2004 EXHIBITIONS:
If you have never had the experience of watching a person light up when they talk about their passion, you need to sit down with Saint Joseph residents Susan Fay and Pud Ransdell and ask them about their art. When the two talk about their painting, they tend to get modest, choosing instead to brag on each other. Both agree that they paint without goals, but rather with the excitement of experimentation and discovery. Pud prefers to be loose and free with her paintings that often feature people, landscapes, or still lifes. Susan is attracted to still life above all else, but also enjoys paintings beautiful florals and images related to her travels. The two have shared a long friendship where over the years they have taken classes, painted, supported, and laughed together.
Big and Beautiful: Contemporary Works
from the AKMA Collection
November 19,
2004-January 2, 2005
Stop in to see this fun mix of artworks from the collection that have been brought out to enliven a visit to the museum. Most of these bright and colorful paintings are large in scale, which adds to their impact and interest. The contemporary focus of this exhibition both complements the more traditional artworks on view in the permanent galleries and gives viewers a broader perspective of the museum’s outstanding American collection.
September
12-November 7, 2004
Artists of the Heartland: Highlights from the Moffett Family Collection
Jim and Virginia Moffett and their son, Cyrus, of Kansas City, Missouri, are well known supporters of the arts in this region. The collection features oils, watercolors, prints, pastels, drawings, and sculptures. For the Albrecht-Kemper exhibition, the Moffetts have selected approximately 60 artworks of their favorite artists to share for the first time with the public.
The family’s tastes are broad and varied, but the greatest part of their collection - and this exhibition - concentrates on twentieth-century Realist Regionalism of the Midwest. The Moffetts were pioneers fifteen years ago when they began to focus on Regionalist artists from Missouri, Kansas and the surrounding states, and their collecting was definitely inspired by the family’s long history in this region, going back to 1850. Jim’s Great Grandfather was Acting Governor of Kansas during the Civil War.
Paintings, prints, and drawings, some of which were studies for WPA murals in the Great Depression of the 1930s, are shown in this exhibition, and they tell the story of what rural and small town life was like then for ordinary Americans. The triumvirate of best-known Regionalists of the 1920s and 30s – Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and John Steuart Curry – are represented here, but even more important are the other members of this great Midwestern movement. Six earlier Regional Realists from the generation before Benton, Wood, and Curry, and twenty-five lesser-known artists, who were contemporaries of the three greats, are shown. A dozen of them were students or friends of Benton, from his teaching years at the Kansas City Art Institute. They provide an excellent background and context that fills in the story of life and art in the Midwest during those years.
Many of these artists, who painted the farms and towns, the people and the landscape of the Midwest during the first half off the twentieth-century, originally worked as newspaper and magazine illustrators. They also went to Europe, or at least to New York or Chicago (or Kansas City or St. Louis) where they studied art and learned about the latest developments in European modernism. Those two ingredients are clearly visible in their work, which combines their strong drawing skills, with their knowledge of compositional organization learned from the Old Masters and modern abstractionists. In addition to the pre-World War II painters, two recent Art Institute professors – Wilbur Niewald and Stanley Lewis – are also included, bringing this story of Midwest Regional Realism up to the present.
September
12-November 7, 2004
MidAmerica Pastel Society:
Juried Exhibition
The MidAmerica Pastel Society (MAPS) was formed in 1988 by a group of Kansas City artists who felt their media was being overlooked as a serious art form. The purpose of MAPS is to bring practicing pastel artists together as a group to network, to educate, and to promote community interest in pastel as a serious art medium. One way that the society achieves their goal of exhibiting work is through their annual juried exhibition. Artworks are submitted to a nationally-respected juror who selects approximately 50 works for the annual exhibition. This year's juror is acclaimed pastel artist Lorenzo Chavez.
June 18-September 5,
2004
Steve Reinmuth:
Sound Sculptures
Eugene, Oregon bronze sculptor Steve Reinmuth's style has been compared with artists such as M.C. Escher and Henry Moore and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Beginning his career sculpting in resin and with found objects, Reinmuth became intrigued with the casting process after one of his early sculptures was commissioned in bronze. To satisfy his interest, he spent five years studying foundry technology from world-renowned bronze artist Welton Blix. Utilizing the lost wax cast process, Reinmuth now creates sculptures representing a variety of subjects. The Albrecht-Kemper Exhibition features contemporary static and kinesthetic sculptures and highlights his Bell series. At his foundry studio, Reinmuth has also cast nearly all of Gower, MO artist Brent Collins’ bronzes.
