About PERSPECTIVES: Artist Talks with Lavender Studios
Each week we host a visual artist or creator and a musical guest to share their experience in the arts and to showcase their work. In this podcast you can listen to that conversation as well as the musical performances that were held in Kansas City’s favorite DIY Art and Music Venue held in a living room!
Lou Grande stopped by the studio to share his art, experience growing up in the church, and life as a trans-masculine man living in southern Kansas. Lou specializes in acrylics but also is dabbling with stained glass! You can see more of Lou's work and submit for commision pieces on his website at the link below.
From the artist:
Lou Grande is a contemporary trans-masculine painter based in Wichita, Kansas, whose work bridges queer history, pop art, and traditional iconography. Operating as both a cultural archivist and a visual storyteller, Grande builds monumental altars out of modern artifacts, aggressively integrating visibly queer bodies back into the Western art canon.
With academic degrees in English and theology—and entirely self-taught in the visual arts—Grande brings a deeply narrative and analytical approach to the canvas. After transitioning at the age of 30, he dedicated his professional life to international immigration and refugee resettlement. This humanitarian background profoundly informs his socially engaged art practice today. Now pursuing art full-time, his work examines the resilience, joy, and “scandalous” beauty of the altered body.
Drawing inspiration from 1970s pop art, low-res digital imagery, and sacred archetypes, Grande’s hyper-pop portraiture utilizes heavy acrylics, gold leaf, and found materials. His vibrant canvases serve as a visceral defense of marginalized existence, asserting that gender diversity and queer survival are inherently worthy of reverence.
Lou's Website
Click here (https://nothingamonth.com/)
Lou's Instagram
Click here (https://www.instagram.com/nothingamonth/)
10 Oct 2026
Jared Horman
Meet Jared Horman, Kansas City's favorite muralist, graphic designer and artist. From designing murals dedicated to drag queens from the last 100 years in KC, to giving a red headed salute to the midwest princess Chappell Roan. Jared's impact can be felt across the metro. If you've driven downtown we promise that you have seen his work. Check out his website below to see more of his amazing portfolio and give him a follow on his social media to see his work with the Gay and Lesbian Archives of Mid-America.
From the artist,
"Everything I make starts from the same place: research, concept, and a unique point of view. A wall is really just design at scale, so whether it's a hundred-foot mural or a logo, the thinking underneath is the same. My work is intentional, and it's built for the specific people and place it's for.
A decade in Kansas City and a background that's touched nonprofits, healthcare, housing, food and drink, fashion, and government taught me one thing: the good stuff happens when a client's brave enough to get weird with it. A healthcare ball with an '80s circus theme, an adult sports league subverting gender roles with a wink—that's my specialty."
Jared's Instagram
Click here (https://www.instagram.com/jaredhorman?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&srtk=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==)
Jared's Website
Click here (https://jaredhorman.com/about-me)
GLAMA
Click here (https://glama.umkc.edu/)
8 Oct 2026
Nirvana Hope
Let us put you on to Nirvana Hope. Nirvana is a singer-songwriter who blends emotional original music with beloved ’90s classics. Growing up in a musical family she became a guitarist at 8 years old and a performer since her teens, her debut release, Unstuck, explores self-discovery, questioning societal expectations, and breaking free from the mold of adulthood to discover who you truly are.
We were absolutely gobsmacked by Nirvana's soulful sound and amazing voice sitting on top of poetic lyrics about life, fear, and growing up. You can follow Nirvana at the links below and if you see her playing in your town, we promise it's worth the ticket to go see this amazing performer and you can pick up some of her wonderful homemade merch!
Nirvana's Website
Click here (https://nirvanahope.godaddysites.com/)
Nirvana's Instagram
Click here (https://www.instagram.com/nirvana.hope/)
SPOTIFY
Click here (https://open.spotify.com/artist/0GGARCKhF5wTzgzvclufXo?si=bj5EwTT7TOmyutkBQrPOTQ)
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
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