Charlotte Street Foundation

Charlotte Street Foundation is pleased to present High Seas, Low Planes, a multi-media installation by Kansas City based artist and Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award Fellow Ari Fish.  High Seas Low Planes is intended to serve as a “temporary temple,” a sacred space for people of all kinds to congregate. Groups and individuals are invited and encouraged to use the space as they wish, including for such activities as a class, performance, sermon, meditation, spiritual practice, ritual, or conversation. Learn how to reserve time for your event!

Opening Reception: Friday, February 3, 6-9pm
Location: La Esquina / 1000 West 25th St. KCMO 64108
Exhibition Runs: February 3 – March 10
Gallery Hours: 12-6pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, or by appointment
Exhibition Website: highseaslowplanes.blogspot.com find reservation information, tenets, and events
Special Events: (see the installation’s complete calendar of events at highseaslowplanes.blogspot.com)
Paul Rudy + Heidi Svoboda: Sounds of Neptune’s Homecoming – February 22, 6pm, High Seas Low Plans @ La Esquina

The installation will be comprised of multiple projections of computer generated color light schemes, projected from the four cardinal directions onto large swaths of poly-filament “clouds” and sewn vinyl forms suspended from the ceiling. Drawing on theories of color therapy and color psychology, the color projections will work together to induce energy, vitality, calmness, and relaxation. These effects will be furthered through white noise, subtle bell tones and low hums presented in surround sound.  Visitors will be able to experience the installation from reclining positions on mobile scooters upholstered with comfort foam and fabric, or by resting on large, stationary boulder-shaped pillows.

The installation will be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 12-6pm and by appointment. Individuals and groups may reserve use of this space for activities and events during these hours, or may request use of the space at other times, to be accommodated whenever possible. More information, a calendar of activities, information about requesting use, and the tenets for the use of the space may be found at highseaslowplanes.blogspot.com.

Read the press release or learn how to make a reservation for your event.

In celebration of Charlotte Street Foundation’s 15th Anniversary, Charlotte Street and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art present Charlotte Street Artists’ Walks, a series of tours and talks at the Museum led by Charlotte Street Awards Fellows.At these Friday evening events, visitors will see the Nelson’s collection through the eyes of some of Kansas City’s most exceptional artists as they are led on tours of works in the Nelson’s collection that particularly inspire and resonate with Charlotte Street Award Fellows.In conjunction with the tours, each artist will present a short slide talk about their own art.

Charlotte Street Artists’ Walks

Dates: Friday, January 13 + Sunday, January 15– Peregrine Honig + Mark Southerland
Friday, February 10 – Anne Lindberg – tours/talks combos begin at 6 + 7pm – FULL, NO TICKETS LEFT
Sunday, February 12 – Anne Lindberg – tours/talks combos begin at 1 + 2pm – REGISTER NOW (follow link then click  ”in gallery programs” on sidebar)
Friday, March 9 – Tom Gregg – Registration coming soon
Friday, May 11 – David Ford – Registration coming soon

Cost: FREE; space is limited so registration is required
Location: Nelson-Atkins Museum

Find all the details in the press release.

Black Thorns in the White Cube is an original exhibition presenting a selection of photography, prints, drawings, and artist books by eight contemporary artists who are influenced by the heavy, dark, and mystic obscurity of Black Metal music. Following its debut in Kansas City, January 20-March 3, 2012, the show will travel to Western Exhibition in Chicago, IL.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 20, 6-9pm
Curator Talk: Saturday, January 21, 4pm (additional programs and events to be announced)
Location: Paragraph Gallery / 23 East 12th St KCMO 64105
Exhibition Runs: January 20 – March 3
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thurs 11-6pm

Based in the United States and Europe participating artists include Alexander Binder (Stuttgart, Germany), Vincent Como (Brooklyn), Terence Hannum (Baltimore), Karlynn Holland (Brooklyn), Elodie Lesourd (Paris, France), Aaron Metté (Brooklyn), Grant Willing (Brooklyn), and Tereza Zelenkova (London, England). Engaging with the symbols, history, and myths of the Black Metal music subculture, their images explore haunted Germanic forests, descents into the void, visual translations of sonic experiences, ontologies of Black Metal band logos, and barren western landscapes. Together their artwork contributes to the discourse currently occurring in Black Metal theory, examines the innovations and significance of contemporary Black Metal visual art, and offers an account of its critical disruptions.

