Between Thee & Me

Artists Respond to the Judaica Collection of Michael Klein and the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University EP ST EN G A L L E R Y E X HIB I T IN G A RT I STS

Asheer Akram . Barry Anderson . Mark Cowardin . Burton Freeman . Tanya Hartman . Ritchie Kaye Misha Kligman . Linda Lighton . Hugh Merrill . Lee Piechocki . Jason Pollen . Robert Quackenbush Julia Steinberg . Gerry Trilling . Susan White G R EENL E A S E G A L L E R Y E X HIB I T IN G A RT I STS Barry Anderson . Corey Antis . John Conners . Anders Corr . Mark Cowardin Bowie Croisant . Mike Erickson . Julie Farstad . Jessie Fisher . Rachel Hayes . Andy Julo Jessica Kincaid . Susi Lulaki . Hugh Merrill . David Rhoades

Artists Respond to the Judaica Collection of Michael Klein & the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IS OPEN From the beginning the task was simple and broad — go into a religious artifact collection and see if something speaks to you.

If something moves you, make whatever you are compelled to create and it will be included in an exhibition with other artists who have been asked to do the same.

This was the charge given to a group of artists who were drawn from their normal studio practice — their normal routine — and

asked to make something for an exhibition either at the Epsten or Greenlease galleries.

These artists were not asked to make a religious or sacred object, Judaic, Catholic or otherwise, nor were they asked to make a replica of what they had seen. They are artists of different media, different backgrounds, different religions, different nationalities, different ages, and different genders yet close enough in region and brought even closer through this project. Is this significant, perhaps, but only insofar as it may help to broaden the range of possible outcomes.

As curators, this may sound like a dangerous proposition. Unlike most exhibitions in which artwork is preselected and thus a known variable long before installation, this project’s artists are still finishing their pieces as I write this essay, and Greenlease Gallery Director Anne Pearce and I have yet to fully comprehend what will arrive. A leap of faith, perhaps, although this also presents an opportunity. Artists may step outside of their world for a moment and explore the possibilities of collaborating with an artist decades or centuries before them, from a different time, a different place, a different culture and, if they so choose, a different media, background, religion, nationality, and the rest.

Access is important here. As viewers we have access to specific objects via certain institutions, however, there are whole other collections that are somewhat less accessible, behind closed doors — in a private space. Both public and private venues may represent good stewardship, and in the instances of the private Judaica collection of Michael Klein and the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University this is so. This may be seen in the reverence of display and access given to each artifact. Mr. Klein is more than willing to open his door and share his collection and his passion, and Rockhurst provides every opportunity for its students and visitors to take a few steps from its Greenlease Gallery and compare, for themselves, the relationship between the ancient and the contemporary.

Image above: Misha Kligman, Untitled, 2011 Oil and wax on canvas, 47.75 x 67 inches (courtesy the artist)

Comparison is important here. The relationship between ancient and contemporary may a contested one. Society is so easily distracted by itself, living in the moment of the now and what’s next while finding less and less time to think about the past.

Rather, in a project like Between Thee & Me one may see the past and the present as coexistent, relative to one another in a way that awakens both to the possibility of a cyclical world in which everything is current — the old is made new again and the new grows old.

Spirituality is important here. Spiritual is both noun and adjective.

In the ancient world the division between body and spirit was less so, and the artist believed that his or her work was evidence of the spirit within them. In the absence of a spiritual gland or organ, it may be easy to lose site of what spirituality means in a contemporary world driven to identify every genome, every cell, every membrane, as purposeful, be it functional or dysfunctional.

I use the word “site” intentionally here because it represents the

Image above: Tanya Hartman, An Alphabet for a Holy Land (detail), 2011 Acrylic, watercolor, hand stitching, fabric, cow bone and human hair on paper, 17 inches diameter, (courtesy the artist and Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art)

potential loss of one’s place in the world, of one’s reason for being. It is the very fact of “being” which makes us cognizant of a meaning for the spiritual that acknowledges that which we cannot see. Is each participant’s spiritual alignment important in this context — maybe? Will it align with yours — maybe not?

