Johnson County Library is proud to share the work of Kansas City metro area visual artists in our library art galleries. We have ten library branches with dedicated art gallery spaces to inspire people of all ages and beautify our libraries. We seek a diverse selection of artwork that inspires, educates and promotes community connection. If you're a local artist interested in submitting your artwork for consideration, learn more here.
Jean McGuire is a Kansas City native who returned to painting four years ago after a 40-year hiatus. Most of her paintings are done with her fingers, but she’s not afraid to use a brush when needed. In her most current work she experiments with the effects of spattering or...
Joe Bussell is an award-winning painter of startling, vibrant abstracts that defy description. Figures and shapes float and scrape across the canvas in ways that are both playful and mysterious. His work embraces primary colors that can simultaneously blend together and...
Larissa Uredi is an award-winning and internationally recognized fiber and mixed media artist. She has exhibited regionally and internationally and has won several artist residencies in Spain, Estonia, Italy and beyond.
When she's not out mountain biking or exploring this...
Nature and our environment are all around us yet we often look right past them rather than right at them. I love hiking in a National Parks or on the trails of the suburbs or the streets of a city. My eye sees literally our natural environment but also our man built...
I think of my drawings as specimens that have not yet been identified, as in they are abstract organic forms based on textures found in nature with an emphasis on mark making and mapping out larger spaces to find potential areas for detail and elaboration.
My paintings...
Influenced primarily by John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt, Kansas City-based painter Marcia Streepy enjoys the challenges of "plein air," or outdoor, painting. Her work depicts scenes of the natural world and city life painted on location. Whether she is applying oil...
Introduce yourself and describe your work and the genre you work in.
Hello My Name is Kris Devlin
I was born in NJ in 1979. I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in painting in 2008 with a partial scholarship funded by Hallmark. During the day I...
Joe Jurkiewicz is a visual artist whose paintings explore themes of desire, loneliness, anxiety and exaltation. Pulling influences from street art and fashion illustration, he creates perplexing surreal imagery developed in sketchbooks, where he explores new ideas, mark...
Kwanza Humphrey has been painting for over 25 years. A lifelong resident of Kansas City, Humphrey calls his artistic process a “human centered design approach.” Through his portraits, Humphrey scratches below the surface to show the essence and emotion of humanity. As he...
Sophia Reed’s work challenges the traditional function of portraiture by creating an unusual perspective that incorporates scenes from everyday life. She primarily uses unusual framing techniques to lead the viewer toward a visual experience that explores art history, the...
