ArtspeakRadio with Knighten, Newton, and Friedman

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, June 23, 2021, noon – 1pm CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org

Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes artist/designer Clarissa Knighten, author/artist Kim Newton and Margarita Friedman to the program.

Testimony: African American Artists Collective, Nelson Atkins Museum now through October 5, 2021.
Expressed through a range of media and amplified by the artists’ own words, the testimonies offered by the Kansas-City based African American Artists Collective in this exhibition are diverse in style and theme. This collaboration between the AAAC and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art embodies the reciprocal powers of authentically speaking one’s truth and being called to stand in witness. Together, this work of telling and receiving truths lays the foundation for community.

The AAAC grew from a 2014 gathering of local artists around a table at Gates Bar-B-Q on Main Street. Since then, the AAAC has been committed to increasing the visibility of African American and Black artists throughout Kansas City and beyond. With a roster of more than 150 members, the AAAC advances professional development, builds networks, provides mentorship, and engages in social justice.
Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Generous support provided by Paul DeBruce and Linda Woodsmall-DeBruce, the Rheta Sosland Endowment Fund, Dr. Douglas L. and Dana H. Nelson, the Jacques & Natasha Gelman Foundation, and Hallmark Cards, Inc.
To learn more about AAAC, its mission, and members, visit www.aaackc.org.
Nelson Atkins Museum 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
816-751-1278
www.nelson-atkins.org

The following artists are represented in this exhibition:
Tyrone Aiken 
Michelle Monette Beasley
 J. LeRoy Beasley 
Charles A. Bibbs 
NedRa L. Bonds 
Michael A. Brantley
Taylor Renee Brown
 JT Daniels Ramona Elizabeth Davis
 Najee Dorsey
 Gerald D. Dunn
 Ed Dwight 
Everett Freeman
 Diallo Javonne French
 Robert Hale
 Juliette Hemingway
 Kimberlyn Jones
 Clarissa Knighten
 Tracy Milsap
 Sherry Lyn Mirador
 Dean Lamont Mitchell
 Arie Dee Monroe
 Joseph A. Newton
 Joseph Tyler Newton, Sr.
 Kim Alexis Newton 
Glenn A. North, Jr.
 Michael Tjon Patton
 Jason D. Piggie
 Lisa Shepard
 Harold David Smith
 David Stevens
 Sara Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin
 Michael Vance Toombs
 Alton “AT” Webb
 Jason Wilcox

KIM NEWTON is an executive turned author, entrepreneur and fine artist. During her two decades at Hallmark she ran a $1B business and led transformation across a $4B portfolio top brands. She has been recognized multiple times as a top African American in Corporate America.
Although Kim has developed her contemporary fine art quilts for years it wasn’t until 2019, after leaving Corporate America, she sold her first piece of artwork that now hangs on the wall of Oprah Winfrey. Since that time she has sold nearly a dozen pieces and has her work on display at the Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art through March of 2022.
Through her fiber art Kim creates pieces that affirm the beauty of the human essence, our experiences, our value and our strength.
As the founder of Alexis Enterprises, LLC, Kim brings to life all of her passions. An art studio focused on her one-of-a-kind art quilts. And her commercial line of specialty gift quilts. The Intentional Pause™ Project a platform centering around her book that helps women to use the power of pausing to build a personal strategy so they can achieve their dreams. Kim is also a Fortune 500 Corporate Board member.
Kim was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, received her BA in Accounting from Fisk University and her MBA from Vanderbilt University. She is a proud member of the African American Arts Collective that supports African American and Black artists in Kansas City, regionally and nationally. Kim lives in Leawood, Kansas with her husband, Nikki, and their daughter Piper.

CLARISSA KNIGHTEN inborn creativity for design and embellishment lead her to become an entrepreneur in 2007. Her business, Rissa’s Artistic Design (R.A.D.) is a haven for those who seek something special and unique. As a self-taught artist, she hand crafts one-of-a-kind original masterpieces that inspires.
Knighten’s work, Spiritual Awakening, 2021, copper, wire, zippers, and buttons, is currently on view at the Nelson Atkins Museum. “I wanted to create a work of art that starts a dialogue about subtle things overlooked in the past. Spiritual Awakening is about creating beauty out of ordinary materials that represent oppression. Slaves didn’t own clothing with zippers, nor did they accessorize with a variety of beautifully colored buttons that would have signified wealth. I selected copper because of the spiritual power of healing that it carries. Combining these three materials, I feel a faith that recognizes an abundance of beauty through differences.

MARGARITA FRIEDMAN-Art Garden KC Create, connect, shop.
Weekly art fair showcasing works from multi-talented Kansas City artists! Free to the public. Food trucks. Live music. Local brews.
Art/wellness classes for both adults and children.

Every Sun from 11-4 (weather permitting). Located across from PH Coffee in Pendleton Heights – “Where Art and Community Blooms”

Artist/Vendors:
Contact us via Facebook, Instagram or [masked] to apply! Sunday, July 11, 2021
11:00 AM to 4:00 PM CDT
Every week on Sunday until October 31, 2021, 2233 Lexington Avenue, KCMO

#artspeakradio
#kkficommunityradio

Share This Episode