Merry Christmas! The kids are writing letters to loved ones, cookies are in the oven. The tree is lit and we have spoken to relatives all over the world to wish them joy and love during the holidays. I'm thankful for my family and all the people in my life who have influenced me.
Featured above is Michael Evans. He told me his name is not important. I met him at Parkville Coffee House where he said, "I've never owned a credit card, a checkbook or a bank card in my life." He has never been in debt and has lived as a squatter for some years before settling into an abandoned shelter near the railroad that he renovated. He now works as a handy-man and runs his own business.
When I first met Linda she was squinting to see anything close-up, it was difficult for her to read. Then she was referred to a special program at Operation Breakthrough that donates glasses to the needy. Here she posed with her new glasses.
Linda visited the local blood donation center, CSL Plasma, on Broadway. Out of desperation, she looked for an alternative to earn money. She has gone to Goodwill Industries to fill out applications for at least 3 jobs, twice a week, since February of this year. She said she has not received one call back or response to her applications.
Emancipation Station, a day shelter for women, opened it's doors to the public Friday and Saturday to give away used and donated clothing. Men, women and children were able to receive many items they need. With temperatures dropping below freezing this weekend, the giveaway was a necessary event for many.
Recognizing the needs of the homeless, Pastor Alice Piggee-Wallack, founder of True Light Family Resource Center and Emancipation Station, with the help of volunteer, Hector Ponce, organized and provided the clothing giveaway. Mr. Ponce has been donating his time weekly categorizing donations in the clothing closet so that women may find their sizes easily and quickly in times of crisis. For more information about how you can get involved with helping the homeless contact Emancipation Station at 719 E 31st St, Kansas City, MO 64109 or call 816-561-1700 for more information.
Maria Creyts shared her passion for unique mixtures of color, fabric and textures at BNIM last First Friday, December 3rd, 2010. In the heart of downtown Kansas City near the Power and Light District Ms. Creyts' photo friezes were hung in 10 window frames of one of the most prestigious art deco buildings in Kansas City. Ms Creyts' visual displays bring a whimsical yet harmonic adornment to an already beautiful building. Thinking of the daily work of architects Ms. Creyts imagined that they have a similar understanding and appreciation for her placement of fabrics and with various textures and colors beside one another.
Ms Creyts describes on her website, www.mariaurora.net, her reason for using fabrics in her art. She said,
"To me, fabric offers a ready palette of pattern and color. I could hunt for patterned papers and make pasted collages… yet the supply of fabrics is greater, more varied, and texture is an added bonus. With fabric, I can construct. In elementary school, book reports were my favorite assignment as I
could make papier mache sculptures to go along with any storyline (looking back, I realize I got quite carried away !). Fashioning things in three dimensions has always been a part of what I do.
The formal structural language for fabric is one I am acquainting myself with: corded shirring, shell hems and ruffles, darted and curve-cut flounces, smocked tucks, box pleats… In most every case I adapt the standard method to suit atypical purposes."
Maria Creyts graduated from Yale University School of Art with an Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and printmaking. She has also a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics and painting from the Kansas City Arts Institute. Ms. Creyts is a full time faculty member at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh as part of the online division. To learn more about her experience and exhibitions visit her website at www.mariaurora.net.
To see Maria Creyts' latest photo friezes and still life exhibit in person, stroll by the BNIM building on 14th and Baltimore in downtown Kansas City. The exhibition will be on display for the months of January and December.
FRIEZE ~ photo friezes by mariaurora / Maria Creyts
in the 10 windows of BNIM Architects
NW corner of 14th & Baltimore, in Kansas City’s Power & Light entertainment district
106 West 14th Street
Kansas City, Missouri USA
816 783-1634
I first met Linda at The Emancipation Station, a day shelter for women. Linda has been homeless since February. She has been living in shelters from month to month. Her only income is a few dollars support every week from her brothers and sisters. She has been hunting for jobs weekly through Goodwill Industries and other organizations with no success. After a relationship dissolved at the beginning of the year Linda became homeless at 47 years old. She has an 19 year old daughter and a 2 month old grandson.
The women at the day shelter describe Linda as a little lady with a big voice. They enjoy her infectious loud laugh. When others have a story to tell, she is the one who listens. Linda is known to help women with their children when they need it and with getting chores done around the shelter.
Recently, Linda has been diagnosed with Emphysema and COPD. She has not laughed much in the last couple of weeks and has been in and out of the emergency room several times. When I saw her Monday, she was very sick, was unable to do anything, very quiet.
One would think she has a death wish because, despite her diagnosis, she continues to smoke. She said smoking calms her nerves and her addiction to menthol cigarettes, the least expensive in the neighborhood, is "rough." The doctor recommended the patch, but she cannot afford it.
Linda took a break for an emergency inhale of medicine at Kitty's Restaurant near the Emancipation Station.
In giving thanks this Thanksgiving, I want to recognize Linda, for being a genuine and beautiful person.
Shane Evans, artist and owner of Dream Studio, dedicated his book, "Underground," to Pastor Alice Piggee-Wallack and collected proceeds to benefit her organization True Light Family Resource Center and Emancipation Station next door. Two places where people, especially women, can go for support and be free from the trouble that binds them.
Lisa and Bob have been building their house for nearly a decade by their own hands and design. Complete with a spiral staircase, glass elevator and too much to describe. They shared their home last Friday to benefit Kansas City's Quixotic Fusion. The evening was a success, a dream come true...
Fearful dreams of the dark corridors that these people's lives inhabit are starting to dissipate into a conversation, a sharing of space. Human beings, women and sometimes children, with real feelings, hopes and fears. The same as anyone without a home or job and limited options.
Here are some images of an ongoing project I'm currently doing. They are the very early stages of documenting life at Operation Breakthrough, a daycare center located in Kansas City established to help children living in poverty gain access to education, clothing and medical care. It provides care for infants to grade school children and before and after school care for school- aged children. There is a waiting list of approximately 1200 children and the enrollment priority is given to homeless children. Operation Breakthrough sometimes serves as the child's only source of stability, clothing, food and healthcare. Teachers, therapists and healthcare workers struggle together everyday to bring these children a chance at opportunity
