‘How to Build an Altar for the Living’ Interview with Kaitlyn B. Jones
Kaitlyn B. Jones’ artwork is displayed at the Library Southbound Streetcar Stop. It shows one frame from her short film ‘How to Build an Altar for the Living’. We interviewed Kaitlyn to talk more about the original short film that formed the basis for the Streetcar Stop Art. We recommend you watch the film before reading this interview here: https://vimeo.com/545766878. Kaitlyn’s work will be featured at the Artwalk on September 13, 2023.
What inspired you to create this video?
In the Spring of 2021, while visiting my grandparents’ house in Waco, Texas, I sat for breakfast with my great-grandmother, who, at the time, was 101 years old. I don’t remember exactly how the conversation got started, but soon I started asking her questions about her life growing up on a small farm in Gonzales, Texas. I pulled out my phone and before I knew it, I had recorded over two hours of oral history. One of the stories that really stuck with me was a girlhood memory of turning the bark of a wax tree into chewing gum. My great-grandmother’s formative years were shaped by the Great Depression and the aftermath of World War I, so obviously, chewing gum was a luxury they couldn’t afford at the time–but they made do with what they had grown on their land. Her chewing gum memory resonated with me the most because its simplicity brought her so much joy that she vividly remembered it over 90 years later.
A lot of my work as an artist is centered around Black legacy and lineage. I draw a lot of inspiration from my familial history and my attempt to preserve that rich history. I don’t think anyone would have known such a specific detail about her life if I had not taken the time to ask her about her childhood, or if I had not recorded her telling it. Storytelling is so important–especially for Black people. The survival of our culture is dependent upon the stories we tell to the next generation. Even the simple things are worth celebrating.
We typically think of altars as something you build for somebody who’s passed away, but in How to Build an Altar for the Living, I explore what it looks like to build an altar for somebody who is alive and well…giving them their flowers while they’re still breathing. I decided to build the altar from plants that I found around my childhood home. At the center, I placed an old wooden chair that I found in my grandmother’s backyard. I built this altar for myself, to honor my life, but I also built it to honor my great-grandmother, who will turn 103 in September. In the first half of the video, you hear the audio recording of my great-grandmother telling her chewing gum story. Everything after that is just my own exploration of what I imagine my legacy might be.
You wear three costumes in the video in total. You wear the dress, the sweatpants, and then the overalls. Can you talk a little bit about what each of those costumes represents?
Every outfit was a deliberate choice. I grew up in a Baptist/Episcopalian Christian household. I’d spend summers going to vacation Bible school with my cousins at my grandmother’s church in Waco, Texas. I have vivid memories of attending Easter services, Sunday school, and all sorts of different church activities. Although I am not religious in my adulthood, the Black Baptist culture that raised me is still very present in the way that I live my life.
In the video, I’m wearing overalls and cowgirl boots to reference my great-grandmother’s Texas farm life–even though in reality, she’s never worn pants a day in her life–and I blew a bubble of chewing gum in reference to her story. During filming, I used the “church lady” outfit and the “sweatpants” outfit to explore the relationship between the religious teachings I grew up with and my queerness.
I’m not a masculine-presenting person in reality, but there was something fun about exploring masculine energy in contrast with the feminine energy that radiates from the church ladies I would see on the front pews in my grandmother’s church on Sundays. At the time of filming, it had been a little over two years since I came out to my immediate family and I was having a really hard time balancing a Christian identity with the fact that I am gay. I wanted to explore those two dichotomies and how they make me who I am.
What was the process of making the video like?
The process of putting them all together was pretty haphazard, honestly. I filmed all the scenes in one day. I knew I wanted three sections, but the editing is really what brought it together.
In the beginning, the spinning circle is exactly what the loading screen for ancestry.com looks like when you type a name in the search bar. I’ve always felt frustrated by sites like ancestry.com because I don’t think I should have to pay to learn my own history. Especially when Black history has always been gatekept and erased by oppressive systems of power. Layering the videos of myself on top of one another was a visual “meshing” of all of my identities.
Why did you end the video with the masculine person sitting in the chair?
