The KCKCC Art Gallery’s newest exhibit, “Nocturnes” by Kate Clements, will be on display until Nov. 14. A reception will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 in the art gallery, which is in Lower Jewell, next to the deli. The reception includes a performance by musician Josué Estrada. He is a Wichita-based trumpeter and sound architect. His music echoes the existential themes of being a modern Chicano living in the Midwest. His creativity as an independent artist opens space for collective healing.
In “Nocturnes,” Clements beckons viewers into the depths of darkness to uncover the creatures that dwell there. Drawing inspiration from midnight entomology and the haunting beauty of poisonous minerals, she shapes impossibly delicate, Rorschach-like forms that embrace the seductive, beguiling nature of glass.
Reflecting a psychological dance between the allure of the unseen and the risks of pursuing it, her installations evoke both fascination and unease. Radiant, encrusted exoskeletons hover between beauty and monstrosity, exploring the precarious line between dream and nightmare. Like moths drawn irresistibly to a flame, “Nocturnes” asks viewers to contemplate the pull between attraction and apprehension—a magnetism toward the unfamiliar, the dangerous, and the deeply enticing, even when instinct tells us to retreat.
For more information on this exhibit or others, contact Shai Perry, coordinator at the KCKCC Art Gallery, at 913-288-7408 or at sperry@kckcc.edu.