By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
April 6, 2011

Diverse. Complicated. Simplistic.

That’s how Rebecca Koop, president of Northeast Arts KC, described this year’s art in the Cultures Without Borders Traveling Art Exhibit.

For 15 years, Northeast Arts KC has sponsored the traveling art show and this year, it’s attracted artists from as far away as Indpendence, Kan., Topeka, Kan., Lathrop, Mo., and Plattsburg, Mo.

Five of the 37 featured artists live in Historic Northeast.

Those artists include Koop, Shane Rowse, Dianne Dickerson, Dan Siglar and Tom Tacy.

Each artist described their masterpiece and for Dickerson, she found inspiration for one of her paintings from a poetry reading at St. John’s Community Gardens in Historic Northeast.

In October, 2010, she said, local writers gathered at the gardens to share their original works.

“It was a perfect day and I enjoyed listening and sketching the moment,” Dickerson wrote in her description of the painting, which she finished in her studio. “It was fun to recall the camaraderie of the day, the bright colors in the sun, the soothing shadows and the enjoyment in sharing the arts in a garden.”

Stigler uses iron only in his creations and said, “It continues to be my strong desire to transform what many people perceive as cold, hard, inflexible and lifeless material into works that exhibit life, movement and emotion.”

Tacy, who’s acrylic paintings are featured, said he likes to focus on painting faces.

Cultures Without Borders is currently on display in the American Heartland Theater lobby in Crown Center, 2450 Grand, Kansas City, Mo., and will remain there through April 17.

Upcoming venues are:

April 19- May 14: Central Bank of Kansas City lobby, 2301 Independence Ave., Kansas City, Mo. Viewing will be during regular banking hours.

May 17- June 24: UMB Bank lobby, 6400 Independence Ave., Kansas City, Mo. A closing reception for the art show will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 23. Light refreshments will be served.

Top to bottom: Northeast artist Dianne Dickerson transforms a local poetry reading into art. This is one of several of her paintings featured in the Cultures Without Borders art show. Northeast’s Tom Tacy’s painting titled “Music.” A totem pole constructed from flower pots, created by Northeast resident Rebecca Koop. Submitted photos