Three painters and a poet: Checking in with the Missouri Arts Council's October artists
Each month the Missouri Arts Council features four artists on its website from a variety of arts genres, and on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with the October four: Carthage-based painter, Andy Thomas, who paints works that tell stories from Civil War battles to saloon brawls and political history - including a particular painting that hit the news cycle in 2018 and, for a short while, became the most talked about painting in the country; magic realism painter, Brie Duey from Bucklin, whose works reimagine a symbiotic relationship between people and the natural environment; Kansas City's Poet t l Sanders who is an educator, a motivator, a body builder, a bass player, a film maker and a language artist; and Priscilla Block from St Louis, former Executive Director of St Louis Artworks and now, once again, with an art room of her own. You can see the works of this week's artists on their websites: https://andythomas.com/, https://www.brieduey.net/, https://www.poettlsanders.com/, https://www.beaumontstudios.space/. Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music, 'Restless Heart'.
Juneteenth activist Miss Opal Lee, her grandson, actor Richard Harris and a new production of 'Satchmo at the Waldorf'
Miss Opal Lee of Fort Worth Texas has been promoting June 19th as a day of unity and freedom for over 40 years and last year delivered a petition of 1.5 million signatures to congress to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday. On this week's show Miss Opal shares with Diana Moxon her history with the Juneteenth celebration and her lifelong commitment to education. In Act II of the show her grandson, Columbia-based actor and musician Richard Harris, talks about playing Louis Armstrong, his manager Joe Glaser and Miles Davis in the one-man play 'Satchmo at the Waldorf' about the life of Louis Armstrong, opening to limited audiences next weekend at Columbia Entertainment Company. To sign Miss Opal's petition to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday go to www.therealopallee.com before the end of February. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to Yasmin Williams www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com