June 18-September 5,
2004
Thea Ide:
Forward By Day--Paintings to commemorate the Lewis and Clark
passage through Missouri
Missouri artist Thea Ide is well-known for her detailed, yet poignant, landscapes that capture not only the scene, but the splendor, of the environment. Her love and respect for the natural world is evident in her paintings. For this exhibition, Ide chose to commemorate the Lewis and Clark expedition through a detailed study of the Missouri River. Ide has been researching the history of the Missouri River and how it has changed over time. Gathering inspiration from photograph archives and her travels along the current banks, Ide combines these two lives of the river into original works that speak to the beauty and power of the mighty Missouri River.
Artist's Statement: "I live on the Missouri River bank. Its ever changing, yet never changing, qualities speak to me every day of the sensory and also of the sublime. My paintings seek to create a bridge between the concrete reality that we live and the abstract reality that we can only feel. I am interested in communicating abstract ideas like timelessness and fluidity, and in conveying a sense of drama by the juxtaposition of naturally occurring forms in nature."
April 18-June13, 2004
Wilbur Niewald: A
Retrospective 1951-2004
Niewald's artistic
vision has a great deal to do with Kansas City, MO, where he
was born in 1925 and has lived his whole life. As a
ten-year-old attending art classes at the Kansas City Art
Institute (KCAI), Niewald found his first artistic home. Those
classes were the beginning of what has turned out to be a
56-year association with the school, from which he also
received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in art.
Niewald started to teach at KCAI in 1949, even before
finishing his MFA. By the late 1950s he was head of the
painting department, which he led for twenty-six years. A
celebrated teacher of painting, whose students attest to the
valuable training he offered them, Niewald's career has
included invitations to guest-teach at many prestigious art
schools, and he received the College Art Association's
Distinguished Teaching of Art Award in 1988.
Looking at the selection of pictures from life included in
this retrospective, one is struck by Niewald's faithfulness
not only to his procedure but also (through that procedure) to
those objects, people, and places that have moved him to try
to perceive and transform them on canvas. His commitment to
working from life, which he has passed on to generations of
his students, situates him within the long and deep history of
French painting. His passionate belief in responding directly
to the world around him keeps him in the studio and outdoors,
struggling to see more clearly what he has seen so often.
April 18-June13, 2004
The European Connection
Be sure to make time to view this exhibition of rarely displayed European artworks from the Albrecht-Kemper collection. The exhibition is mainly comprised of paintings and prints by artists Max Beckmann, Rosa Bonheur, Salvador Dali, Kathe Kollwitz, Goya, Manet, Rembrandt, Anders Zorn, and several others. Also included are two volumes of William Hogarth, and several sculptures.
March 7-April 10, 2004
The Forces of Nature: Paintings by John Hulsey and
Ann Trusty
This intriguing exhibition offers a unique opportunity for reflection as it pairs the contrasting work of two artists who often work side by side at various locales.
John Hulsey was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1953, and studied painting at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Kansas before moving to New York in 1980 to paint and exhibit his work. He returned to the Midwest in 1990 to build a studio and home.
Through his landscape paintings in watercolor and oil, John Hulsey has captured the drama of changing light and the serenity of the land. He has also worked to stimulate awareness of environmental concerns. “I believe I must speak through my art, for the preservation of Nature and the natural landscape from which I take my inspiration and living.”
Ann Trusty studied fine art at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts; the Kansas City Art Institute; and the University of Kansas. In 1980 she moved to Garrison, New York and a studio in the former train station overlooking the Hudson River where she continued to develop and show her work for ten years.
Ms. Trusty’s work has received the Merit Award from the American Craft Awards, New York, New York and has been featured in Decorative Design (Gakken Art Books, Tokyo, Japan). Her work was reviewed by the New York Times (Patricia Malarcher, Sunday, June 14th, 1992), “The distinctive character of Ms. Trusty’s work lies in her fresh, energetic compositions . . . she creates abstract color fields enlivened by scraps of cloth that dance, fly and dynamically explode across the surfaces.”
Her most recent works in oil represent a shift of focus to landscape subjects. She explores the effects of fleeting moments of light on the land in the context of the landscape tradition.
(artists bios excerpted from the website www.hulseytrustystudios.com)
March 7-April 10, 2004
Annual Regional High School Competition and Exhibition
High schools from Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas participate in this annual exhibition hosted by the Albrecht-Kemper. Each invited school may submit up to five original works created during the 2003-2004 school year. The works are judged by a panel of art professionals and awards are presented in the following five categories: I: Painting; II: Drawing & Printmaking; III: Photography; IV: Three-Dimensional; and V: Alternative media.
