KANSAS
CITY, MO – NEW BELGER EXHIBIT RUNS OCTOBER 5, 2007 TO FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Picture a cowboy on his quarterhorse, riding flat out across a Western prairie. For much of the Twentieth Century artists, writers, and filmmakers put a lot of effort into romanticizing American life west of the Mississippi River in the late 1800s. Today, in the era of "Deadwood", does the term "The Wild West" mean the same thing to the public? The Belger Arts Center will take a wide-ranging look at this idea with "Looking West", an exhibit that will include traditional black and white photography, sculpture made of plastic cowboy figurines, video of an underwater cowgirl performance, and much, much, more.
"Looking West" is curated by Evelyn Craft, Executive Director of the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, FL. Ms. Craft collaborated with the Belger Arts Center for two exhibits in 2006 - "American Dream: By Design" and "American Dream: In Question." Artworks in "Looking West" will come from Terry Allen, Laura Berman, Richard Dishinger, Fort Guerin, Luis Jimenez, Wes Lyle, Gordon McConnell, Richard McLean, Rick Monrotus, Richard Pettibone, Juane Quick-To-See Smith, David Rathman, Jenny Rogers, Bill Schenck, Larry Schwarm, Sun Smith-Foret, Theodore Waddell, William T. Wiley, and Jennifer Zackin.
Among these artists is local photographer Wes Lyle who has a dozen black and white images in the Looking West exhibit. Wes will be inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame on October 18, 2007. Wes is a former Kansas City Star and Times photographer and documented life in the Central Plains, especially eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the 1960s-80s.
"Looking West" opened October 5, 2007, and runs through February 1, 2008.
The Belger Arts Center is located at 2100 Walnut Street, just one block east of Main Street, in the Belger Cartage Service building.
Exhibitions are free and open to the public:
Wednesday - Friday from 10 am - 4 pm, closed on Saturday through the month of December
Please call 816-474-3250 to schedule tours for groups of 10 or more.
The office for the Belger Arts Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 am - 4:30 pm. For more information please contact Gallery Assistant Mo Dickens at 816-474-3250, email: mdickens@belgerartscenter.org.
The not-for-profit Belger Arts Center features the most gallery space in Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District. Since March of 2000 the Belger Arts Center has hosted more than 30 exhibitions featuring a variety of media including fiber, ceramics, painting, sculpture, digital projections, and innovative design. More than 50,000 visitors have attended exhibits and other events at the Belger Arts Center in its seven years of operation.
