Visual Art

Torn Mixology 
February 3 – March 25, 2023
Opening Reception February 3, 2023
Artist Talk March 11, 2023

You only have two things in this world: your name and your word. Without those, you are nothing. 

   -James Arthur Davenport (1945 – 2016) 

Clothing is one of the best visual communicators and growing up it allowed me to verbalize my emotions and beliefs in connection to the world.  Clothing became one of the first ways that I could express my identity in a world that made me feel displaced.  I never understood that I was different, until I was told.  I grew up looking different from my mother and father, albeit skin tone only, but I never saw that similarity until I was older.  No one spoke about what it was to be bi-racial or multi-racial.  I was always told that I was neither black nor white, but grey.  As a child, I could not wrap my mind around that imagery, so instead I studied my cultures and began my journey of identity.   

Torn Mixology is a mixed media exhibition that explores the journey of identifying as a multi-racial female.  The exhibit consists of 5 costume designs that begin with childhood through adulthood exploring key points in life where identity was created, challenged, and conquered.  A tradition in African American culture, during the Underground Railroad, quilts acted as maps.  Each of these designs will be quilted to map out the evolving journey and struggle with identity.  To represent the outside force, each mannequin will be painted black, white, and grey to illustrate the American viewpoints on identity.  Each design will be collaged with skin tones with the American viewpoint creeping throughout the design at times suffocating the design.  By using textiles and spoken word, I want to invoke an emotional response and conversation with this exhibit. By removing the physical actor, the clothing becomes the character and the words becomes the underscore to the clothing.  

Now I am a mother. A mother who does not want to perpetuate the cycle of generational trauma. I do not want my daughter to feel othered because society assumes what a multi-racial woman should look like. The conversation needs to begin, the viewpoints need to be challenged, and it is time for a change. 

February 24 – April 22, 2023
First Friday Opening Reception March 3, 5 – 8pm
Artist Talk April 1, 6pm
High Low Gallery

February 24 – April 22, 2023
First Friday Opening Reception March 3, 5 – 8pm
Artist Talk April 1, 6pm
High Low Gallery

February 24 – April 22, 2023
First Friday Opening Reception March 3, 5 – 8pm
Artist Talk April 1, 6pm
High Low Gallery

B.J. Parker
In Search: (Re)building Myth
The Gallery at The Kranzberg
April 7  – May 27, 2023
Opening Reception April 7, 5 – 8pm
Artist Talk April 29, 12 – 2pm

*Walk-in gallery hours at The Gallery at The Kranzberg are from 12pm to 4pm, every Saturday. Private gallery visits can be made for all galleries by appointment with COVID-19 mitigation policies in place. To make an appointment, and for questions or concerns, please contact  katie@kranzbergarts.org or (314) 533-0367 ext. 105

In Search: (Re)building Myth is a body of oil paintings, drawings, and sculptures by KAF Artist in Residence that explores the search for meaning in a fractured existential landscape. The work investigates the stories we tell our selves.

In order to ask these sorts of questions, B.J. Parker set a group of characters in a near future postapocalyptic St. Louis devoid of society. The characters wander through a dilapidated city physically working to re-structure a ruined landscape of myth. By creating space for these characters to explore a ruined landscape, BJ is also creating space for the viewer to similarly explore an interior landscape. The paintings reflect snapshots of this postapocalyptic world while the sculptures functions as artifacts from the future world.

Overall, the work invites the viewer to reflect upon the way in which stories shape, determine, and bring meaning to life, as well as the ways in which the viewer might find themselves mysteriously caught up in a broader story that requires further exploration.