Now Showing is a program of ArtsKC – Regional Arts Council, designed to foster partnerships between individual artists and businesses. The program provides opportunities for Kansas City metro-area artists to display their work in local business spaces, with more than 60 participating venues in the region. Each artist receives a stipend for their work, and 100 percent of the proceeds from artwork purchased go directly to the artist. Over the past three years, the Now Showing program has issued $54,000 to the visual arts community and has overseen the coordination of over 600 exhibitions. Featured below are just a few of the more than 215 participating local artists in the program.
Holly Ann Schenk has been a member of the Now Showing program since 2011 and has most recently shown her work through the program at Atlantic Aviation and Morgan Pilate Law Firm.
Schenk grew up in Nebraska, where she received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in art education. She moved to Kansas City in 1982, and worked at Hallmark Cards as an art director for twelve years. Today, she divides her time between teaching and creating her own artwork.
Through her teaching and directing experiences, she has learned how to create in many different media. She utilizes vivid color and enjoys when the viewer can see things from her viewpoint. Paint-ing and pastels are Schenk’s favorites, but she also ventures into drawing, collage, photography, fine crafts, calligraphy, murals, and caricatures. hollyannschenk.com
Katrina Revenaugh has been a participant in the Now Showing program since 2014 and has most recently shown her work at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Center, Gilmore & Bell and Spencer Fane.
During the past five years Revenaugh has built a vast visual library by traveling to 13 cities and taking 6,490 photos of street art. Revenaugh’s art helps people see street art in a whole new light.
Sometimes called the graffiti gal, Revenaugh enjoys capturing the grit of urban landscapes and says each city she visits has a unique, ever-changing look and feel. Like a sociologist, Revenaugh can tell if a city’s art scene is stagnant or vibrant based on the frequency of change in the murals and marks she sees on the streets, sides of buildings and alleyways.
Revenaugh credits her participation in Artist Inc. with helping her develop a long-term business focus that helps her say no to opportunities that don’t fit into her vision. She also credits Now Showing for increasing her exposure and sales. KRmixedMedia.com
Kale Van Leeuwen has been a participant in the program since 2009 and has most recently shown his work through the program at Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., and M3Sixty Administration.
“Subtlety has never been my strong point. I create work that is vivid, bold and eye-catching. One consistent thread in all of my work is the use of light and reflections. Whether the subject matter is a mannequin, chairs, marbles or a ceramic horse, the lighting is always a key part of the painting. I also have a great desire for color; the brighter the better. I like the vibrancy of the saturated color next to the deep black shades.” www.VanKale.com
Rita Guile has been a participant in the program since 2013 and has most recently shown her work through the program at Burns & McDonnell and Merrigan & Co.
Guile’s design and fine art training began at the Johnson County Community College and continued at the Kansas City Art Institute. While designing by day, she took evening, continuing education classes in painting. After a 27-year career, she retired as a senior product designer in 2012 to return full-time to her fine art painting. In 2014 and 2015, her work was selected for numerous national and international juried exhibitions. www.ritaguile.com
Local artists interested in showing their work through ArtsKC’s Now Showing program may visit Artskc.org/nowshowing or contact Erinn Faulconer at faulconer@artskc.org. Businesses interested in displaying a rotating art gallery featuring any of the program’s 215 artists should also contact Faulconer to become a member of the program.
–Errin Faulconer, ArtsKC Business Programs Manager
