Prairie Village resident’s sculptures on display at downtown gallery

A Prairie Village resident’s 40 year devotion to sculpture is on full display through the end of January.

Mark McHenry is an architect by day, but since the early 1970s, he’s been crafting unique multimedia works out of wood, wire and metal. Six of those pieces are presently on display at the Late Show Gallery in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

Here is McHenry’s artist’s statement for the display:

These sculptures were made over the course of nearly 40 years from the same kit of parts: carved wood, metal bits and pieces, attention to the joining of things, and time…. The materials carry special significance for me – a rusted mower blade found on a hike with Milo, a billet of buckeye given to me by my Dad, a curious piece of steel from the barn at the Farm, a hunk of Alaskan yellow cedar logged up Petersburg Creek with Bill Flor.

I’ve called them “Implements,” and the individual pieces have had various working titles. But now I prefer to have them considered together as a project that has given me much satisfaction, some of which I hope will be communicated to you through these photographs.
One fact that I would like to acknowledge is that anyone who has the experience of carving in wood will have a special sense of the vital force that trees bring to our “sweet swingin’ sphere.” These sculptures have given me the opportunity to engage that force directly, and I’m grateful.

McHenry, who has lived with his family in PV since 2003, also designs and builds furniture, which is available at “George” in the Crestwood Shops near Brookside.

The gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.