08/23/11

Story by Diane Carroll

Charlotte Street Exhibition

Ricky Allman, Mediate 1, 2011, acrylic on canvas

Peggy Noland, S/S 2012, 2011, video

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The 2011 Charlotte Street Foundation Fellows exhibition opens in the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College on Friday, Sept. 9, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Lectures by three featured artists begin at 7 p.m. in the museum’s Hudson Auditorium. Both the reception and lectures are free and open to the public.

Andy Brayman, Black Bowl with Gold and Red, 2010, porcelain

Kansas City based artists Ricky Allman, Andy Brayman and Peggy Noland were selected by a curatorial panel of awards advisors (composed of regional and national members) following studio visits with 10 semi-finalists. All three artists received unrestricted cash grants of $10,000 each.

Allman was born and raised in Utah, and his paintings reflect the geographical environment, mountainous landscapes and Mormon architecture of his upbringing. His most recent paintings incorporate modernist architectural structures, as well as areas of gestural painting and exuberant color.

“For the Charlotte Street Foundation exhibition,
I am continuing my exploration of the natural and built environment,” Allman said. “Looking through the lens of my personal religious disaffection, I am making work about the hope I have for the future of humanity via the new explosion of knowledge, science and technology we are now entering. We live in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex society which I once believed was destined for an apocalyptic demise. Coming to understand the enormous amount of innovation now occurring in human thought and progress, I am much more optimistic,” he said.

Kansas City native Brayman’s work merges conceptual art and functional ceramics, with projects ranging from sculptural slipcast plates, cups and vases to a project utilizing glazes created with dust from brick and cinder block fragments from the town of Greensburg, Kan., which was devastated by a tornado in 2007.

Brayman returned to Kansas City in 2005 from Bennington, Vt., to establish the Matter Factory in Kansas City, Kan. It serves as a studio, laboratory and launch pad for a range of projects, including collaborations with other artists.

“The objects in this exhibition come from my research involving 3D computer-aided fabrication coupled with sensor data from the natural world,” Brayman said. “Light values, temperatures, river depths and wind speeds all become active factors that drive the form and decoration during fabrication.”

Peggy Noland, raised in Independence, is an artist and fashion designer. Her shop, Peggy Noland Kansas City, located in the Crossroads Arts District, serves as home base for her international career, as well as a site for regularly changing installations.

Noland is known for her use of bright colors and patterns, full body leotards, a line of baby clothes made for adults and other apparel that questions ideas of normality and encourages risk-taking. Her designs have appeared in fashion and music magazines including Elle, Vogue, Spin and Rolling Stone.

Regarding her Charlotte Street Foundation exhibition project, Noland said, “I will be debuting a short film, an Antonioni homage. The film encourages building only to destroy and is the most masculine work that I’ve ever done, including some Terminator 2 style explosions.”

A non-profit organization, Charlotte Street Foundation supports and recognizes outstanding artists in  Kansas City. It also presents, promotes and encourages the visual and performing arts and fosters economic development in the urban core of Kansas City. Charlotte Street Foundation has now recognized 74 Kansas City based visual artists with Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards distributed annually since 1997, totaling $482,500.

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and college holidays.

Admission to the Nerman Museum and parking are free.

For more information, call (913) 469-3000 or visit www.nermanmuseum.org.

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