2003 EXHIBITIONS:

November 23, 2003-January 11, 2004
Connections: Yvonne Rosser

Connections is a 10-year survey of Rosser's large scale drawings in charcoal and pastel on paper.

Kate Hackman, Review Magazine, has recently written on Rosser's work.  The following are excerpts from her essay: "Rosser's drawings reflect a keen sensitivity toward, and deep connection with, the natural world.  Her images easily manage to engage us and retain our interest as they draw us further in.  She adroitly and expressively captures the details of a unique place at a given time.  The intricate filigree of an old tree's dark, spindly branches set against a morning sky; the subtly varying soft grays and greens of a magnificent Alaskan mountain range and valley in springtime; the balletic interplay of dense growth in the rainforest. All are poignant distillations of Nature itself. These images speak to the ties that bind past, present, and future, the dead and the living, the ancient and the newly born, every one thing and everything else. 

Rosser began her artistic career working in the fiber medium. Parallels can be seen between woven cloth, for example, and the young vines and grasses that intricately intertwine and vigorously encircle dead trees in a forest."

A Welsh artist, Ms. Rosser earned her BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute.  Her work is in numerous collections, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Hallmark, Inc., and Shook, Hardy and Bacon, LLP.  She is represented by Jan Weiner Gallery.

November 23, 2003-January 4, 2004
Paintings by Anne Garney

Kansas City artist Anne Garney's paintings are a "celebration of life" and convey the joyful experience of painting in beautiful settings.  She works with very bright colors exploring the use of color and color relationships and their ability to create feelings of positive energy and optimism.

The direction of her work has been significantly influenced by both the French Fauve and Impressionist artists and she enjoys seeing their work in museums when traveling.  The Fauves, a group of French artists in the early 1900s, painted with brilliant, luminous colors expressing a joyful passion for life. Her favorite artists from the Fauve movement include Andre Derain, Maurice Vlaminck, and Henri Matisse.  Of the Impressionists, she admires Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, each having a unique use of color and expressive style.

Anne Garney graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Business, having taken all of her elective classes in art.  In addition, she continued her education with several classes in painting at the Kansas City Art Institute.

She now combines her love of travel with her love of painting and particularly enjoys painting outside on-site because of the direct connection with the setting and the environment.  Her favorite subjects are landscapes with beautiful buildings set amidst and against nature. Anne's love and appreciation of architecture was enhanced by several years working as a homebuilder and designer before taking up painting as her profession.

Her paintings and prints are in collections in the United States and internationally in Paris and Hong Kong.  Locally, she has been featured in art shows in a variety of venues including Leawood Fine Arts, Vandeusen Gallery and the Kansas City Artist's Coalition Gallery.  She is currently represented by Ward & Ward in Kansas City and the Huntsman Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.  Future exhibition of her work is scheduled for St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

September 12-November 9, 2003 
Connect the Dots: A Decade of Making Memories
Kati Toivanen

Connect the Dots: A Decade of Making Memories brings together for the first time an overview of art by Kansas City based artist Kati Toivanen. With an established background in photography, Toivanen uses the camera’s eye, and other media, as a means for investigating memories. What shapes and defines identity is also explored through toys, games, and playmaking. Toivanen’s work acts both as a veil and a window to the realm of memory and underlying tensions of childhood’s emotional complexities. Familiar objects such as a swing and jump rope evoke new meanings, and her photographs—many digitally constructed—recall distant memories while “investigating charged issues of gender, sexuality, and role-playing.”[i]

Considered “one of the few genuine conceptual artists in Kansas City,” Kati Toivanen was born and raised in Finland.[ii] She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and her Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. After teaching at Columbia College Chicago until 1998, Toivanen joined the faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she is an Associate Professor, teaching computer multimedia and digital imaging. Toivanen’s work is exhibited internationally, nationally, and locally, and recently she was honored as a recipient of the Charlotte Street Fund Award in 2001.

Note that many artworks in the exhibition are interactive, and are indicated as so with a hand symbol. The picture above shows a visitor experimenting with one of these pieces, a deceivingly difficult puzzle the artist constructed utilizing one of her digitally manipulated photographs.

