In conjunction with the International Sculpture Center’s 27th International Sculpture Conference, Oct. 25 – 28 in Kansas City, KC Studio asked a dozen area curators, critics and collectors to each nominate an artist for inclusion in our Kansas City Sculpture Artist Pages.

“I like bad-ass women,” Ari Fish said in a recent interview, “and I want to celebrate them. They just keep on going on, no matter what.” It may be more politic to say, “women who lean in” than bad-ass, but despite her blue-eyed blonde, angelic appearance, Fish does not dissemble. Bad-ass, for this woman artist, is strictly positive. It means someone like herself: doing what you have to do and doing what you want to do with no fear and no apologies.