Featured Artist Showcase

Doodling with my baby earthside feels different than I expected. I longed for the days when she would hold a crayon and create, and now it is here and happening. She is free in her movements. She has all the supplies and support, and safety she needs. As much as this doodle was for her, it quickly became more to me. Long after she was asleep, I began forming her lines into stems and adding shape to the flowers crafted by her dad and aunt. With Hope, powerful emotions rise, like a strong wave, overcoming and undeniable. Breath. “Let’s countdown to calm down. Five...Four...Three...Two... One.” 

My name is Manuel, I have expressed my perception of shadows in my canvas, and learning skills to grow and become a person with clarity. 

I like making bracelets and necklaces for people. I love to color pictures for my mental health to calm down. 

Anna Berthelsen is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Art Therapist, and artist serving adults within the Kansas City metro in a group practice setting. Anna works closely with individuals who have experienced trauma and chronic pain. While Anna primarily is a ceramicist, Anna is also a mixed-media artist. 

I am a visual artist and writer from California. I split my time between Kansas City and Southern Utah and work primarily in acrylic and oil paint to explore emotion, symbolism, cultural influence, and identity. Though relatively new to painting, my work has received regional recognition in the Southern Utah Regional Art Exhibition and Utah PTA Reflections. I invite viewers into moments of reflection on cultural connection, generational experience, and evolving identity. 

Every piece I make is with the intention that it will connect others through conversation and be a reminder that you are not alone. Through disturbing imagery and dark themes, I wish to tell those who feel as if they have nowhere to turn, that there will be a tangible personification of hope-maybe a dark and twisted version of it but still hope. 

Jennifer Cadwell is a Kansas City-based artist whose work bridges the gap between playful character design and deep emotional portraiture. A graduate of Park University with a BA in Psychology (2003) and Fine Art (2007), Jennifer has spent years mastering traditional mediums including painting, ceramics, fiber, and photography.

Her creative journey took a transformative turn following two life-altering injuries. Adapting with resilience and using art as therapy, she transitioned her practice into digital illustration. Her work now oscillates between two distinct worlds; the whimsical, energetic joy of her "funny-faced" animal characters and the somber, emotional weight of her human portraits. By merging her psychological background with her artistic evolution, Jennifer explores the raw, unvarnished depths of the human experience—mapping the landscapes of both joy and sorrow with precision and grace. 

My name is 24 Flowers, and I'm a local artist and poet.  

This will be my third year participating in this exhibition. I co-facilitate a peer support group called Blooming Ballads through the Wyandot Center, in which we write poetry with different mental health themes each week. 

Poetry is the way I communicate myself to the world. It helps me let out and process my thoughts and emotions, as well as make deeper connections with others. Sharing my writing lets me convey my thoughts, feelings, and ideas. 

The labels life gives us. The labels we choose for ourselves. those labels that we take in. Human. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Creative. Authentic. Leader. Spiritual. Therapist. Teacher. Performer. Dancer. Writer. Artist. ADHD. Anxiety. Bipolar. OCD. Anorexia. Psychosis. I am all and none of these. I am just a moment away from being seen as I am. I am a second away from disappearing. I am me. Nice to meet you. 

Michael Dean is a mixed media artist and Certified Art Therapist Practitioner whose work blends expression with healing. His layered, emotive style—described as “creative madness” and “precious chaos”—invites reflection and transformation. Through his art, he shares the healing power of creativity while continuing to grow within the art therapy field. 

My art is inspired from Japan and Japanese culture & lifestyle. I paint and draw as a hobby, but I'm looking for an opportunity to show my art. 

Dale is an honest man trying to make something beautiful instead of making something that might destroy someone. He just wants to play his part in keeping peace and being a positive influence in his community. He plays a leadership role as an Eagle Scout in Troop 11 and has a passion for teaching his skills to young scouts and cubs. He is an avid gamer and collector and connects with his peers by sharing his passions with them, including his art.  

Jason Ewing is a Kansas City based artist and founder of EyeJelly Streetwear, an art and streetwear brand that blends skate culture, storytelling, and mental health awareness. His work explores themes of trauma, identity, resilience, and recovery. Through skateboards, apparel, and visual art, Jason transforms life experience into creative expression while encouraging open conversations about mental health.

Professionally, I was a Physician Assistant since 1976. My creative career includes drawing, painting, playing classical and pop piano, writing autobiography, enjoying a large cacti indoor garden, and nurturing my saltwater aquarium. My spiritual life includes a contemplation/meditation practice and involvement at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City. I am married and have 3 adult children and a son-in-law. I grew up in the Kansas City area. 

