Marcus Cain

Marcus Cain is an artist, Manager of Operations & Communications, H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute; and a visual artist represented in Kansas City. Former positions include an independent curator, writer and director of alumni relations & development at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), executive director & curator of the Epsten Gallery (formerly the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art), owner/director of Hutch Mercantile and Satellite Exhibitions, editor-in-chief of Review: Visual Art Culture magazine, lecturer in painting and drawing in the painting department of KCAI, coordinator of the Corporate Partnership Exhibition Program at KCAI, and assistant gallery director for Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art. As an artist, Cain is the recipient of a 2012 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award, he exhibits both locally and nationally.

Sherry Leedy

Sherry Leedy established Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in 1985. As the first and longest running contemporary art gallery in the Crossroads Arts District, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art was instrumental in the creation and revitalization of the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City. The Kansas City Historical Society acknowledged Leedy in 2001 as a recipient of their Preservation Award and Leedy received the Urban Hero Award from the Downtown Council of Kansas City in 2007.

Sherry Leedy holds a M.F.A. degree from the University of Kansas and a B.F.A. from KCAI. She continues her commitment to her own art at her studio in Kansas City. Leedy’s work is in the permanent collections of museums and galleries both locally and nationally

Lisbeth Blair Lurey

Beth Lurey moved to Kansas City in 1974 from Des Moines, Iowa after completing her BFA in Art History at Drake University. While at Drake she worked at the Des Moines Art Center. Beth joined the staff at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Education Department and began working on her MFA at UMKC. Her 30+ years at the Nelson included running the Docent Program, assistant to Chief Conservator Forrest Bailey and assistant curator to George McKenna, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. She held this position for 10 years until Mr. McKenna’s passing when she became interim curator of the department from which she retired in December of 2016.

Beth is deeply rooted in the Kansas City Art Scene. Her work with Not for Profits on a project basis include Mid-America Arts Alliance, UMKC Gallery of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work in the commercial art world includes two years at the Morgan Gallery, curator of corporate collections for Mark Twain Banks, Faultless Starch Bon Ami and BMA to name a few. In the late 1990’s she took on creating the art collection for the Stowers Institute of Medical Research where she remains to this day as Curator of the Collection.