College Town. City Life.

Kati Toivanen, Untitled from series, Transmutations, 2013, Digitally Composed Image.

UMKC’s weekly arts, culture and sports roundup

Every week, the University of Missouri-Kansas City offers an array of on-campus activities. It’s nothing new. UMKC has a long legacy of hosting countless culturally enriching events. These activities are part of what give UMKC a vibrant campus life, and make UMKC an arts and culture powerhouse. The influence of UMKC-based and UMKC-trained alumni extends well beyond the campus’ edge, so their activities are listed here as well.

Featured Event: Artist Kati Toivanen’s Latest Digital Work, “Transmutations”

Artist Kati Toivanen’s new series of digitally composed images will be the focus of a one-person exhibition at the Trap Gallery, 525 Gillis St., Kansas City, Mo.

The opening reception for her work, “Transmutations,” will take place 6 –10 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20. The exhibition is open through Oct. 11 by appointment. To make an appointment, call (816) 510-6557.

Toivanen grew up in Finland and came to the United States for her formal art education. Since receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1992, Toivanen has been an active artist and academic educator. Toivanen is the associate dean of Undergraduate Programs in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

“My photographic images challenge the viewers’ assumptions about their relationship with the world. Using a technique of seamless digital collage, I create imagery that is at once familiar and mysterious, enchanting and disorienting,” Toivanen said. “Scale, color, texture, and juxtaposition compete and coalesce to transform the ordinary into fictional vignettes. Through aesthetic seduction and subversion, my works become visual Venus Flytraps, worlds of beauty interwoven with moments of surprise and discomfort.”

Toivanen generates the source material for the images with a digital camera and macro lens. She then layers and combines raw images in Photoshop to create continuous montages, which she says “oscillate between abstraction and representation and the productive modes of painting and photography.”

Toivanen is a recipient of the Charlotte Street Award as well as the Avenue of the Arts public art project grant. In the spring of 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where she developed this new body of work supported by a University of Missouri Research Board grant.

What: Kati Toivanen, artist and associate dean of Undergraduate Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, has a new series of digitally composed images. The series, “Transmutations” is the focus of a solo exhibition.
Where: Trap Gallery, 525 Gillis St., Kansas City, Mo.
When: An opening reception will take place 6 –10 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20. The exhibition is open through Oct. 11 by appointment.
Get more details.

Friday, Sept. 20 – Thursday, Sept. 26

What: Her Art Project at the Plaza Art Fair. This event is co-sponsored by the Womens Center, UMKC Conservatory of Music & Dance – Community Music & Dance Academy, UMKC Theater, and the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City.
Where: Country Club Plaza, 47th St. and Broadway, Kansas City, Mo.
When: 5-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company performance. The Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company is the Conservatory of Music and Dance’s artist-in-residence.
Where: White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20; 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21.
Get more details.

What: UMKC Women’s Soccer vs. New Mexico State. It’s buck night!
Where: Durwood Soccer Stadium, Volker Campus.
When: 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20.
Get more details.

What: UMKC Men’s Soccer vs. Incarnate Word. It’s buck night!
Where: Durwood Soccer Stadium, Volker Campus.
When: 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21.
Get more details.

What: In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month UMKC welcomes author Montserrat Fontes. Fontes is the acclaimed author of “First Confession” and “Dreams of the Centaur.”
Where: Katz Hall, room 101, 5005 Rockhill Rd, Kansas City, Mo.
When: 6-7:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 23.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: The UMKC Art Gallery presents “Anomalous.” This exhibition is inspired by the aesthetics of the science fiction genre, featuring local and national artists Matt Borruso, Jonah Criswell, Scott Dickson, Ari Fish and Colin Leipelt. The exhibition also includes a collection of vintage Philip K. Dick paperbacks, courtesy of Tim Fisher.
Where: UMKC Gallery of Art, Fine Arts Bldg. 203, 5015 Holmes St., Kansas City, Mo.
When:
  Exhibit runs through Friday, Oct. 4. Free, open-to-the-public film screenings will take place at 7 p.m., in the gallery. “2001: A Space Odyssey” is the final film in the series. It will be shown Oct. 3.
It’s free. Get more details.

What:  UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet. The UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet (Dustin Williams and Charles Calloway, trumpets; Matthew Haislip, horn; Austin Peiffer, trombone; and Brielan Andersen, tuba) performs.
Where: Central United Methodist Church, 5144 Oak St, Kansas City, Mo.
When:
7:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 23.
It’s free. Get more details.

What: UMKC Theatre presents “Seven Guitars,” written by August Wilson and directed by Scott Stackhouse. “Seven Guitars” is Wilson’s fifth play to document the 20th-century African American experience. It is set in Pittsburgh in 1948.
Where: Olson Performing Arts Center, Studio 116, 4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo.
When:
 The production will preview Sept. 27 – Oct. 1; open formally Oct. 2 and run through Oct. 6.
Get more details.

What: Film Screening: “American Movie,” sponsored by UMKC Communications Studies.
Where: Tivoli Cinemas, 4050 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, Mo.
When: 
7-9:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 26.
Free to UMKC students, faculty, and staff with UMKC ID. All others pay $5. Get more details.

What: Penetopia, a solo exhibition by Christel Highland, current Studio Art and Art History student, will be on display in the Beco Gallery.
Where: Beco Gallery, 1922 Baltimore, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Now through Sept. 27.
Get more details.

What: Spatial Studies, a solo exhibition by John Lamberton, UMKC alumnus, will be on display in City Ice Arts.
Where: City Ice Arts, 2015 Campbell, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Now through Sept. 27.
Get more details.

What: The Kansas City Repertory Theatre presents, “The Tallest Tree in the Forest.” As an internationally-renowned vocalist and star of stage and screen, Paul Robeson was one of the best known African-American artists in the world in the early 20th century. Through his singing and acting talent, he became enormously popular and wealthy; but as a champion for human rights, he became controversial to his people and his country.
Where: Copaken Stage, 1 H and R Block Way, Kansas City, Mo.
When: Now through Sept. 28.
Get more details.

What: “The Fox on the Fairway,” starring three-time Academy Award nominee Dyan Cannon. This chaotic comedy takes audiences on a hilarious romp that pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club.
Where: The New Theatre Restaurant, 9299 Foster, Overland Park, Kan.
When: Now through Nov. 3.
UMKC Connection: Co-owners Dennis Hennessy and Richard Carrothers are both UMKC graduates and both were presented in 2012 with honorary doctorates by the UMKC College of Arts and Sciences.
Get more details.

 

 

 

 

 


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