Western European
MON-SAT
In the tradition of Holbein the Elder, Holbein the Younger and Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles comes German-born painter and unlikely exponent of the American low desert Waltraud von Schwarzbek. The German-born artist studied in Munich and began her career as an illustrator for United Artists, working on posters advertising the European releases of The Great Escape and Dr. No. After moving to Kansas City in 1968, Schwarzbek traveled across the country, a journey that inspired a fascination with American Indian culture. “Germans are terribly attracted to Indians,” she says. “The native people have this wild appeal, unlike anything you’d find in Bavaria — the color and closeness to nature.”
The thick oils of Schwarzbek’s reconstituted Grand Canyon as well as her stern portraits of American Indians and scenes of a wildlife never at rest have earned the art-fair habitue more buyers than ribbons. She’s sworn off juried exhibits (“The judges count every feather on your duck painting,” she says) and is now concerned instead with regaining consumer ground lost to “painter of light” Thomas Kinkade.
“Kinkade has single-handedly ruined the print market,” Schwarzbek says. “His so-called limited editions of 40,000 prints have made buyers dubious. I’ve never sold more originals than I have in the past year.”
A batch of Schwarzbek’s panoramic art is now for sale at the Wild Pony Gallery, 7319 West 79th Street in Overland Park. For information, call 913-642-2900.— Scott Wilson
Star Maps
An astronomer’s drawings go global.
TUE – SUN
Russell Crotty must like to doodle on the job. He’s an astronomer, and his six extraterrestrial drawings at the Kemper Museum (4420 Warwick) look suspiciously like scribbles from a ballpoint pen and highlighters. Crotty bases these intricate “Globe Drawings” on his detailed notes and memories of the nighttime sky over the Santa Monica Mountains as seen through his observatory telescope. The artist adds poetic musings to the spheres, which are 16 inches to 36 inches in diameter and hang at eye level. Although Crotty’s star-spangled globes — on display through July 6 — fade in comparison with Mother Nature’s nightly celestial show, it’s a close second for urban dwellers whose view of the Milky Way is spoiled by light pollution. For information, call 816-753-5784.— Theresa Bembnister
Brookside Growing
SAT 5/24
The Brookside Farmers Market goes beyond organic eggplant and cinnamon-flavored honey. Sure, shoppers can load up on an array of certified-organic veggies, sustainably farmed fruits, flowers, meat, eggs and honey as well as health and body products. But they can also enjoy the event of the week in the market tent — cooking classes, composting demonstrations, displays of student gardening projects — and area nonprofits have set up informational tables in the community tent. The market runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday at 6321 Wornall Road. For more information, go to www.farmerscommunitymarket.com. — Sarah Smarsh
Market Music
SAT 5/24
This week, country singer Michelle Lee entertains the morning crowd at the Farmer’s Market in downtown Overland Park. Beginning this Saturday and running every week through October 25, the Clock Tower Concert Series adds jazz, blues and country sounds to the produce-purveying at the Clock Tower Pavilion between 79th and 80th streets on Santa Fe Drive. The concerts run from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays. (The market itself opens at 6:30 a.m.) Starting June 4, the market also goes up at 7:30 a.m. every Wednesday, when from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. folks can use their lunch breaks to catch live tunes while picking up potatoes for dinner. For information, call 913-642-2222. — Smarsh