Hello, my name is April Fuentes I am 26 years old. This is my main artwork to honor my friend who sadly passed away. The balloons are to let go of memories we shared. As well as the butterfly means she will always be around and watch. In memory of Allison. 

I am a fifty-three-year-old, long-time resident of Wyandotte County. My wife Mindy and I are both ordained Christian ministers, and our daughter Karyssa graduated from Sumner Academy in 2025. 

As a minister, I consider homiletics (preaching) to be a form of art, but I want to focus the last (I hope) 30 years of my life on other artistic passions – short fiction writing and visual collage making. Last year, a college of mine finished third in an art contest presented by KCK Third Friday, EPIC Arts, and The Sierra Club. 

As the word collage suggests, I take joy in merging found items into new, provocative combinations. This piece, in addition to painting, involves a copy of a personal photograph and a textured canvas made from a Roasterie coffee bag. 

Thank you for the opportunity to submit my work. 

Elissa Gilmore grew up in Missouri and continues to reside there. She currently attends KCAI, working towards a bachelor's in Painting with a Minor in Entrepreneurship. She explores ideas of ephemerality within everyday life, with its endings and potential new beginnings, through impasto oil painting. She has had artwork exhibited at Columbia College as well as at Lester Goldman Gallery within the Kansas City Art Institute, with a piece in the school's personal collection. 

Art is a place where I find a lot of honesty and vulnerability; which is an incredible thing when self-acceptance is a struggle, especially in my younger days. I see the things I create as a piece of myself in a form outside of the container of my body, and when I look at the art that others create, I feel as though I see some of what they keep hidden underneath too. For me, art is a way for a person who bottles their feelings to have an outlet, and to start taking tiny steps into breaking down walls of shame. 

I have always been drawn to the juxtaposition between Dainty and Beautiful, and Odd, Ugly, and Macabre. It is a common theme in my doodles that comes up again. I revel in the themes of Seen and Unseen, because it mirrors a life I had lived, and speaks to my journey of showing love to the imperfect parts of me that I once rejected and discarded. 

Jordan is the ArtMakers Place Program Coordinator at Wyandot Behavioral Health Network, where she develops and supports therapeutic art programming throughout the organization. She is an art therapist, Eco therapist, licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC), and licensed masters' addictions counselor (LMAC). She is trained in indigenized therapeutic approaches and uses a liberation-based therapeutic approach in her work. She is a co-chair of the Kansas City Community Neuroarts Coalition, where she works to integrate the arts into Kansas City's health and wellness sectors to create a healthier and more connected community through the healing power of art. 

A former creative professional and now artist/teacher who is enjoying working in watercolor. 

Teresa Hann is a Kansas City - based artist and chemist. Her work serves as a vibrant counterpoint to the structured world of the laboratory, blending high-contrast color palettes with evocative imagery of the natural world. A lover of motion - whether on a softball field or a motorcycle, Teresa Hann creates art that captures the stillness within the storm, inviting viewers to find their own point of convergence. 

Kasim Hardaway is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and alchemist whose work transforms emotion into experience. Through immersive installations and visual storytelling, he explores identity and mental health, transmuting the unseen into something felt, shared, and understood. His work invites pause, reflection, and deeper connection. 

When I was born, I was taken immediately from my mother because she had schizophrenia. I lived in an orphanage for the first two years of my life, before I was finally adopted. I’m guessing that I was not considered a great adoptive option because of the family history of schizophrenia – the puppy with the weird ear that is left at the pound while the other puppies went to new homes. 

My adoptive father died the following year from a brain tumor. My adopted mother was left with me, and my adopted brother. The very short summary of most of my childhood was that my adoptive mother became a violent, extremely abusive, alcoholic. All the abuse was directed at me, for some reason. My brother jumped right on that abuse train, partnering with my mother. 

I was, however, exceptionally fortunate to have extended family, especially my grandparents, that were loving, compassionate, wonderful people that did everything they could to try to help me. I am probably the person I am today because of them. 

Battling with my mental health has been a life-long experience, but with help I have experienced many life successes. My true artistic expression has always been dance; I am completely free, and joyful, in that space. 

But that mask is really me – frozen in time – experiencing those emotions. 

I’ve been creating since I was in third grade and that ability evolved throughout my almost 20 years of art. I specialize in painting custom sneakers, but nothing like going back to basics especially if I’m creating something from my head. Art serves as one of the few gifts that God gave me that allows me to feel the smallest feeling of what it’s like to be Him. The ability to create. There’s nothing more I could ask for. Should God ask more of me to create more then I’ll do it. 

