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June 13 - September 6, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, June 12, 2009, 4-7pm
Theodore Waddell: Angus Anthem
Theodore Waddell has long been recognized as one of Montana’s most important contemporary artists - one who has played a significant role in the development of late modernism in Montana and the West. Born in Montana in 1941, Waddell grew up in Laurel, Montana, studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Montana State University and received his MFA from Wayne State University in 1986. He later taught in the art department at the University of Montana in Missoula. Ted ranched for many years in Ryegate, Montana, and now divides his time between central Montana and northern Idaho. Coming from three generations of Montana ranchers, Waddell translates his passion for wilderness and love for animals through impressionistic use of paint, color, light, texture and form on canvas and paper. www.theodorewaddell.com

June 13 - September 6, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, June 12, 2009, 4-7pm
John Roush: Rocky Shores and Mountains
     John Roush is well known in this region and recognized nationally for his pastel paintings. He is a Master signature member of the Pastel Society of America and also of the MidAmerica Pastel Society. In 2006 he was awarded Fellow membership in the American Artists Professional League based on his work in pastel. As a member of the Oil Painters of America, his work has been shown in their national and regional exhibitions as well. He is also a member of Allied Artists of America and Audubon Artists.
     Many of his paintings are executed on site, en plein air. Frequent painting trips throughout the Midwest and annual expeditions to Maine’s coastal islands provide the inspiration for his work. Architectural elements often appear in his paintings, incorporating his fascination with linear perspective. Buildings, barns, roads and houses give scale and to his landscapes and show a human presence.
     He has been featured in The Artist’s magazine, the Pastel Journal and North Light book’s Pure Color. His paintings have won awards in dozens of national competitions and been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States. He is represented in the Midwest by Southwind Gallery, Topeka, Kansas and in New England by Bayview Gallery, Camden and Brunswick, Maine. He maintains a website at www.johnroush.com .

Jacob Lawrence: Urban Storyteller
 April 25-June 6, 2009
Learn about the life of artist Jacob Lawrence and his series on The Great Migration--the movement of 1.3 million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the North, Midwest, and West from 1915 to 1930.

Fight for the Right: The Women's Suffrage Movement April 25-June 6, 2009
Explore this era of US history by learning about women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and other leaders of the movement, which culminated in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

     The exhibitions "Jacob Lawrence: Urban Storyteller" and "Fight for the Right: The Women’s Suffrage Movement" were created in conjunction with Saint Joseph's Big Read Project and funded in part by the Allied Arts Council. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.
     Locally, Saint Joseph has chosen for the community to join in reading the American classic "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "The Great Gatsby", set in 1924, portrays life in high society and delves into themes of alienation, friendship, identity, and the American dream. The Albrecht-Kemper developed these two exhibitions for visitors to learn about two major historical events of the United States that were happening in the 1920s. While life for the men and women depicted in the two exhibitions was very different to that of Jay Gatsby, they also depict the struggle for freedom and the American dream.
 

Saint Joseph Women Artists
from the Albrecht-Kemper Collection
on view in the Barclay Gallery
For this special exhibition, the Albrecht-Kemper staff has put together drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints from the museum's permanent collection. Artists included in the exhibition are Jackie Bishop, Louise Bradley, Susan Fay, Margaret Kessberger, Myrna “Pud” Ransdell, Robin VanHoozer, Dorothy May Wenz, and Megan Wyeth. The exhibition will remain on view through March to celebrate Women’s History Month. Be sure to visit these artworks that you may have never seen before!

Monday, November 9 - Thursday, November 17.
Museum's main galleries closed for our annual Sugarplum fundraiser.

November 21, 2009 - January 11, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, November 20, 2009, 4-7pm
Northwest Missouri State University Art Faculty
Evan Lindquist
 

   

     

  

    

April 18 - June 7, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 25, 2009, 1-4pm
Depicting Identity: Portraits and Self-Portraits
from the Albrecht-Kemper Collection
For this exhibition, the Albrecht-Kemper is showcasing some of its rarely-seen drawings, prints, and paintings. The images chosen range from traditional artist self-portraits to artworks that push the definition of portraiture. We've even included some of our favorite pet portraits!  This exhibition coincides with the display of student artwork, and ties into the Saint Joseph School District's curriculum, as art students of every grade have a unit that relates to identity. Many of the artworks on display were purchased through the William H. Toben Memorial fund. Mr. Toben and William Albrecht were founders of the Western Tablet Company, which manufactured the Big Chief paper tablet. Toben funds helped to purchase Wayne Thiebaud's Man Sitting-Back View when the Albrecht Art Gallery opened in 1966. Four other paintings and a print collection of 135 self-portraits were also purchased with Toben funds in the early years of the museum's history.

Saint Joseph School District
Kindergarten - Eighth Grade
Student Art Exhibition
April 19 -  May 17, 2009
Opening Reception: Sunday April 19, 2-4pm.
Closing Reception: Family Museum Day, Sunday May 17, 1-4pm
The Albrecht-Kemper is pleased to host this exhibition of artworks made by local students. The Saint Joseph School District is made up of eighteen elementary schools and four middle schools. We thank the students and teachers for their participation in this wonderful exhibition. We hope that you enjoy viewing the variety of artworks that the students have created this past academic year.

