Christel Highland

Christel Highland

Christel Highland resides and works in the Crossroads Arts District founded by her artistic mentor and friend, the great Jim Leedy. In addition to furthering her studio practice where she focuses on developing her natural material usage, she curates MLB Gallery, hosts a quarterly event, The Salon for the Arts, and enjoys advocating for the Arts through KC Studio Magazine.

Creative Fire: Profiles by Christel Highland

The velvety vocals of multi-faceted artist Lonnie McFadden shine in his 2012 album, “I Believe in Music.” Just released in March, “Live at the Green Lady Lounge” is pure, Kansas City jazz at its finest. Swinging, rowdy, live and soul-filled, McFadden’s newest album makes the listener proud to be a Kansas Citian, and proud of our jazz heritage.

Summer Fun Guide

Summer Fun Guide

Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is keeping the heart of Shakespeare alive in the hearts of Kansas City’s youth. Each year, more than 3,000 children ages 5 to 18 benefit from school programs, summer camps, internships, apprenticeships and art contents geared around the works of Shakespeare.

Kansas City’s Art Ambassadors

Kansas City’s Art Ambassadors

Elbert Hubbard famously said, “Art is not a thing, it is a way.” Artists and educators Jessie Fisher and Scott Seebart live a life dedicated to figurative and representational painting. Of her friends and collaborators Misty Gamble says, “There’s a romanticism to the way they work.”

Four Voices in Arts Education

Four Voices in Arts Education

Jill Downen, assistant professor of sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute, is an artist deeply interested in space. There is a construction to the work that plays with the senses in a mysterious, meaningful manner. Downen actively highlights, if not creates, anomalies in the surface of the gallery, celebrating the history of the previous artistic inhabitants of the space.

A Creative Transition

A Creative Transition

Artist Theaster Gates, founder of Rebuild Foundation and Director of Arts and Public Life at University of Chicago, believes in creatively-driven solutions to community challenges. According to the organization’s website, “Rebuild Foundation catalyzes neighborhood revitalization through artistic practices, individual empowerment and community engagement.”