Artspeak Radio with Teresa Dirks, Sue Moreno, and Laura Nugent

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, January 17, 2024, noon – 1pm CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org
Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes artists Teresa Dirks, Sue Moreno, and Laura Nugent.

TERESA DIRKS -Growing up in the rural quasi-south, around seamstresses, quilters, gardeners, and farmers, I learned to love nature, nurture, growing and making. This made me. Creative. So now, when I create art, my aim is to reconstruct those experiences from life as a woman, and from the landscape, and share that connection you the viewer. I strive to recreate a conceptional experience whether it is the complexity of urban decay, the intensity of the sky, or the linear connection to cultivation, nature, and the horizon. The proportions and structure within my works strive to create some sense of balance and harmony while highlighting the beautiful chaos that life throws at us all. The horizon, interplay, color juxtaposition and those relationships are the subject of my art work. Everyone, no matter where they live, has a horizon. And that horizon commands our attention. My work investigates relationships and envisions a world where we are all respected. My work is about harmony. It is about those horizon lines and those intersections or parallels, where good things happen. My art invites the viewer to interpret and find energy in a meaningful way. My hope is to create a joie de vivre to remind us of what life truly is. Over the years, my work has developed texturally and organically by using the visual elements and principles of color, line, texture, movement, and pattern. The resulting variants and contrasts reflect complexities but with a harmony. My art has come to symbolize my inner strength as a woman and my connection with the world around me. www.teresadirks.com

SUE MORENO has worked as an art teacher in Kansas City for 35 years as a teacher and mentor to other teachers, as well as inspiring artwork of of her own. Currently, Moreno’s art is exhibited in A Layered Presence / Una presencia estratificada Artists and art are multilayered. Each artist in this exhibition is a nuanced individual, with many layers informing their identity and the stories they tell through their art. Among them are their experiences, passions, and roles in our community. These layers are interwoven with strong personal ties to Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru. Like the artists themselves, their art is also multifaceted—composed of layers of subject matter, materials, and meaning. At the intersection of these layers, there is evidence of lived experiences. Artists also reckon with immigration and LGBTQIA+ issues as well as address family dynamics, ancestral relationships, healing, place, and more. While some of these layers reveal, others purposefully protect and conceal. The power to authentically tell one’s own story is significant. It can foster connection, promote understanding, preserve history, and signify resilience. For this exhibition, the artists wrote labels to accompany their art and recorded audio interviews. Using the Smartify app, scan a work of art to hear more from each artist. www.nelson-atkins.org Nelson Atkins Museum of Art 4525 Oak St.

LAURA NUGENT Originally from Rhode Island, Laura Nugent studied at SACI (Florence, Italy), New School for Social Research (NYC) and earned her BFA in painting from MICA (Baltimore). She has served as president of the Kansas City Artists Coalition, a Charlotte Street Foundation mentor and Artist Inc. facilitator for the Interurban Art House (Overland Park, KS). Laura’s work is in private and corporate collections including The Four Seasons Hotel (Chicago), Black and Veatch, Pinnacle Bank (Nashville) and Hallmark Inc. After living and working in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Laura now maintains a workspace in Holsum Studios in Kansas City’s historic West Bottoms. She and her partner Mark Hennick organize the annual Holsum Studios tour for 30+ community artists. Her curatorial practice is @seedcrusherprojects, an invitational exhibition space for emerging and outsider artists.
Laura may be reached through her website, www.lauranugent.com. Contact:[email protected] www.lauranugent.com @laura_nugent_ @seedcrusherprojects 913-271-5644
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