March 8 - April 9, 2009
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 8, 1-4pm, with Awards Presentation at 2pm
Annual Regional High School Exhibition
      The mission of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art is to bring the excitement of American visual arts to the region through education, temporary exhibitions, the permanent collection, and the nurturing of regional artists. What better way to nurture young local talent than through exposure in a museum-sponsored juried art competition? The Regional High School Art Exhibition is an invitational exhibition, with over 75 schools from Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas asked to participate.
     Artworks are divided into nine categories based on media and/or technique. After a panel jury selection, First, Second, and Third Place, plus Honorable Mentions, are awarded in each category. Make sure you don't miss this opportunity to see the incredible and innovative work of our future artists.
     For more information, or If your school is interested in participating in this annual exhibition, please contact Jennifer Zeller, Curator of Education, at jzeller@albrecht-kemper.org or 816-233-7003.
Official Rules and Entry Form

2009 HS award winners
2009 Participating Students
2009 Participating Teachers and Schools

January 17 - March 1, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, January 16,  4-7pm, with Awards Presentation at 6pm
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. Click here for official entry form. (pdf)
If you have trouble viewing entry form, please call 816-233-7003 to have one mailed to you.
2009 Award Winners by Category
 

Miyo, Miyo by Dobree Adams

    
     From their separate worlds, their life together on a Kentucky River farm north of Frankfort, their travels and their common interests, weaver / photographer Dobree Adams and poet / publisher / book designer Jonathan Greene have forged a multi-faceted collaboration of vision and voice.
     Dobree Adams has long been recognized as one of Kentucky’s most prominent contemporary fiber artists. She weaves one-of-a-kind rugs and tapestries from her handspun yarns. For twenty years she raised sheep on her Kentucky River farm. She spins and dyes the wool from a rare breed of sheep, the Lincoln Longwool, an old British breed known in Kentucky in the 1930's and renowned for the curl, luster, strength, and length of its wool. She has also always taken photographs to demonstrate and document the influences behind her woven work. Since 2003 she has been exhibiting her photography and is one of the co-founders of the Kentucky Women Photographers Network which now has over 45 members.
     Jonathan Greene, author of 27 books, is the publisher of Gnomon Press, a small press specializing in literature and photography. Gnomon Press has published such prominent photographers as Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Shelby Lee Adams, Wendy Ewald, Sally Mann, David Spear, and Linda Butler as well as Robert Morgan, author of the best-selling Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek, Jonathan Williams, Michael McFee, Jo Carson, Bryan Wooley, and Meredith Sue Williams. Gnomon Press has also published many Kentucky authors and photographers, including Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, Chris Holbrook, Harlan Hubbard, Jane Wilson Joyce, Jim Wayne Miller, Ed McClanahan, Gurney Norman, Guy Mendes, Martha Bennett Stiles, James Still, and Richard Taylor. Jonathan Greene is also well-known for his prize-winning book design.
     Both artists have received the prestigious Kentucky Individual Artist Fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council. Their collaboration, which began quietly, has segued into major projects. For example, Hut Poems, Jonathan’s most recent book published by Mountains & Rivers Press in Oregon, features Dobree’s cover photograph of Jonathan’s studio; a collaboration with Paul Holbrook of King Library Press at the University of Kentucky to design and produce a commemorative portfolio of broadsides to celebrate the 40th birthday of Gnomon Press; and several of Jonathan’s poems have been featured with Dobree’s weavings and photographs in her MOUNTAIN / NO MOUNTAIN series to help raise awareness about the destruction caused by mountaintop removal coal mining in Eastern Kentucky.
www.gnomonpress.com
 

Footpath of the Dawn

Footpath of the Sun
 

November 22, 2008 - January 11, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 22, 2008, 1-4pm
Helen Lea: Always in Bloom
“To garden is to paint a picture. That I am a painter as well as a gardener is not a coincidence. One led to the other.”
     Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Helen Lea earned her undergraduate degree in art history at Smith College. After graduation, she studied Italian and Classical painting in Perugia, Italy. Returning to Kansas City, she spent a year working as an artist for Hallmark Cards. She then moved to New York where she worked at the Frick Museum. She returned to Kansas City in 1961, married and started a family while continuing to paint and study. She received a degree in Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1970. Her work has been shown at numerous exhibitions and her paintings are found in both individual and corporate collections worldwide. "Giving form to a flower, garden scene or landscape as I do on canvas with strokes of paint and color can take one into an interior realm that is the very soul of creation. It is both exhilarating and challenging when intellect and knowledge kick in to seek an approximation; above all, simply, a compelling act that only wants to create beauty. Often my work is described as Impressionistic, which means that it is colorful and has a fresh spontaneity."

Ray Ottinger:
The Boy in the Brown Sweater
“…Benton came in, saw that I was working…, then went to the administration building and announced that the scholarship would be awarded to the boy in the brown sweater. I’m not sure if he knew my name.”
     Ray Eldon Ottinger, Jr (1922-1993) was born in St. Joseph Missouri. He enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1930 and studied there until 1942 when he was drafted into the Army. Following his military service, he returned to the Art Institute in 1945. After graduating in 1946, he and his new bride, Audrey Kennedy, moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. During this time, they lived in a tiny apartment in the infamous Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Returning to Kansas, Ottinger taught design and the University of Kansas from 1947 to 1953, and then worked as a a graphic artist and editor until retiring in 1982. Although Ottinger studied under Thomas Hart Benton for two years at the Art Institute, his painting style was greatly influenced by his travels, experiences, and military service. Thus, many of his artworks show a dramatic departure from the typical style and subject matter of Benton or most of his students.

Helen Lea
Mountain Garden

Helen Lea
Colorful Arrivals



Helen Lea
Seasonal Beauties

Ray Ottinger at work