Steve Wiegenstein | Scattered Lights collection of short stories
Laurel DeFreece | Bird Legs 1, encaustic on handmade paper with found objects
Paige Alyssa | No Worries album
butch Murphy | 4×4, steel
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Featured Artists Program
Our new Missouri Featured Artists for August
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 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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Laurel DeFreece
painter, collage artist, photographer, encaustic artist, papermaker, printmaker, designer
Plattsburg
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Steve Wiegenstein at the 2019 Grown Up Book Fair at Boat Town Brewing, Phillipsburg
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Steve Wiegenstein
author, speaker, teacher | Columbia
I try to challenge myself every time I sit down to write, whether it’s technique, emotion, or subject matter. If I’m not pushing myself, I feel that I’m letting my readers down.
I grew up in the eastern Ozarks, and that landscape has stuck with me. I learned to be a careful observer during my years as a newspaper reporter and polished my craft during my years as a college instructor. In my fiction, I try to focus on essential things: love, loss, aspiration, betrayal, forgiveness, sacrifice. Many of my characters are “common people,” which is to say uncommon people who have gone unnoticed. I try to shine a light on those uncommon people and cut through the layers of indifference and stereotyping that obscure them. My novel series uses a rural Missouri village as a microcosm of the American experiment in all its splendor and ugliness. I hope readers will stay tuned as the next books emerge. .
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Paige Alyssa and The MAX: left to right, bottom row: Be.Be, Paige Alyssa, Chrissy Renick; top row, Phillip Graves, Josiah Joyce, Teddy Brookins, Luke Sailor
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Paige Alyssa
singer, songwriter, producer | St. Louis
My goal has always been to inspire others and spread joy with my music.
Growing up in church, I fell in love with music and pursued it professionally in college. I pull influences from ‘90s R&B, gospel music, jazz, and video game soundtracks such as my favorite blue blur, Sonic the Hedgehog. Because my influences are so broad, I have always enjoyed blending these styles to create something uniquely “Paige Alyssa.” Now that I am embarking on my fifth project, I hope to challenge myself to approach my sound in new ways. To do this, I tapped some of my favorite musicians (and friends) to develop a new band: Paige Alyssa and The MAX. While my own mix of influences will still be present, the unique styles of the other extraordinary artists I’m collaborating with will bring something new to St. Louis’ music community and beyond!
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butch Murphy | Prince’s Lantern, steel
Named after one of the owner’s horses
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butch Murphy
metal sculptor | Bellair & Kansas City
The fun part of abstraction is the freedom to express what is often so deep-seated that it can’t be articulated.
I’m an abstract metal sculptor combining new and found steel materials to produce representational forms. I create to provoke mystery hoping for spectator bewilderment and wonder. I’m captured by geometry and inspired by the Cubist movement, mostly using horses to model and abstract. I’ve dabbled in other art forms like words and paint brushes; but I don’t find there the satisfaction of sculpting. Some ask me if I knew I had this unrevealed creativity hidden in my life, was I trained as a welder or an artist, and was I a horse person? No. But horses offer a lot especially abstracting them because they are so cautiously graceful and hold a pose almost indefinitely. And I thought I had enough time left to establish a new form of imaginative fulfillment. And I have.
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Laurel DeFreece | Tree of Life #1, encaustic and oil painting on wood collage
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Laurel DeFreece
painter, collage artist, photographer, encaustic artist, papermaker, printmaker, designer | Plattsburg
My love for the planet can be seen in my work whether it’s recycling or the choice of materials and subject matter.
I can’t imagine making art that doesn’t include nature. My inspiration comes from the prairie biome that surrounds my rural home. My work captures how beautiful as well as how fragile nature and our planet are, yet how strong even a piece of paper can be. Trained as an artist, I attended Missouri Western State University. I continued my education in papermaking and encaustic at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee. My most recent bodies of work, Natural Elements and Fate, head into a bold new direction using natural fibers and other found objects. With these materials I make handmade paper for use in collages, 3D structures, and encaustic. Natural Elements and Fate continue to travel Missouri in a number of venues, including my 2019 solo exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph.
Our Featured Artists from the beginning through July 2022
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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.