Girl stuff

I'm heading downtown tonight with a friend to check this out. I've been meaning to look into it for my jewellry designs for awhile, but haven't made much of an effort. One of the gals from my entrepreneur group is a featured designer tonight: Lover Cosmetics. It will be nice to see how she puts some of the planning discussions in practice. Even better, I'm getting out of the house on a weeknight! Yay!

Kansas City Snapshot

I came across this via Tony's Kansas City who, in typical grump fashion, had plenty to say about it. I think it could be an interesting project, but the trick will be if it will really be as inclusive as it aspires to be and not just another collage of fountains and Plaza shoppers, sprinkled with shots of landscaped Brookside lawns and First Fridays.
The idea is that over the course of the year, various elements of the area will be woven together through photography and writings around several themes. Public forums are also scheduled throughout the year based on the themes as well. Karrie Jacobs, founder of Dwell magazine, will be at the first forum in May.
I think this area could definitely use some more optimism, even if it borders on artsy naivete. I wonder though if anyone outside the architecture field will notice it much. (Is there any irony in my pessimism about optimism?)

More information on the project is at Snapshots.

First Fridays

Image from Blue Gallery.
I wanted to get downtown on Friday and couldn't make it happen--I blame the bowling cookies that had to be decorated. Unfortunately, some of the galleries are open by appointment only which is a little off-putting for someone like me who really doesn't have the budget right now for an art investment. I'll just skip those exhibits because I hate feeling like I'm wasting someone's time when I know I won't be buying. Maybe for the next one.
I would like to get to some of the open galleries though and I might stop by on Saturday as I'll be in the area for an Incubator session.
I really want to check out Hung Liu at Byron Cohen Gallery (more info here). She uses historical photography with layers of painting and collage.I love all the layers and really want to see some of them closer. The gallery is one of my favorites too and I was pretty stoked I got to see some prints by Chris Verne the last time I was there.
And if you need an admission that clearly identifies me as a Midwestern gal, I think the current exhibit at the Grand Arts Gallery is funny.
It's called The Smell of Fear and the idea is to isolate the sense of smell so you can get back to more primal ways of knowing someone. I think it's essentially a big scratch and sniff wall. The reason I think it's funny is that the artist Sissal Tolaas has encapsulated the scents, pheremones etc. in an effort to capture fear, combined the scents with paint and...erm...painted the wall..with FEAR! Which is probably really close to what I did recently with my redone living room.

Beer is good

What with 75th St Brewery closed for awhile due to the fire, it's comforting to know that some informed soul in KC put together a guide for getting your brew on. The map even uses little pints to point to the location. mmmmbeer...
Check it out here.