It’s time. It’s Business Drive Time® in Kansas City!
As previously mentioned, we are working with a group of distinguished executives on a leadership and innovation tour of high-performance companies who are driving business growth forward in Kansas City and beyond. For more information, go to AlphaBoardTour.com.
As a special project tied to this tour, we are proud to pay tribute to the late Jeff Hanson of JeffHansonArt.com, an esteemed innovator, who touched people’s lives in a remarkable way. Jeff was known for his efforts around the Kansas City region, around the country and around the world. His legacy lives on through his work, his lifetime of benevolence and soon through a special new project in the Kansas City community.
Jeff was a prodigy contemporary artist who began his short, but wildly successful art career as a form of therapy when dealing with treatments for a childhood brain tumor. His early work evolved into a series of growing art and benevolence activities that continued to develop and expand until his death in December 2020 at age 27.
Despite serious visual impairment, and maybe because of his visual impairment, Jeff became a renowned contemporary artist. His efforts began with a “charitable” lemonade stand (Jeff’s Bistro) at age 12, selling baked goods and painted postcards. The initial summer project raised $15,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation. This evolved next into paintings for local charitable banquets in the Kansas City community. By age 15, Jeff was formally incorporated as a professional artist, and began selling and donating paintings to charity auctions around the country and beyond.
What made Jeffrey Owen Hanson so special was not just his art, or overcoming his handicap. He also had a big heart. During his short lifetime, and a career of little over a dozen years, he donated enough art to raise more than $7 million dollars for charitable causes around the country and around the world.
His art was collected by art buyers far and wide, including Sir Elton John, Warren Buffett and many others. He worked with numerous national charitable foundations, and helped to sell his art at more than 200 charity fundraising banquets throughout the United States.
Jeff’s parents, Hal and Julie Hanson, are continuing Jeff’s work to finish a milestone goal. Jeff had planned to raise $10 million for charity by his 30th birthday. Unfortunately, his time was cut short through the reoccurrence of a tumor that soon took Jeff’s life.
Hal and Julie Hanson of Jeff Hanson Art are working with Zahner (Zahner.com), a Kansas City-based metal architectural firm, and the City of Overland Park Kan., a Kansas City suburb, on a “Growing Kindness” art sculpture KCKindness.com. The sculpture, based on Jeff’s signature poppy paintings, will adorn the grounds of the new LongHouse Visitors Center at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (https://bit.ly/3SRgSJV). This initiative ensures that Jeff’s legacy of kindness, creativity and benevolence will remain an inspiration for future generations.
For more information on Jeff’s life and career, you can watch a recent interview with Jeff’s parents at: https://bit.ly/3URy6Jt To learn more about the “Growing Kindness” campaign, visit: https://bit.ly/4c06nwC