Just as artists’ thoughts about their work change during the creative process, so too may our thoughts about spirituality.

Image above: Mark Cowardin, Between Thee & We (unfinished; studio process image), 2011, ebonized walnut, birch, 44 x 30 x 10 inches, (courtesy the artist)

You are important here. Whether this work excites you, angers you, or comforts you, these are places for you to contemplate your emotional and intellectual reactions to the work you see before you, the objects that have inspired them, and what a spiritual world may, or may not, mean to you. Despite whether or not you know the artist (or the artist knows you) this work is made for you, to evoke a conversation, whether it be with the artist, with something next to you, or simply within yourself.

— Marcus Cain, Co-Curator

A Museum Without Walls collaboration initiated by the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art in partnership with Rockhurst University, Between Thee & Me is a 10-week program featuring 25 artists in group exhibitions at the Epsten and Greenlease galleries in which artists respond to the Judaica collection of Michael Klein (at the Epsten Gallery July 24 – September 4, 2011) and the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University (at the Greenlease Gallery August 26 – October 1, 2011).

Artists Respond to the Judaica Collection of Michael Klein

July 24 – September 4, 2011 EPSTEN GALLERY 5500 W 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209

5500 West 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209 Ph: 913.266.8413 | Fx: 913.345.2611 | www.kcjmca.org

Artists Respond to the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University

August 26 – October 1, 2011 GREENLEASE GALLERY 1100 Rockhurst Road, Kansas City, MO 64110

Established in 1991 and celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011, the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (KCJMCA) provides innovative art exhibitions and related programming that engage seniors and diverse audiences from all segments of our community to enrich lives and celebrate our common humanity through art. KCJMCA realizes this goal through a cooperative partnership with Village Shalom, an assisted living facility that houses KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery and through partnerships with local, regional, and national institutions that participate in KCJMCA’s Museum Without Walls exhibition program.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Regina Kort, President . Sylvia Augustus, Vice President Lynn Intrater, Vice President . Lynn Schweig, Secretary Peter Beren, Treasurer . Herb Adler . Dick Anderson Sherry Cromwell-Lacy . Jacqueline Epsten . Linda Lighton Jules Moskowitz . Barbara Smith . Paul Sokoloff Irma Starr . Sherman Titens . Shirley White

PAST PRESIDENTS

Saul Kass* . Michael Klein Larry Meeker . Hugh Merrill

FOUNDERS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art would like to acknowledge Michael Klein, Rockhurst University, and Greenlease Gallery Director Anne Pearce for their support and involvement in this program. KCJMCA would also like to thank each of the artists for their enthusiasm and willingness to participate in each of these exhibitions. KCJMCA also wishes to acknowledge Daniel Avazpour, Reilly Hoffman, Dick Jobe, Nicholas Naughton and Eric Pearson for their logistical and technical support in assisting individual artists with their projects. KCJMCA also wishes to thank the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, Bank of America, H&R Block, Francis Family Foundation, the Lighton Foundation, UrbanSuburban Patrons and Artists, members of the Friends of KCJMCA, and Village Shalom for their ongoing support of our programs.

Front cover/header image: Susan White, whip, a meditation on body and soul, 2011 Single channel video, 5.06 minute loop, (courtesy the artist)

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Sybil & Norman* Kahn

KCJMCA is a non-for-profit 501(c)3 and a member of the national Council of American Jewish Museums.

STAFF

Eileen Garry, Executive Director . Marcus Cain, Curator Abby Rufkahr, Administrative Assistant

Contributions to KCJMCA are tax deductible.

(*Of Blessed Memory)

5500 West 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209.

This exhibition is in partnership with

Donations may be sent to KCJMCA membership, volunteering and sponsorship opportunities are always available.

www.kcjmca.org