2004 Award Recipients (pdf file)
January 18-February
29, 2004
The
Artwork of William Wind McKim
Born on May 13, 1916, in Independence, MO, McKim’s lifelong career as an artist and educator began at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) in 1934 as a part-time student. In 1935 Thomas Hart Benton’s self-portrait was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Bill McKim recalled his first reaction to the magazine cover and of Benton. “I was impressionable, and I liked the sound of his (Benton’s) words. He was going to be coming to Missouri to paint the mural in what was then the Senate lounge, and the fact that he was going to be coming to Kansas City got me to thinking about going back to school—if only night school, after work.”
So in 1936, inspired by Benton, McKim returned to the Kansas City Art Institute as a full-time evening student. In 1938, McKim entered Benton’s painting class and subsequently received the prestigious Howard Vanderslice Scholarship, which carried him through graduation. Before he graduated from KCAI in 1940, Bill McKim’s first lithograph depicting a gamecock, was featured in the 1939 New York World’s Fair Exhibition of contemporary American art and his name appeared or the first time in the Who’s Who in American Art in 1940. McKim received favorable reviews by art writers for the Herald Tribune of his painting Aesop’s Discontented Ass in the exhibition Students of Thomas Hart Benton at the Fifth Avenue headquarters of the Association of American Artists Galleries in New York City. Regarding the exhibition, art critic Thomas Craven remarked, “It is possible that one of the most gifted of the exhibitors (is) Bill McKim…I have not met a more promising young artist anywhere, and if there is better painter of animals in this country, I don’t know where he hides himself.”
In 1941, Bill McKim was drafted for World War II. He served in the Army for four years, including two years in the South Pacific. In 1946, McKim returned to the Art Institute, but this time as a KCAI painting and printmaking department until his retirement in 1986 at the age of 70.
January 18-February
29, 2004
30th Annual Membership
Exhibition
The Membership Exhibition showcases the talents of museum members. It is open to current members of the Museum. Each member may submit two original works not previously exhibited at the museum. Artworks are divided into seven categories. The exhibition is then judged and awards presented in each category. This year's exhibition includes 124 works by 69 participating member artists. Awards presented in the following categories:
Category I:
Painting Oil and Acrylic
Honorable Mention: Jonathan Miner
Glance Exchanged
Oil
Honorable Mention: Robin VanHoozer Star Ferry Lights
Encaustic
Third: Suzanne Murphy Mums & Melons Acrylic
Second (tie): Susan Fay Consuelo Oil
Second (tie): Cathy Echterling Green Far West: Hay Field
Oil
First: Ariel Murphy-Moore Early Light Acrylic
Category II:
Painting Watercolor
Honorable Mention: Cheri Alfrey Just In Time Watercolor
Honorable Mention: Tim Haley The Cypress Watercolor
Third: Bonnie Ruddick Sonoita Longhorns Watercolor
Second: Shelley Black "Put Me In Coach" Isaac
Watercolor
First: Maggie McCarthy Leaving Yellowstone Watercolor
Category III:
Drawing
Honorable Mention: Evelyn Jordan-Isaacs Nature's Beauty
Pastel
Honorable Mention: Joyce Slater Taos Resort Pastel
Third: DeSaix Evans Gernes Mariah (The Daughter) Pastel
Second: Gordon Ide Self Portrait Charcoal
First: Nora Othic Cleaning Windows Pastel
Category IV:
Printmaking
Third: Laurie Mellenbruch The Great Buffalo Hunt Etching
Second: Laurie Mellenbruch Missouri River Life Etching
First: William Eickhorst Untitled Intaglio
Category V:
Photography
Honorable Mention: Jacqueline Roy The Big Top Black &
white print
Third (tie: )David Melby Open Window Black & white print
Third (tie): Clifford O'Bryan Plaza Early Morning
Photograph
Second: Amanda Clary Untitled Black & white print
First: Jeannie Harmon-Miller Hope Photographic
painting&collage
Category VI:
Sculpture and Ceramics
Honorable
Mention: C. Jane Travis Italian Influence Stoneware
Honorable Mention: Jeffery S. Winn Lost in the Forest
Clay
Third: Chelsea Howlett Sofa Table Mixed woods
Second (tie): Leila D. Hicks Autobiographical Piece #1
Thrown & handbuilt stoneware
Second (tie): Tracy Miller Bird Clay
First: Jim Estes "Enough to Spare" Stoneware
Category VII:
Mixed Media
Honorable Mention: Tiffanie Boessen Memories of a Childhood
Past Photography, papers, wheat
Honorable Mention: Laurel DeFreece Old Dump Truck Mixed
Media
Third: Lee Ann Perez Hommes Paper, old advertising
media
Second (tie): William Eickhorst English as a Second Language
Paper collage
Second (tie): Glenda Haley My Therapist Suggested Quilting
Printmaking, watercolor, wood, metal, glass beads, fabric
First: Elenor Chipman Rain Forest Fabric, discharge dyes,
vintage buttons
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.