Penny Thieme: Artist

Penny paints her life in pulsating imagery resplendent with symbolism, vibrant colors and passages that meander through the psyche and connect soulfully to the human condition. ~Maura Conry, Artist

Bio

Penny is primarily a painter, mixed media artist and sculptor, but is also a dedicated curator, collaborator, storyteller, mentor and artists’ advocate.  She studied Fine Art at Johnson County Community College and The University of Kansas. In her late twenties the convergence of a health crisis, caring for her mother-in-law and the prevailing misogyny at the University resulted in her quitting college her senior year . While she had some amazing professors who believed in her, she didn't see a place for herself in the art canon that existed in the Midwest at the time. She chose to explore her voice independently.

In her 40's Penny  honed her craft  as full time caregiver for her parents and grandmother.   Shortly after her father's death in 2006, her 22 year relationship ended. She had rented several abandoned storefronts for studio space and devoted her life to her art practice. Her life experiences  fueled her art and she doubled down on using her "feminine sensibilities" to create the inclusive, nurturing community of creativity, collaboration and connection she wanted for herself and other artists.

In 2018, she returned to college on a KC Scholars Adult Learner Scholarship to complete her undergraduate degree in Fine Art. After attended the very first Women in Art History and Society course ever taught at Johnson County Community College, Women in Literature and Global Women's Studies she decided to minor in Women's Studies. 

Penny  is a mystic and paints her inner an outer realities. She  often works in Series, centered on themes exploring spiritual, physical and psychological evolution, healing, transformation, metaphor, metaphysics, the nature of time, connection and reality are threads interwoven throughout.

Her current focus is on the restoration of feminine identity templates, visibility (particularly in art, society, education and politics), aging and quality of life. She is interested in  the  intersections and impact of spirituality, cultural values, morality, feminism, Eco-feminism. and sustainability.

She is currently working on an ekphrastic project with other female artists and poets and hopes to publish the first ever VOICES of VALA publication in April of 2021.

Her plans to curate exhibitions around immigration and women's visibility are on the burner until the pandemic is under control. She has shown her art in numerous solo and group exhibitions such as Artists Fight Back Against the War on Women, Garden of Jungian Delights, The  River Market Regional, Weathering Veins, Oracles & Vessels and Passages.

Her work is in national and international private collections and has been featured in Beyond Bounds at The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art & The Kansas City Artists Coalition Sweet Art Auctions.

Penny passionately champions the arts and actively advocates for emerging, aging and disabled artists. She is founder and director of  VALA Gallery, curated over 120 exhibitions and shared the work of over 900 Visual, Audio and Literary Artists at VALA, The Johnson County Library, Suite 100, Blue Valley Parks and Recreation, and other public spaces throughout the Kansas City Metro.  What might seem to some as divided focus, for Penny  is a self propelled  life force of inspiration and unlimited potential expressing itself.


CV/Art Exhibitions & Published Work (Highlights)

Convergence, VALA Gallery Group Exhibition, George Schlegel Gallery, Roeland Park City Hall,  Sept 2021

Beyond Bounds-20/20 ENVISION, Virtual Group Exhibition/Auction, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, October 24, 2020

Two woman show with Lynda J. Leonard, George Schlegel Gallery, Roeland Park City Hall, Oct & Nov 2020

Ladies'  Night, The Gasconade Review, 2019 

Radical Revolution of Values: More2 Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity Reception for the 13th Annual Transformation Banquet,  Solo Featured Visual Artist, Union Station, Kansas City, MO, June, 2018

Evolving Cover Artists, Group Exhibition, InterUrban ArtHouse, March 2018

"Herself", Celebrating Women in Art (Women's History Month), KCKCC Art Gallery, Group Exhibition, Feb 19-Mar 23, 2018

"WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT A TEST: THE ART OF HIP HOP"

A RENAISSANCE 12:21 Project| A twenty-first century cultural revolution, Group Exhibition, Four Chapter Gallery, February 2018

Love Issue, Evolving Magazine Cover, February 2018

12x12, Group Exhibition, ARTSKC, December 2017

Group Exhibition, InterUrban ArtHouse, November/December 2017

How Do You Figure?, Group Exhibition, InterUrban ArtHouse, September 2017

Beyond Bounds-DAZZLING, Group Exhibition/Auction, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, April 2017

Evolving Magazine Cover, September 2016

VALA Group Exhibition, Suite 100, September 2015

Oracles & Vessels, Solo Exhibion (spanning 3 galleries), VALA Gallery, February 2011

 Mind's Eye, JCCC, Literary Publication, Private Paradigm , oil on canvas, 2009/10

GLOW auction shines at Nerman, Editorial, Campus Ledger, November 2009 

Beyond Bounds-GLOW, Group Exhibition, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art Auction, October 2009
  

Beyond Reason,  Solo Painting Exhibition,  Iron Horse Bistro, Parkville, MO, September 2009-January 2010

The First Noel, Group Exhibition, VALA Gallery 2009

 Mindscapes, Group Exhibition, VALA Gallery, 2009

Maternal Mythologies, Mixed Media, Two Person Show, Familiar Faces Studios/The Gallery
October/November 2008

Passages, Painting & Sculpture Solo Exhibition, Student Gallery, 3rd floor, JCCC, November 24, 2008-February 2009

Divergent Visions, Student Show, Billington Library, Summer 2008

Member of the Kansas City Artist's Coalition, 2008

Special Projects & Collaborations
"Penny is just a house afire! She is just so enthusiastic, she so Believes in what she is doing she changes the world around her." ~Richard Bach/Communion & Conversations with Richard Bach 

Convergence, VALA Gallery, (Gallery Exhibition & Virtual performances) Visual Auditory and Literary artists collaboration, Sept 2021
VALA: Envisioning a New Age, 2020 (visual, auditory and literary artists project) (virtual)
Featured Visual Artist-Radical Revolution of Values: More2 Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity Reception for the 13th Annual Transformation Banquet,  Solo Featured Visual Artist, Union Station, Kansas City, MO, June, 2018
"UP CLOSE WITH ART & SCIENCE" Guest Artist (The Stowers Institute for Medical Research),  Cedar Roe Library, April 2018

Summer Love, Greene's Acre Organic Gardens & Evolving Magazine

VALA Community 2008-2016

National Crime Victims' Rights Exhibition, Johnson County District Attorney's Victims' Assistance Unit,  2011-2014 

Garden of Jungian Delights, KC Friends of Jung, 2013

Communion & Conversations with Richard Bach, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Hudson Auditorium), May 2012

The Art and Soul Connection: The VALA Documentary

Oracles & Vessels (The Heart of Transformation), solo exhibition of 2-D & 3-D works, 2011. Organ Donor Awareness in collaboration with Artist Larry Thomas, The Midwest Transplant Network & Lyric of Life.

Awards & Recognition

Robert J. Helmer Award for Excellence in Journalism, Johnson County Community College, 2020

Crime Victims' Rights Community Awareness Project, The Johnson County District Attorney's Office, 2014

Artist's Fight Back: A Response to the War on Women, Honorable Mention

Mind's Eye, JCCC, Literary Publication, 1st place, 2008 

Fine Art Award/Scholarship, JCCC, Spring 2008

Dean's List, Honor Roll, JCCC Spring & Fall Semester 2006 & 2007, Spring & Fall 2019, Spring 2020