Upcoming Charlotte Street Exhibition Invites Viewers To READ THE ROOM

Charlotte Street has announced the new exhibition Read the Room, premiering on Friday, May 24 from 6:00-9:00 PM at Charlotte Street (3333 Wyoming St.). Read the Room is a group exhibition of more than 20 local and regional artists who are expanding the outer limits of comics as an expressive and experimental medium.

Collaboratively curated by artists Tim Brown, Will Cardini, Jason Lips, and Thayer Bray, the exhibition concept emerged from their conversations about the need to increase the visibility and cohesion of Kansas City's small but passionate community of comics creators. The exhibition's artists span a wide range of experience—from working arts professionals to emerging voices the curators would like to elevate. Related exhibition programming will include workshops focused on collaging with vintage comics, zine making, and creating autobiographical comics.

On view until Saturday, July 13, 2024, the exhibition features Jamie Bates, Tim Brown, John Buice, Kelsey Borch, Will Cardini, Nehemiah Cisneros, Mary Climes, Joshua W. Cotter, Siobhán Gallagher, Alex Gorsuch, Casey Hannan, Jenny Jo Hrabe, Trishelle Jeffery, Emily Johnson, Emma Knopik, Barbara Lane Tharas, Haley Lips, Jason Lips, John F. Malta, Travis Millard, Vincent Carton Mollica, Thayer NG Bray, Nick Francis Potter, Josh Rios, and Momoko Usami.

Read the Room asks the viewer to consider comics as an expansive and evolving mode of visual storytelling—a thread that can be followed back in history to paleolithic cave paintings and ancient illustrated texts, or followed back in our own lives to how we came to understand our world and imagine new ones in the universal childhood experience of drawing.

PROGRAMMING

Opening Reception | Fri., May 24, 2024 | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM | Charlotte Street Gallery

The Politics of Collage | Sat., May 25, 2024 | 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM | Charlotte Street Kemper Library

This hands-on workshop with Read the Room artist Joshua Rios offers participants an opportunity to create mixed-media collages related to land politics and postcolonial science fiction. All ages are welcome, no art skills required. All materials will be supplied.

Inviting The Images Workshop | Wed., June 26, 2024 | 6:00 to 8:00 PM | Charlotte Street Kemper Library

Read the Room co-curator and artist Jason Lips will lead participants through a series of cartooning and journaling exercises, culminating in the creation of an autobiographical memory comic, spurred by a random word prompt. All ages are welcome, although this technique tends to work best for adults and interested teenagers. All materials will be provided.

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 $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects and has hosted countless exhibitions, performances, convenings, and conversations connecting and challenging Kansas City's contemporary art ecosystem. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.