I ended on the masculine outfit mainly because it was the part of me that felt the strongest and still feels the strongest to this day. Not necessarily the masculine-presenting part…but the queerness that it represents. Being a proud lesbian has freed me in so many different ways. And I have found that living authentically in my queerness has freed me a lot more than religion ever did. I think that’s why the video ends the way it does. It’s my own way of saying, ”This isn’t going away. This is not a phase. It’s not an experiment. It’s something that’s here to stay, and whether you like it or not, it’s me.”
In the second half of the video, ‘I Believe’ by John P. Kee plays. How did you decide on that song choice?
Honestly, the song was kind of random. John P. Kee is an iconic gospel artist, and “I Believe” was a song I heard throughout my childhood. I guess I selected the song because it felt like home. It felt familiar. I didn’t think much about what song I was choosing until I finished the video, and then I realized it fit perfectly.
When did you move to Kansas City, and when did you find out about Art in the Loop?
I moved to Kansas City in July of 2022. My coworker, David Wayne Reed, was a part of Art in the Loop last year, but I didn’t make the connection between my coworker David, and David whose art was on the Kauffman Streetcar stop until I had lived here for a few months and finally discovered that the reason art was on the Streetcar stops was because of Art in the Loop. I think it’s really awesome that rotating public art is made available in places that people pass by every day. When I saw the Art in the Loop call for 2023, it was important to me that I figure out which of my works fit within the theme organically. This year’s theme, “celebrate”, wasn’t a word that I had used explicitly to describe my work, but it definitely reflects what I do. I celebrate the seemingly mundane. I celebrate lineage. I celebrate history, storytelling, intergenerational communication, and Black historic preservation.
On the streetcar stop is one frame from the video. Why did you choose that frame?
I think the image of me in overalls with the giant bubble of chewing gum reflects the intergenerational storytelling of the complete work. The chewing gum story is my maternal great-grandmother’s memory and the photograph at my feet is of my paternal great-grandmother holding my grandmother as an infant. The whole image brings together both sides of my lineage in a way that represents the theme and the work really well. Most of the time, Black women are the keepers of familial histories and traditions, and I’m honored to be able to continue that legacy.
For more information about Kaitlyn’s artwork and the other artists featured this year, visit www.artintheloop.com
The 2023 Art in the Loop Project is made possible through the generous support of the KC Streetcar Authority, JE Dunn, Henderson Engineers, Stinson LLP, UMB and other corporate partners. This project is funded in part by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, as well as by awards from the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC, and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts – Commerce Bank Trustee.
Project partners include the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement Districts, KC Streetcar, and the Kansas City Art Institute.
For more information about the project and the artists, visit www.artintheloop.com or www.facebook.com/artintheloop
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Contacts:
Art in the Loop
Ann Holliday, Program Director, ann@downtownkc.org, (c) 816-718-1355
Marissa Starke, Visual Arts Director, marissastarke@gmail.com, (c) 816-519-4236
Jade Osborne, Performing Arts Director, jademuse@gmail.com
KC Streetcar
Donna Mandelbaum, Communications & Marketing Director, dmandelbaum@kcstreetcar.org, (c) 816-877-3219
‘Disco Cloud’ Interview with Fred Trease
Fred Trease’s artwork is wrapped around Streetcar #804. We interviewed Fred to talk more about the work that formed the basis for the Streetcar art, as well as the process of getting it on the Streetcar. Fred’s work will be featured at the Artwalk on September 13th.
What inspired you to make the Disco Cloud?
It started with some drawings I’ve been doing for a while called Exuberance, and they were about the exuberance of the LGBTQ+ community. They were on the Charlotte Street Art Boards earlier in the year, and I adapted them for the streetcar.
How does this piece represent the exuberance of the LGBTQ+ community?
Right now, we’re really under attack from so many places, and I wanted to remind myself of what a beautiful community we are. We’re like none other. The radiance and the joy that we have is sometimes forgotten when the world beats down on us. This was my way of getting back in touch with that.
Why did you decide to make a companion playlist?
I looked at the design and thought, “Well, it needs, it needs a playlist.” It screams out that it has to have one. It got a big one because it’s about six hours now, because I couldn’t stop adding. The music came from lots of places. It comes from classic gay dance music to more contemporary music as well. There are also parts of my personal history in there. There’s a Donna Summer song on there which is the first song I ever heard when I walked into a gay bar. I knew that song had to be there. It’s been really fun making it, and it keeps growing. It also has this historical element because it goes along from lots of different time periods. It’s not what most people would think of as disco. There’s plenty of disco there, of course, but there’s also all kinds of dance music that has the same feelings I want to invoke. The same joy I’ve found in my community.
