Installation view of Jessica Heikes east-facing Artboards, Left – Displacement I | Right – Displacement II
Kansas City, MO, April 7, 2023: This spring, Charlotte Street is pleased to premiere Artboards by artists Joha Bisone and Jessica Heikes, currentlyinstalled at 125 Southwest Boulevard. The Artboards program captures the creative spirit of the Crossroads neighborhood, serving as an alternative outdoor platform where artists’ work can be viewed during all hours of the day. The Artboards will remain on view through the end of June 2023.
Jessica Heikes says about her Artboards:
Displacement I and Displacement II are images from a new direction in my practice where I am investigating my body, trying to unearth the emotions and behaviors that have affected my physicality. Following an impulse, I dug a hole specific to my body, in-depth and silhouette, on my family’s land. I built an impromptu rig to hold my cell phone above the hole and used a remote shutter to snap images once I got in the hole. Months later, I came back to the hole and repeated the process, now surrounded by spring foliage and submerging myself in collected rainwater.
I realized that both variations are exercises in displacement; one, removing a volume of dirt equal to the volume of my body and the other, finding volume through the displacement of a liquid. They are the same, but different. To emphasize this, I composed them as a pair of mirrored asymmetrical images, guiding viewers to find similarities and differences. The imperfect pictures reflect the spontaneous nature of the act, speaking to the immediacy and authenticity of the moment.
Installation view of Joha Bisone‘s west-facing Artboards, Left – Pandemic In The Spring | Right – Emanating Curiosity
Joha Bisone says about her Artboards:
My work is inspired by curiosities within the natural world. My work tends to lean abstract while hinting at realistic imagery throughout the piece. Luring the eye with bright colors, playing around with patterns, forms, and balancing color with delicate lines. Every piece is about exploring and learning something new, whether that be about the subject matter or materials used. Trusting my intuition, letting what feels right happen. I would love to take viewers for a moment into my imaginative landscapes, such as these two paintings, ‘Pandemic in the Spring’ on the left and ‘Emanating Curiosity’ on the right. These pieces were created during the pandemic. ‘Pandemic in the Spring’ displays feelings of chaos and uncertainty, while ‘Emanating Curiosity’ shows growth and discovery. I like the dynamic relationship both pieces have with each other at this scale.
Jessica Heikes east-facing Artboards, Left – Displacement I | Right – Displacement II
ABOUT JESSICA HEIKES
Jessica Heikes earned her BFA from Pittsburg State University in Kansas and her MFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Between degrees, she was awarded a Core Fellowship at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, a two-year live/work program.
Exhibitions include Threshold, Kiosk Gallery, (Kansas City, MO), I><YOU><WE, Visual Arts Center, (Richmond, VA), Erosion, Jackson Dinsdale Art Center, (Hastings, NE). She has been included in The Kansas City Collection V and has participated in several residencies.
Heikes now resides in Independence, MO working full-time on a fabrication team creating traveling art exhibits for a non-profit arts organization in Kansas City MO. Her practice consists of experiment-based projects that are material driven to metaphorically describe personal emotions or behaviors.
Joha Bisone‘s west-facing Artboards, Left – Pandemic In The Spring | Right – Emanating Curiosity
ABOUT JOHA BISONE
Joha Bisone was born in Menomonee Falls, WI. She grew up in the woods, having nature and wildlife her main entertainment. Moving to Milwaukee for high school, she excelled at being surrounded by other creatives. Near the end of senior year Joha was chosen to participate in the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts competition in Miami, FL. From there she decided to pursue an art career and completed her BFA in Painting at the Kansas City Art Institute in 2003. Since then, she has participated in
numerous exhibits, group shows, collaborations, art/craft shows, and published in a book. Joha mostly paints in acrylic ink and watercolor, enjoying the fluidness and unpredictability of the medium. She creates organic landscapes, infusing patterns from nature among many other inspirations and transforms it into its own world. Joha lives and works in Kansas City, MO.
ABOUT ARTBOARDS
The Crossroads Artboards were launched in fall 2008 as a partnership between Charlotte Street Foundation and Missouri Bank (now BOK Financial). The Artboards program is currently supported in part by the Crossroads Community Association. Over 100 Kansas City area artists have been featured on the ARTBOARDS to date. For a complete listing and more information, visit https://charlottestreet.org/awards/crossroads-artboards/
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
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