Clarissa Knighten | Peas in a Pod necklace, artistic wire and gemstones
Joshua Newth | Paris in Flowers, oil on canvas
Teri Moore | City Tree #8, colored pencil and mixed media
Daniel Biegelson | of being neighbors collection of poems
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Featured Artists Program
Our new Missouri Featured Artists for September
Each month we bring you a new group of four creative people from all around the state. Sample their works here! Find even more on their own websites—just follow the links that we’ve set on their artwork and profiles.
Plus, you’ll find all the artists we’ve featured since we began this program in December 2020 still highlighted and linked on this page. From Cape Girardeau to St. Joseph, Joplin to Hannibal, stories to songs, paintings to poetry, enjoy the dazzling sweep of Missouri creativity!
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Clarissa Knighten
jewelry artist/sculptor | Kansas City
My work is an experience—take it all in!
After 19 years in corporate America, I left in 2017 to pursue my business and commercial modeling. As an artist, I create jewelry for the everyday person as well as expressionary bold pieces for the fashion runway and for gallery exhibitions. In 2021, I created a sculpture for the Kansas City Museum. This opportunity opened up another path for my artistic journey. Through art I figured out a way to navigate clinical depression and bulimia and to earn an income. I’ve taken the stance that people have to be comfortable being uncomfortable so they can use life’s challenges to do something positive and impactful. I strongly feel that the stigma surrounding mental illnesses has to change, one story at a time starting with mine.
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Daniel Biegelson
writer, teacher, transparent eyeball | Liberty
If “to live means to leave traces,” then to live must also mean to see and feel the traces of strangers, to hear their echoes everywhere.
In poetry, I’m trying to capture the music of thought, which is a different mode of tending to experience. The philosopher Martin Buber wrote that “all real living is meeting,” and to me writing has this astonishing ability to bring the world into relation, to reveal new configurations and possibilities. I often think poetry is about connection, distilled and expanded—the associative leap, the surreal flight, the transformative metaphor. This idea is at the heart of my writing and teaching; there is no other, only strangers we might meet, relationships we might forge, encounters that might transform. Our society needs a chorus of voices to exemplify a range of experiences across a variety of aesthetics. I write to be a part of the multitudinous choir.
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Joshua Newth
painter | Cape Girardeau
If we present a simple idea in a nontraditional manner we can grab the viewer’s attention.
Born in Toronto, Canada, and raised in Metro Detroit, I am one of seven kids and the only creative in a sea of engineers. I received my Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Michigan State University and a Master of Fine Art in Painting from Wayne State University. As an artist and person I have always had an affinity for creatures, both domestic and wild (except spiders). Growing up I spent countless hours making colored pencil drawings of gorillas, wolves, elephants, and other creatures from National Geographic magazines. This interest in animals has grown into an uncompromising respect for nature and our environment, and an artistic exploration of consumption, the ubiquity of garbage, and our relationship to the environment. In my spare time I am an assistant professor of art, volunteer at an animal shelter, paint, read, take long walks, and talk to the birds, squirrels, and deer.
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Teri Moore | COVID Times, Don’t Go Up Empty Handed, colored pencil on wood
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Teri Moore
August/Washington | artist who draws
For me drawing isn’t about what material I use, it’s about the way I use it.
I have a strong background in the arts by way of personal exhibitions and in the fields of education, administration, and community building. Within my work I observe the immediate world around me and use a mixed-mash of materials to draw my interpretations of what I observe, whether it is a feeling or a tangible object. I always try to experiment with techniques and materials so as to add fresh methods to practiced skill in creating a narrative of my own, but also one that people very often relate to in personal and profound ways. I am confident that the things I bring to life are always valid, and often important to others as they are to me.
