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Welcome to the Artist Directory!

Here you will find highly skilled artists across the Kansas City region – from poets and musicians to sculptors and choreographers. Discover a new favorite or your next collaboration using the search tools! Click on an artist to learn more about their work and view upcoming events.

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Erin Eades

Music

Erin Eades is a singer-songwriter in Kansas City, MO. Originally from the mountain state of West Virginia, Eades began making music at the age of 12, when her father handed her a 1950’s Gibson that had been stored away, waiting for someone to play. It wasn’t long before she began writing songs, recording her first album at age 17 as part of the duo Special Guest. After a more than decade-long hiatus from music, Eades began playing music again after moving to Kansas City and began her solo career in 2015. She has since played dozens of venues in the Kansas City area, won the 2016 HRC Kansas City Battle of the Bands Acoustic Stage, and has started to play more regionally, sharing her heartfelt lyrics, classic melodies, and percussive guitar style with audiences in the Midwest. Eades released her debut single, “Looking From the Bottom” in 2017, and will release her EP, “Diary” in Fall 2018.

Anita Easterwood

Multi-Disciplinary; Visual

Art in its’ most simplistic nature is a form of communication. And as an artist, I have had to decide what I want to convey through my art. And after 13 years of creating, everyday life has continued to be my inspiration. Fundamentally, that may seem simplistic; but life is profoundly complex and intricate. I am drawn to capturing the complexity of the everyday experience. Life has led me through a unique journey to art. I discovered my love for art early on because my father is also an artist. I grew up appreciating art in its’ many forms. I also grew up respecting the dedication and hustle it takes to be an artist as I watched my father complete projects. Watching my father, “the everyday guy”, follow his love for art helped me discover my own. As I explored my love for art, the “everyday person” is what drew me to being a portrait artist. I found that capturing the essence of someone is difficult but that challenge is what drives my creativity. But beyond the challenge of capturing people, it is also the challenge of capturing a moment and recreating it through my viewpoint as an artist. The “everyday person” has various social identities that intersect in shaping us into who we are. And my identity as a black woman has influenced my artistry. It has been important to me as a black woman to take moments in my art to celebrate the beauty and sophistication that black women embody. Beyond that, I also highlight Black culture and community in my pieces because those are facets of my life that have molded me into the person I am which inherently shapes my lens as an artist. The beauty of the “everyday person” is that we are never just one or two things. We are multi-dimensional. So though my art is influenced by my blackness, it does not define it. It is just one of the many lens I explore when creating. My goal is to create art that is timeless. And by creating art based on everyday life, my art expands overtime as life is my muse.

Ashley Edwards

Visual

AJ Edwards is inspired by the beauty of color. While her paintings exhibit strength in capturing detail, it is her unique approach to color that brings her work to life. AJ’s collection of works includes various forms of artistic expression. She has been commissioned to produce both paintings and murals. She is also providing a successful line of pop-art magnets being sold in local businesses and is a calligraphy artist specializing in wedding invitations.

DEVIN EDWARDS

Visual

My name is Devin Edwards I’m a Kansas City native who grew up on the east side of the city. I graduated from Paseo Academy of the fine arts in 2016, then went KCAI for two years. The theme of my artwork is my character, “The Crusader” and the universe I created with him, mixed with cartoons I’ve grown up with to bring a certain type of childhood wonderment and light in my work. Sparking happy memories and warm feelings within my spectators is a fun goal I take charge of. To make the characters pop, I add contrasting bright colors that draw your eye to be entranced by the art piece. From there, the viewers are invited to speculate on the deeper meanings within my works. The idea of the viewers having their own interpretations of my artwork brings me great joy and fulfillment.

Constance Ehrlich

Visual

Constance Ehrlich graduated from the University of Kansas with a Masters of Fine Arts in painting. Since graduation, she has remained in Lawrence as a full- time artist. Ehrlich has exhibited her work in cities such as Santa Fe, Chicago, Savannah, and Kansas City.

Kim Eichler-Messmer

Visual

Kim Eichler-Messmer is an Associate Professor in Fiber at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she has taught surface design and quilting since 2008. Eichler-Messmer received an MFA in Textiles from the University of Kansas and a BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from Iowa State University. She was an Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. Her hand dyed, one of a kind quilts have been exhibited nationally in numerous solo, group, and juried shows. Her work has also been featured on prominent design blogs including Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge. She was commissioned by Pottery Barn Teen to create an exclusive design for their catalog and select stores and her hand dyed quilts were featured in the West Elm Catalog. Eichler-Messmer is the author of “Modern Color: An Illustrated Guide to Dyeing Fabric for Modern Quilts” and her work has been included in “Quilting with a Modern Slant” by Rachel May, “The Essential Guide To Modern Quilt Making” edited by Heather Grant, and “The Uppercase Compendium of Craft and Creativity” by Janine Vangool.