Join us for the Opening Reception on Sunday, September 14, from 1-4 pm. The artist will be in attendance.

September 12-November 9, 2003 
Catlin and Curtis

An exciting opportunity to view selections from two of the Albrecht-Kemper's most popular collections--George Catlin and Edward Curtis. Both collections demonstrate cultural history and are wonderful resources for educational and research opportunities. The works of the two artists complement each other well--providing very different, yet equally moving, representations of the North American Indian.  

George Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio contains twenty-five hand-colored lithographs depicting portraits and activities of several Great Plains Indian tribes. Catlin (1796-1872) was the first white artist to travel among and record the customs of native peoples. The portfolio is a rich history of the dress, ceremony, and life of both the people and the time they lived.

Edward Curtis (1868-1954), a self-taught photographer and ethnographer, recorded in words and pictures the living traditions of American Indian tribes. His monumental, 20-volume encyclopediac work,  The North American Indian (1907-30), contains informative text, portraits, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life that continue to inspire and exert influence on American culture. The Albrecht-Kemper collection includes photogravure reprints from the portfolios that accompanied the encylopedia volumes. The viewer will note that it is typical in Curtis' portraits for the subject to be presented in a tightly cropped view and with a shallow depth of field that blurs the surroundings, concentrating attention on the individual's face.

June 13-September 7, 2003
Fermin Hernandez: Spaces and Places

Born in St. Joseph, Fermin Hernandez has since become one of America's leading serigraph artists. He learned the silk screening process while studying art at the Community College of Denver. The artist says that he immediately fell in love with the process and knew instinctively that it would become his medium of choice. The resulting images, when investigated closely, demonstrate his mastery of the art form. Some works utilize over forty stencils, all registered perfectly. Although Hernandez generally limits his palette to a few colors, subtleties are created by multiple hues of each color chosen. Many of his images are drawn from his travels and an interest in creating stylized forms to represent his vision of "spaces and places". Inspiration also comes from watching shadows fall across the Pueblo Indian architecture and landscape of New Mexico, where he now resides. This is the first time Hernandez has returned to exhibit in his hometown, so don't miss the opportunity to view this major retrospective of his work. The artist will be in attendance at the Opening Reception on Friday, June 13, from 5-7 pm.

June 13-September 7, 2003                                                       
 Lost Art of Animation: Selections from the Scott and Lisa Folk Collection

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, and the whole Warner Bros. gang are visiting the Albrecht-Kemper this summer. Learn about how Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were born and spend some time remembering your favorite characters. This exhibition consists of original limited edition cels from a private collection. Cels are the plastic sheets upon which animated characters are painted. Limited edition cels are ones which were created to stand alone as artistic representations--they were not utilized in the production process of an animated film or short. Therefore, many are often signed by the artist and are highly collectible. Be sure to visit this colorful and fun-for-all-ages exhibition before we have to say "That's all Folks!"

April 27-June 8, 2003                                                        
Jonathan Knight: Inspirations from Nature, New and Revisited

Kansas Citian Jonathan Knight is well known for his watercolors. His skilled handling of paint makes his subjects come alive. This exhibition is made up of watercolors, drawings, and pastels that demonstrate Knight's artistic ability. The artist will be in attendance at the Opening Reception on Sunday, April 27, from 1-4 pm.

April 27-June 8, 2003                                                             
Nora Othic: Greek Myths and Missouri Icons

This Brookfield, Missouri native is know for her pastel renderings of livestock....and that’s no bull.  Nora Othic’s bulls are simple, crisp, rendering of various breeds that seem to come to life in the almost Utopia like setting in which they are placed.  Consisting of both pastels and watercolors, this exhibition depicts other types of livestock in new works from Nora Othic.

