"Playing Wild" showcases new art collection

Nebraska artist Beverly Todd opened her solo show “Playing Wild” at the Kansas City Artist Coalition on December 9.

About the collection, Beverly says, “In our lives, we are bent into a hurried maze of roles and responsibilities and expectation. Art has a way to disconnect from the artificial and connect with the real. Art gives permission to return to the imagination of childhood.

“Play, imagination and creativity is just as important for adults as it is for children. Perhaps even more important. Children tend to play and create only for themselves, while adults create both for themselves and for the world in which they live. Play in open spaces with open minds with creativity… this is what can make the world a better place.”

Beverly grew up in rural Union, Nebraska, often playing wild across the open landscape that inspires her work today.

Through large-scale abstract painting, Beverly interprets nature, connects with ideas, and explores emotion. Her painting process is physical, using hardware-store brushes, broken sticks, rags, and hands to move paint, to add layers, to pull back layers, to drip, scrape, wipe and pull the paint across the surface.

Beverly paints at her home studio in Omaha, Nebraska. Her art hangs in collections across the U.S. and Canada.

“Playing Wild” runs through Jan. 13, 2017, in the Mallin Gallery, Kansas City Artist Coalition, 201 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, MO 64105. You can see the collection here of large abstracts and the Playing Wild collection of small abstracts. Pieces are available at KCAC through Jan. 13.

For more information: www.kansascityartistcoalition.org.

Photo: Opening reception and artist talk at the Kansas City Artist Coalition, Dec. 9, 2016.