The STUFF Sisters

Point of Pride

For the last 14 years, I have volunteered on an outreach, education and fundraising project for AIDS Walk Kansas City. And for the past 10 years, STUFF has been a corporate sponsor along with amazing small companies and businesses in Kansas City of the Mosaic Project.

Mosaic Tile Project 2013 — Tiles at the First Friday event this year. April 5th was full of art!

This project is simple. High school students in school districts around Kansas City paint six-by-six inch ceramic tiles in the theme “A World Without AIDS” with glazes in an eleven-color palette. We ask that they watch a short video about the AIDS epidemic that ends with a step-by-step on how to paint a tile. Then, we hope their creativity will fly and that their small artwork will show us a world without AIDS.

The simplicity continues. The tiles are fired, cataloged and finally placed on display en mass during one of the busiest weekends of April, First Friday in Kansas City’s Crossroads District. Thousands of people converge upon this remarkable area of town to live, breath and consume art in its many forms.

2013 Mosaic Committee — This year’s volunteer army!

The simplicity ends in that it takes many, many hours of volunteer time to schlep these tiles all over town, coordinate delivery and retrieval with amazingly generous art teachers, number them, clear coat them, keypunch all the data, manage the two events – public and private – and, finally, inventory and pack it all up for next year.

Which is what I did yesterday with four members of our stunning committee. The generosity of the small businesses – like STUFF – that donate discounted or free tiles, glazes, bowls, labels, artwork, printing, etc., is not wasted. From year to year, if all the supplies are not consumed from the year before, we pack it up and store it for the next go round.

All Mosaic supplies packed up and inventoried. Ready for 2014.

I am so very proud of what we do. We hope young people will spend a few minutes thinking about their fragile health and the world around them and then show us – through art – what their world would be like without AIDS. Many take the time to tell us, in words, and we make sure this story travels with the tile to its collector through the label we adhere to its back. We do this with heavily discounted – but mostly free – supplies and volunteer labor. Then we sell these tiles and raise money for the 5,700 women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS in Kansas City.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

My dream for a world without AIDS is simple. That things like the Mosaic Project cease to be. That our energies will be placed differently because we have beaten this epidemic into the earth.

Until then, I will live in the art, creativity and community this project has enriched my life with. I am one of the lucky ones. It’s that simple.

p.s. The 2013 Mosaic tiles can be seen for the last time as a group (reduced in number due to sales at the April 5th event) at the 25th Annual AIDS Walk. April 27th in Theis Park. Right in front of The Nelson. Come and see them and take a great piece of art home to remind you what a glorious place a world without AIDS would be. Art lives!

In addition, my greatest thanks to the following companies and people for joining STUFF in supporting such an amazing outreach project: Dal-Tile, Scott Francis and The Art Lobby of The Chair Building, KC Metro Ceramic and Pottery Supply, Crane Yard Clay, Hoop Dog Studio and Fern Exposition and Events.

Sculptor Fred Conlon is just a Big Kid at Heart

Fred Conlon is a comic genius. Seriously…check out these new pieces…

Fred Conlon is a comic genius. Seriously…check out these new pieces by our hug-a-bug friend and creative force, Fred Conlon.

He works with scrap metal to up-cycle junk into his playful sculptures.

I look at these pieces and just break into a smile…with a touch of a little giggle.

His attention to detail makes each piece one-of-a-kind. I want them all over my courtyards at home. I am a “why own one when you can own them all?” kind of girl…but where to start? Collecting is about a beginning with one.

Which one would you buy first?

New Works Arrive by Catherine Weitzman

Today I was thrilled to take photos of new Catherine Weitzman pieces. Her work is incredible. She lives in Hawaii. (Yes, I am jealous.)…

Today I was thrilled to take photos of new Catherine Weitzman pieces. Her work is incredible. She lives in Hawaii. (Yes, I am jealous.) Her work is inspired by the nature that surrounds. She often uses actual leaves, twigs and wildlife finds to cast her designs. Like this necklace.

I also love how she turns little stones and gold into these soft, flowing earrings. They feel amazing in your hands. They are delicate and playful.

This is a new and very interesting combination. Amethyst and aquamarine set in gold vermeil. I like the little gold faceted beads at the top of the stones. It’s the little touches that make her work special.

I would enjoy owning any (or all) of these pieces. But, I must share. So…they are at the store waiting for you.

Health and the Human Heart

Yesterday I walked into Truman Hospital for the first time in 16 years – since the night my youngest sister died with dignity in their care. I haven’t been ignoring the place. I just haven’t had a reason to stop in.

You see, I have health insurance, a part of group healthcare from Taylor Benefits Insurance, and no recent need for hospital care. So as not to be confusing, my sister may very well have had health insurance but her auto accident placed her in their amazing hospital by proximity. It was her closest and best hope.

I went to Truman to show my support for the health levy campaign, which Kansas City voters will vote on in April. I wanted very much to stand there with my friends from the Kansas City CARE Clinic and continue to share with the world the need for safety net providers and all that they offer to those without insurance. Truman Medical Center is another place where those without insurance can always find care. Always. Politics is a funny business and has never had a big place in this blog I share with my sister. If you want to know more, click here.

On my walk alone back from the board room, I was transfixed by the art in the hallways, waiting rooms and sky walks. Gorgeous. They were all well lit and very, very pleasing. Wood cuts, prints, water colors, pastels. Wonderful. I have a true love of public art and tried to take time to absorb. But I needed to get back to work.

I made myself exit through the emergency waiting room. Our family was never made to wait the night my sister died – we were swiftly escorted back to a room without her in it. I did not dwell in the daylight, but I did take a moment to take in the art, the upholstered chairs, the seating arrangements, and the kind staff. Good things, sad things, and amazing things happen every day in the buildings on Hospital Hill, and I found myself there on one of those days with a full heart.

