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 ArtInstitute (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 the 2012 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Award, he exhibits both locally and nationally.

Phillipp Eirich

Phillipp Eirich was born in Wurzburg, Germany. He came to the United States in his early twenties and lived in Chicago for 20 years before moving to Kansas City. He now owns and runs Cerbera Gallery, a contemporary fine art gallery located at the heart of Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District.

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.

Linda Lighton

Linda Lighton is an artist and activist living and working in Kansas City, Missouri. She is a passionate advocate for the arts both regionally, nationally and internationally. She has had more than 60 solo shows and has participated in more the 170 group exhibitions at museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Linda Lighton’s work is in national and international collections in China, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey as well as The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS; Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Fule International Ceramic Museum, Fuping, China, the Yingee Museum in Taiwan and Icheon International Ceramic Museum, Icheon, Korea.

2008, she was chosen for the Missouri Arts Award, and in 2011 she received the Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts and Education from the Kansas City Art Institute, where she graduated with honors in 1989. In 2016, Lighton received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.

Sonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin

Sonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin is a renowned fabric artist, fabric designer, author, lecturer and independent curator. Her artwork has shown at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, David C Driskell Art Center, Spencer Museum, Holter Museum of Art, New England Quilt Museum, Mulvane Museum, Leedy Volkous Art Center, KCAI Crossroads Gallery. She has conducted workshops on African American quilting and color combining at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American ArtMuseum, the Nelson Atkins Museum and a host of the museums, quilt guilds and galleries across the united states. Sonie is a Charlotte Street Visual Arts Fellow, Art Omi Fellow, Kansas Master’s, and Alliance of Artist Community Scholarship recipient.

She served nine years as the curator for the American Jazz Museum’s Changing Gallery and currently serves on the Kansas City History Museum Foundation board and is the curatorial consultant for the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. Sonie is a founding member of the African American Artist Collective, her artwork is held in the collections of galleries, museums, corporate, and private collections in the United States, Africa, and Europe.