Mott-Ly Tisdale

Mott-Ly, born Lee Tisdale on December 19, 1962 in Lincoln, NE, died May 30, 2007 at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, MO. A 1986 graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, his art, in the words of KC art critic Gina Kaufmann, "paid homage to the small, the discarded, the broken and the backward. Mott-Ly drew and etched, sculpted and collaged. Every detail was painstakingly rendered. He knew how to fill a matchbook with a universe". He had his first solo art exhibit at The Late Show, a gallery that always held a special place in his heart. He exhibited work primarily in Lincoln and Kansas City, including, in 2005, a "Retrospective" of nearly 100 pieces at the Greenlease Gallery at Rockurst University and "Aftermath, New Outside the Box Works" at the Pi Gallery, both in KC. In 2002 Mott-Ly opened MoMO gallery in the East Crossroads where he displayed the work of new, struggling and underexposed artists and musicians, whose works were often on the gritty edge. In the late 1980's , he started, with Archer Prewitt, the band Mudhead, for which he was the lead vocalist, and in the 1990's he hosted the show "Susan" at KKFI radio in KC. Beset all of his life by physical challenges, he inspired and instilled…through his humility, courage and humour…love in all who met him. He fought constantly for social justice and he harbored all, animals as well as humans, who sought refuge in his space. Mott-Ly is survived by his mother and step-father, Christy and Richard Hargesheimer, his father and step-mother, Charles Tisdale and Jean Dunekacke, his brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Carla Tisdale and niece Jocelyn, his grandmother Oriel Kinley, his step-sister and step-brother, Stacey and Josh Hargesheimer, and countless special friends throughout the universe. A celebration of Mott-Ly's life will take place in Kansas City on Friday, June 8, beginning with a Buddhist prayer service at 5:30 pm at the Rime Center, 700 West Pennway, followed by a parade led by The Dirty Force Band starting outside YJ's, 18th and Wyandotte and ending at The Late Show, 16th and Cherry. Memorials may be made to the Rime Center, Kansas City; the Nebraska Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation, Lincoln; or to services that benefit the homeless. Arrangements made by Marts Memorial Services, Kansas City, MO.