Mattie Rhodes Personnel Serve in National and City Positions Day of the Dead Festival Coming


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Mattie Rhodes Personnel Serve in National and City Positions Day of the Dead Festival Coming
Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery staff members are bolstered with national and city posts and the coming Day of the Dead celebration. APPOINTMENTS Local artist and arts educator Jenny Mendez, Kansas City-North, now serves on the board of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. At the Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery on 17th Street, Mendez works with children and youth interested in Latino cultural arts. She is also the current president of Azteca de Greater Kansas City Guild of Latino Fine Arts. Mendez was instrumental in securing Kansas City as the host city of the NALAC 5th National Conference in 2004. “Folks on the coasts and places like Texas still see us as a cow town. I want to be a voice for Kansas City at the national level.” Mendez has been with Mattie Rhodes for more than 10 years. She helped establish the art gallery nine years ago. She attended the Kansas City Art Institute and in 2003 was chosen by Dos Mundos Bilingual Newspaper as one of 25 Up & Coming Kansas City Leaders. Another local artist and arts educator Alisha Gambino, Kansas City, at Mattie Rhodes now serves on Kansas City’s Municipal Arts Commission. Gambino prepares educational materials and teaches classes and workshops focused on Latino cultural arts. The commission’s main role is to oversee the city’s One Percent for Art program. A new duty will be to prepare a strategic plan for how the city can better provide for and support the artistic community in Kansas City. “As a community muralist here and in Mexico, I have been an artist who understands community support,” she says. “Now I will get to be on the other side of the process. I really believe I am in for a great learning experience, especially as we try to broaden the support for local art.” CELEBRATING ART AND THE DAY OF THE DEAD Latino Cultural Arts Division Director Consuelo Cruz, Overland Park, calls the two appointments as part of the bigger plan to increase awareness about Mattie Rhodes and the community of artists that straddle the state line. The gallery is also finding a place among the other Kansas City landmarks. “We are a best kept secret,” Cruz says. “There are only about a dozen true Latino museums in the United States. Perhaps we can join their ranks. Displays now include the Hand-in-Hand Folk Art Collection which is folk art from Latin America and Hispanic and Pueblo Indian artists of the Southwest.” A coming exhibit will be the Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” a Mexican holiday honoring those who have passed on. This art exhibit showcases more than 20 ofrendas made by community members. Ofrendas, or “altars,” are created in homage to those who have passed on, including precious keepsakes and favorite items. “Students from many local schools visit during the Day of the Dead celebrations,” says Erin Beier, gallery curator, Kansas City’s Northeast. “I hear students tell me that they have seen the exhibit several times, but they are not bored with the experience. It is celebratory, but quiet. You can see the light bulbs go on when students have this sort of cultural accessibility,” she says. Cruz says the artists do not get bored with the annual exhibit either. This is the ninth year for the event. “Some of the community comes in and they were raised with this. It is a chance to create art on a very personal level.” First Friday Art Openings Opening Reception: 6-10 p.m. Oct. 3 Second Reception: 6-10 p.m. Nov. 7 Exhibit: Oct. 3 – Nov. 15 Day of the Dead Street Festival 2-10 p.m. Saturday Oct. 4 Live entertainment, food www.mattierhodes.org

Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery staff members are bolstered with national and city posts and the coming Day of the Dead celebration.

APPOINTMENTS
Local artist and arts educator Jenny Mendez, Kansas City-North, now serves on the board of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. At the Mattie Rhodes Art Center and Gallery on 17th Street, Mendez works with children and youth interested in Latino cultural arts. She is also the current president of Azteca de Greater Kansas City Guild of Latino Fine Arts.

Mendez was instrumental in securing Kansas City as the host city of the NALAC 5th National Conference in 2004. “Folks on the coasts and places like Texas still see us as a cow town. I want to be a voice for Kansas City at the national level.”

Mendez has been with Mattie Rhodes for more than 10 years. She helped establish the art gallery nine years ago. She attended the Kansas City Art Institute and in 2003 was chosen by Dos Mundos Bilingual Newspaper as one of 25 Up & Coming Kansas City Leaders.

Another local artist and arts educator Alisha Gambino, Kansas City, at Mattie Rhodes now serves on Kansas City’s Municipal Arts Commission. Gambino prepares educational materials and teaches classes and workshops focused on Latino cultural arts. The commission’s main role is to oversee the city’s One Percent for Art program. A new duty will be to prepare a strategic plan for how the city can better provide for and support the artistic community in Kansas City.

“As a community muralist here and in Mexico, I have been an artist who understands community support,” she says. “Now I will get to be on the other side of the process. I really believe I am in for a great learning experience, especially as we try to broaden the support for local art.”

CELEBRATING ART AND THE DAY OF THE DEAD
Latino Cultural Arts Division Director Consuelo Cruz, Overland Park, calls the two appointments as part of the bigger plan to increase awareness about Mattie Rhodes and the community of artists that straddle the state line.

The gallery is also finding a place among the other Kansas City landmarks. “We are a best kept secret,” Cruz says. “There are only about a dozen true Latino museums in the United States. Perhaps we can join their ranks. Displays now include the Hand-in-Hand Folk Art Collection which is folk art from Latin America and Hispanic and Pueblo Indian artists of the Southwest.”

A coming exhibit will be the Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” a Mexican holiday honoring those who have passed on. This art exhibit showcases more than 20 ofrendas made by community members. Ofrendas, or “altars,” are created in homage to those who have passed on, including precious keepsakes and favorite items.

“Students from many local schools visit during the Day of the Dead celebrations,” says Erin Beier, gallery curator, Kansas City’s Northeast. “I hear students tell me that they have seen the exhibit several times, but they are not bored with the experience. It is celebratory, but quiet. You can see the light bulbs go on when students have this sort of cultural accessibility,” she says.

Cruz says the artists do not get bored with the annual exhibit either. This is the ninth year for the event. “Some of the community comes in and they were raised with this. It is a chance to create art on a very personal level.”

First Friday Art Openings
Opening Reception: 6-10 p.m. Oct. 3
Second Reception: 6-10 p.m. Nov. 7
Exhibit: Oct. 3 – Nov. 15

Day of the Dead Street Festival
2-10 p.m. Saturday Oct. 4
Live entertainment, food