In episode No. 6 of the Femin • Is series, I sat down with local ceramicist and bona fide flowerchild Linda Lighton. Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll and ceramics, baby. This is how it’s done.
Featured photo by Tom Styrkowicz
To be the renowned artist that Linda Lighton is today, she had to rebel, and then rebel some more. So for this interview, we took a deep dive into the early years and some early work. We also took a look back at the history of the art scene in Kansas City. Below are a few pieces that we discussed in the interview. Enjoy.
The First Lady
Daddy’s Hungry
Diva Laura clay, glaze, China paint, lustres 22″ x 9″ x 11″ Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Collection 2002
The Czarina Damnwell clay, glaze, China paint, lustre 14.5″ x 8″ x 4″ Belger Arts Center Collection 2000
Love & War: The Ammunition clay, glaze, China paint, lustre 12″ x 17″ x 13″ 2012
Still hungry? Then watch this gem of a process film of Linda Lighton by Don Maxwell
and stay tuned for an upcoming bonus clip from my interview with Linda.
Lastly, here is Linda’s portrait, admittedly the metallic gold was difficult to photograph!
This episode of KC Art Pie is made possible through an Inspiration Grant from
In episode No. 5 of the Femin • Is series, I sat down with founder and president of Rightfully Sewn, Jennifer Lapka Pfeifer, to talk about fashion, feminism, and creative entrepreneurship.
Featured photo by Samantha Levi Photography
We talked about the organization Lapka Pfeifer started that blends non profit social work, job-creating entrepreneurship, local history and fashion design. Yes, Rightfully Sewn really does all that. We talked through the puzzle pieces and with such an interesting and intersecting mix, I also wanted to dive into the inspiration and process behind starting such an endeavor.
The two biggest parts of Rightfully Sewn is a seamtress training program for at-risk women and and supported residencies for local fashion designers. While the training program is being initiated this summer, the residency program is thoroughly underway and since this a project celebrating creative women, it seems fitting to share more about these designers here in the show notes:
Several resident designers were at a recent event hosted by Ami Beck (center) in her new studio in The Livestock Exchange Building in the West Bottoms.The Kerri Bag from Dolyn Bags. Photo by Andrea Larson
In episode No. 4 of the Femin • Is series, I sat down with writer and curator Elisabeth Kirsch to talk about feminism and the Kansas City art scene of the 1970s.
We talked about the challenges and limitations placed on women artists and how her early encounters with the feminist art movement influenced her career. I also wanted to hear about the Women Artists ‘77 exhibit, one of, if not the first, all-women regional shows at a time when women artists struggled to be included in galleries and museums. Kirsch was the gallery assistant for the exhibition and had a behind-the-scenes perspective on the process with juror and feminist art movement icon Miriam Schapiro.
We also talked about a few of the artists she’s reviewed over the years and she revealed what may be one of my favorite bucket list items: to be a Guerrilla Girl for a day.
She also discussed an artist who showed at the Douglas Drake Gallery.
You can see a wide range of collages by Vivian Torrence here.
As solid evidence that Elisabeth Kirsch is still hard at work, here is the latest review by Kirsch, of artist Hyeyoung Shin and her recent exhibition, “Unapologetic,” at Studios Inc.
Finally, during our interview, I asked Kirsch about the impact of the Women Artists 77 Exhibition in the following years. Looking at the longer term, I think it is a safe bet to say that one of those lasting impacts was to influence a young student who would go on to contribute volumes of thought and energy to the Kansas City arts scene.
Lastly, here is Elisabeth’s portrait!
Femin Is_Elisabeth Kirsch / Ink on panel / 24 x 18″ / Text: Awakening Loving-Kindness by Pema Chödrön
This episode of KC Art Pie is made possible through an Inspiration Grant from
Episode No. 3 of the KC Art Pie podcast features poet Gloria Vando Hickok, who founded Helicon Nine, co-founded The Writers Place, and generally, is a very busy woman.
For the third episode for FEMIN IS, we take a historical look at feminism in the arts with Gloria. We spoke over the phone aboutHelicon Nine: The Journal of Women’s Arts & Letters which she founded in 1977 in Kansas City, Missouri, to provide a quality literary publication by and about women. The magazine provided a forum for women in the arts at a time when women were being excluded from major anthologies, history books, museums, and academic curricula. It published the work of well over 500 artist. In 1992 Helicon Nine, changed its name to Midwest Center for the Literary Arts, Inc., in order to expand its mission to include the publication of fine books of literature through Helicon Nine Editions and the founding of The Writers Place, a regional literary community center, library, and gallery offering public and educational programs for all ages.
Photo by Anika Paris
As a poet, Gloria has edited and published numerous anthologies of poetry and received awards for her own books, Promesas: Geography of the Impossible, a personal encounter with the history of colonialism and her family roots in Puerto Rico; Shadows and Supposes, named the Best Poetry Book of 2003 by the Latino Hall of Fame; and Woven Voices, a cross-generational work with her mother and daughter.
Though she returns to Kansas City regularly, she now lives in California.
What’s coming up next for Gloria? She is working on a new book of poetry and a memoir, so there is plenty more to come from this passionate and energetic artist!
Lastly, here is Gloria’s portrait, inspired by the Helicon Nine Publishing logo.
India ink on paper │Text: The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser │ 22.75 x 34.75” │ 2017
This episode of KC Art Pie is made possible through an Inspiration Grant from
Episode No. 2 of the KC Art Pie podcast features visual artist Janet Kuemmerlein discussing her textile murals, the women of jazz, and how naiveté is not always a bad thing.
For this episode, I sat down with Janet Kuemmerlein in her large home studio to talk about her work and career which has spanned over 50 years. We talked about the bravery or naivete it takes to be an artist and the early days of her career in the 60s. While her textile practice is often a solitary affair, she has also painted portraits of other artists, most significantly a number of Kansas City women jazz vocalists, and she shares her experience of working with and learning from women coming from a different artistic medium.
Kuemmerlein is a pioneer in the contemporary fiber art movement. She was born in Detroit, Michigan. Janet studied painting at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, and sculpture and metalsmithing at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her work has been placed in institutions such the Smithsonian Museum of Fine Artm the Chicago Institute of Art, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Art and Design, among many others. Her work has been in exhibited around the word in England, France, Germany and Switzerland.
Episode No. 1 of the KC Art Pie Podcast features art historian and educator Paula Rose, discussing representation and the upcoming Wikipedia Edit-a-thon.
Above image: The first local Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Wonder Fair Gallery in 2015, with co-curator Meredith Moore pictured center.
We’re kicking off the KC Art Pie podcast and Women’s History Month talking about how an annual upcoming event fuses small acts of activism, feminism and artist representation on Wikipedia, all as a social activity. We’ll speak with Paula Rose, an art historian and educator, who is partnering for this year’s Wikipedia Edit-a-thon with Her Art Project of the UMKC Womens Center. Begun by Art + Feminism, in previous years, the event’s focus has been to increase the number of women editors on Wikipedia as well as increase the number of women artists represented on Wikipedia and quality of already available content. This year, the Edit-a-thon has expanded to include not just the arts, but all STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, together with art).
Is there an artist you feel does not have their due on Wikipedia? What about local artists? Here’s your chance to learn how to change and add content to the world’s largest online encyclopedia.
Click below for the Facebook Event
A view of the 2014 exhibition YWAs: :Young Women Artists featuring artists such as Rachel Doris Gregor, Shenequa A. Brooks and Mariah Gillespie.
“Squa-plaits” by Shenequa A. Brooks using synthetic hair woven with cotton
Artist talks and presentations accompanied the YWAs exhibition at Wonder Fair Gallery in Lawrence, KS
To give you a taste of the pie, below is a clip from my conversation with textile artist and painter Janet Kuemmerlein.