About the Curator:
Amelia Ishmael is an artist whose practice includes critiquing, historicising, teaching, and curating other artists’ practices. She has shared her gleanings on Black Metal and Contemporary Art at conferences internationally, including the Black Metal Theory Symposium in London and the Home of Metal Conference in Wolverhampton, U.K. Her writings have also appeared in ArtSlant, Art Papers, and Review. She received a BFA in Photography and New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MA in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was an Urban Culture Project studio resident.

Find more details about the show and the artists in the press release!

See work from the show in the online video and check out the write up from CVLT Nation!

Artist-curators Anne Thompson and Nathan Boyer present an exhibition drawn from the vast archive of the multifaceted painter, printmaker, collector, and comic artist Frank Stack. Stack, who retired in 2003 after forty years as an art professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is also the graphic artist Foolbert Sturgeon. He created this pseudonym as a young man, allowing him to satirize politics and religion without running afoul of Midwestern conservative sensibilities.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 20, 6-9pm
Discussion: Saturday, January 21, 2:30pm, with Frank Stack and curators
Location: Project Space / 21 East 12th St. KCMO
Exhibit Runs: January 20 – March 3, 2012
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thurs 11am-6pm

In 1962, Stack published The Adventures of Jesus, considered many to be the first underground comic book. He went on to become an internationally renowned graphic novelist, collaborating with writer Harvey Pekar on the American Splendor comics and illustrating the critically acclaimed graphic novel Our Cancer Year (winner of the 1995 Harvey award for Best Graphic Album of Original Work), all the while continuing to produce conventional landscapes, portraits, and nudes under his real name.

With this exhibition, MU professors Thompson and Boyer explore the politics of artistic identity — both Stack’s negotiation of his artistic personae and the artist’s role more generally. The show combines Stack’s traditional work with rarely seen original drawings from his graphic novels, and considers both bodies of work in the context of Stack’s large personal collection of Old Master prints. Works by artists including Daumier address the problems of the artist in society, including the desire for fame balanced against the struggle to maintain creative integrity.

See all the details in the press release.

See work from the show in the online video.

performARTS Series Launches in KC Studio November/December Issue and on KCPT’s The Local Show November 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Charlotte Street Foundation will be featured in the May/June issue of KC Studio; air date on KCPT’s The Local Show TBD.

Townsend Communications in Kansas City, MO along with KCPT, Kansas City Public Television, presents a new series called performARTS. Underwritten by Speas Memorial Trusts and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, the series will be part of the next six issues of KC Studio and will include installments about some of Kansas City’s best artistic organizations. The six featured performARTS organizations were selected out of hundreds of arts organizations across this metropolitan community.

Along with the printed story in KC Studio, KCPT will produce a piece on each of the selected groups airing multiple times over the next 12 months on KCPT’s The Local Show.

The performARTS participants for this inaugural assembly are:

- Charlotte Street Foundation
- Coterie Theatre Read the performARTS Coterie Theatre article Named by Time Magazine as “One of the five best theaters for young audiences in the U.S.”, the Coterie Theatre has been delighting audiences, young and old alike, for over 30 years. This Thursday, November 10th at 7:30 pm on 19.1 HD,  on KCPT’s primetime public and cultural affairs program, THE LOCAL SHOW, in the first of our performArts series in conjunction with KC Studio Magazine, Randy Mason goes behind the curtain at the Theatre’s home on the first floor of Hallmark’s Crown Center shops to see how Producing Artistic Director Jeff Church & Company produce a variety of youth-oriented shows and community programming. From their current show Seussical and their New-York bound musical Lucky Duck to the Young Playwrights’ Festival and the free classroom-touring Dramatic Aids Education Project, the Coterie continues to provide important entertaining and educational theater to Kansas City audiences and beyond.
- The Kansas City Chorale
- Quality Hill Playhouse
- Kansas City Actors Theatre
- Paul Mesner Puppets

On two cold nights in December and January, Charlotte Street Foundation will host WINTER MUSIC presented by The Secret Commonwealth of E.F.&F.

