Textile and Performing Artist

Education 

• Certified National Storyteller, Mid-Continent Public Library  2021  
• Certificate of Completion in Mastering Public Speaking, Mid-Continent Public Library  2021 
• Certificate of Completion in Art and Crafts Business, Mid-Continent Public Library  2020  
• Certified International Tour Manager, International Guide Academy    2019  
• Bachelor of Science in Business Management, University of Phoenix   2013   

Art Studio 

• The Bunker Center for the Arts- Kansas City, MO  2019 - Current 

Group Exhibitions

• Creative Moments: An Exhibition of Portraits, Bruce R. Watkins Heritage Center, Kansas City, MO 2023
• Soul and Spirit of Black Joy, Arts Council Fayetteville/ Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC 2023
• Small Works, 80 Santa Fe Art Gallery, Overland Park, KS 2022, 2023
• Ms. Behaving, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, MO 2022 
• ART WORK, Vulpes Bastille, Kansas City, MO 2022
• Change is God-Take Root Among the Stars, “Black Abstract in the Mid-West” 
• Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN 2022
• Her Life | Their Life, Interurban Arthouse, Overland Park, KS 2022, 2023
• Abstract: heART for All, Buttonwood, Kansas City, MO 2022
• Art Exhibitions, Johnson County Public Library, Gardner, KS  2022
• The Essence of a Black Woman, Motor House | Blk Arthouse- Baltimore, MD  2021 
• Site One, The Erku Project, Kansas City, MO    2021
• 12 x 12, Interurban Arthouse, Overland Park, KS  2021
• Flat File and Digital File, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO   2021
• Stupid Cupid/Eros Unbound, Kansas City, MO  2021
• Tangled Roots, Interurban Arthouse, Overland Park, KS   2021
• Run run quiet, plug, Kansas City, MO   2021
• RACE, Museum at Prairefire, Overland Park, KS  2021
• Her Art as Life, University of Missouri Kansas City | Kansas City Community Church of Christ Kansas City, MO     2021
• Juneteenth, St. Louis Art Chamber, St Louis, MO  2021   

Solo Exhibitions

• Sewing Seams to Create Stories, Vuples Bastille, Kansas City, MO 2023
• Art Reach 10@10 x 10, Westport Brand New Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO 2023
• Red, Black and Green on Canvas, Black Archives of Mid-America, Kansas City, MO  2021
• SCRAPS at Pierpont’s at Union Station, Kansas City, MO  2021
• Sapphire, Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, MO     2021
• Ida’s journey to save COLORED men in america, Black Archives Mid-America, 

              Kansas City, MO  2021

• Peace of Me, Holsum Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO    2021
• Fashion and Fiber, Do Good, Kansas City, MO 2021
• Faces, Do Good Co., Kansas City, MO 2021
• Seams & Stories, The Sew Labs, Kansas City, MO 2021
• Our Ancestor’s unFINISHED stories in america on the LINE, The Black Archives and The Bunker Center for the Arts, Kansas City, MO 2019 - 2020 

Publications and Reviews

• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUcROiiCqZdaWjmsCylRd9g  2022
• Missouri Arts Council, https://www.facebook.com/missouriartscouncil    2022
• core. issue 3. Dec. 2021. pp.11-17    2021
• The State Historical Society of Missouri; Winter 2021-2022 Missouri Time p.14  2021
• “The Life, I Love” National Best Seller, Co-Author pp. 31 -36  2020  

Education, Workshops and Performances

• Playing Dress Up, Fringe, Kansas City, MO 2022
• Make & Take Art Sessions, The Bunker Center for the Arts and Vulpes Bastille  Kansas City, MO  2022 -2023
• Virtual Jazz and Art Tour, International Guide Academy, Inc, Denver, CO  2022
• Make’n HERstory, The Sewing Labs, Career Presentation, Kansas City, MO  2021 
• Seams and Storis, The Sewing Labs, art class and storytelling, Kansas City, MO 2021 
• Fiber and Fashion, Do Good Co., Art show and storytelling, Kansas City, MO 2021  
• Jazz Appreciation Month, Virtual Art and Jazz Presentation, Fort Wayne, IN 2021
• Jazz Storytelling Presentation, Australian Jazz Museum, Melbourne, AU 2015 

Collections

• Black Archives of Mid-America, Kansas City  2019

I am a creative, proactive and transformative textile and performing artist possessing the innovative ability to formulate fabrics and seams into wonderful stories. My visionary process evokes and informs viewers by exploring tangible and verbal artforms. The art quilts, abstracts and panels are constructed of music notes, adinkra symbols, feathers, beads, prints, patterns, denim and 2D. The textiles contain the following materials: paper, African or cotton fabric on canvas or wood panels. After four or more art pieces are completed, stories are implemented to embrace the art quilt or abstracts. 

For 21 days, I shut off my outer body to support me with framing a piece(s).  After the layout (s) is unveiled, I hand-select prints, patterns and threads to depict breathtaking textiles. My concepts consist of complying black outline drawings, digital graphing, photography, crayon drawings on poster board and sewing.  Machine sewing or hand-stitching fabric on paper, canvas or cotton is my form of meditating. When my mind is relaxed, my hands control the progress and final art piece. I enjoy joining seams with fabric to generate a story, depicting my ancestors’ journey to and in America. It takes two or more months to produce an array of textiles and stories from an idea to wall hanging, art show or presentation. 

Researching and studying the journey of African-Americans play an important role in designing, displaying and promoting my textiles. The primary purpose of sewing seams and applying a story is design to engage, empower and educate viewers of my creations about the history of African-Americans. As a textile and performing artist, I am honored to teach and share the journey of enslaved Africans in America through art and storytelling. My first solo exhibition consisted of twenty-one textiles on clotheslines with rope, clothespins, fencing post, burlap, buckets and concrete. The exhibit was designed to inform all generations with exploring the journey of enslaves, seeking FREEDOM in America. 

This quote best expresses how I hope people feel when they view my work. “There are times people don’t want to hear what you’re saying, but they will relate and engage to what you express through ART”. - Art by .E Lewis 2022