I left, got in my car, and pulled half a block down the street to take in, again, one of my favorite pieces of public art in Kansas City.

It reads: “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed. It blesses him that gives and him that takes.”

It stops me in my tracks every time. What started as decorative architecture has a home in front of one of Kansas City’s premier care facilities. Yesterday I walked even closer to it than I ever have. I noticed the chisel marks near the 5 on the “1905” curving edge. A human may very well have carved this piece that hung over Kansas City General Hospital all those years ago.

How fitting.

p.s. I am including a closer view below. You can’t see the chisel marks, but you can read the words and see better the carving and design. This is on Holmes right before you get to 20th Street.

Hopes and Dreams

Earlier this month, an artist we represent visited the store. He shared with us a bit more of his personal history. The pain was apparent in his words and in his eyes as he told stories….

December 24, 2012

Earlier this month, an artist we represent visited the store. He shared with us a bit more of his personal history. The pain was apparent in his words and in his eyes as he told stories of his parents – who have passed – and his brother who has no time for him.

What causes our friend the deepest pain is not knowing his brother’s children. As a man who educates children for a living and who carries a deep love of art into his personal and professional life, he is at a loss. The love of family is missing. But the love of the family he has built with his adoring friends is what holds his heart intact. He has built a home for himself – a place where he lives a happy, joyful life – with just a few bricks missing. He told us that he follows our family history as it evolves in our blog, and he admitted to being a wee bit jealous.

We are an open and affirming family. To us, that encompasses our lifestyles and our “mode of being”. Our house has no room for hate. The windows and doors are shut to those who judge people based on their sexual orientation, skin color, or choice of faith. We reminded our friend that the greatest loss is the one his brother is experiencing – which is not knowing true brotherhood.

It is our dream, in this joyful season of wishes, that our children continue the fight we are waging to ensure civil rights for all of Earth’s people. We are handing this dream to our children because we believe they are finally the generation that may see beyond all the silliness to look deep within the human before them before making a judgement.

Our children continue to be our hope for a free and just world.

Happy Holidays to you.

Casey & Sloane SImmons
Sisters & Co-owners

Instagram #1

I am totally hooked on Instagram. I am a visual person. I guess that is pretty obvious to anyone who has been to STUFF or has ever met me. So, I believe Instagram was made for…

I am totally hooked on Instagram. I am a visual person. I guess that is pretty obvious to anyone who has been to STUFF or has ever met me. So, I believe Instagram was made for ME. And all my visual friends…which is pretty much everyone I know.

Earlier today I was experiencing the Friday blahs, and I thought, “I don’t feel like working. I just want to sit around and play with Instagram.” Here is where the big fat idea bulb went off….

Idea Sculpture at STUFF commissioned work by Lori Buntin. — Commissioned art piece by Lori Buntin for STUFF.

This is my first Instagram image blog. I have this ingenius plan to post them anytime I feel like being inspired at my own store. Enjoy.

April Wallace little painting at STUFF. — April Wallace little painting.

Amy Meya Sculpture taken with Instagram by Casey Simmons — Amy Meya Sculpture

Cabin Vase Collection at STUFF — Cabin Vase Collection

Dash & Albert Rug Samples at STUFF — Dash & Albert rug samples.

Heart of a Champion

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed.

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed. She battled cancer with the heart of a champion. She was inspiring to us all. We were so deeply blessed to be chosen to share her creative spirit, ideas, joy and work with the world. We will miss Lori. We will miss her little company Blue Raven. We will miss her art.

Art is life.

Life is art.

Waves

I tore this image from a magazine last week. Sadly, I don’t remember which magazine, so I can’t give credit to them for featuring this nifty room.

I tore this image from a magazine last week. Sadly, I don’t remember which magazine, so I can’t give credit to them for featuring this nifty room. I pulled it because I really like the wave painting.

I would have wanted the bench to face the painting, but often that doesn’t work in homes. I often have that challenge in my home.

I would like to own a piece of this artist’s work. Maybe I will come across the artist one day.

Meanwhile, I will just have to enjoy having this in one of my many scrapbooks.

Not My First Rodeo

Last week I went to my niece’s art fair at her school. It is for the students in grades K thru 8, and it encompasses all pieces from their year in art class.

Last week I went to my niece’s art fair at her school. It is for the students in grades K thru 8, and it encompasses all pieces from their year in art class. I went to this show for nine years when my son was at the same school, and it is my favorite event. Children pull their parents – tugging really – to their artwork. God help the parent that has more than one child, because they risk bone dislocation.

This year, this piece was my favorite in the entire show:

The colors weren’t captured well in the softly lit gymnasium. It was captivating and is the work of a 4th grader. I don’t know what the process was, but it struck a chord. And what’s not to love when mounted to colored construction paper?

This was my niece’s favorite in the entire show. Clarification: her favorite that wasn’t of her own hand.

Her favorite of her pieces is here:

She called me out on the fact that my favorite wasn’t one that she had labored over. I talked myself deftly out of that by letting her know I had to take her pieces out of the running in able to even be able to vote at all. I didn’t go into the ethical practices of jurying an art show – something I use in my work on occasion.

Not my first rodeo.

Twice

When you tear out TWO pages from the SAME magazine for an item you like, should it go to the top of your wish list?

Scan_20120309154301_3 — The tempting piece.

: Elle Decor magazine page 30.

: Elle Decor magazine page 58.

What was humorous to me was that I was going to write a blog about seeing this lovely piece in more than one magazine in the same month, when I realized that I had pulled it from the same magazine twice.

It doesn’t make it any less lovely or deserving. I think Elle Decor was right on target with the double billing. Maybe it means I need two?

Casey