Exhibitions
Art is always happening at the Library - come see what's new!
We’re proud to showcase artwork that inspires, educates and brings our community together. Ten of our Library locations feature dedicated gallery spaces where visual artists from across the Kansas City metro area exhibit their work. These displays are enjoyed by visitors of all ages—and they help make our Libraries even more vibrant and welcoming.
We’re fortunate to partner with InterUrban ArtHouse, which curates exhibitions at all Library branches except the Central Resource Library. InterUrban ArtHouse also partners with the Library to offer art-centered events including hands-on workshops, performances, classes, and more.
Explore our current exhibitions:
- Preview the featured artwork
- Get to know the artists and their creative perspectives
- Find out where and when each exhibit is on display
Ryan Sikes
Central Resource Library, Aug. 29 through Oct. 5
Join us for an opening reception of works by Ryan Sikes. This retrospective will be on view at Central Resource Library through October 5. Ryan Sikes is a maximalist. He has been exploring different colorful, quirky interpretations of his reality since first picking up a pencil as a child. His work is constantly shifting with dynamic symbols and unexpected messaging – asking the viewer to find something new. From his school day figure sketches of human lamps through spiritual exploration to psychedelic I-Spy visual collages, his work is created in a flow state in which he just starts and sees what comes out with no sketch or plan. He “lights a candle at the altar of transformation” and sees what materializes.
In 2022, Ryan Sikes was the subject of an award-winning documentary entitled, “Emerging Artist,” and in 2023, his artwork was featured on 3 Lamar billboards around Kansas City. He is currently in The Emerging Artists program, offered by Johnson County Developmental Supports (JCDS), a division of Johnson County Government, is an "art as employment" initiative designed to empower adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through creative expression. Located at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center, the program provides a vibrant studio space where passionate artists create meaningful artwork.
Opening Reception: Ryan Sikes
Stitched Together: The RaisingKC Quilt
Reception: RaisingKC Quilt
Central Resource Library, Oct. 15 through Dec. 14
The local artists of Ampersand Design Studio have come together with Tia Curtis Quilts to create this iconic RaisingKC Quilt depicting the moments and people who help create our Safe, Stable and Nurturing community. The 10 ft. x 10 ft. textile is centered in the interactive display dedicated to sharing information with families and caregivers. The exhibition features the 10 ft. x 10 ft. textile, resources from the RaisingKC initiative, access to the Behavior Checker® tool, and a hands-on activity inviting visitors to reflect on the role of caring adults in their lives—whether by contributing to a community message wall or participating in a creative kindness mural. It’s a space to learn, connect, and celebrate the power of positive relationships.
Clariece Kirkwood
Shawnee Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15
Clariece Kirkwood is a multimedia artist whose work spans painting, drawing, mixed media and digital work. Kirkwood’s creative process is driven by intuition and letting each subject guide the medium and style–detailed realism, bold surrealism, or something in between. From vibrant colors and layered imagery to black and white explorations, Kirkwood’s uses a range of techniques to explore themes inspired by emotion, exploration of self-expression and different aspects of pop culture.
DeAnna Skedel
Cedar Roe Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
DeAnna Skedel’s collaged eco prints capture knowledge, emotions, and insights. Like stories or recipes passed down through time, the prints and their titles carry layered wisdom across generations. The artist uses eco printing, ink making, drawing, and collage to reflect and challenge social expectations. These varied processes invite slowness, encouraging deeper attention to daily revelations. Through this work, the artist gathers and presents layered narratives, inviting viewers to explore double meanings, interpret symbols, and find themselves reflected in each assemblage.
Elise Gagliardi
Oak Park Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
Elise Gagliardi is based out of Kansas City, Missouri, pursuing her MFA through the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her BFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her work has been nationally exhibited, featured in various publications, and is a part of several private collections As a third-generation florist, Elise also enjoys exploring themes of legacy, and motherhood personified through the flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Through these objects she explores the symbolic meanings of flora and fauna through the lens of vanitas–the reminder of life’s transience and the inevitability of decay. In the face of global challenges such as climate change, political unrest, and ongoing conflicts, her photographs offer a quiet invitation to self-reflection.
