The Magic of the 6th Floor

As some of you may or may not know, the Charlotte Street Foundation studios are located in downtown Kansas City at 1100 Walnut St. It is also known as Town Pavilion and is a 38-story skyscraper.  Transamerica and Bank Midwest occupy most of the building.  As an outsider, you can’t actually visit the Charlotte Street studios without being let in.  Or up for that matter.  You need a keycard that gains you access to the 6th Floor.  This is where the artists reside.  We have access to this one floor in the building, and we make it our own. It is rough, individualized, made for work and I think to most people at TP, a little creepy.  You see, the remaining 37 floors are mainly filled with suits and ties that can navigate to any floor in the building. What does this mean?   It means that I have discovered we have 37-floors of men who retreat to take their daily poops on the 6^th floor.  I’m just kidding, it means that our studios aren’t readily accessible to the public outside of our open studios event coming up in April.  If you want to come up and see the studios before then, let myself or one of the residents know when you are around and we will bring you up and show you the magic of the 6th floor!

Since my last post a lot has happened, as is life.  February was a building month for me creating new opportunities for the months ahead while also brainstorming new concepts and projects.  I started and finished a weaving “sketch.”  This piece informs a future show that I anticipate having sometime in 2017.  The weaving is made of hemp, wool and disintegrating hemp.

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I was honored to be one of three artists involved in PLUG Project’s Critique Night on the 25th of February.  The critique was in coordination with the retrospective Rocket Grant show called, “Traces and Trajectories.”  The other artists being critiqued that night were Kathy Liao and Thayer Bray.  I showed the weaving above as well as to two other recent works for my critique.  I had a fantastic time at the critique as it was the first time in about 5 years that my work went through a formal critique.  It was largely helpful, very different from what I expected and had a great turnout.  I would like to thank everyone who made it happen as well as those who attended the event.  I learned a lot through the critique and got very energized because of it.  Below are the other works that I presented that night.

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As some of you may know, NCECA (National Council on the Education of the Ceramic Arts), will be in Kansas City this year for the 50th anniversary of the conference.  This is a huge deal considering Kansas City’s lush history and impact on the clay world.  Everyone is getting excited for the exhibitions and conference that runs March 16-19.  Lawrence, KS will be having a pre-conference filled with tons of events hosted by the University of Kansas, the Lawrence Arts Center and Bracker’s Good Earth Clays.  Lawrence is also having a lot of exhibitions in coordination with NCECA.  I have a mug in a mug show, “Earth-Water-Fire,” that is at the Phoenix Underground.  It is a fantastic show with artists from all around the US.  If you get a chance to come to Lawrence over the next couple weeks, definitely take a walk around looking at the galleries as there are a lot of good clay shows up now.

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A couple of days ago I finished the installation of a new piece of mine at the Plenum Space Gallery located at 504 E 18th St.  We are having a KU Ceramics Alumni show there for NCECA.  It is called, “Sheriff Joe and His Deputies.”  There are roughly 10 artists on display who have graduated from the KU clay department.  We will have an opening this Friday for First Fridays from 5-9.  Plenum is about a block away from Grinder’s.  I’ll have my installation, “Contradiction : Buried in Clay,” as well as two mugs, “I’m Horny : Me Too,” on display.

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I am getting very excited for the next couple of weeks as they are going to be filled with clay and ceramics events.  It is going to be a good time to get involved and be a part of the clay scene in Kansas City.  Don’t miss out on the amazing shows in the city right now!  So many national and international artists displaying currently! NCECA 2016!!!

Beyond all of this goodness I am back at the loom getting a new piece ready for a show in Lawrence focusing on climate change called, “Heating Up : Artists Respond to Climate Change.”  I was honored to be invited to participate in the show.  The show is coordinated with many events scheduled for late March and throughout April.  The events focused around climate change and take shape through cultural gatherings, poetry readings, panel discussions, gardening and art.

native ks plant-dyed hemp

Thanks for reading everyone!  Happy hump-day.

Live and Dye Naturally

Neil

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About liveanddyenaturally

Neil Goss lives in Lawrence, KS where he concentrates his work around natural Earth processes while responding to human impacts upon those processes. In 2012 he received two BFA's in Design with concentrations in Textiles and Ceramics from the University of Kansas School of the Arts. Goss has focused the last 5 years of his life to researching and practicing sustainable arts processes such as natural dyeing, weaving (backstrap weaving), utilizing hand dug clay, and foraging art materials. Goss has taught workshops, completed public art installations and done artist talks from coast to coast in the United States. He currently is a practicing professional artist, artist-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and teaches pottery and natural dyeing at the Lawrence Arts Center.

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