66 art ltd - March / April 2016
Most of those collections, studios, schools and galleries are just south
of the Bartle Hall in the Crossroads Arts District, and almost all of them
are getting involved in the NCECA conference. At the Belger Arts Cen-
ter and Belger Crane Yard Studios, there will be numerous exhibitions
of artwork by resident artists and alumni. The Crane Yard will have an
exhibition by renowned local painter, sculptor and entrepreneur Pere-
grine Honig, along with Beth Cavener, Jenny Kindler and Lindsay
Pichaske. Called “Objectify,” the exhibition features sculptures that
use animals as social, political and environmental metaphors.Some of KC’s biggest and oldest galleries will be hosting official
NCECA events. The Charlotte Street Foundation’s La Esquina will
have “Across the Table, Across the Land,” featuring artists engaging
in socially oriented art projects on the topics of food, community
and activism. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Kansas City Artists
Coalition will host “Aesthetic Influence: The Art of Chinese Scholar
Rocks”with a ceramic interpretation of the ornamental rocks’
thousand-plus-year legacy.The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center will host three official NCECA exhibi-
tions: the “NCECA 2016 Emerging Artist Exhibition,” the “National
Student Juried Exhibition,” and the “Shapers of the Field: NCECA
Honors and Fellows” which will include artwork by the venerable
85-year-old ceramic artist Jim Leedy himself. “He’s the last of a gener-
ation of abstract sculptors who really pushed the boundaries of clay,”
says his daughter and gallery director, Stephanie Leedy. “He and his
generation really laid the groundwork for ceramics studio art in America.”As a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) for over 40
years, and a one-time honorary NCECA member, it makes sense to
host exhibitions of both veteran and student artwork at the space
Leedy founded. Though, having the largest floor plan of any KC gallery
also helps. Founded 31 years ago in the old Folgers Coffee factory,
the gallery was named after Leedy’s friend and fellow ceramics pio-
neer Peter Voulkos. The space contains both galleries and private
live/work spaces on the top floor, studios coveted by emerging
and veteran KC artists.“They call him the godfather of the Crossroads,” says the artist’s
granddaughter and Leedy-Voulkos gallery manager Erin Woodworth.
“Before my grandfather created this gallery, so many of his students
would graduate and leave for New York or LA. Before the city offi-
cially renamed this neighborhood the Crossroads, everyone just
called it Leedyville.”Further south of the Crossroads and Leedyville is Midtown, home to
KC’s oldest art institutions. The Kansas City Art Institute will be holding
exhibitions of student and alumni artwork across many of its campuses
galleries. The school’s associated gallery, the H&R Block Artspace, will
be exhibiting Simone Leigh’s ceramic and video installations in “I ran to
the rock to hide my face the rock cried out no hiding place,” addressing
topics in African art, ethnography, folk art, and the female body.The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, an enormous public collection
of ancient, classical, modern and contemporary art, is exhibiting the
“NCECA 2016 Invitational: Unconventional Clay: Engaged in Change.”Top Left to bottom:“Kept (Variation in Smoke),” 2015, Beth Cavener
Resin infused refractory material, paint, rope, wooden base
24" x 12" x 28"
Photo: courtesy of the artist“Collective Identity—The Legacy of Apprenticeship
Under Toshiko Takaezu” at Haw Contemporary, Geoff Booras“Gone A,” 2013, Arlene Shechet
Glazed ceramic, glazed kiln shelf, steel base
591 ⁄ 4 " x 20^1 ⁄ 4 " x 20^1 ⁄ 2 "
Photo: Alan Wiener
Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York,
© Arlene Shechet