Artists can help us reimagine our connection to the planet and move us toward a more sustainable future.
Charlotte Street Foundation’s Earth/Work: Artists and Sustainable Living series features conversations with local artists who share their creative paths and how nature plays into their life work.
The free series is held at the Charlotte Street Kemper Library, 3333 Wyoming, Kansas City, MO.
Earth/Work Series with Brooke Salvaggio
On Saturday, April 8 from 2 – 3 p.m., the series will feature Brooke Salvaggio, an organic farmer in Kansas City. The event will include a short presentation by Brooke, followed by discussion and questions.
Once a visual artist, Brooke now uses dirt as her medium for artistic expression. She owns URBAVORE Urban Farm with her partner Dan Heryer where they produce vegetables, fruits, pastured eggs, and pork using regenerative farming practices. The couple also manages Compost Collective KC—a curbside compost pickup service that diverts 12,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill every week. This food waste is brought to the farm and turned into nutrient-rich compost, curbing climate change and improving the farm’s soil.
Black Walnut Ink Block Printing Workshop
In a family-friendly workshop on April 8 from 1 – 2 p.m., participants can make beautiful organic inks from the black walnut commonly found in Kansas City, to create block prints. The free event will be hosted by artist Ryan Tenney with AgroArt, and will explore a black agrarian future.
Advanced registration is required for the workshop, and children under 10 need to be accompanied by an adult. To RSVP, click here.
Earth/Work Series with Ryan Tenney
On Saturday, April 22 from 2 – 3 p.m., the series will feature Ryan Tenney, a returning generation farmer and multimedia artist. The event will include a short presentation by Ryan, followed by discussion and questions.
Ryan is the owner of Sankara Farm, a 27-acre farm founded in 2017. Tenney is also the founder of a community arts organization, AgroArt, a 2018 Charlotte Street Foundation Rocket Grant awardee which promotes creative ecological intervention strategies for artists of color.
More about the Earth/Work Series
Past events in the series featured Matthew and Tia Regier, and Carl Stafford.
Matthew and Tia Regier founded of The School for Rural Culture and Creativity in Matfield Green, Kansas. The vision of The School is not to create economic opportunities but to ask what cultural practices are necessary to generate the kinds of rural communities that we think are critical for our future on the land. Matthew is also an artist and printmaker making linocuts and monotypes that respond directly to his impressions and memories of the prairie.
Carl Stafford founded MY REGION WINS! (MRW!), a non-profit whose mission is to transcend everyday challenges by using the arts to nurture creative and undeveloped ideas that shape society. Stafford’s work includes transforming blighted areas into vibrant native plant gardens, organic gardening, coaching, speaking, restoring, and advocating.
To learn more about the series and RSVP for upcoming events, visit charlottestreet.org.