ARTSPEAK RADIO with Josie Mai, Matt Spezia, Justin Border, Meghan Rowswell and Jen Appell

Wednesday June 27, 2018 Noon to 1PM CST

Host/producer Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes Josie Mai, Matt Spezia, Justin Border, Meghan Rowswell and Jen Appell,

Matt Spezia is a national powerhouse of lyrical ability, combining a 3 time national award winning poetry style, Kansas City hip hop, and thespian teachings. Recently signing with CX1DJS and E&E Entertainment. This artist has 2 albums and a book published and has appeared in an anthology cd and book. With his third project “Babylon” releasing June 25th under professional distribution and management

Spezia uses his platform and his art to promote self confidence and betterment, social awareness, cultural change. He has worked to directly influence school children in 26 different districts
He also hosts multiple weekly national award winning radio shows. Was recently named a prince of poetry, All of this while being a proud Washburn University Ichabod.

Outside of art Matt Spezia has taken the role of a mentor for many highland park high school students in Topeka recently completing his year long bi monthly workshops with the school. Spezia has been responsible for starting 3 different local stages, and has worked with two schools to promote high school involvement.

Matt also has done numerous public speaking engagements and motivational projects. Winning the Washburn university business pitch competition, and placing in another year, placing in the Washburn business plan competition and competing in the highly prestigious SBAF series. Spezia is the global runner up of the NIBS competition, the largest college entrepreneurship contest in the world.
As while as giving numerous presentations on performing for the public forum at a number of state wide venues and has presented multiple stances inside on the floor of the Kansas capital building.

Matt has also recently begun his career in film making. Producing 2, 30 second ads for E&E entertainment, as well as being named the executive producer and editor for the feature length documentary “Life of a DJ” from Atlantic Records. He recently also became an international videographer, filming the “Blaq out” in Jamaica.

REGIONAL GALLERYMay 26 – June 22, 2018
Spiva Sketchbook Project Sponsored by Corner Greer & Associates Inc., Davis CPA Group, and Mid-America Arts Alliance

In early 2016, Jamie Oliver, Art Professor at Pitt State, brought my attention to the Brooklyn Sketchbook Project. I knew it would be a perfect project to emulate in Joplin. So in August 2016 through Facebook I invited 150 local, regional, and national artists I knew personally to participate. 80 agreed and received a sketchbook. For one full year, artists filled their sketchbooks and stayed in touch through a private Facebook page, often sharing progress and tips on materials.
Meanwhile, I wrote and received an Artistic Innovations grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance for the entirety of the project, from conception through exhibition. The grant payed for sketchbooks, for intern Susan Covert to scan every two page spread of every sketchbook, for frames and color printing for the exhibition, and for the cost of color catalogs to document the exhibit. In addition, it paid for sketchbooks to go to every 6th grader at North Middle School and St Peter’s Junior High (Spiva’s neighborhood schools). Special thanks to Kris Dishman and Lauren Brown for allowing Spiva staff to come to workshops with the 6th graders. North Middle had their own exhibition in their library fall 2017 showcasing their prints.
The Regional Gallery exhibit features 2 prints each from 37 artists who ultimately completed the project. The exhibit is a celebration of an entire community engaging in the concurrent creative documenting of their thoughts, interests, hopes, and dreams. You will see work from local favorites such as Natalie Wiseman and Tricia Courtney, Joplin area art teachers such as Amber Davidson, Nellie Mitchell, and Ronda Stevenson, and Kansas City and New York City-based artists. I participated in the project, as well.
The exhibit is a unique look into the process of an artist, what they scribble, what is going on in their heads; lists, notations, drawings, photographs, paintings and collages. In addition to the framed color prints, the original sketchbooks of all 37 artists will be on display for viewers to thumb through. They will remain in Spiva’s library for the public to view. Thank you, artists, for your great gifts.

Josie Mai, Curator and Executive Director

Jen Appel, Justin Border, Meghan Rowswell-Weaving the River
www.weavingtheriver.com

To those who live in the Greater Kansas City Area, the word Quindaro stirs up many thoughts and emotions, most negative. The local news cycle depicts a violent vein within the inner city of Kansas City, Kansas where, over the course of the last dozen years, the crime rate has been nearly double the national average. Some hear the word Quindaro and equate it with fear and poverty. But at it’s core, Quindaro is a community founded in hope, inclusiveness and resilience. At it’s heart, Quindaro is a reflection of what is best in all of us when we join together to fight against tyranny and repression.

Weaving the River is an immersive art experience that celebrates the underrecognized history of the Wyandot Indian Settlement of Quindaro. This installation includes a soundscape composed by Jen Appell, natural samples collected on the historic grounds, voices of residents, songs of slavery and Wyandot music. The soundscape explores the synergies and counterpoints of the community’s complex cultural wealth. Jillian Youngbird will weave a river from sticks and resources collected from the settlement and yarn steeped in water of the Missouri. This physical interpretation of Quindaro, which means bundle of sticks or stronger together, represents the strength of weaving together a community. Justin Border and Meghan Rowswell will sculpturally interpret the topography of the valley in a way that allows the public to walk the landscape. Our team will also create infographics depicting the population’s past and present challenges.

Once a vibrant trade port on the banks of the Missouri river and a key stop on the underground railroad; few voices rise to tell the epic tale of the progressive township’s resistance and strength. The original township, founded by Abelard Guthrie in 1856 and dissolved by the state of Kansas in 1862, was also home to Western University, the first school specifically for the children of freed slaves west of the Mississippi.

Contrary to the history of strength, a recent report released by Community Health Council of Wyandotte County shows that out of 105 counties in the state of Kansas, the citizens of Wyandotte County consist of the most vulnerable populations in both individual and public health. There is intense overlap of these social determinants of health that show the area surrounding Quindaro to be one of the most at-risk in the county.

Through the warp and weft of hands on experience, community engagement and research, our interpretation of history intends to reinvigorate pride and, in turn, the overall health of the neighborhood.

Viewers are encouraged to interact with the project by tying strips of paper with thoughts or wishes for the community throughout the installation. These wishes will be ceremonially released at the site of the original Quindaro docks on the Missouri River at the end of the installation. Through interactive engagement, we educate and advocate for the future of Quindaro.

We are so delighted to partner with West Bottoms Reborn in their walking tour project. We are proud to be featured on Geotourism.com
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