. Here she will work side-by-side local artists who will offer insight into local traditions and customs involving the arts.
GRANT MILLER, Kansas City, MO artist, will travel to Paris, France and take part in the ‘Cite Internationale des Arts Residency’ program. He will create a new body of work that reflects the complexities that exist within a completely different environment and culture. He will share his work with the Kansas City community through a lecture and panel discussion upon his return.
PAUL MESNER, Kansas City, MO puppeteer, will take part in a workshop at ‘El Institut International de la Marionnette’ in France. Here he will learn one of the oldest forms of popular theater, the art of the Pulcinella, by Italian Master Bruno Leone. He will further develop his puppetry skills and teach the most this ancient form to other individuals once he returns.
PIOTR CHIZINSKI, Texas sculptor, will visit Germany where he will take part in The Hilmsen1 Residency. He will learn new techniques in both ceramic and metalworking. He will be completing a series of collaborative and individual works that will be brought back to the US for exhibition in the Kansas City area.
JANE INGRAM ALLEN, paper artist from Massachusetts, will collaborate with artists of Warm Heart Art Tanzania in Moshi, Tanzania, East Africa. She will work with local people, artists and plant experts to identify new plant fibers for papermaking and will create new works using local materials.
JOSEPH KAMM, sculptor from Pennsylvania, traveled to the International Ceramic Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark. In Denmark Joseph was able to take part in dialogue with artists from Europe and Mexico and form relationships with an international community. He participated in a variety of workshops that have allowed him to grow both as an artist and as an individual.
2009 LIAEP PROSPECTUS
The LIAEP GRANT seeks applications from dedicated artists who create work of exceptional quality and whose work and career is at a level to benefit from international exchange with peers. The program is especially interested in funding artists who have not yet worked in a foreign country and in funding travel and residencies to countries that are less westernized. Artists from Kansas City and the Central Plains/Midwest area receive first priority for funding. The maximum grant is $5,000. Application forms are available for downloading at http://www.kansascityartistscoalition.com Application deadlines are March 15 and August 15, (not a postmark deadline). Artists should apply 6-12 months prior to intended travel dates. Notification will be mailed two months after deadlines. Only complete applications will be reviewed. International artists who have upcoming projects in the United States and wish to travel to Kansas City may submit inquiries as to the feasibility of a local residency. Submit via email only to Janet Simpson at jfskcac at sbcglobal.net.
###
TOYS-FOR-TOTS
Thank You!
A special THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to our Toys for Tots campaign. Look at the picture and you will see how well we did (one box of toys was picked up prior to this photo). A very special thanks to RJ Koch and his friends who collected most of what you now see!
The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys-for-Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during each year and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community. Toys-for-Tots is to deliver, through a shiny new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive citizens and community leaders.
The objectives of Toys-for-Tots are to help needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas; to play an active role in the development of one of our nation's most valuable natural resources - our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause and to contribute to better communities in the future.
###
ART MATERIALS FOR THE CHILDREN OF SOUTH AFRICA
November 1st through November 22nd, 11-5pm
Shane Evans, a recipient of the LIAEP Grant, will travel to Lesotho, South Africa to research a book project that will shed light on HIV and how a community is affected by the disease. Shane will be working with local organizers and directly with children in the area creating artwork, which will give the youth in the community a platform to express their ideas, emotions and thoughts.Shane currently seeks art material donations and additional assistance in order to ship materials to Lesotho.
Please bring new art materials such as color pencils, paper, glue and crayons to the Kansas City Artists Coalition. We welcome used materials as long as they are in good condition.
All donations must be received by Saturday, November 22, 2008!
Kansas City Artists Coalition
201 Wyandotte, KCMO 64105
Wednesday – Saturday 11-5pm
816.421.5222
###
ON VIEW IN MALLIN GALLERY
The Kansas City Artists Coalition Presents: “War Diaries: Works by Steve Mumford”
October 3, 2008 – November 14, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, October 3 / 5-8pm Free to all.
{Press Release PDF with images} {Brochure PDF}
Soon after the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003, Steve Mumford traveled to the country as an embedded journalist, witnessing and recording first¬ hand his experiences of the conflict. He shuttled back and forth, between Iraq and New York, over the next few years with help from a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant in 2007. From these travels he created watercolor paintings and drawings that demonstrate the horrifyingly violent aspects of war, as well as the surprisingly banal, such as a soldier taking a nap or playing cards.