Our Featured Artists from the beginning through August 2022
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Laurel DeFreece
painter, collage artist, photographer, encaustic artist, papermaker, printmaker, designer
Plattsburg
Paige Alyssa
singer, songwriter, producer
St. Louis
butch Murphy
metal sculptor
Bellair & Kansas City
Steve Wiegenstein
author, speaker, teacher
Columbia
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Alicia Farris
painter of life, workshop instructor
Springfield
Kirk Decker
photographer
Lawson
Kendall Hart
sculptor, illustrator
Farmington
Kim Bouldin-Jones
mixed media artist and photographer
St. Charles
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JT Daniels
artist/muralist
Kansas City
Lisa Franko
print and collage artist
Columbia
Jodie Sutton
encaustic artist
Ozark
W. Mark Akin
classical guitarist
St. Louis
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Benjamin Parks
artist, painter
Kansas City
Mick Byrd
original songwriter, musician
Vienna
Yolanda (YORO) Newson
jewelry designer, fashion artist, wardrobe stylist, set creator
St. Louis
Jo Stealey
fiber and mixed media artist
Columbia
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BT in America
musician, instrumental solo guitarist, music arranger
Stockton Lake Area
Michael Bauermeister
sculptor
Augusta
Kelley Carman
painter
St. Louis & Paris
Sheri Purpose Hall
author, spoken word artist
Kansas City
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Karen E. Griffin, Art by .E Lewis
textile and performing artist, educator, tour manager, storyteller, speaker, co-author, radio co-host
Kansas City
Kaitlyn McConnell
Ozarks story sharer
Springfield
Ken Konchel
photographer
St. Louis
Ken Nichols
painter
Columbia
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Joseph Puleo
filmmaker
St. Louis
Joha Bisone
painter
Kansas City
Linda Hoover
muralist, watercolorist, portrait artist, caricaturist
Houstonia
Limmie Pulliam
opera singer, arts activist
Kennett
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Lee Copen
artist, teacher
Mountain View
Melissa Donoho
mix media artist
Kansas City
Vince Martin
musician
St. Louis
Dave Walker
fiber artist
Columbia
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Joachim Knill
installation artist
Hannibal
Cheryl Eve Acosta
metalsmith, sculptor, jeweler
Kansas City
Andrew Batcheller
installation artist
Kansas City
Sukanya Mani
interdisciplinary artist
Ballwin
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Dana Forrester
watercolor painter
Independence
Marco Rosichelli
conceptual artist
Kansas City
Candice Ivory
musician, vocalist, composer, visual artist
St. Louis
Janey Seamans Hale
painter
West Plains
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Poet t.l. sanders
language artist, author, actor, educator, consultant, filmmaker
Kansas City
Priscilla Block
visual artist
St. Louis
Andy Thomas
painter
Carthage
Brie Duey
painter, magical realist
Bucklin
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Denise Thimes
songstress, motivational speaker
St. Louis
Malcolm “Airbrush Assassin” McCrae
artist, author, speaker, entrepreneur
Southeast Missouri
Genevieve Flynn
silversmith, artist, educator
Kansas City
David Spear
muralist, illustrator, graphic/exhibit designer
Columbia
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Mollie Chounard
painter
St. Ann
Eric Ordway
ceramic artist, potter, teacher
Columbia
Russell Nelson
designer, illustrator, watercolor artist, educator
Kirksville
Glyneisha Johnson
poly disciplinary artist, educator, community care taker
Kansas City
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Allison L. Norfleet Bruenger
mixed media jewelry and assemblage artist
St. Louis
Kyle Selley
firework artist, visual artist, art educator
Kansas City
Lisa Bartlett
mixed media artist, painter
Columbia
Ray Cardwell
singer songwriter from the Ozarks
Jefferson City
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Azaria Rianne Hogans
choreographer, dancer, educator
Springfield
Greg Holden
artist, photographer, inquisitive observer, thankful human being
Eureka
Patrick Rafferty
guitarist, teacher
Affton
Barb Byrne
fused glass artist
Pleasant Hill
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Gary Cadwallader
painter of acrylics and watercolor
Warrensburg
Byron von Rosenberg
poet, illustrator, storyteller
Byrnes Mill
Regina Willard
contemporary impressionist
West Plains
Hyejin Cho
concert pianist, educator
Kirksville
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Grant Kniffen
painter
Dardenne Prairie
Laura Bigger
artist, printmaker
Kirksville
Ralph Hepola
musician
Springfield
Jen Everett
interdisciplinary artist
St. Louis
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James Douglas Cox
metal artist
Republic
Natalie Wiseman
visual artist
Joplin
Kevin Umaña
painter, ceramics sculptor
Kansas City
Nartana Premachandra
dancer, writer, storyteller
St. Louis
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Wanda K. Tyner
glass artist
Lee’s Summit
F.C. Shultz
author, poet, reader
Webb City
Lindsey Dunnagan
visual artist
Kirksville
Brian Owens
soul musician/vocalist
St. Louis
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Anand Prahlad
literary author, musician/songwriter, filmmaker, teaching artist
Columbia
Brenda Beck Fisher
painter, watercolorist, interpreter of the beauty in the world
Hannibal
Anne Garney
landscape painter, fauve, expressionist
Kansas City
Jeffrey Noonan
musician: performer, teacher, scholar
St. Louis
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Whitney Manney
fashion and textile designer
Kansas City
Justin Hamm
poet, photographer, citizen of the American Middle West
Mexico
Robin Van Hoozer
artist, painter, maker of unusual things
St. Joseph
Bobby Norfolk
storyteller, author, teaching artist
St. Louis
FAQs
What is the program’s goal?
