Charlotte Street Foundation

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Paragraph Gallery & Project Space present Augustina Eck (Ann Arbor, MI), Erika Lynne Hanson (Kansas City, MO), and Hillary Wiedemann (Oakland, CA).

Opening Reception: Friday, November 18, 6-9pm
Artists Talk: Saturday, November 19, noon
Exhibition Runs: November 18, 2011 – January 7, 2012
Gallery: Paragraph + Project Space / 21-23 East 12th St. KCMO 64105
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thurs 11-6pm

research, n.1

The act of searching carefully for or pursuing a specified thing or person; an instance of this.

At the core of these three artists’ works is a performative process: the artist self-consciously enacting the role of researcher, on a quest for new discovery. In all three cases, the artists are mining for information buried in original source material, which they pursue through acts of close interrogation, re-interpretation, and reenactment.The outcome of this searching takes the form of artworks including photographs, video and sound, sculpture, and installation. Though Eck, Hanson and Weidemann have focused on events and mediums that are disparate, themes of memory, notions of the sublime, perceptual shifts, and landscape connect their projects and form the bases for a conversation among their works.

Learn about all 3 artists, and their projects, in the press release!

Read a review from the KC Star.

Charlotte Street Foundation is pleased to present the world premiere of STRANGER FRIEND. This multi-media production weaves together choreography and video by Leralee Whittle, music compositions by Paul Sprawl, and performance by Whittle, Sprawl and Stephanie Fellner, all currently based in Minneapolis.

Performance Dates: November 10, 11, 12, and 13
Curtain: 8 pm
Tickets: $15 at the door or $12 in advance through http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/203510
Venue: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St KCMO 64108

“In our dreams we are free to befriend strangers in a kaleidoscopic fantasy world, while in our waking lives we keep most strangers at a distance,” writes Whittle. “There are exceptions. The troubadour, the messenger, the bard, the lone cowboy or the outsider may be allowed to inspire our everyday lives with stories of the great beyond, whether distant land, or psychic depth. These iconic strangers inadvertently disrupt the status quo, causing us to think in new ways and broaden our horizons. This kind of stranger is, in fact, a friend. On the other hand, a person we regard as a friend may be excessively self important and obsessed with the task of belonging. She is actually a stranger.”

In STRANGER FRIEND, dancers, activated by music, excavate memories about union and separation, and re-contextualize standards of friendship and intimacy. The piece includes dances about female identity and the social dynamics between two “friends,” in which a female subconscious is contrasted with superficial identity induced by mass marketing’s homogenizing influence.  The ultra-material world here exists as a force of modern animism, revealing its power through trappings in “dances of possession.”

Ultimately, STRANGER FRIEND challenges imposed standards for intimacy by activating and entering a world of strangers, where truth is told and the imagination thrives.

Read all the details!

Charlotte Street Foundation and The Pistol are pleased to present Wham City Comedy Tour. Having made their mark on the DIY music and art scene, Baltimore’s Wham City collective is heading back out on the road this fall to change the face of comedy. Their two-hour variety show covers experimental theater, performance art, video, and stand-up.

Venue: Paragraph Gallery, 23 E. 12th St, KCMO 64105
Date: Wednesday, Nov.9; Door open 7pm, Show 8pm
Cost: $10 suggested donation

Since their inception in 2004, a sense of humor has always been important to the art of Wham City. But they only began tackling comedy head-on in 2010 when they mounted the first ever Wham City Comedy Tour which earned coverage in Spin Magazine, and it got them an invitation to perform on stage with Second City in October. It also spawned the immensely popular Wham City Comedy Night, an off-the-wall amateur comedy night hosted each month by Ben O’Brien and Mason Ross at the Zodiac in Baltimore.

For more information go to the Wham City website.

Kansas City based photographer Deanna Dikeman will present an artist talk about her experience at Art Omi International Artists Residency program in Upstate New York, which she attended this summer. Dikeman will speak about her work and experience at Art Omi and the impact of the residency on her art, career, and creative process.

Artists Talk: November 7 at 6pm, FREE
Gallery: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St. KCMO 64108

Each year, Charlotte Street sponsors one past Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award recipient at Art Omi. The International Artists Residency is a three week residency program for visual artists from around the world, which provides artists with a studio, living quarters and meals.  The Residency combines uninterrupted time to create with a stimulating atmosphere of exchange, where experimentation, discourse and collaboration are encouraged. Each year, a different critic-in-residence lives on campus with the artists, leading discussions and making one-on-one studio visits. Because of the proximity to New York City, residents are also visited by many prominent critics, gallerists, curators, and artists who travel to Art Omi. The residency culminates with an Open Studios day open to the general public.

Find out more about Art Omi and get all the details of Deanna’s Talk!

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project presents a joint presentation by the Kansas City Max Users Group and the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance.

Date: Friday, October 21, 8pm
Venue: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St KCMO 64108
Donation: $10 donation is suggested

A Cup of Jamoma: A Collage of Music, Video, and Discussion featuring the artists and programmers behind Jamoma.