Steve Mumford is part of a tradition of artists that have documented war and conflict. In fact, numerous masterpieces of European Art History have taken war as their subject, from Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937) to Francisco Goya’s ground breaking The Third of May 1808 (1814). Within the American tradition, Winslow Homer is widely known for his paintings documenting the Civil War, such as Prisoners from the Front (1866), and notably Mumford cites Homer as an influence on him.
To his credit, Mumford doesn’t push a political agenda but allows viewers to make their own decisions—about conflict, the American presence in the Middle East and our interaction with Iraqi culture.
Mumford received a B.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA and a M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. Mumford lives and works in NYC.
ARTIST PAGES: EXHIBITION BROCHURE Artist Pages an illustrated exhibition brochure, accompanies Steve Mumford’s exposition and features an essay by Hesse McGraw, Curator from The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts The publication will be available for free at the Kansas City Artists Coalition.
MUMFORD'S STATEMENT ABOUT EXHIBITION
These are a selection of drawings and watercolors done or at least started from life in Iraq in March and April of 2007. This was my 5th trip to Iraq as a war artist, and was funded in part through a Leighton Travel Grant.
My goal has been to record the war directly and subjectively in drawings. I spent about 3 weeks at the Ibn Sina Hospital, the US military’s famous “Baghdad ER”, where the staff gave me almost unlimited access to draw. The morgue was off limits however, as was making any drawings of insurgent patients, which would violate the Geneva Convention. I wandered from the ER to the operating rooms (where I donned scrubs to draw) to the intensive care wards; I stayed with the Public Affairs Officer and his roommates in a building nearby.
The experience was intense, but I often found that the act of drawing provided an emotional buffer: it was a kind of job to do, to try to get it right. To me these are neither pro nor anti-war artworks. I hope they show both the human cost of war as well as the inspiring willingness to bear this cost on the part of the US and Iraqi soldiers and police. And of course, one must show the suffering of the civilians who never asked to be drawn into the war.
Subsequently I spent a week with Task Force 4/9 of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, which was patrolling Haifa Street in Baghdad. I was surprised that this neighborhood, which had been very dangerous in 2004, was now mostly under the control of the Iraqi military and had quieted down considerably. It seems to have been a bellwether for the subsequent success of the surge and the newfound cooperation between the US and Iraqi military forces.
ALSO ON EXHIBIT
ON VIEW IN JACQUELINE B. CHARNO GALLERY
BOOBY TRAPS: The Work of Claire Rau- Rau’s work reflects her interest in armed conflict. Her artworks are a parody of hand-to-hand arms and barriers.
ON VIEW IN THE UNDERGROUND
OPPOSITION- Invitational exhibit on opposition, conflict and discord
ABOUT THE KANSAS CITY ARTISTS COALITION The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC), an artist-centered, artist-run alternative space, presents a variety of contemporary visual art exhibitions in its Mallin Gallery, Jacqueline B. Charno Gallery and the Underground. The Artists Coalition also provides opportunities for artists including grants, panel discussions, publications, programs and workshops, as well as, the Annual Benefit Art Auction, Artist Toolkits, the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP), Open Studios and the River Market Regional Exhibition. The Artists Coalition was created to change the lives of Kansas City visual artists and to promote visual arts awareness and artistic culture in the Midwest and the surrounding region. (IMAGES UPON REQUEST)
© September 28, 2008 Kansas City Artists Coalition
###
IN MEMORIAM
A dear friend and tireless supporter of the Artists Coalition, Leigh Rosenberg Earnest, died Monday from a rare form of cancer.
Leigh worked to bring art into the lives of students, friends and colleagues. The Artists Coalition was fortunate to have been an important part of Leigh’s work in the arts and is honored to announce the Leigh Rosenberg Earnest Memorial Fund.
The Leigh Rosenberg Earnest Memorial Fund will continue her advocacy by providing an annual award to a deserving Kansas city artist and/or one or more scholarships to art students selected for the Artists Coalition’s Undergraduate Student Art Show.
If you would like to contribute to the fund please send your contribution to The Kansas City Artists Coalition, 201 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO 64105 indicate Memorial Fund in the memo of your contribution check. Call 816-421-5222 to make a contribution by credit card or go online form will be posted on our website soon.