The Featured Artists program promotes and supports individual artists and demonstrates the variety of creative Missouri talent.
How does the program work?
We feature four artists each month. We highlight and promote each month’s artists via the homepage of the Missouri Arts Council website, the Featured Artists page on the website, monthly email, social media, and links to the artists’ websites. Artists receive a $300 stipend/license fee to feature their work online. We appreciate the administrative support of Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Who is eligible?
Individual Missouri-resident artists of any medium with online work that they have ownership to license. (Groups are not eligible.) Mediums may include (but are not limited to) visual art, literature, music, video, dance, theater, storytelling, and traditional arts.
What kind of content on an artist’s website is required?
Our aim through all of our Featured Artists promotions, from our website to social media, is to drive people to the artist’s own website, where they can then learn more about the artist and experience more of the artist’s work. This means an artist’s website must have multiple examples of their work.
For film artists, this entails videos. For performing artists, this entails videos or audio recordings. These can be hosted on the artist’s website itself or at an exterior website. If the videos/recordings are not hosted on the artist’s own website, that website must provide a very obvious element that lets people know exactly where the art can be experienced online. The link to videos/recordings’ location must be clearly given. People must be able to listen to/watch the recordings/videos without any subscription, for free, such as on YouTube.
For literary artists, this entails text versions or performances of the artwork. Text versions of poetry should include the full poem. Text versions of fiction and non-fiction prose should feature substantial multi-paragraph excerpts, and more than one artwork must be excerpted. Both text versions and performances can be published/hosted on the artist’s website itself or at an exterior website. If text versions and performance videos/recordings are not published/hosted on the artist’s own website, that website must provide a very obvious element that lets people know exactly where the art can be experienced online. The link to the location of the text or the videos/recordings’ location must be clearly given. People must be able to listen to/watch the recordings/videos without any subscription, for free, such as on YouTube.
The website of Missouri’s 2021-2023 Poet Laureate, Maryfrances Wagner, is an excellent example of both entire poems published on the artist’s own site and of links to exterior sites where her poems can be read.
Artist’s biography: It is ideal, although not required, that the artist’s “about” biography on their website make their residence within Missouri explicit by specifying the town/city or region where they live.
May artists participate if they don’t have a website?
No; an effective website is an essential part of this program. Without it, there is nothing to promote, neither your work NOR a place to send people to benefit you.
While your Instagram, Facebook page, Twitter page etc. can supplement with social engagement, these sites do not effectively showcase your work, nor are they as easily accessed or managed as a website. Moreover, Instagram requires that viewers have their own Instagram account in order to view the content, so it is not a fully open platform. Therefore, having ONLY a social media page without ALSO having a website is not enough to be considered as a Featured Artist.
How do artists apply?
Propose your work for consideration via this online form. Support your application with links to your website and other online platforms where your work is located. No work may be sent as an attachment. Work that cannot be accessed online may not be considered. Artists retain full ownership and rights to their work. Artists will allow with their consideration a limited use right to feature their work on the Missouri Art Council website and other platforms. There is no fee to apply.
Artists should apply for the program ONLY ONCE. Applications are kept on file for future consideration.
How are Featured Artists selected?
The Missouri Arts Council staff selects artists with diverse demographics and locations throughout the state who are producing quality original work in a variety of art mediums and genres.
How will artists know if they are selected?
Artists will be contacted directly if they have been selected. If you are not contacted, do not despair! All applicants will continue to be considered as the program continues monthly.
How often should artists apply?
Artists need apply for this program ONLY ONCE. Applications are kept on file for future consideration.
How long will this program last?
We will continue this program through June 30, 2022. If funding allows, this program may continue.