About this Event
In conjunction with its exhibition 2026 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, the Emily & Todd Voth Artspace is pleased to host 2026 Charlotte Street Fellow Eric Conrad in conversation with Larry Ossei-Mensah, New York-based curator and 2026 Charlotte Street Awards Juror, and Raechell Smith, Artspace Director and curator of the 2026 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards exhibition. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A, and it will be held in the Artspace first-floor main galleries.
Artists in Dialogue is a public engagement series that builds community through art and ideas while illuminating the depth and diversity of contemporary practice. Each program pairs an exhibiting artist with a fellow artist, curator, or thinker in a dynamic conversation exploring research, themes, material investigations, and artistic strategies. Through these exchanges, audiences gain insight into process, influence, and the broader cultural contexts shaping the work. This program is free and open to attendees with an rsvp.
RSVP: Space is limited, so reserve your spot through Eventbrite or email [email protected]. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Artspace first-floor main galleries. Email [email protected], or call 816-802-3571 for directions and questions.
Programs may be subject to change. For the latest information, including other rsvp sign-up opportunities contact the venue directly. Follow us on Instagram @artspace_kcai and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artspacekcai, or visit www.kcai.edu/artspace, to receive the most up-to-date information about these programs.
LOCATION + PARKING: The Artspace is located at 16 East 43rd Street (at the intersection of 43rd and Walnut), Kansas City Missouri, 64111. Parking is available in the Artspace parking lot, on the north side of the building, the KCAI Fiber Warehouse parking lot next door at 4218 Walnut Street, and along the street.
Eric Leif Conrad was born in Toronto, Canada and explores vulnerability, psychology, and the human condition through textile-based sculptures, mixed-media installations, and drawings. Eric received his BA in mathematics and art from Kalamazoo College and an MFA degree in painting and printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. He was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and participated in artist residencies at Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium, Fine Arts Work Center in Massachusetts, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Nebraska, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, and Instituto Superior Latinoamericano de Arte in Chile. He has shown his work in over 20 solo exhibitions and 100 group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Eric has also created site-specific installations and public art including exhibitions at the Miami-Dade International Airport in Florida and the SACO Contemporary Art Biennale in Chile. Eric is Assistant Professor of textiles and foundations at the University of Kansas.
Larry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian-American curator and cultural producer whose practice has evolved across photography, writing, curating, and, most recently, ceramics. He entered the art world as a photographer before developing a career that moves fluidly between artists, institutions, and communities. His nonlinear path shapes a curatorial practice grounded in curiosity, conversation, relationship building, and the belief that there is no single way to build a life in the arts.
For nearly two decades, Ossei-Mensah has organized exhibitions, public programs, and cultural projects across the U.S. and internationally, including New York, London, Amsterdam, Rome, São Paulo, and Athens. His work has been presented at institutions including MASS MoCA, the Denver Art Museum, ICA San Francisco, Seattle Art Museum, Storm King Art Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. He has collaborated with artists including Nick Cave, Paul Anthony Smith, Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Firelei Báez, and Sonia Gomes.
Ossei-Mensah has collaborated with KCAI Artspace as a guest curator for Stanley Whitney’s No to Pr*son Life (2019-2020). He co-founded ARTNOIR, a global cultural platform supporting artists and communities through exhibitions, experiences, content, and access. He served as Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and Curator-at-Large at BAM. In May 2027, he will curate an upcoming group exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
Across his work, Ossei-Mensah explores what it means to build a creative practice on your own terms—and how artists and cultural workers can create new possibilities within and beyond the art world.
Artists in Dialogue is organized by the Emily & Todd Voth Artspace in conjunction with the 2026 Charlotte Street Visual Artists Award, featuring new work by 2026 Fellows Heehyun Choi, Eric Conrad, and Mikey Yates. The exhibition is on view at the Artspace October 16 – December 12, 2026
Images courtesy of the participants, Emily & Todd Voth Artspace, and Charlotte Street.
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The Emily & Todd Voth Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, 16 East 43rd Street, Kansas City, United States
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