Artspeak Radio- Artful Poetry Contest Winners, Studios Inc, & Kevin Townsend

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, August 18, 2021, noon – 1pm CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org

Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes winners of the Artful Poetry Contest Kaufman Performing Arts and Studio Inc Executive Director Courtney Wasson and artist Kevin Townsend.

Inspired by World Poetry Day on March 21, the Kauffman Center opened submissions for the Artful Poetry, the Center’s first poetry competition. Entries were open to youth and adults during National Poetry Month on April 30, 2021. Winners get the opportunity 
for a once-in-a-lifetime on-stage experience at the Center. 

“Artful Poetry is a new and exciting way for the community to come together in 
celebration of the arts,” Kauffman Center President and CEO Paul Schofer said. “We 
love finding new ways to highlight the incredible talent Kansas City has to offer.”

Congratulations to the Artful Poetry winners in the youth and adult categories! See the winning Artful Poetry videos at www.kauffmancenter.org/artful-poetry

Youth Winners
First Place: Victoria Rollins
Second Place: Lauren Kopitas
Third Place: Elwyn Patterson

Adult Winners
First Place: Poet t.l. sanders
Second Place: Erikka O’Toole
Third Place: Lindsey Weishar

ELWYN PATTERSON just graduated from Notre Dame de Sion lower school and is a rising freshman at the upper school. She is a voracious reader and is currently preoccupied with
Haikyu!! but is also a Percy Jackson and Harry Potter aficionado in addition to dabbling with poetry and knitting on the side.She was encouraged to create her poem based on the Boulevard Mon Montre by Principal Patricia Gray and her English teacher Lyzz Riffe. It was partially inspired by a book they were reading in class called The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.

LINDSEY WEISHAR holds an MFA in Poetry from UMKC, and works at Literacy KC in KCMO. She writes for Verify and Ploughshares, and her chapbook Matchbook Night was published in 2018.

POET TL SANDERS, “My passion personal, and predstined purpose for producing poetry is twofold; to invite people to read the lines and inspire them to read between the lines when interacting with text and/or terrestials. This is my MISSION. www.poettlsanders.com

COURTNEY WASSON Executive Director Studios Inc launched in 2003 to serve mid-career artists, Studios Inc is Kansas City’s nonprofit arts organization that offers pivotal three-year residencies to mid-career artists who are poised to significantly expand their careers in accordance with the career goals articulated in their residency application. Its competitive application process, sharp focus on career advancement, and commitment to serve the under-served population of mid-career artists set Studios Inc apart from other artist-support organizations. Studios Inc offers a unique immersion experience for resident artists, who use their studio and exhibition space to produce and exhibit work, network and learn from one another, and attract and cultivate relationships with art patrons, collectors, and arts professionals.
Operating within Studios Inc are five unique but inseparable programs. These are the Residency Program discussed above, the Exhibition Series Program which exhibits resident artist works throughout the year free to the public, the Internship Program which offers students a custom designed internship experience that is immersive, fun and resume-building, the Patron Program which matches patrons to artists providing the opportunity for greater connection between patron and artist, and studios.gallery which leverages Studios Inc’s permanent collection to increase exposure for past and current resident artists and offers program support via sales.

On August 29th, Studios Inc is helping the American Jazz Museum kick-off their “In the Yard Parade” to celebrate Charlie Parker’s 101st birthday.  Currently on view in the studios.gallery space is Benjamin Rosenthal’s solo exhibition, “and the band played on, and on on”.  Lori Raye Erickson has an upcoming solo exhibition, “Reality Saves”, that will be on view in the Exhibition Hall and opens Friday, September 10th.
At the beginning of 2019, the Board of Directors at Studios Inc welcomed Courtney Wasson as the organization’s new Executive Director. Wasson joins Studios Inc with 10 years of gallery, marketing, and business management experience.
Wasson received a BFA with honors from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2005. She majored in art history and printmaking. After graduation she has continuously worked to support artists through exhibitions, studio critiques, and marketing. Wasson began working for Weinberger Fine Art at the beginning of 2016, working as the Curator, Marketing and Gallery Director. Since 2010, Wasson has worked with the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center and is now the acting Executive Vice President for the Leedy Foundation. In 2016, Wasson began working with Linda Lighton as the Program Coordinator of the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program.
Wasson is a dedicated artist advocate whose mission is to service the promotion of artistic dialogue and connect artists to opportunities. She will be responsible for the general management and advancement of Studios Inc, building on the foundation established by Smith and the Board of Directors.
Wasson states, “My goal is to have a positive impact on the arts community and to further support artists within the Kansas City region through the programs available at Studios Inc. I love how Studios Inc engages and creates a community centered around the relationship between artists and patrons.”

KEVIN TOWNSEND is an interdisciplinary artist and professor currently living and working in the suburbs of KC. He earned his BFA from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University and his MFA in Art Practice from School of Visual Arts. Emerging from an expanded drawing practice, Townsend’s time-based work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and centers around the intersection of time, space, mark-making, obsession, and duration. His current work brings together elements of sound, video, installation, and performance to produce drawings on the scale of architecture.
Townsend, a mid-career artist and an educator with 18 years of experience, doesn’t allow a single exhibition or institution to define his artistic practices.  He seeks to refine his craft, engage new communities, and cultivate a new modular-structure based body of work in order to push his practice to the next level.
In his Artist Statement, Townsend shares “For centuries artists turned to the studio to separate from the world to create in isolation. The resulting art object they produced was typically offered and celebrated as the manifestation of that time of disconnection. However, in our current moment, we carry our connection to the world in our pockets, making disconnection an increasingly impossible accomplishment. Our smartphone screens link us across space and time, influence our perceptions, and even mediate our experiences via their wide lenses and shallow depths. The majority of my current works are produced publicly, with the labor of their production under the primary gaze of the viewer and secondarily encapsulated in digital video.”
kevin-townsend.com

studiosinc.org

Studios Inc 1708 Campbell St. Kansas City, MO 64108 | 816-994-7134 | [email protected]

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