If you are a Live Music or Live Video Artist who uses or is interested in using Max/MSP/Jitter, you need to see what Jamoma is capable of.  Jamoma is a series of easy-to-use modules for use in Max/MSP/Jitter. They were designed around the principle that you want to spend more time creating you art and less time programming, debugging, and documenting.

A Cup of Jamoma features Jamoma contributors Nathan Wolek, Trond Lossius, and Cycling ‘74 Research Engineer Timothy Place. Come hear, see, and discuss what Jamoma can do and why it should be part of your creative process.

Find out more at www.kcema.net and www.jamoma.org

Charlotte Street Foundation is pleased present a free First Friday show by Sir Threadius Mongus as part of their Threads EP release celebration, including the debut of new music and a new lineup featuring Jeff Davis (guitar and composition), Matt Otto (saxophones), Andrew McGhie (saxophone), Stanton Kessler (trumpet), Mike Stover (bass), and Jonathan Taylor (drums).

Performance: Friday, October 7, 8pm-10pm, Free
Venue: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St. KCMO 64108

For all the details, read the press release!

The Charlotte Street Foundation 2011 Visual Award Fellows, Ricky Allman, Andy Brayman, and Peggy Noland, were selected by a curatorial panel of awards advisors (composed of regional and national members) following studio visits with ten semi-finalists. The Kansas City based artists received unrestricted cash grants of $10,000 each. Curated by Nerman Museum director Bruce Hartman, the 2011 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards Fellows Exhibition features new work by each of these artists.

Exhibition Opening: Friday, September 9, 6-8pm, free public reception
Runs: September 9 – December 4
Artists’ Lectures: Friday, September 9, 7pm, free public lectures
Location: Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College

For full details, see the press release.

Read a review from the KC Star.

Exhibition Opening: Friday, September 16, 6-9pm, free public reception
Artist Talk: Saturday, September 17, noon
Panel Discussion – Was Huck Finn Black?: Tuesday, October 18, 6pm, an artist moderated conversation between Bill Tuttle, Professor Emeritus Studies at the University of Kansas; Susan Kumin Harris, Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas; and Faye Finn-Cohen, who Levy describes as the last living relative of Huckleberry Finn.
Runs: September 16 – November 5
Gallery: Paragraph, 23 East 12th St., KCMO 64105
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thursday 11-6pm

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Paragraph gallery presents The Last Descendants, a solo exhibition of an ambitious new body of work by Kansas City/Lawrence-based artist Judith G. Levy. The show features three faux documentary videos in which the living “descendants” of Huckleberry Finn, Hansel and Gretel, and The Lone Ranger are interviewed.

The Lone Ranger: The Last Descendants from Judith G. Levy on Vimeo.

Each video is accompanied by a large-scale, meticulously drawn, extensively researched, multi-generational “family tree” exploring the complex history of each family with reference to far-ranging events and influences.

For full details, see the press release!

Read reviews from CupcakesInRegalia and the KC Star!

Opening Reception: Friday, September 16, 6-9pm, free public reception
Artists Talk: Saturday, September 17, noon
Runs: September 16 – November 5
Gallery: Project Space, 21 East 12th St. KCMO 64105
Gallery Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 12-5pm; Thurs 11-6pm

Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project Space presents Strangers Like Us, a two person exhibition featuring new bodies of work by emerging Kansas City-based artists Summer Farrar and Cory Imig. Bringing together a series of mixed media on fabric pieces by Farrar with documents and artifacts of “Written Maps,” an ongoing, interdisciplinary project by Imig, this show considers how we define our families, how our families define us, and how extending our definitions of family might connect us with “strangers like us.”

Read all the details in the press release.

Charlotte Street Foundation is pleased to present The Fascinators: The Inaugural Charlotte Street Biennial of Regional BA/BFA/MA/MFA Candidates. This biennial is a new effort designed to showcase the work of outstanding artists emerging from colleges and universities within a 200 mile radius of Kansas City, and to connect these up and coming artists with Kansas City’s arts community.

Exhibition Opening: Friday, September 2, 6-9pm, free public reception
Panel Discussion: Saturday, September 3, noon, including jurors, artists, and project advisors
Runs: September 2 – October 15
Gallery: La Esquina, 1000 W. 25th St. KCMO 64108
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays 12-5; Thursdays 11-6

Rather than a broad survey, this exhibition provides a substantive view of the work of six promising young artists who are either 2011 Bachelor of Fine Arts degree recipients or candidates (completing their BFA degrees this fall), or are currently enrolled in Masters of Fine Arts programs. They are: Jacob Banholzer (BFA, University of Kansas), Matthew Blache (MFA, University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Monica Dixon (BFA, Kansas City Art Institute), Marie Dougherty (BFA, Kansas City Art Institute), Neil Griess (BFA, University of Nebraska -Lincoln), and Marcus Miers (BFA, University of Missouri-Columbia).

These artists-to-watch were selected from nearly 100 applicants by jurors Katherine Pill, Assistant Curator, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, and Francesca Wilmott, Co-Director, Los Caminos, and Assistant Registrar, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO. The selection process included online application reviews followed by in-person studio visits by the jurors to a shortlist of 13 semi-finalists from Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Read the Press Release for full details.

See the review from the KC Star and check out the interview with artist Jacob Banholzer!