By Abby Hoover

The second annual Bottoms Up festival was greeted by a sunny early summer weekend in Northeast Kansas City. After taking a year off due to COVID-19, the arts and music festival returned in full force led by the Arts Asylum, among the first in-person events planned for this summer.

The festival opened on Friday night with a live performance by ZAVA and Felix, accompanied by E2 Dance Co. at The Black Box Theater in the Historic West Bottoms, kicking off their Pride Month festivities.

Just as the event’s name suggests, on Saturday the festival traveled up from the Bottoms to the Historic Northeast and set up shop at the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Growth Gallery (EGG) on Independence Avenue.

Artists of all mediums displayed their wares at the EGG – from dream catchers to paint pours, beadwork, stop motion films and paintings.

Artist Rosario Fletcher grew up in Northeast Kansas City, but now lives in Overland Park, Kan. She was glad to return to her old neighborhood to share her collection of dream catchers and acrylic paintings.

“I’ve really [been an artist] seriously for more like three, four years, but I’ve always dabbled in it,” Fletcher said. “Like in high school it was more like charcoal and different creative outlets, but the last four years I’ve taken it more seriously as far as the acrylic paintings, and I also do dream catchers.”

Fletcher’s close friend Marilyn Bigler of PB&J Interiors concentrated on stringing tiny beads onto intricate jewelry and proudly showing off her husband Bill’s one-of-a-kind acrylic paint pours on both vases and canvas.

“He’s not been able to duplicate it,” Bigler said of a pour resembling sunflowers. “That’s the way most of the abstracts are, of course. Once they pour, it picks its own way of coming out of the cup. There’s never going to be two.”

A familiar face at the EGG, A.J. Hoyt was glad to be back with his paintings of Royals and Chiefs players, and Kansas City monuments.

Ariel and her mother Rachel Rose, both artists, had a variety of works on display. Ariel has been practicing stop motion animation, and hopes to get better with time. Right now she is animating a story her brother wrote, but the process is very time consuming. Rachel creates intricate portraits and decor out of beads.

“It’s both nerve-racking and exhilarating,” Rachel said of finally showing her work in a gallery again. “I think we’re both excited but nervous – she’s mostly tired – but it’s been a year.” 

The Eleos Coffee Truck was on site to quench visitors’ thirst as they browsed the variety of colorful work in the gallery’s first show in over a year.

Art Garden KC made a special Saturday appearance with 30 diverse and creative local artists at their usual location on Lexington Avenue in Pendleton Heights. They set up on both Saturday and Sunday this week because of the Bottoms Up Festival, adding an open mic every Sunday.

“It’s a real fun time, anybody gets up there, especially with the Bottoms Up Festival,” artist Madison Von Shelton said.

Von Shelton is a student of the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), and Art Garden co-founder Margarita Friedman’s son Hector is one of her instructors. In addition to managing the group’s social media, she handpaints market totes and t-shirts, sews silky scrunchies, and makes art prints.

As the weekly event has grown, the six founders have decided to create a committee to plan the events, keep track of finances and organize the vendors. 

“It’s been awesome, I would say we get roughly around 150 to 200 people who show up each Sunday now,” co-founder Bethany Alzanadi said. “We’ve got open mic, we have the sound baths and meditation that are going to be happening in the park, and somebody has the plug on mini horses.”

The weekend concluded with recognition of what the arts community, Kansas City and the world have endured over the past year and a half. On the lawn of the Kansas City Museum, artists performed “Reflections,” a collection of stories and songs. Performers included Jessica Alcorn, Kristen Altoro, Kristen Alley, Delano Mendoza, Ray Ettinger, Christoph Nevins, Victoria Barbee, Korea Cavalli, Sheridan Mirador, Julia Masterson, and Nick Uthoff. The concert was assembled by Korey Childs, Zach Faust, and Ramsey Self with Brad Foster on keys and music direction, John Gilmore on drums, and Bill Wood on bass. This was the first in the Kansas City Museum’s Summer Concerts on the Lawn series for the season.

Arts Asylum and their creative partners brought together artists and entertainers through the Bottoms Up event in Northeast Kansas City this weekend, sharing their talent with the community who has been eager to return to in-person events as COVID-19 restrictions ease.