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.

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.

Charlotte Street Foundation presents a KcEMA concert featuring Cheryl Melfi: Digital Reeds. Cheryl brings with her a program of new music including two world premiers of electro-acoutsic music for clarinet.

Date: Saturday, January 14
Time: Doors open at 7:30pm; concert begins at 8pm
Venue: City Center Square / 1100 Main 5th Floor KCMO
Tickets: $10; $5 students

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!

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 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!

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!