February 23--Saturday, April 19, 2003 in the Thedinger Galleries:                                  
Patricia DuBose Duncan: Fifty Years of Art

March 28--Wednesday, April 23, 2003 in the Campbell Galleries:                                 
Regional High School Art Exhibition

Community Sculpture Project
On the Albrecht-Kemper grounds. Installed March 2003. On view through November 2006.
     Over the years, AKMA has become increasingly involved with local groups and organizations to increase the community’s awareness of various art forms and to demonstrate how art can sometimes inspire and influence social change. Utilizing art to connect and educate our community is an important mission of the Albrecht-Kemper, and working with local groups aids us in reaching our goals.
     In conjunction with the AKMA annual High School Art Exhibition and the St. Joseph Youth Alliance’s “Stand Up For Me” initiative, we developed the Community Sculpture Project Contest. Dearborn, MO artist Rhett Johnson created five sculptural frameworks that represent different members of a family (mother, father, teen boy, teen girl, child). We invited student groups to design and complete one family member, with the finished piece relating to the theme of empowering youth.
     The Mother sculpture is made up of painted tiles, designed by local community groups and students, that illustrate things that are important to youth and that make them feel better about themselves.  The Community Sculpture Project Contest challenged student groups to realize the remaining “family members.” Groups selected to complete the remaining sculptures: Troy High School, child "Cindy Lou"; Buchanan County Academy, teen girl; St. Joseph Home School Association, teen boy "Robbie"; and MidCity Excellence Learning Center, father "George". The completion and installation of the project in March 2003 coincided with both the AKMA annual Regional High School Art Exhibition and National Youth Art Month.

     
Completed "Rosie" on view at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art
The “Rosie” sculpture is made up of tiles that were painted by area youth. We asked the youth to paint pictures or symbols of things they enjoyed or valued—things that made them feel better about themselves or that they were good at. They painted a variety of scenes and objects depicting their interests—such as family, pets, favorite activities, etc. To provide context for the images, the developmental assets (along with their definitions) were written on other tiles and incorporated together on the sculpture. The sculpture attracts interest with its bright colors, teaches about the assets by listing and defining them, presents and encourages positive behaviors and activities, and demonstrates what can be accomplished by working together.

February 21-March 23, 2003 in the Campbell Galleries:                                                  
Annual AKMA Members Exhibition

January 10-February 16, 2003 in the Thedinger Gallery:                                                
Missouri Fiber Artists

This juried exhibition will consist of thirty to thirty-five diverse pieces representative of all areas of fiber art.  Missouri Fiber Artists (MOFA) consists of over one hundred members whose work will be submitted for this traveling exhibition.  The range of art being done will range from traditional to contemporary and functional to pure expression.

January 10-February 16, 2003 in the Campbell Galleries:                                                     
The Stephen W. & Mary M. Pruitt Collection

An exhibition of original prints and vintage photographs from the private collection of a Memphis couple, Stephen and Mary Pruitt.  The Pruitts began collecting in 1989 when they purchased an 1890 landscape by German artist Franz von Stuck for Stephen’s birthday.  Their original plan was to purchase works of art on birthday, anniversaries, and holidays, but it turned into such enjoyment that their hobby turned into something they wanted to do more frequently than special occasions.  The collection includes works from Ansel Adams to Anders Zorn.

November 22, 2002-January 5, 2003 in the Thedinger Gallery:                                          
Arthur Kraft

Arthur Kraft was a native Kansas Citian whose sculptures and mosaics grace buildings and galleries in Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and New York City.  In Kansas City, his works adorn the exterior of the Public Library, the Missouri Public Service Building, and the Commerce Trust Company of Kansas City.  His work was often whimsical and humorous and he is remembered as a kind witty man. although he experienced mental illness and poor health throughout a good deal of his life.  Reed Anderson, a doctoral candidate from the University of Kansas in Lawrence will be the guest curator for  this exhibition that documents the work of a legacy.

November 22, 2002-January 5, 2003 in the Campbell Galleries:                                        
Holley Bakich

This exhibition by Holley Bakich consists of a series of ten sculptures about famous side show performers from throughout history.  (A common form of the old sideshow was called a 10 in 1--ten “exhibits” in one tent.)  Holley has long been interested in “freaks” and their lives, since reading at an early age the book, The Two about Chand and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese twins.  She was taken in by the fact that sideshow people of the past accepted themselves as they were and saw the potential for a lucrative career free from an institution, where they could meet others like them selves and form special bonds.  The figures created by Holley are made with leather and stand on an average about 12-17 inches.  They are embellished with fabrics, beads, and accessories that bring them to life and allow the viewer to see the life that breathed from within.  Holley resides with her family in El Paso, Texas.