I always liked to draw and always had a creative seed within me. When I was young, I had a near death experience (NDE) that changed my life trajectory forever. Many things were seen, felt, and continued to unfold to this day. My experience showed me how nothing is random and that there are no mistakes. The biggest take away I had from my NDE was that we are inherently creative beings and that what we feel and make others feel is one of the most important aspects of life. 

Joanna Houts didn't come to art through formal training. It came through survival and healing. After leaving a 24-year abusive marriage, she was finally free. She hadn't disappeared — she'd just been buried. And she had to find her way back. 

So she picked up a brush. Her work is mixed media — collage, acrylic, texture, layers, and it is built from the inside out.  Each piece begins with whatever emotion is alive in the body. She lets the canvas hold it. Hidden within the layers are encoded blessings, creatures that reveal themselves slowly, details that reward the patient's eye. The art holds what the artist once couldn't. 

Joanna is also a somatic guide and trauma-informed practitioner. For her, these are not two  separate lives. Some pain never finds words — but the body still holds it, and it still needs somewhere to go. The canvas and the healing space offer the same thing; a way through. She is based in the Kansas City area and believes, from lived experience, that art is not a luxury. It is how some of us find our way back 

I am originally from Scandinavia, but I have lived in the US for two years now. 

Throughout my life I have always enjoyed sculpting, jewelry making, drawing and painting. I am inspired by emotions and stories, and I love to visualize them in a mixture of realism and surrealism. It is amazing to create art that others can relate to, but mostly I use it as a personal outlet to express feelings and ideas. This is the very first time I have exhibited my art. 

My mom once told me; “I know you are doing well when you create art.” I did not understand it right away, but today I know she is right. Even when I feel like I am at my lowest, I know I will be okay if I am able to express myself in art. It is productive meditation. 

April L. Kincaid is a Kansas City based artist, human design and manifestation mentor, whose work focuses on soulful, creative expression. 

My name is Tyson "Free" Johnson, and I am an illustrator from Saint Louis, MO. I received my BFA at Park University in 2022 with a focus in Illustration. I work primarily digitally, but the bulk of my showcased work is always done traditionally through acrylic and mixed media. My goal has been to bring visions to life and push myself to create out of my comfort zone throughout all the arts. 

I tap into places where most people are afraid to go to process and heal themselves. I have found my art, viewed through the lens of the viewer, to be classified as “beautiful” all the way to “disturbing” -the exact same painting. My goal is for all people to feel seen, hopefully sparking conversation, and beginning the process of healing. 

Lisa Lark, an aspiring artist from Overland Park, Kansas, focuses on bringing joy to others through painting greeting cards and wall art. My medium is alcohol ink on yupo paper. I primarily paint flowers as I love vibrant colors, and color brings joy to any space. Painting has been a hobby of mine over the past eight years. 

Single mother. I am an artist. My journey is my daily struggles :) 

I am a single mother of three boys, 19, 13, & 12. My two youngest have autism. It has been a challenge navigating life without my mom (died in 2022, the day before my birthday). 

I am a grieving mother and trying to heal myself through paintings. My painting shows a brain MRI with butterfly damage. This damage is called White Matter Hyperintensities (wmh). On top of this flower with different colors showing healing, grief, and anger. Along with the empty branches, and glittering butterflies. 

I get to teach for a living.  Helping students grow and learn is one of the joys of my life.  I've invested lots of time and effort in gaining a formal education, but the most important lessons in my life I've learned outside of the classroom - in everyday life!  We all need a reminder from time to time that we are not alone in our life and in our struggles and victories, especially those we love who struggle with depression and anxiety. 

I love the shape of the heart because it is the center of the compassion we have toward one another. We connect when we speak kind words or give a helping hand to each other, that is love. 

I have spent my freshman year at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I am transferring to Kansas City Art Institute to be closer to my family, and to dive into the art world of Kansas City. I make art about womanhood, and the feeling that we are spoon-fed from girlhood that our bodies are wrong simply for just existing. I make art about having OCD in an attempt to understand more about what it means. I am in love with making portraits and capturing identity through them. 

I was raised in an abusive household suffering from narcissistic abuse and neglect. My guardian of the well depicts the warrior part of me who had to evolve to survive the rising well water. Now as I begin to heal and the water slowly drains, she finds herself lost without course. She searches for water to protect herself and finds herself at the well. She now defends what is most precious to her. 

As a dental technician for 46 years, I have spent my life creating literal smiles. Now my goal as an artist is to create real smiles. I hope you feel my darkness and frustration turning to joy in this piece and that it will make you smile. 