Gretchen Ellison

Visual

Gretchen Ellison is a self-taught artist who creates original abstract paintings. She has spent her life creating art, but only recently started to share her creations of acrylic and mixed media paintings. She has had showings with the Now Showing program through ArtsKC and “Women of the arts in Kansas City” at the Paper Birch Landing. She has sold paintings nationwide. Her sculptured paintings of nature are created through a completely intuitive process inspired by her workshop that sits on a 100-acre wooded farm in the Midwest. Free of direction and with limitless possibilities, each piece of artwork is unique in every way.

Nicole Emanuel

Community-Based Art; Visual

Artist; Art Space Developer; Founder & Artistic Director at InterUrban ArtHouse GRANTS & AWARDS 2017-2019 National Endowment for the Arts ‘Our Town’ Grant 2014 “Top 100 who make Kansas City…” KC Magazine. 2014 & 2016 Brown Fields Grant EPA and Kansas Department of Health & Environment 2012-2017 Kansas Creative Arts Industry Grants 2012-2014 National Endowment for the Arts ‘Our Town’ Grant 2011 Featured Artist – ArtsKC Awards – Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City 2011 Featured Artist – UMKC Women’s Council 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award – University of Kansas City’s Women’s Council 2011-2017 Green Schools Grant “ArtSmart” programming – Kansas Department of Health & Environment 2011 Green Business Award – Briarwood Elementary’s Recycling & Environmental Arts Program 2009 Research Award – Hadassah–Brandeis Institute for “Memoraphilia: The Life of Jewish Artist & Storyteller Liouba Golschmann” as a part of The Reuben/Rifkin Jewish Women Writers Series: A Joint Project of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute & The Feminist Press 2009 Recipient – Inspiration Grant – Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City 2009 Recipient – MAP Grant – Kansas City Artists Coalition 2009 Recipient – UMKC Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Fund’s Esther O. Loeb Award 1995 Valedictorian, Kansas City Art Institute. 1992- 1995 Gold Scholarship 1992-1995 Thomas Hart Benton Scholar 1993 & 1994 Binney & Smith Excellence in Art Award 1993 Chicago Art Institute.. Chicago, IL Summer Scholarship in Painting 1993 Vermont Studio Center.. Johnson, Vermont.. Spring Scholarship in Painting EMPLOYMENT Community ARTS Developer – (’87-’92, 2010-present, Overland Park, KS) Present – Founder, Artistic Director – InterUrban ArtHouse 2010-2017 Executive Director, Founder – InterUrban ArtHouse – Developed a non-profit and raised over $1,200,000 to launch and run five community programs and to purchase and renovate an industrial building into affordable studios, events and exhibitions. Muralist, Painter, Sculptor, Artist – Self-Employed (San Francisco, CA; Minneapolis, MN; Appleton, WI; Kansas City Metro Area (’82-present) 2015-present Jewish Artist Fellow for Midwest Jewish Artists Laboratory 2011 & 2012 Ace Awards Designer for The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce 2011 ArtsKC Awards Featured Artist & Awards Designer for The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Created & produced over 20 large-scale private, corporate & public murals & 2 large scale public sculptures Creates paintings & drawings for corporate & private collections, exhibitions & NFP events Designs & illustrates brochures, business cards, signs, posters & articles Directs ArtSmart program, bringing environmentally conscious artists into public schools to work with students Created & directed a traveling group exhibition, “Sorry for the Miscommunication”, a three-state, multi-media exhibition featuring 31 artists from Kansas City metro area, Chicago & Wisconsin

Lily Erb

Performance Art; Visual

Lily Erb is a queer maker living in Kansas City, MO. Lily received her BFA from Hampshire College in Sculpture and Printmaking in 2013 and their MFA from Ohio University in Sculpture + Extended Practice in 2022. Lily spent the first eight years of her creative career working almost exclusively with steel after signing up for a welding class in college and falling in love with welding. They have been focusing on creating soft sculpture after a discovered love of sewing while in residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in the fall of 2018. Other residencies Lily attended are Yellow Bird Art Park, Wabi Sabi Thrift Store, and Paducah A.I.R. Public art pieces include, decorative panels for The Paramount, Vita Nova, Tastings, and Splendora’s as well as Extended Chaos in Paducah, KY and Clothing Rack Bike Rack in Moab, UT. As I explore community dynamics in a time of societal reimaging, I am interested in points of friction in unequal power relationships. I am an avid reader of science fiction – the descriptions of invented flora and fauna inspire me aesthetically while the exploration of social systems at the center of Sci-Fi narratives inspire me conceptually. My work is a series of investigations into human tendencies through arrangements of creatures, land formations, flowers, greenery, and fruits enlivened by performance.

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