Artspeak Radio + Sieglinde Othmer, Laura Nugent, & Garry Noland

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, October 2, 9am -10am CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org

Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes author Dr. Sieglinde Othmer and artists Laura Nugent & Garry Noland.

SIEGLINDE OTHMER LAUNCHES JOYOUS LONGEVITY: The A-Z Field Guide

Author Sieglinde Othmer brings an energy into any room that far exceeds that of the average 83-year-old woman. Petite and with a German accent, one is reminded of the late Dr. Ruth Westheimer as she enthusiastically describes her mission: helping others experience joy, health, and wellness as they age. “I want to help! I want to bust the myth that older age is bad. It’s a badge of honor. This can be a glorious period of devotion to ourself and our passions,” said Dr. Othmer.

JOYOUS LONGEVITY: The A-Z Field Guide is Dr. Othmer’s how-to of shared information for living. It is committed to positivity and proactivity in a quest for a long and fulfilling life. It is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Woven through the book’s narrative are the optimism and practices of Dr. Othmer, herself. A child refugee from post-war East Germany (behind the Iron Curtain), she and her mother put optimism into action in a daring escape. Navigating the walls of being both a refugee and an immigrant clearly inform her navigation of the wall of aging, which she approaches as just one more wall to scale with youthful and healthful attitudes and practices. “Anyone can decide to escape the tyranny of aging and simply adopt techniques to embrace the freedom of joyous longevity,” said Dr. Othmer.

JOYOUS LONGEVITY: The A-Z Field Guide, follows Dr. Othmer’s psychiatric books co-authored with her late husband, Dr. Ekkehard Othmer, and her “Seven Cousins” series for young people. The latter garnered these awards: the Eric Hoffer DaVinci Eye Book Award, the New York City Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite, the Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite, and the Missouri Writers Guild First Place for the Best Juvenile Fiction in 2018.

Arranged in 26 chapters according to the alphabet, JOYOUS LONGEVITY: The A-Z Field Guide is highly readable and practical advice on how to navigate the biggest pitfalls of aging by integrating healthy habits and activities. In simplifying sometimes complex health and wellness information and focusing on small and manageable tasks, it offers hope as it fulfills the function of the perfect field guide for a satisfying life.
“Sieglinde’s wonderful A – Z approach to aging provides us fellow travelers with inspirational, motivating, fun and creative ideas to maximize every moment of our gift of life,” writes Joan Israelite, Consultant at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Kansas City.

FOR REVIEWERS of JOYOUS LONGEVITY: The A-Z Field Guide. Request a review copy of the book
at [email protected].
@joyouslongevity on X, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram
Facebook – Sieglinde Othmer, Page Joyous Longevity

LAURA NUGENT & GARRY NOLAND- Artists Garry Noland and Laura Nugent debut “Hanging Paper,” a site-specific installation of new works at the Olive DeLuce Gallery of Northwest Missouri State University. This exhibition runs from September 23 – October 11, 2024. An essay by Charlotte Street Foundation programs manager and past curatorial fellow Kimberly Kitada accompanies the exhibition.

Garry Noland’s exhibited works are chromatically charged assemblages of a wall-covering scale. Over months in the studio, they are constructed by adhering tinted, hand-shaped forms on a pieced together, sturdy paper substrate. Described as “paper on paper,” each added facet is covered in paint mixed with baking soda which dries to a gritty texture, a distinctly tactile addition. In building surfaces over time, Noland has an openness to both glitches and patterns that develop through extemporization.

Using collected scraps and odd-ends as painting surfaces, Laura Nugent brings her personal studio experience into the gallery with two public-facing, mixed media works. Layering the fragile, non-precious pieces in an improvisational exercise transforms an otherwise irregular backdrop into her main event. “This is a collaborative process of found materials and their histories,” Nugent says. “Overlapping patterns, edges and seams exposed, I am covering surfaces to break a previously self-imposed boundary.”

Garry Noland (b. South Dakota) received a BA (History of Art) from University of Missouri-Kansas City. While living in Independence, MO, his primary studio practice has been in Kansas City and Los Angeles. Noland’s work has been widely exhibited, including at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and John Michael Kohler Art Center. He is a recipient of the Studios Inc Residency Fellowship and Charlotte Street Visual Artists Fellowship. Since 2020, Noland has operated Holsum Gallery (@holsumgallery), an artist-run space in Kansas City Missouri. A complete CV is available at garrynolandart.com.

Laura Nugent (b. Washington DC) studied at SACI (Florence, Italy), New School for Social Research (NYC) and earned her BFA in painting from MICA (Baltimore). Her work has been exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art, Ft. Wayne Museum of Art and 21c Museum Hotel. Laura’s work is in private and corporate collections including The Four Seasons Hotel (Chicago), Pinnacle Bank (Nashville) and Hallmark Inc. After living and working in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Laura now paints at Holsum Studios in Kansas City. lauranugent.com

The Olive DeLuce Art Gallery is located in the Fine and Performing Arts building of Northwest Missouri State University, 800 University Dr., Maryville, MO. It is open to the public Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM, Wednesday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM and Friday 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM.


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