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JoCoHistory: the Shawnee Indian Cemetery
It might be hard to spot – plenty of local residents may not even realize it exists – but nestled in an unassuming Shawnee neighborhood is a significant piece of Johnson County history. The Shawnee Indian cemetery, located near 59th and Nieman, houses the remains of a few dozen members of the Shawnee Indian Tribe – some of Shawnee’s earliest founders. The cemetery is small, easily mistaken for a backyard or vacant lot, but its story tells us much about the county’s origins and the people who made it what it is today.
Head on over to JoCoHistory to read more »
Now Showing at Leawood: Alexandra Ames
Alexandra Ames describes herself as an artistic “jack of all trades.” Her art draws upon elements of art nouveau, science fiction/fantasy art, music and the natural world. Much of her work offers vibrant depictions of various animals in their natural states. While she is a gifted painter, sculptor, graphic designer, animator, and a creator of video game art and assets, her real passion is for writing and illustrating.
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Introduce yourself and describe your work and the media/genre you work in.
My name is Alexandra Ames. I have been creating, writing and drawing for my entire life. I am a writer, illustrator, sculptor, animator and graphic designer. I write fantasy children's stories and Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. The majority of my paintings and illustrations are acrylic on canvas or India ink and gouache on paper. I create sculptures out of Super Sculpey and other mediums. I am always trying to learn new or more efficient ways to create things.
Talk about the work that will be on view. What would you like people to know about it?
The work that is on view is all acrylic on canvas. They are all stylized animal or nature paintings. This collection is a compilation of a lot of experimentation, frustration, deep thoughts, intuition and fun.
What’s the most challenging thing about your creative process?
The most challenging thing about my creative process is knowing when I'm finished and not pushing things so far that I ruin it.
Who are the other artists you look to for inspiration? And what about their work do you like?
I find inspiration everywhere with other artists in all mediums and genres, but the artist that I have been inspired by my whole life are Alphonse Mucha and Frank Frazetta.
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Alexandra's book and music recommendations:
Books:
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
The Firebird by Mercedes Lackey
Music:
Homework Hero!
Sophia, that's the look of success! Your face tells the story.
You are a homework hero! Your secret weapon: your Library Card. In a single bound, you leap directly into Biography in Context! Why? Because you know that when you want the stories of famous people, it's the place to go!
- Actors
- Famous African Americans
- Athletes and coaches
- Notable women
- Politicians and dignitaries
- Scientists
- Social reformers
- Young adult writers
For a recent homework assignment, you chose to report on Thurgood Marshall. You found videos, radio stories, audio clips, 133 newspaper articles, 160 magazine articles and more!
But you went the extra mile! You visited Homework Help Kids where you found Encyclopedia Britannica School, the Kids Reference eBook Collection, and more magazine and newspaper articles from TOPICsearch.
You're kind of an expert now, Sophia. You wrote a report your teacher called "remarkable!" So take a selfie to capture that look: the look of accomplishment!
Author Wilma Yeo and her legacy
You may have seen a statue we have at Corinth of a young girl reading to a young boy. The girl in the statue is author Wilma Yeo. Over the past weekend we had a special visit - Wilma's great-granddaughters came for a visit, and we snapped this photo of them by the statue of Wilma!
Now Showing at Shawnee: Glyneisha Johnson
Glyneisha Johnson is a recent graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute’s Painting department. She is also a recipient of Charlotte Street Foundation’s 2017-2018 studio residency program in Kansas City, Missouri. She has exhibited in various solo and group exhibitions in Kansas City, including Undergrads Underground at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center and The Writer's Place. Through collage, painting, and drawing, Glyneisha Johnson’s work echoes nodes of black culture and her experience of being raised in the South. The work also acknowledges the importance of Black domestic spaces within a society that often overlooks these spaces and the people who inhabit them. She uses the language of collage as a metaphor to describe the dislocated, collaged nature of black history due to colonialism.
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Talk about the work that will be on view. What would you like people to know about it?
The work on view is a photoshoot of a black couple that follows the chronology of a breakup in relation to a personal breakup of mine. The positions of the figures, the curation of the home and the couple’s expression outline one emotion before, during, or following a separation.
What’s the most challenging thing about your creative process?
The most challenging thing about my creative process is finishing work to meet the demand of exhibiting or selling. My artistic practice has really turned into meticulous mark making. The process for me is very ritualistic and sometimes removing myself from that process can be hard.
Who are the other artists you look to for inspiration? And what about their works do you like?
I have always admired artists Romare Bearden and Kerry James Marshall. In a lot of ways, I actually look toward them as father figures. Bearden’s use of colorful collage that is set during the Harlem Renaissance really speaks to the use of collage as a metaphor to describe black culture. My collages actually started by recreating and looking really closely at Bearden’s work through different materials. Marshalls black and white interiors with figures really helped me think about representation through the abstract in my work.
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5-10 books, music and/or movies that have inspired you:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins
Everything is Love by the Carters
Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash
