10/18/06
Story by Whitney Gameson

JCCC Gallery of Art Has ‘Homecoming’

Eric Sall Boiling Point, 2006 oil on canvas Dimensions: 72" x 48" Courtesy of the Artist and ATM Gallery

Amy Myers Chroma Zoma Bubble Chamber, 2006 Graphite, colored pencil and soft pastel on paper Dimensions 88 x 90” Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art/Johnson County Community College, acquired with assistance of Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Gallery of Art at Johnson County Community College will open the exhibition, Homecoming, from 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5. A lecture by many of the artists included in the show will begin at 3:30 p.m. in room 211 of Carlsen Center.  The exhibit will be on view through Jan. 28, 2007.

Homecoming is an exhibition organized in conjunction with the Epsten Gallery (Jewish Museum of Kansas City) to honor artists who have a significant connection to the Kansas City area, but who have chosen to reside and establish studios in other cities. The 10 artists included in the exhibit are Scott Anderson, Benjamin Butler, Brian Fahlstrom, Carl Fudge, Rashawn Griffin, Christopher Lucas, Amy Myers, Eric Sall, Sandy Winters and Andrzej Zielinski – all were either raised or educated within the region.  Additionally, all of the artists have either gained or are garnering national attention through recent exhibitions, critical press and placement in prominent public and private collections.
 
Homecoming focuses upon 10 artists (six shown at JCCC, four at Epsten Gallery) for whom painting/drawing is a primary means of artistic expression.  Possible future exhibitions will address photography, sculpture, clay, etc., and they will highlight artists who have similarly gained recognition in these mediums.

By extension, the exhibit also highlights the important role area educational
institutions have played in shaping the careers of these artists.  All of the artists received degrees from or attended the Kansas City Art Institute, JCCC, the University of Kansas or Emporia State University.

Homecoming also continues both JCCC’s and the Epsten Gallery’s considerable commitment to creating an awareness of and appreciation for the accomplishments of area artists. The opening of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007 will
further extend JCCC’s support of artists in the region as one of the new museum’s 10 major galleries will be dedicated to area artists.  Likewise, the Epsten Gallery (Jewish Museum) has vigorously showcased Kansas City area artists in their exhibition program.

Homecoming was curated by Bruce Hartman, director, JCCC Gallery of Art, and Kent Smith, associate director, Epsten Gallery (Jewish Museum).  It is the second major exhibition organized as a collaboration between JCCC and the Epsten Gallery.

Artists included in Homecoming at JCCC:
• Brian Fahlstrom was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1978. He earned his BFA in 2000 from the Kansas City Art Institute and received an MFA in 2003 from the Art Center
College of Design, Pasadena, Calif. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
• British artist Carl Fudge was born in London in 1962. He currently lives and works in New York, where he teaches at Columbia University. Fudge attended the Kansas City Art Institute in 1987. He studied at the Brighton Polytechnic in Sussex, England, and the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia.
• Rashawn Griffin was born 1980 in Los Angeles and grew up in Olathe. He took classes at JCCC as a high school senior, earned a BFA in painting in 2002 from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, and in 2005, he received his MFA in sculpture from Yale. Griffin lives and works in New York City, where he recently completed a year as an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
• Amy Myers was born in 1965 in Taylor, Texas. She received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1995 and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. She lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Eric Sall was born in 1977 in Sioux Falls, S.D. In 1999 he graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, and he is currently pursuing an MFA at Virginia Commonwealth
University. He lives and works in Richmond, Va.
• Andrzej Zielinski was born in 1976 in Kansas City, Mo. He attended JCCC in 1999, and in 2002, he received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2004 he completed his MFA at Yale University. He currently lives and works in Rome.  
    Artists included in Homecoming at Epsten Gallery, Village Shalom:
• Scott Anderson was born in 1973 in Urbana, Ill.  Anderson grew up in Olathe.  In 1997 he earned his BFA from Kansas State University and in 2000 his MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anderson now lives and works in Chicago.
• Benjamin Butler was born in Westmoreland in 1975. He received his BA in 1997 from Emporia State University and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000.  He lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Christopher Lucas was born in 1958.  He studied at Kansas State University, Yale Summer School of Music and Art and, in 1980, he received his BA from the University of Kansas.  Lucas now lives and works in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
• Sandy Winters was born in 1949 in Arcadia, Calif.  She attended the University of Kansas before completing her BS at the University of New Hampshire.  Winters also studied at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston prior to completing her MFA at Cornell University.  Winters now lives and works in New York, N.Y.

JCCC Gallery of Art hours are Monday, Thursday, Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1- 5 p.m.
Admission is free.

The Epsten Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m.– 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, contact Hartman at 913-469-8500, ext. 3972, or Smith at 913-266-8413.