How did you decide on the name Disco Cloud?
It was instinctual. It felt right. Looking at it, it is this cloud that goes all the way around. My concept for it was that if you were on the streetcar, you were sitting in this cloud. This swirling cloud of color and sound and joy and happiness.
When did you move to Kansas City, and why did you stay?
I moved here in 1991, so this fall, it’ll be 32 years. I worked in environmental public health for a long time, and I was working in southwest Missouri. I decided it was time to move on and somewhere else. I got this great job here, not thinking I would be staying as long as I did, but here I am.
How did you find out about Art in the Loop?
My husband and I applied last year, but that proposal didn’t work out. The lesson is always to keep trying, though, because this year, I was fortunate enough to be selected. Everybody’s been great to work with.
What was the process of getting the piece from inception to actually being on the streetcar like?
About five years ago, I started doing digital drawings on a small tablet. That’s where the original drawings were made. They’re pretty small drawings. It worked out really well with the billboards last year. When we started to do them for the streetcar, we realized they were too small. They’ll just be pixelated. We had to redraw them. We brought them up on a screen, and then I would go over what I had and draw it again. It turned out to be nice because I could change the colors. The ones I’d done originally had a scratchy quality to them. Redoing the colors, they turned out better and brighter and happier. That took a while to do. We also had to redo the ones inside the streetcar too.
What is the value of public art in society?
It’s really important. One that’s really special is the streetcar. What I love about it is it’s a surprise to everyone. One could be walking or driving downtown, and then suddenly, there is this beautiful piece of art along the street. This year there’s a playlist to go with it, and that makes it an experience for the riders. Waiting for the streetcar and getting on Streetcar 804, they won’t know they have the opportunity to take part in this experience until they get on. Public art is great in general because it gives people things to talk about and brings a little happiness to daily life.
Thank you, Fred Trease, for sharing more about your art and story!
For more information about Fred’s artwork and the other artists featured this year, visit www.artintheloop.com
The 2023 Art in the Loop Project is made possible through the generous support of the KC Streetcar Authority, JE Dunn, Henderson Engineers, Stinson LLP, UMB, and other corporate partners. This project is funded in part by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, as well as by awards from the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC, and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts – Commerce Bank Trustee.
Project partners include the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement Districts, KC Streetcar, and the Kansas City Art Institute.
For more information about the project and the artists, visit www.artintheloop.com or www.facebook.com/artintheloop
# # #
Contacts:
Art in the Loop
Ann Holliday, Program Director, ann@downtownkc.org, (c) 816-718-1355
Marissa Starke, Visual Arts Director, marissastarke@gmail.com, (c) 816-519-4236
Jade Osborne, Performing Arts Director, jademuse@gmail.com
KC Streetcar
Donna Mandelbaum, Communications & Marketing Director, dmandelbaum@kcstreetcar.org, (c) 816-877-3219
‘Here, with you’ Interview with Arin Yoon
Arin Yoon’s artwork, Here, with you, is displayed at the River Market North Streetcar Stop. We interviewed her to learn more about her artistic process, her history with art, and her experience as a member of this community. Arin’s work will be featured at the Artwalk on September 13th.
Is this piece part of something bigger?
I made this work during my time at the Tallgrass Artist Residency. The residency took place in Matfield Green, where the population is under a hundred people. Even so, it has a really robust artist community, including the Tallgrass Artist Residency, the Rural Arts Collective and Matfield Green Works. When you set foot there, you can feel the energy of the land. Much of the Midwest used to be tallgrass prairie, but now less than 4% remains.
What’s your Kansas City story?
I immigrated here in the mid eighties. My dad was going to graduate school in Warrensburg, Missouri, and we had come to visit, but he didn’t want us to leave, so we ended up staying here. I am now a military spouse and my family has been stationed in Fort Leavenworth for almost five years, the longest we have been in the same place in a long time. There’s something about the Midwest that keeps pulling me back. We immigrated here and this is our second time being stationed here, so I really feel a connection to this land. When I pass by Warrensburg, Missouri and I see the signs for the town, something stirs in me, a pull to my past. When I immigrated here, it was really important for us to learn English and assimilate. This project is about reconnecting with this land and carving out space for myself, my children, and my memories through photography.