Through her carefully curated botanical still lifes, Elise aims to remind us of the fragility of life and the importance of living with caution, care, and intention. Yet, there is also a hopeful acknowledgment of nature’s regenerative power, which cycles through death and rebirth. The fleeting beauty of the natural world mirrors our own impermanence, while also symbolizing resilience, beauty, and opulence.
Lorrie Eigles
Lenexa City Center Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
"Dark and Light" explores the artist’s musings on light and its absence. Eigles states,
"Often, people think of things that are dark as unhappy, negative, even forbidding. I think of dark as ideas germinating beneath the surface, like seedlings beneath rich black soil reaching up to the sun. The darkness of the black paper generates new possibilities, is ready to break through and provides a rich background for striking images. The soft velvety effect of the flowing, bright colored pencil and black ink drawings on white paper creates a lively, shimmering effect. This is in sharp contrast with the dramatic hues of acrylic paint markers on black paper. The conversation between the two mediums on black and white paper represents the yin and yang, the happy and sad, the balance, since life is a mixture of both."
Matthew Davis
Corinth Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
Davis’s creative process centers around letterpress printing – specifically using a 1939 Vandercook proof press – and collage. The artist is drawn to impactful lyrics, mic-drop quotes, and anti-authority ideologies that explore the raw, inherent value of simply being alive. These themes fuel the work, which aims to be visually bold and layered enough to invite a closer look and spark something thoughtful. Davis is inspired by artists and studios like Raymond Pettibon, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Hatch Show Print, Hammerpress, and Bob Atkins of Skylab Letterpress.
Uriah James
Merriam Plaza Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
Uriah James is a Kansas City native and has lived in the Overland Park area since the third grade. Identifying as portrait artist for the animal kingdom (pet portraitist), the artist’s style is primarily realistic with a focus on using the pan, stick or pencil pastels to bring our beloved animals to life.
Veronica Sublett
Leawood Pioneer Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
Sublett’s work is a collection of deep African and Caribbean experiences that have been born in the artist’s soul by ancestors who have come together to make her. The vivid colors used to dance together keep time on drums that you can hear in the background as you encounter a piece of art. The colors are designed to stir an unexplainable disturbance that is overwhelming for the viewer! Whether it’s acrylic paint, mixed media, watercolor or paper collage, it’s the poetic hues that are the central entity allowing the artist to express to the world what she sees and feels! It doesn’t matter what the theme or subject of the artwork is, Sublett’s intention is that the viewer can feel the way they would when they walk into a candy store or a kitchen where cookies are slowly baking in the oven. For a moment you’re transported to a happy place full of hope, joy and peace where you can only anticipate the next exciting moments. Sublett wants you become so entangled with the art that you can’t stop thinking or talking about it. It needs to affect your life in such a way that you can’t move on without it. That it heals whatever is broken in you. For the artist, “That’s what art is supposed to do! Make your heart want to go on beating like the drum but now with wonder, questions, purpose and joy!”
Vincent Medellin
Gardner Library, Sept. 8 through Dec 15
With the use of Pop-Culture imagery and a wry sense of humor, Medellin navigates the cultural dialogue between indigenous Mexican heritage and the United States, exploring what it feels like to exist within the space between both worlds. The artist describes the work as “pop-rasquachismo” (rasquache being a Chicano term for an underdog using what they must get by). By using pop-culture as a tool readily available, Medellin hopes to include the youngest of art patrons in the conversation of who we are and where we might venture as a Mexican community in the United States.
Yvette Wilkins
Blue Valley Library, Sept. 8 through Dec. 15.
Art is the language in which Wilkins expresses her innermost thoughts and emotions. The artist strives in creating illustrations that resonate with the viewer. Wilkins draws upon her love for realism and foundation in graphite drawings. Utilizing surrealism and illustration to tell the story of her journey and growth, the artist invites viewers to engage in a dialogue, encouraging them to uncover their own meanings and interpretations. She seeks to evoke emotions, spark curiosity, and inspire deeper connections. Art holds the power to challenge perceptions and foster understanding, and Wilkins is committed to utilizing this medium to explore themes of identity, resilience, and self-reflection.
