AUCTION 2024

Oct 23

41st Annual KCAC Art Auction

KCAC would like to introduce you to the 41st Annual Auction Honorary Chairs, JOE BUSSELL & FRED TREASE.

Fred Trease (left) and Joe Bussell (right) with their dog, Hamish

Fred Trease and Joe Bussell are respected community members, artists, and fabulous collectors of local artwork. They have a long history with KCAC. Most recently, Fred was awarded an Art in the Loop project to design one of KC’s Streetcars - the “Disco Cloud”! Fred’s education has been as a biologist and a sociologist with the majority of his career spent in the practice of environmental public health. Whether he was making double exposures with a Brownie as a boy, photographing chromosomes and cells in college or documenting environmental conditions professionally, photography has always been a part of his life. Whenever he wanted to understand something, out came his camera. In 2006, he began exploring the medium as an artistic outlet. Fred’s images are extracted from daily life and allow for new ways to look at familiar things using the camera and other digital devices in different ways to shift the paradigm of daily life. His work has been shown in a variety of local, regional and national exhibitions and is to be found in numerous collections in the US.

Joe has maintained his professional contemporary art practice for over 40 years. In that time, he received his BFA in painting from Kansas University and his MFA’s in painting and ceramics from Washington University in Saint Louis. Joe is widely exhibited in the US and Europe. In the process of making 2-D or 3-D art, Joe adds what “makes sense” and subtracts what doesn’t. It is a process that can take years or be realized in a day. What he adds or what he keeps represents his history, dreams, memories, and personal aesthetic. Joe wants the finished piece to translate the psychological loop and tell a complete story. The development of Joe’s visual language took on new heights while living in London, Boston, Los Angeles and various cities in the Midwest. His visual language was most vividly impacted by his experience working in an AIDS hospice for five years. Together these experiences play a significant role in the artist’s queer vocabulary.

And we are excited to share that JANE BOOTH was the Honorary Artist of the 2024 Annual Auction

Jane Booth lives and works on the rural Kansas prairie where the broad, open vistas of land, water, and sky, act as a foundation for her work. Booth paints from the inside out, from her meditation of life experiences then out, through the physical activity of pouring, pushing, and brushing paint. Often creating color saturated canvases, her process is tactile and physical. Booth begins with large swaths of raw canvas on the floor. Engaging all of her senses, she accesses a nonverbal internal landscape, translating into a felt sense of color and mark. Paint is poured and pushed by hand into the canvas and a calligraphy of gesture akin to dance informs the composition. Only later, once the canvas is up on the wall, do gestures and forms emerge evolving in conversation forming a visual language that is Booth’s alone.

Jane Booth is based in the Kansas City area and is represented in KC by Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, in Omaha by Anderson O’Brien Fine Art, in Wichita Reuben Sanders Gallery, and in Laguna Beach and NYC by JoAnne Artman Gallery. Her paintings are in 600 + private and corporate collections worldwide including: Kansas University Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cisco Systems, H&R Block World Headquarters and Hilton Hotels, as well as the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO.

“I’m grateful for the Artists Coalition and their significant contributions to artists in the area. I joined when I was just starting out and through several of the programs they offer, learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of being an artist. KCAC was a major factor for me in the development of a sustainable career in the arts. This story could be told by many other artists in the Kansas City area who were impacted by the warm and giving community that makes up KCAC. We’ve collected some favorite pieces from this art auction, and always look forward to the electric event itself, crammed full of artists and collectors and lovers of the arts.” ~ Jane Booth

The 2024 Theme Artist was SARAH WALSH

Sarah Walsh is an internationally published illustrator, painter & designer. Whether it's children's books, gift products or a magazine, bright color, nature & mystical subject matter are the mainstays of Sarah’s work. Her drawings can be found anywhere, from a tote bag for Blue Q to a fully illustrated version of Roald Dahl’s classic book Matilda. Select clients include PBS, The British Museum, The Dahl Estate, Nosy Crow, Washington Post, Crate & Barrel and Chronicle Books. While her client work keeps her busy, Sarah also maintains a consistent personal practice. Her sketchbooks are a place for her to dream, experiment and keep track of her ideas. Sarah typically works with a mix of acrylic gouache, colored pencils, photoshop and procreate. Sarah and her partner Colin also run a Kansas City based shop called Tigersheep Friends where they design and sell a variety of fun home decor, apparel and accessories.

www.sarahwalshmakesthings.com

Walsh’s illustration for the cover of the 2024 Auction Catalog

KCAC Remembers…

In Memoriam… Beth Lurey (1950-2023)

Beth Lurey embarked on a journey through life filled with love, laughter, and a deep passion for art. From Mather High School in Chicago to the halls of Drake University in Des Moines, to Kansas City in 1974. While at Drake she studied Art History, and cultivated a lifelong appreciation for creativity and expression. Once in Kansas City she became an integral part of the art community.

For over 30 years, she worked at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. From running the Docent program to being named interim Curator of Prints, her roles in between were many. She worked side by side with many organizations during her career, including the Print Society of Greater KC, Kansas City Artists Coalition, UMKC Gallery of Art, the Kemper Museum, and countless others.

In the late 1990’s she took on creating the art collection for the Stowers Institute of Medical Research. While Beth had many accomplishments in her life, she didn’t define success only in terms of her career achievements.

Beth will be remembered for her creative spirit, her love for the arts, and the joy she brought to those around her. Her legacy lives on in the memories shared by many family and friends.

In Memoriam… Robert Quackenbush (1944-2023)

Robert Quackenbush made Kansas City his home in 2005, moving here from New York City with his wife, Merry. He was the third generation in his family to work for IBM, but during his years in the corporate world, art was always Robert’s passion. Wherever he lived he found the best place to go to art school, starting at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. Whenever he had a place to use as a studio, he painted. When he didn’t have a space, he painted in his head.

In 1996 he became a full-time artist, and his work included painting, sculpting and printmaking. His creations demonstrated the power of the horizon line, the beauty of architectural dimensions, the surprise of a textured surface, the intriguing angles of geometry or the human form, as well as the irresistible attraction of a found object.

He began teaching painting classes in 2006 and enjoyed working with artists at all levels. In 2017 he opened his beautiful new studio in Beacon Hill. And in that remarkable space he created community and offered generous mentorship and unflagging support for the artists who visited. He has two legacies: his own work and the work of the artists he taught.