KC STUDIO

March 5, 2019

Ben Wills: Restoring the Humanity of Prisoners

You could almost call it art by accident. Ben Wills and a friend were tossing a paper airplane back and forth in their Atlanta studio. The plane had been constructed by a man in prison. It was sturdy. It flew straight and true. Wills and his friend had been playing catch with the construction for several days in a row.

March 5, 2019

Arts News: Remembering Michael Stack

On June 1, 2018, sculptor, painter and designer Michael Stack died from complications following a fall. Born in 1941 in Chicago, where many of his..

March 4, 2019

“Polly Apfelbaum: Waiting for the UFOS (a space between landscape and a bunch of flowers),” Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Polly Apfelbaum is an iconoclast, refreshingly devoid of bullshit, and known for her wildly exuberant installations in which the floor is as important, or more, than the walls.

March 4, 2019

See Hear: How a Kansas City Guitarist Found His Groove in Cuba

It’s complicated. Anyone who has had the opportunity to visit Cuba in recent years will recognize the phrase. You hear it all over the place..

March 3, 2019

Women of Color: “School Girls” at KC Rep is a Serious Comedy

Virtually every emotional trauma and competitive humiliation we associate with high school is on full display in Jocelyn Bioh’s “School Girls; or, the African Mean..

March 1, 2019

Concert to Come | ‘Nelly Don: The Musical’ at MTH Theater

Nell Donnelly Reed is going from the history books to center stage with the world premiere production of “Nelly Don: The Musical” at MTH Theater in March. It’s a tale that digs into a significant figure in Kansas City’s past: a story of the American dream, female empowerment, Kansas City mobsters and . . . pink gingham, with ruffles.

March 1, 2019

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Hires a New Executive Director

Sean O’Harrow has been named executive director of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. He will be the fifth executive director in the museum’s 25-year history. In a recent telephone interview, O’Harrow said he feels “fortunate and honored” to be chosen for the post.

March 1, 2019

Women Playwrights Ascendant at KC Rep

In 2010 an arts journalist at the “Denver Post” interviewed theater experts and compiled a list of the 10 most important American plays of the 20th century. The playwrights included all the usual suspects: Arthur Miller (two of his plays were on the list), Tony Kushner, Tennessee Williams (also represented twice), Edward Albee, Eugene O’Neill, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson.

February 28, 2019

Artist Pages | Fuko Ito: Fumblys, Shruggles and Plushscapes

Using colored pencil, graphite and gel pen, Kansas City/Lawrence artist Fuko Ito conjures imaginary worlds in her entrancing small works featuring “fumblys,” the artist’s name..