How did all this culminate in the piece for Art in the Loop?
In the Art in the Loop piece, my daughter and I are wearing hanboks, traditional Korean dresses. When we made this picture, my children were five and seven, the same ages as me and my brother when we immigrated here. That didn’t feel like a coincidence. I knew I wanted to bring these traditional Korean dresses, almost like an intervention on the land. When you think of the prairie, you think of cows and bison, farmland and farmers, settlers and of course the problematic mythology of cowboys and Native Americans. You don’t necessarily picture immigrants on this land. Historically, our contributions and experiences have been easily overlooked or erased. With this image, I’m inserting myself and my cultural history into the preconceived notions many Americans have of this landscape. This is my way of creating new memories with my children. The land also remembers.
The image is installed at the River Market North Stop, which is meaningful to me because my parents used to be weekend vendors at City Market. They used to sell goods like earrings and belts. My dad was in graduate school, so this was their only source of income. Having my work displayed there feels like a full-circle moment. I imagine them in this space, but now with their descendants watching over them from the future. When I went to see the piece for the first time, I got a little emotional thinking about the significance of that moment
How did you find out about Art in the Loop, and when did you decide to become a part of it?
I applied last year, and my work didn’t get selected, but I applied again this year, and it was selected. I knew that Art in the Loop was a place where I wanted to show my work. I’m a big fan of public art. I don’t think gallery spaces always feel accessible to everyone. Public art is great because it’s out there in the open and anyone can engage with it. Art is something that creates community and that can create healing. When it’s publicly displayed in a functional space, it reaches more people. And this interaction in turn changes the meaning of the work which is exciting to think about.
How did you first hear about Art in the Loop?
I love being a Kansas City based artist because it really feels like a community. I know a lot of artists and photographers here and it’s a very supportive community. There are so many great art organizations in KC like Art in the Loop, Charlotte Street and AI Hub. I found out about Art in the Loop because I’ve seen the work displayed over the years and always admired it and realized it added a little extra joy to the day, especially for my children, when we experienced the work at streetcar stops.
How did you decide on the photograph for the Streetcar Stop out of all the pictures in your set?
The picture I selected embodied the story I was trying to tell as an individual piece. This piece is about everything that led up to the moment in the image and everything that is the future. The most important thing, though, is about being in the present moment with my children. The act of making this work and having it be a collaborative process with my children is what is at the core of this image.
How did you decide on the composition of the image?
As a photographer, you take a ton of pictures, especially if you have someone else clicking the shutter. My son was the one taking the pictures from a tripod I had set up. My daughter and I moved around a lot and tried different poses but I knew I wanted one image from behind which would create a little anonymity, like this could be anyone. In terms of installing the image, compositionally we just wanted to make sure the subjects fit in one panel on the streetcar stop. The subjects were on the right side of the frame, so it worked out. The panels on the left and right were AI-generated through a new Photoshop tool called generative fill just to extend the grass to the left and right to fit the dimensions of the streetcar stop.
Thank you, Arin Yoon, for sharing more about your art and story!
For more information about Arin’s artwork and the other artists featured this year, visit www.artintheloop.com
The 2023 Art in the Loop Project is made possible through the generous support of the KC Streetcar Authority, JE Dunn, Henderson Engineers, Stinson LLP, UMB Bank, and other corporate partners. This project is funded in part by the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, as well as by awards from the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC, and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts – Commerce Bank Trustee.
Project partners include the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement Districts, KC Streetcar, and the Kansas City Art Institute.
For more information about the project and the artists, visit www.artintheloop.com or www.facebook.com/artintheloop
# # #
Contacts:
Art in the Loop
Ann Holliday, Program Director, ann@downtownkc.org, (c) 816-718-1355
Marissa Starke, Visual Arts Director, marissastarke@gmail.com, (c) 816-519-4236
Jade Osborne, Performing Arts Director, jademuse@gmail.com
KC Streetcar
Donna Mandelbaum, Communications & Marketing Director, dmandelbaum@kcstreetcar.org, (c) 816-877-3219