Her career in Kansas City spans decades with monumental fiber installations both in Kansas City and around the world. Her success is a testament to will, perseverance, and an unshakeable confidence that being an artist is serious business. Our conversation took place in her ranch-style home, which is really one sprawling studio, with one room of artwork flowing into the next. I had a sense of being uniquely immersed in the inner workings of the artist’s mind and life in a way that the rough, industrial spaces of many artist studios rarely, if ever, convey. At once surrounded by past work, a library of influences, works in progress and ephemera untold, the inspiring and delightful warmth of Kuemmerlein’s spirit threads it all together.
I hope you enjoy this clip and I look forward to sharing the full conversation during Women’s History Month of 2017.
Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
As I tried to capture the flavor of the feminist art scene of Kansas City in the 1970s, my research brought me a batch of newsletters in the Chris Almvig Collection at the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, housed at the LaBudde Department of Special Collections at The University of Misosuri – Kansas City. These publications chronicled the Kansas City chapter of the Women’s Liberation Union, which fired up around 1970 as one of the first local feminists collectives. It took its name from the first such publication, Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement, spearheaded by Jo Freeman in Chicago, IL, sparked into being by the patriarchal condescension and dismissal of the women’s caucus at the 1967 National Conference of New Politics.
The first national newsletter from which later grassroots versions took inspiration. From http://www.redstockings.org, Women’s Liberation Movement Think Tank & Archive for Action.
This was a time when a woman could be fired from a job for being pregnant. She couldn’t apply for a credit card on her own. Sexual harassment in the workplace wasn’t considered a thing and if you were single, practicing birth control was illegal. As larger organizations took on these broader legal battles, the smaller, grassroots Liberation Unions spoke to the consciousness-raising efforts of the early-to-mid 1970s, declaring that “the personal is political,” and “Sisterhood is powerful.” However, rather than digging deeper into the history, tempting as that is, the following is a delightful tangent — a showcase of the art of the newsletters themselves.
Browsing through the collection, I was quickly struck by the line drawings peppered in between practical guides, poetry, political calls to action, and personal revelations. They were simple, clean, rendered yellow with age, yes, but striking and always expressive. The first newsletter in the collection is an early one, with later covers taking on a more designed quality.
Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.From September / October 1973 Issue; Used by permission by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
Many of the drawings were left unattributed, but the primary contributors of these drawings are believed to be by members of the collective, Patt Gateley and Julie King.
From the September / October 1973 Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the September / October 1973 Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the September / October 1973 Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the September / October 1974 Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
By 1974, full illustrations were incorporated into the covers. As the movement hit its stride in the middle of the decade, the publication benefited from a more organized feel, but hand drawings still graced many of its pages. Each issue became centered around an organizing theme that yet included diverse content. One could browse both personal and political essays, learn about an all woman music production company, read poetry, or clip a coupon to receive $50 off your purchase of a car from the first female salesperson at the Chevrolet dealership in town.
Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.From the March / April 1974 Ageism Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the March / April 1974 Ageism Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the May / June 1974 Aspirations Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
From the May / June 1974 Aspirations Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
We end on my personal favorite, which is the result of the paper’s transparency, the layered placement drawings on back-to-back pages, and serendipity. A slightly haunting collaged effect is created by the watermark-like effect of the text on the next page, while the tail end of a butterfly’s wing takes on the appearance of a faint tear on the woman’s face. That this effect was presumably unintentional somehow gives it an added layer of poignancy, as it captures a sense of both beauty and pain, of simplicity and simultaneously complex subtlety.
From the May / June 1974 Aspirations Issue: Used by permission of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries, Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections.
More drawings will be featured in future posts. Until then, if you’d like a bit more on the history of feminist movement of the time, here’s a clip of archival footage (which at times, proves that media bias is nothing new).
