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Dear Charlotte is a series of postcard written by Anson the Ornery and anonymously mailed to the Charlotte Street Foundation. These postcards were initially handed out to artists that had attended “a special "THINK" event (bringing) together a diverse group of artists from the KC area to share ideas and imagine possibilities for Charlotte Street's future.” The postcards were intended to allow artists to send in criticisms anonymously to Charlotte Street with prompt questions such as “Is there anything about how Charlotte Street does what we do that is different/unique,” and “What does Charlotte Street do that others don’t do… meaning if we didn’t do it, no one would?”
Anson re-envisioned seventeen of these postcards as love letters between him and a fictional women Charlotte as an analogy of his experience with Charlotte Street Foundation. Using the prompt questions as inspiration the love letters begin jubilantly with Anson excited about the promise of a new relationship. The letters slowly soured ending the series with a break up letter.
Dear Charlotte will be exhibited directly across from Charlotte Street Foundation's headquarters and La Esquina gallery in a neighboring house. The location of the exhibition is not to antagonize Charlotte Street but to encourage thoughtful criticism among the growing Kansas City arts community. It can be unnerving to put out an option in such an insular world for worry of alienating a colleague. Criticism raises the quality of artwork production by challenging artists and organizations alike to hone the content of their work.
Dear Charlotte is at most a light ribbing of an organization that has help make the Kansas City art scene what it is today. Healthy criticism from the community can guide nonprofits to provide services needed most by the artists they serve. Any enduring art has withstood criticism over time. Kansas City can do the same.