(photo by Jim Barcus)
The Kansas City artist redefines black femininity in her ceramics, sculptures and new oil pastels
When multimedia sculpture artist Summer Brooks resettled in Kansas City in 2021, she didn’t know anyone. As the child of a parent in the military, Brooks was born in Japan and later lived in the countryside of Germany. Once based in the United States, she studied ceramics and painting and mentored with two professors at McKendree University in Southern Illinois. Graduating in 2021, her art career began with two prolific years.
Brooks moved to St. Louis for an artist residency and taught teens during a fellowship at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Her solo exhibition “The New Garden Variety” at the museum was one of four 2021 exhibitions she had in the Midwest. The Belger Arts Foundation selected Brooks’ application for a 2021-22 artist residency at Belger Crane Yard, and she moved to Kansas City during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a weird time. I focused on being human and reconnecting with my hobbies,” said Brooks. As she made connections in the local arts community, “Kansas City welcomed me with open arms. The arts scene is like a college experience, a small pool of people that you get to know.”
Since then, Brooks completed an Artist INC fellowship in 2022 through Mid-America Arts Alliance. “I worked with people who were pillars in Kansas City. It didn’t feel as cutthroat as other arts communities,” said Brooks.
Additional experience in 2022 included a residency at 323 Clay in Independence, a fellowship at M-AAA’s Artist Leadership Foundation, receipt of an ArtsKC grant, and eight exhibitions in Chicago, Kansas City, Roseville, California and South Korea.
Currently, Brooks works as an executive department assistant at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Her studio manager duties “align with her skill set” of teaching and managing an arts program while continuing her artwork.
Her 2025 “Prettier in Pink II” solo exhibit at Vulpes Bastille featured ceramics and multimedia sculptures built with unconventional materials. For instance, painted spray foam produced a bubbly body and texture on the afro hair of Black women figures — royal, decorated and idiosyncratic headpieces fit for queens.
Her artist statement elaborated on how the work tapped “into the softness of Black femininity subverting the narrative of being tougher and stronger than other women. Reclaiming the delicate nature of femininity is an act of rebellion since my ancestors were stripped of their beauty rituals and culture.”
In person, Brooks stated how the hair and bodies of Black women are presented and viewed: “Aggressive. We can’t be princesses. I wanted a body of work that was pretty, pink, feminine.”
As a military kid who often stood out from her surroundings, Brooks related to the challenges that young Black women face in person and on social media within her own community.
“Being soft and feminine” often spurs volatile, adverse online reactions hyper focused on racist and sexist stereotypes as peers repress each other. Brooks said, “It’s like crabs in a bucket pulling each other down. I want to be who I want to be and can be. My work has glitter and diamonds. I want to be seen as that.”
Award-winning recording artist, performer and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion serves as a role model. “She’s a queen, an icon. Megan is her authentic self and not apologetic. Her use of anime was my inspiration for a lot of things. She’s a pretty girl and doesn’t fight. I see myself in her,” said Brooks.
Femininity remains a throughline in Brooks’ artwork, a beacon that broadcasts her personal and artistic identity and enables likeminded people to connect with her.
In fall of 2025, Brooks took a break from ceramics and shifted to oil pastels to create imagery. Her sketches incorporate looping linework. Pink, orange and peach colors complement the faces of women of literal color with soft, gently curving facial features.
“With oil pastels, I can be more free with the medium,” Brooks said. “It feels less ultra-processed and refined than painting. I can let the emotions come through and the creativity flow.”
Studying her artist statement in 2022, a time of intense productivity at the launch of her career, Brooks asserted: “Black is beautiful and should be presented as a spectrum, not a constraint. Sculptures are rejoicing their beauty through being comfortable with their afros, locks, braids and dark skin. Figures also represent the struggle I had to face from people touching my hair without consent, to being told my skin is too dark. Although struggles are shown, figures heal from the hardships and grow into their beautiful selves.”
Ready for the next jaunt of her life and career, Summer Brooks creates art that acknowledges the struggles that she and other young Black women face. Social pressure hasn’t hardened her into a taciturn sculpture, an object fixed in form and place. Rather, over a span of a few years, Brooks demonstrates artistic growth along a spectrum that she defines, and defies limits imposed by others.
For more information, www.summerbrooks.art.