And if love your history, here’s a full-length BBC documentary:
That’s your slice of art pie for today. Until we nosh again,
From the artist: In late spring, the Art in the Loop Foundation commissioned me, among many other artists, to create temporary work for the series of summer programming in downtown Kansas City titled Connect. With the opportunity to partner with the KC Streetcar Authority during the streetcar’s inaugural year, a mural on one of the station stops seemed a clear choice. I See You was installed mid-July at the northbound Power & Light stop near 14th & Main.
Art in the Loop: Connect │ Power & Light KC Streetcar Stop │ 70sf │ 2016
Since I have been itching to do more of what I call “lace portraiture,” another clear choice was before me. This piece graphically fused the nature of lace – domestic, intimate, soft – with the metaphor I see in the material of many individuals strands creating an interconnected network. In I See You, the overlapping strands of cursive text radiate out to create the profile of a figure, a self-portrait, in truth. Yet, this is portraiture not beholden to capturing the physical likeness. Rather, it captures thought, consciousness, a meditation, or at the very least, that is my intent.
Art in the Loop: Connect │ Power & Light KC Streetcar Stop │ 70sf │ 2016
I invite you to visit the Art in the Loop’s website to listen to a short clip where I spoke about the meaning of this piece during the opening reception. The description I gave there is a bit different than what I have shared anywhere else and something I felt best shared through voice.
This work references a series of drawings created from the desire to transcribe consciousness into visual form.
The transparency of the mural overlays a lacy filter onto the downtown surroundings at the northbound Power & Light Streetcar stop near 14th & Main St.The layers of handwritten text were printed onto a clear adhesive vinyl. While individual words can be picked out here and there, overall, the layers render the sentences illegible. A graphic mass of thought is the result.
While this work is temporary, up through September, I will have the opportunity to share more lace portraiture through an upcoming project called Femin Is. This launched softly on KC Art Pie, with a hard launch including a Kickstarter campaign coming in October (sign up for updates here).
So, more lace, or at least my interpretation of it, is on the way. Until then, you can join me on the 17th for an Art on the Route tour hosted by ArtsKC and the Kansas City Artists Coalition. Otherwise, you have until the end of September to view I See You as well as all the other works on the line. Then it will be like what remains of our summer: going, going, gone.
The breadth of the Kansas City art scene is practically culinary. It is a rich stew, with both satisfyingly palatable and surprising bursts of contrasting flavor. For the art aficionado, it is delicious. Whatever flavor you prefer, Kansas City has a rich arts scene, and like a great meal, it deserves to be shared.
With this in mind, KC Art Pie will launch in March of 2017 as an artist-run podcast featuring the artist of our local creative culture. Season one of the podcast will focus on a specific multimedia project, Femin• Is,allowing KC Art Pie to develop with a clear focus and then branch out to other projects and topics in the future. So, we will start with a recipe, but eventually, we will be mixing up all sorts of creations with the ingredients on hand (which, incidentally, is how I cook most of the time).
There are many great resources for arts-related content in Kansas City. The KC Art Pie podcast is simply an addition to the menu. Kansas City has a growing reputation, both nationally and, dare I say, internationally, as a developing hub for the arts. As an artist living here for over a decade, the growth has been clear, but the only way to continue to build our reputation is to keep the conversation growing and introduce more people to this Midwestern art smorgasbord. If all I can offer are a few whispers and appetizers, so be it.
Janet Kuemmerlein in her art-filled home and studio
Odyssey, textile installation, 5 x 30′, manila rope, wool, nylon,
Arctic Echoes, textile installation, 50′, Anchorage, AK
The Wild Women of Kansas City, The American Jazz Museum
Calla Lily, 10 x 10″, acrylic on canvas
Tempest by Janet Kuemmerlein, textile vessel
Portrait of a Garden
Janet Kuemmerlein in the yarn room of her home studio
Rachelle Gardner-Roe 