Date:  January 14 featuring AARON MARTIN, SHAWN E. HANSEN, + MATT HILL
Time: Doors open at 9pm; show at 10pm
Venue: La Esquina / 1000 W. 25th St. KCMO 64108
Tickets: $5 suggested donation

WINTER MUSIC is two nights of new music from local artists more well known internationally than in their home town; artists who deal in sounds not suited to rock bars or jazz clubs; artists of melodies buried in the hiss of silence, that draw on the history of European film music, 20th century classical, and the shimmering roots of the psychedelic tradition.

Find out more about WINTER MUSIC and the featured performers.

See a clip from the show in the online video.

Black Thorns in the White Cube is an original exhibition presenting a selection of photography, prints, drawings, and artist books by eight contemporary artists who are influenced by the heavy, dark, and mystic obscurity of Black Metal music. Following its debut in Kansas City, January 20-March 3, 2012, the show will travel to Western Exhibition in Chicago, IL.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 20, 6-9pm
Curator Talk: Saturday, January 21, 4pm (additional programs and events to be announced)
Location: Paragraph Gallery / 23 East 12th St KCMO 64105
Exhibition Runs: January 20 – March 3
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thurs 11-6pm

Based in the United States and Europe participating artists include Alexander Binder (Stuttgart, Germany), Vincent Como (Brooklyn), Terence Hannum (Baltimore), Karlynn Holland (Brooklyn), Elodie Lesourd (Paris, France), Aaron Metté (Brooklyn), Grant Willing (Brooklyn), and Tereza Zelenkova (London, England). Engaging with the symbols, history, and myths of the Black Metal music subculture, their images explore haunted Germanic forests, descents into the void, visual translations of sonic experiences, ontologies of Black Metal band logos, and barren western landscapes. Together their artwork contributes to the discourse currently occurring in Black Metal theory, examines the innovations and significance of contemporary Black Metal visual art, and offers an account of its critical disruptions.

About the Curator:
Amelia Ishmael is an artist whose practice includes critiquing, historicising, teaching, and curating other artists’ practices. She has shared her gleanings on Black Metal and Contemporary Art at conferences internationally, including the Black Metal Theory Symposium in London and the Home of Metal Conference in Wolverhampton, U.K. Her writings have also appeared in ArtSlant, Art Papers, and Review. She received a BFA in Photography and New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MA in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was an Urban Culture Project studio resident.

Find more details about the show and the artists in the press release!

The evening will feature live music performances by Brad Cox, Paul Rudy, and Mark Southerland, followed by the premier of the video documentary of WE!. See what you missed, or relive what you loved. The evening will conclude with a forum to meet the artists and discuss your experience of the project.

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 7pm
Venue: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St. KCMO 64108
Cost: $5 – $10 suggested donation

More details are in the press release!

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project is excited to announce its first ever Biannual Open Studios Weekend, showcasing the work of artists in its Studio Residency Program for visual and performing artists. The 2-day event will include live music, dance, comedy improv, and cross-disciplinary performances, special sales, temporary installations, workshops, participatory activities, artist talks, and more, highlighting the work of 30 visual artists and 6 performing artists/ensembles awarded free studios for year-long terms through Charlotte Street’s competitive Urban Culture Project Studio Residency Program. All events are free and open to the public.

Dates: Friday, December 9, 5:30pm – 9:00pm
Saturday, December 10, 11:00am – 3:00pm

Studio Residency Venues:
Partnership Place / 906 Grand, 13th Floor
City Center Square / 1100 Main, 5th Floor
Town Pavilion / 1100 Walnut, 6th Floor

Visit theOpen Studios page for more information and a downloadable Open Studios program, including a map, brief descriptions of each artist’s studio, and a complete schedule of events and activities!

City Center Square and Charlotte Street Foundation are pleased to announce the upcoming debut of “AirMail,” a window installation by Kansas City-based artist Margaret Shelby.  To remain on view for approximately one year, the mail-themed installation was commissioned by City Center Square for its south-facing window on 12th Street, just west of Main, through an open call to artists facilitated by Charlotte Street Foundation.  It will be unveiled at a brief public ceremony on Friday, December 9 at 5pm.

The installation relates to the United States Post Office located within City Center Square, specifically taking as inspirations the personal nature of handwritten correspondence, the intimate process of folding and sending a letter, and the person-to-person transport and delivery of this correspondence via postal service.

Read all the details in the press release!