Olyvia Lott, wordsmith Auntie Lyv, delved into the PeaceWorks KC Local Art Fair Sept. 24-25 by interviewing seven artists and two others at the fair. Lyv wove the conversations into a podcast.

Lyv opens the podcast with Corva Murphy, who tells of using her own front yard in KC, MO, to host the first PeaceWorks art fair in 1991. “It was just miraculous,” says Corva, “to watch the fair come up from the ground. It was so much fun!”
Artist Connie Powell says on the podcast, “I go for variety”—photography, sculpted clay, beadwork, silver jewelry. Her mother was an artist. “It’s hereditary!” she says.
Watercolor artist Rochelle Wisoff-Fields reflects, “I think I was born with a paintbrush in my hands. My mother used to say there wasn’t a scrap of paper in the house Rochelle hasn’t scribbled on.” During the Covid “lockdown,” she painted 42 paintings.

Tarris Rosell, a retired minister and bioethicist, as a seminary professor assigned projects demanding creativity. He found that the students who believed they were the least artistic would turn in the most surprising works. Tarris, a potter, says, “I create because I live, because I breathe.”
Pamela Peters started photography as a hobby, and it led to teaching art. She has traveled widely, hiking for days to find wildlife to capture with the camera, and seeking landscapes. She says she goes for “sunrise, sunset—people don’t realize the colors that come before and after sunrise.” She can spend 8-10 hours sketching an owl. “When people see my photos, I want them to feel that they’re there,” she says.

Macrame artist Silvia Zavala, born in Mexico, calls it “relaxing” to make the nodes in the macrame. She is new to the PeaceWorks fair, and when interviewer Lyv asks whether setting up the booth was scary, she acknowledges, “Yes.” You can hear Lyv, on the podcast, giving her encouragement.
Acrylic and oil painter RaeAnna Jones came to the PeaceWorks fair as her first venture at selling her work in public. On the podcast, we can hear the voice of RaeAnna’s mother, Carla, as well as the painter’s voice. “I love painting sunflowers and nature,” RaeAnna communicates with help from Carla. Lyv goes on to compliment RaeAnna’s butterfly painting.

Watercolorer and wood-burner Kimmy Igla uses the artist name Kiwwy (say kiwi). She scores the edges of pine and birch pieces and burns words on them that fit the grain of the wood. She’s inspired by nature: “The interconnectedness of mushrooms—they represent community and our strength as workers,” she says. Part of Kimmy’s display at the fair was a raffle for KC Tenants.
Nicole Linares is the cashier for caterer Punto; Coma (Punto = place, Coma = eat, with the semicolon for continuity). The only food service at the fair was Punto; Coma, offering empanadas and potatoes stuffed with beef. On the podcast, Nicole speaks of her family’s pride in cooking authentic Colombian food. She says their dishes “include our Colombian culture.”

Potter Rebecca Koop, who has participated in the PeaceWorks fair since its second year (1992), remembers Corva Murphy’s front yard. Of her own pottery, she says, “I want it to feel good when you hold it!” On the podcast, Lyv asks, “What is the most difficult part of your work?” “Getting the glazes to come out right,” says Rebecca. Her business is Back Door Pottery because she started her sales out the back door of her house. “Now it’s out the front door,” she adds, laughing.
Poet Ron Faust, a retired minister, sells his books of poetry—including poems he wrote for PeaceWorks events for peace and justice. In the podcast, Ron reflects on civil resistance to seek a world free of nuclear weapons, free of drone warfare.

©2022, Olyvia Lott, Jane Stoever, Corva Murphy, Connie Powell, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Tarris Rosell, Pamela Peters, Silvia Zavala, RaeAnna Jones, Kimmy Igla, Nicole Linares, Rebecca Koop, Ron Faust, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.