First Friday Glassblowing Demo | | Glassblowers Robert Flowers and Jessalyn Mailoa having fun in Glass Annex | ‘Tis the season to gather around the fire... the fire at the Belger Glass Annex (1219 E. 19th Street)! Catch the last public glassblowing demo of 2022 on first Friday, December 2 from 6pm to 8pm and see the Glass Annex team shape hot, molten glass into a seasonal sculpture. Once you've seen how glass art is made, head over to Belger Crane Yard Gallery (located right around the corner at 2011 Tracy Ave.) where work by all Glass Annex artists is available for purchase. Plus, the annual Holiday Sale and Open House will be in full swing at the Belger Crane Yard with resident ceramic artists and studio members selling their work. Gift certificates are also available for glass and ceramics classes. | | | December 2 & 3 Holiday Open House and Studio Sale | | Don’t miss the Holiday Open House and Studio Sale on first Friday, December 2, 10 am – 8 pm, and Saturday, December 3, 10 am – 6pm at Belger Crane Yard Studios (2011 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO). Studio members and resident artists will have functional and decorative ceramics and jewelry on display and available for purchase. Enjoy a relaxing holiday shopping experience, mingle with the artists over holiday treats and hot cider, and purchase unique artist-made items for everyone on your gift list. Names of participating artists can be found on our website. This event is also a stop on the KC Clay Guild’s Holiday Pottery Sale and Studio Tour. | | | Holidays at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery through December 31 | | Artwork by (left to right) Annie Honn, Justin Rothshank, Miguel Alaniz, Didem Mert. | Artists from across the country have created artworks for Holidays at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery. An array of ceramics, glass, metal, and more, is available for purchase online or in the gallery. Find the perfect gifts for family, friends, or work colleagues. See artworks by several participating artists, featured in KC Studios’ Special Holiday Supplement (pages 26, 40, and 41). | | | | Belger resident artist Meredith Smith is the December Mug of the Month featured artist. Warm tones, figurative sketches, poetry, and a touch of gold are interlaced on the surfaces of Meredith’s mugs. Each mug offers a tender glimpse into the complexity of personal histories and what it means to be human. There are a few mugs by November Mug of the Month featured artist Cindy Leung available online and in the gallery. Learn more about Cindy by visiting our Artists In Residence page. | | | | Frank Thong’s work focuses on the balance between Eastern and Western influences contextualized through his cultural identity. Drawing upon concepts from Asian ceramics and his cultural experiences growing up, he creates functional objects that encapsulate the Asian-American dilemma. Through his artwork, he hopes to chip away at social stereotypes and promote representation. Thong was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and earned a BFA in Ceramics, and a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship with an Asian Studies certificate from the Kansas City Art Institute. He is a resident artist at KC Clay Guild and Charlotte Street Foundation. Previously he was a resident artist at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary.
Thong’s work is available online and at the Belger Crane Yard Gallery (2011 Tracy Ave, KCMO) through December 31, 2022. | | | On view through January 7, 2023 | | Elaine Olafson Henry, (left to right) Missouri, 2017, Kansas, 2018. Each wood fired porcelain, 6 x 4 x 4 in. | 50 Bowls, 50 States, 50 Woodfires includes 50 porcelain bowls made by artist Elaine Olafson Henry. Each thrown bowl was made using the same amount of clay from the same clay block, the same building and shaping process, and the same glaze. Curious about the effects of firing circumstances in different environments, Henry sent a bowl to a ceramist in each of the 50 states to be woodfired. The resulting bowls are products of the types of wood and variety of kilns used, the length of firing, and temperature reached. The bowls will be presented with technical details, including names of wood firing team members, providing insights into each collaboration and the various nuances acquired during the firing process. | | | | Peter Callas, Maquette: Barn Owl, 2018. Wood fired Stoneware, 12 x 13 x 4.5 in. Collection of John and Anna Seargeant. | Peter Callas: An Enduring Legacy is a comprehensive survey of the career of Peter Callas, an internationally renowned artist, and master of the Anagama kiln wood-firing process. Callas considers the Anagama kiln, “the centerpiece for experimentation that records the passage of time.” The exhibition showcases Callas’ experimentation and innovation over 30 years of creative production and includes expressionist ceramic sculptures, abstracted container forms, intimate tea bowls, and works on paper. | | | | Robert Stackhouse, Red Flyer, 1999, watercolor, 60 x 126 in. Photo Courtesy of the Belger Collection. | Passages includes more than 30 sculptures, prints, paintings, and drawings by contemporary art icon Robert Stackhouse, all from the Belger Collection. His two-dimensional artwork often documents large-scale outdoor sculptures that were created with his students and volunteers. Many of them were of a scale where visitors could enter and pass through the installations. Often A-frame wooden structures, the sculptures were literal passageways through art. Frequent imagery in Stackhouse’s output includes boats and ships (reflecting earthly and spiritual passages) and snakes (symbolic of regeneration and death). This exhibition continues through January 7, 2023 at the Belger Arts Center (2100 Walnut St., KCMO). | | | For more information about exhibitions, classes, and programs, please visit our website. |
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