Charlotte Street Foundation identifies the needs and fuels the evolution of an ever-changing multidisciplinary arts ecosystem, acting as its primary provocateur. We cultivate the contemporary, the exceptional, and the unexpected in the practice of artists working in and engaging with the Kansas City Art Community
January was a great month and start to the new year. I was able to get a taste of the white winter I long for every single year. It was, of course, paired with that mid-western mystery that included some 50-60 degree days. Regardless, I got in some hibernation and good hard work.
In the first week of the month I went to Santa Fe, NM with my wife to go to the reception of, “Fiber Rocks!” I have a piece (Earth and Love : Money and Warfare) in the group show that is up until February 16th. The show is currently on display at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe. On February 17th the show will travel to Taos, NM where it will be on display at The Hacienda de Los Martinez. The Taos show opens on February 19th.
Upon returning from the beloved southwest and getting my fill of green chile, I continued working on the set design/production of Peter and the Wolf that was performed at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, KS. The shows were January 29, 3o and 31. The design included woven trees (hemp, wool, alpaca), a pond (hemp, silk, limestone, hand dug clay, bamboo), a house surrounded by a fence (hemp, silk, bamboo, fallen tree limbs, hand dug clay, straw) and some extras for details.
This was the second year that I have done the set design for Peter and the Wolf at the LAC. I made some tweaks this year to update the design and make it a bit more unified and developed. You can see below some photos of the final installation as well as a couple of performance photos.
Now that Peter and the Wolf has ended I have returned to the drawing board. I’m starting some new bodies of work including lots of dyeing, weaving, painting and drawing. I just got a new warp set up on the loom and will share images soon. It will be an 8-foot tall weaving made of hemp and wool. I am also in process of a series of drawings and paintings. Below are two details of some of my new work. The paintings are “in process” and pretty far from being done. However, that is a big direction that I currently going.
I am excited and honored to announce that I will be participating in PLUG Projects Critique Night Series on February 25th to be hosted at Charlotte Street Foundation’s La Esquina Gallery. The critique night will be during the current show, “Traces & Trajectories,” which celebrates the Rocket Grant program. I’m looking forward to what February will bring and what work will be created. I wish you all the best, thank you for reading and please, live and dye naturally.
Neil
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