Marijana's Backyard, by Marijana Grisnik |
Community Life in Strawberry Hill
This Croatian neighborhood of Kansas City is
documented through a catalog of paintings by local artist Marijana
Grisnik entitled Images of Strawberry Hill. The catalog was
published by the Kansas State Historical Society to complement a
traveling exhibition of the same name.
Marijana Grisnk was born in 1936 in an area of Kansas
City, Kansas, known as Strawberry Hill. This area lies on the
bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri
Rivers. Legend has it that the name comes from wild strawberries
that once grew there. The area is most closely defined with the
South Slavic immigrants, especially the Croatians, who came in the
late nineteenth century to seek greater opportunity and prosperity.
As was the case for many ethnic communities, life in Strawberry
Hill at first resembled life in the old country. Although many
changes have occurred, it remains a strong ethnic enclave and a
center for Croatian-Americans throughout the Kansas City area.
Marijana was raised within the ethnic traditions of
the community and, even as a child, loved to sketch sights on the
Hill. It was not until the birth of her third child, however, that
she began to paint her memories of growing up there. The images she
created are of her youth, when the area was less threatened by the
world that surrounds it. For inspiration, she uses the customs,
songs, foods, arts and stories that circulate among members of the
community.
Originally submitted by: Dennis Moore, Representative (3rd District).
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