April-June 2026
Jean McGuire says of her Artboards: 18th & Vine is the home of Kansas City jazz, with a history that spans more than 100 years. While people often focus on the music when they think of this district, dance is just as vital to its story. Together, music and dance form an essential part of our city’s cultural heritage.
The billboards are based on my original painting, Jubilation and Resurrection. The sense of jubilation in the title is expressed through the two dancers, who are alight with the joy of music and movement. Capturing that feeling was my primary focus when creating this work, and every time I see these images, I still feel a glimmer of that joy.
The idea of resurrection reflects a challenging time in my own life, when this painting helped keep me focused, inspired, and moving forward. With so much upheaval in our country, it can be difficult not to dwell on the negatives around us. I love the idea of bringing some of the joy embodied by these dancers to our city and to the visitors who experience this place.
Rest is not just taking a nap- it is choosing ourselves in a system that continuously takes from us. It is making space to dream of a Black future, to save ourselves by showing up in community. I dream to connect to my roots ancestry of resilience- for what’s to come next.
ABOUT JEAN MCGUIRE
After a forty-year hiatus from art, Jean McGuire rediscovered her passion through portrait studies, drawn to the challenge of capturing the unique stories behind each person. Her portraits seek to illuminate the emotions and histories of often overlooked individuals, making each piece a narrative in itself.
In the Kansas City area Jean has held solo exhibitions at HJ’s Gallery and All Soul’s Art Gallery, and participated in group and juried shows at venues such as RG Endres Gallery, 80 Santa Fe Gallery, Overland Park Art at The Center, Plug Gallery, Hilliard Gallery, Epsten Gallery, Baker University, Mark Arts, the ZhouB Arts Center, and the Albrecht Kemper Museum.
Nationally, her work has appeared in exhibitions including “Voices of the Midwest” at Fine Line Creative Art (IL), “Finding Our Voices” at Kelwood Gallery (LA), “Everything Blue” at MVA Gallery (PA), CAL International at Conroe Art League (TX), and “Her Story” at Fayetteville State.
ABOUT SUMMER BROOKS
Summer Brooks is an interdisciplinary sculpture artist in Kansas City, MO. She explores the intersections between Black joy, femininity, and race. Using soft colors, glitter, diamonds, and gold, she captures the gentle essence of Black women. Brooks exhibited her work at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis titled The New Garden Variety, exploring themes of redefining beauty standards. She was the recipient of NCECA’s Multicultural Fellowship award in 2021 and exhibited work in the Multicultural Fellowship exhibition in 2024. During her time as a resident at Belger Studios in 2021, she experimented with figures in ceramics. After her residency with Belger, she was awarded a residency at 323 Clay in Independence, MO where she continued her experimentation in ceramics exploring unconventional material usage. Currently, she’s spending her time exploring new mediums and diving further into themes of hyperfeminity.