OPENING FRIDAY MAY 2, 5-8P.M.
NEW PAINTINGS BY JANE BOOTH
PAINTINGS BY BRIAN FIRKINS
WITHIN 500 FEET: EXPLORATION PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUNE ROYS
OPENING FRIDAY, MAY 2 FROM 5 - 8 PM
GALLERY TALKS WITH JANE BOOTH, BRIAN FIRKINS, AND JUNE ROYS FRIDAY, MAY 2,
6:30PM
THE ARTISTS COALITION ANNOUNCES ARTISTS PAGES
The Kansas City Artists Coalition pleased to announce a new project— ARTISTS PAGES—providing artists with critical evaluation of their work within a broader artistic context.
ARTISTS PAGES will also provide the audience with an in-depth look at an artists’ body of work by an independent arts writer and promote the artist and Kansas City to a national audience.
The first publication in this series is on the work of Jane Booth, local artist exhibiting in the Artists Coalition Mallin Gallery May 2 – June 13, 2008. The essay is by Dana Self, independent curator and writer, Kansas City, Missouri.
Support for ARTISTS PAGES has been provided by The Francis Families Foundation.
Artist Coalition members and the national arts community will receive the publication via mail early in May 2008.
ODDS & ENDS
The Artists Coalition needs volunteer gallery sitters on May 10th and 17th. Please call Janet at 816-421-5222 if you would like to help.
STUDIO TO SHARE on the fifth floor of the Hobbs Building in the West Bottoms. (1427 West 9th Street). Your half: $350 per month for approximately 800 sq feet. For more information contact Ada (913) 481-4095 or e-mail ArtistAKoch@earthlink.net
Our website www.kansascityartistscoalition.org will be off online May 3rd
Difficulties with CaFÉ? I just wanted to let you know the CaFÉ web site was down due to a power transmitter failure in the state of New Mexico on Thursday April 24.
CALL FOR ARTISTS
THE ARTISTS COALITION UNDERGROUND
Deadline August 1, 2008. OPPOSITION. the artists coalition underground, exhibition October 3 – November 14, 2008. Send cd or e-mail url with images to be considered for exhibition. janetsimpson@kansascityartistscoalition.org
“Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. A conflict can be internal (within oneself) or external (between two or more individuals). Conflict as a concept can help explain many aspects of social life and social death such as social disagreement, conflicts of interests, and fight between individuals, groups, or organizations. In political terms, "conflict" can refer to wars, revolutions or other struggles, which may involve the use of force as in the term armed conflict.”
Also showing in October-November:
MALLIN GALLERY – STEVE MUMFORD WAR DIARIES documents the war and his day-to-day experiences with Iraqi’s, American soldiers and journalists. His awareness of the historical significance of the war led him to decide to go to Iraq and record these events as he saw them, with no moral or political context to sway the viewer. This exhibition will feature work from his journals. Mumford lives in New York City.
CHARNO GALLERY – CLAIRE RAU BOOBY TRAPS reflect her interest in armed conflict. Her artworks are dysfunctional; a parody of hand-to-hand arms and barriers made from a range of materials like fabric, steel and wood. Textile patterns, lace and camouflage are of considerable influence. Rau lives in Colorado Springs, CO.
MYSPACE/OURSPACE/YOURSPACE
Artists’ News is now on MySpace.
To post a comment about your exhibitions, openings or other news you want to share; setup a
MySpace profile (it’s free and simple), then ask to be KCAC’s friend, that’s it.
Post your news now.
APPLY NOW
RIVER MARKET REGIONAL EXHIBITION
Deadline: MAY 1, 2008
Enter online at www.CallForEntry.org
July 11 – August 15, 2008
© April 28, 2008 Kansas City Artists Coalition
###
ABOUT THE KANSAS CITY ARTISTS COALITION
The Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC), an artist-centered, artist-run alternative space, presents a variety of contemporary visual art exhibitions in its Mallin Gallery, Jacqueline B. Charno Gallery and the Underground. The Artists Coalition also provides opportunities for artists including grants, panel discussions, publications, programs and workshops, as well as, the Annual Benefit Art Auction, Artist Toolkits, the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP), Open Studios and the River Market Regional Exhibition. The Artists Coalition was created to change the lives of Kansas City visual artists and to promote visual arts awareness and artistic culture in the Midwest and the surrounding region.
###