Missouri Arts Council

Congratulations to Rahele Megosha of South Dakota, the 2021 champion of Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest! Ms. Megosha’s win was announced at the virtual finals webcast last night. 2021 is the 16th year of this nationwide program for high school students. Missouri has participated since the beginning. Our 2022 program will begin this fall with competitions at the classroom level. We’re crossing our fingers for in-person events!

Painter Regina Willard says she hopes people will be drawn into her work by its expressive brushwork, movement, and color harmony. Witness her Red Frilly Lilies! The West Plains contemporary impressionist is one of our #MissouriFeaturedArtists for May. Find more paintings on her website www.reginawillard.com and all her fellow Featured Artists on ours: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artists

This evening at 6:00 Missouri time, the National Finals for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest are going on the air: arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud The top of the show will feature a roll call of all 55 state and jurisdictional champions including Missouri’s own Madeline Mattie Mills missouriartscouncil.org/poetry-out-loud. Actor/writer Shaun Taylor-Corbett will host this webcast of recitations and live interviews by the nine finalists.

With museums beginning to reopen, it’s welcome news that the Blue Star Museums program is again in full swing this summer. Now through September 6, Blue Star provides free admission for active military and their families to museums and other cultural venues across the U.S. Missouri has 32 sites--find them at arts.gov/initiatives/blue-star-museums! The program is a collaboration among museums, the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

How can the arts resume in-person experiences while maintaining COVID-19 safe practices and making audiences feel safe? Join our Michael Donovan online for the latest help via Missouri ArtSafe Certification at a free meetup/webinar this Wednesday, 8:30-10 a.m. Everyone is welcome! Register here: bit.ly/May26webinar

Out on the rural routes, searching for photos or the raw stuff of poems, there’s time to think about the American Midwesthow, despite being so often overlooked, it’s a place of drama and beauty, says Justin Hamm. This Mexico poet and photographer (Justin Hamm Photography here’s his Train, Early Evening) is one of our very first #MissouriFeaturedArtists. Meet all of them here: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artist

My job isn’t done until everybody in the world believes fashion is art, says KC fashion and textile designer Whitney Manney| W/M. We’re on boardone reason she’s among our #MissouriFeaturedArtists! Here’s one of her models at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Meet all our December artists here: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artist

Robin VanHoozer (Robin VanHoozer Art) of St. Joseph works with encaustic, a mix of hot wax and pigment that goes back 2,500 years. And she uses encaustic for more than the classic paintings on wood like the multimedia in her 2019 solo exhibit Echoes Through Time at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. Inspired by her grandmother’s journal, she muses on the invisible routine of essential tasks typically performed by women. Here’s Nell, encaustic, paper, thread, vintage lace, and photographs. Ms. VanHoozer is one of our very first Featured Artists. Meet all four of December’s artists here: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artist

We need to find our place in the universe. That’s what stories do, says award-winning St. Louis storyteller and author Bobby Norfolk at Folktale Productions. They tell us why we’re here, why there is unrest in the world, what can bring us all together. Mr. Norfolk is one of our very first Featured Artists in our brand-new program highlighting individual Missouri artists. Meet all four of our first Featured Artists here: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artist (photo by Bob Morrison)

Introducing our Missouri Featured Artist Program! Every month we are highlighting four artists from all around Missouri. Our inaugural artists are storyteller Bobby Norfolk at Folktale Productions, visual artist Robin VanHoozer (Robin VanHoozer Art), poet and photographer Justin Hamm (Justin Hamm Photography), and fashion and textile designer Whitney Manney| W/M. Meet them here and if you’re an artist living in Missouri, find out how to apply: missouriartscouncil.org/featured-artist