I never thought I could recover from so much ugly and sin, but I would never change it. The battle made me who I am, and I'm grateful to be alive. Where I come from, people never come back from that. Drugs and alcohol can destroy your family tree, but art taught me that I'm okay with the way I am. I never knew this part of me before art - the talented, confident, worthy, powerful part of me. I never knew how talented I was until I put it down. Anyone can be an artist if they try. Art motivates me to grow as an artist and person. This is who I was always supposed to be - love. Art helped me grow into a beautiful butterfly. It matters. I have a purpose. I respect myself. I am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I was made to be healthy, happy, free - and I will keep working until I can love and forgive myself. 

Art has always been central to my being, just as my mental (and physical) illness. I had to be put on disability as a child as my psych problems worsened with age. Chasing a childhood dream, I moved out at 18 years old after graduating high school early to go to KSU and get a double major in fine arts and psychology with a minor in world religion- to ultimately become an art therapist in prisons. I finished my junior year as the pandemic hit. That’s when I took my “gap” year and have found that as the world worsens, I do as well so I have been unable to finish my degree. But I like art, nature, reading, and music.  

And I’m going to live until these seizures get me. 

I started drawing in the mid-90's, using strictly traditional drawing mediums such as graphite and colored pencils. By the early 2000's I was using line pens mixed with COPIC markers and colored pencils. Finally, getting the chance to be in an art class, I learned how to paint, and a few paintings were sold & displayed in local galleries. In the last decade I have moved away from traditional mediums and dived into digital illustration. I have traveled and lived for short periods of my life in various places and countries studying local artists. 

Karina Solis is a Kansas City–based multidisciplinary artist and athlete whose work explores the intersection of movement, identity, and the immigrant experience. Working across acrylics, clay, and photography, Karina views her study of martial arts as an essential extension of her studio practice. 

Her work serves as a process of unlearning and reclaiming a sense of self that prioritizes mental well-being and authenticity over performance. By weaving her personal history into her creative process, Karina opens a dialogue around the unique internal pressures and psychological struggles often faced by those navigating a new culture. 

Artwork is as colorful as I am. I use shapes, flowers, and birds.  

Lissie Stanek is a painter based in Kansas City, Missouri. Her work explores identity perception, and the boundary between inner and outer experience, often through figurative painting. She is a Phidian Art Show winner and works with mediums to create emotionally resonant pieces. 

Kaycee Sweany is an artist that has been creating for 20+ years in the Kansas City Metro area. She loves nature, pop culture, and cats. 

I am 43 years old. I am a retired Army veteran and a combat veteran (Iraq). I am a cancer survivor. I dance with my mental health daily. 

In 2023, I began pursuing my college degree after retiring on November 1, 2022. I started my art classes in August 2023. My only prior experience was in high school from 1997 to 2001. 

“I Lost” is one facet of the many mediums I work in. Ceramics, engraving, drawing, printmaking, painting, and more, it all pulls me in. 

Tu Wana Williams is an emerging artist and art educator. She teaches high school art by day and pursues her passion by night. Tu Wana creates art that heals her inwardly while also helping others heal. Her pieces bring joy, connection, and relatability. Tu Wana’s goal is to open her own art center, where she can give back to her community and support youth. 

Art is far more than a creative outlet for me. During one of the darkest seasons of my mental health journey, it became a lifeline. When I could not find the words to express what I was carrying, my art spoke for me, telling the stories I so desperately needed to release. In the process, it began to heal parts of me I did not realize yet were hurting. Art did not fix everything on its own, but it helped me find light in a time of deep darkness, and it played a powerful role in shaping the person I am today. 

That experience is a huge part of why I am so passionate about mental health and the importance of turning painful experiences into something meaningful. I believe beauty, healing, and purpose can grow from even the hardest chapters of our lives. For me, art has been one of the ways pain was transformed into connection, growth, and good. 

This past year has felt like a dream. I began working in education, supporting children with emotional regulation and striving to be the kind of safe, understanding person I needed when I was young. I married my best friend, whose unwavering support has strengthened me in every part of my journey—artistically, professionally, and creatively. I have four amazing children who are all succeeding in their own ways. This year also brought incredible creative milestones, including being a featured artist at the Tim Murphy Art Gallery and creating a six-foot heart for the KC Parade of Hearts. 

When I look back, I see how much healing, hope, and purpose can come from life’s hardest moments. My journey has taught me that even bad experiences can be transformed into something good, and I am committed to carrying that truth into both my art and the work I do with others. 

For fifteen years, NYK has been engaged in a meticulous dialogue with ink and paper. What began as a simple exploration of medium has evolved into a lifelong “art existence” centered on the precision of the dot-matrix style. With over a decade and a half of practice, NYK has mastered the ability to translate complex emotional landscapes into tangible, ink-bound realities. Based in the Greater Kansas City area, this journey has been less about seeking a destination and more about creating.