KCAI students show work at 6th National Collegiate Handmade Paper Art Triennial

Two Kansas City Art Institute Students, Lauren Chasten (’16 fiber) and Kara Dunbar (’15 ceramics), will have work featured in the upcoming 6th National Collegiate Handmade Paper Art Triennial, a competition in artworks created in handmade paper. After taking Marie Bannerot McInerney’s, Fiber to Form fiber elective, these students were among five selected by the department to compete nationally.

Anne Q. McKeown of the Brodsky Center of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and Lynn Sures of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George Washington University, Washington, DC, co-direct the Triennial. The distinguished juror, Joan Hall, put together a selective exhibition of 21 works from over 170 competitive images she viewed. These were submitted by 12 papermaking programs at undergraduate and graduate universities, colleges and art schools nationally.  The show will be a diverse and high-quality representation of art currently being made of handmade paper. The traveling show begins with an opening February 18 at 5pm at the The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C. and will travel to the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, OH.

Kara Dunbar, In Pursuit of Permanence, 2015, cotton and porcelain (all pieces except one incorporated cotton pulp at some point in the process), 4″ x 72″ x 3″

Lauren Chastain, Trues Bruise,2015, pulp painting, watermarks, abaca, cotton, and hand stitching, 15″ x 18″

 

Web: http://corcoran.gwu.edu/PaperArtTriennial

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CorcoranGW

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorcoranGW/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwcorcoranschool/

 

 

We Start Here

The Facts:

WHERE: Cornerstones Of Care
300 E. 36th Street, Kansas City, MO
6411
WHEN: Friday, November 20, 3:00pm- 8:pm
Sunday November 22nd 10:00am-5:00pm 2015
COST: Free

WHAT: We Start Here: The Fort Festival!

Cornerstones of Care 300 E. 36th Street Kansas City, MO 64111

Contact Olivia: oclanton@kcai.edu

 

We Start Here is an explorative collaboration between young men at the Gillis school and local artist Olivia Clanton.

Each project begins with a student imagining his dream fort, and then the child works with the artist to translate his images and stories into a space they build together. This project aims to provide a creative release for the child, encouraging him to become an active problem-solver, and enabling him to re-imagine a future in which he is the architect.

The project encourages the child to travel to a space of trust and creativity. Children who are provided with individual attention and the opportunity to insert something they have imagined into the world can experi- ence uplift and a sense of self-confidence.

It also challenges the way people interact with at-risk children. Visitors are invited to listen to persons they might have otherwise overlooked and to discover places they might not otherwise have come to know. These resourcefully imagined spaces offer an opportunity for greater connectivity in our community, and empower young people to celebrate their individuality and creativity.

Basketry Mastery

The junior class, led by Marie McInerney, learned basketry techniques earlier in the semester.

Dark Days, Bright Nights: Contemporary Paintings From Finland.

Sirpa Särkijärvi
Viides sukopolvi (Fifth Generation), 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 1/2 x 55 1/8 inches (105.5 x 140 cm)
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery AMA, Helsinki​
© Sirpa Särkijärvi, Courtesy Gallery AMA, Helsinki

International Painting Exhibition Opens October 2 at Kemper Museum.
Opening and Artist Panel: Jarmo Mäkilä and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko
Free | Friday, October 2, from 5:00–6:00 p.m. is a CASH bar and FREE live music. 6:00 p.m. continues a FREE artist panel.
Exhibition curator Barbara O’Brien moderates a discussion with artists Jarmo Mäkilä and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko. Enjoy live improvisational electronica music by Kansas City–based Mnemosyne Quartet, and talk with docent guides in the exhibition throughout the evening.

---

 

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, October 2, 2015 to Sunday, February 21, 2016
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
4420 Warwick- Kansas City, Missouri

Dark Days, Bright Nights: Contemporary Paintings from Finland gathers together and investigates the inspirations, methods, and practice of Finnish painters. Dark Days, Bright Nights presents 43 works of art—stylistically disparate and often visually dazzling—from 13 artists ranging from the post-WWII generation to those who have come of age squarely in the 21st century. The exhibition features 41 two-dimensional paintings, a sculptural installation, and a projected video installation.

Dark Days, Bright Nights: Contemporary Paintings from Finland will be on view at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art from October 2, 2015, through February 21, 2016. With days of 24-hour darkness in the winter months and 24 hours of sunlight during the summer, what is real and what is a dream can seem a narrow distance apart in this most northern of the European countries. Dark Days, Bright Nightsis curated by Barbara O’Brien, executive director Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. “My travels in Finland allowed the opportunity to create a portrait of a time and place where support for the arts has been strong, and the notion of the painter as a respected cultural worker is palpable,” said O’Brien. Admission to the Kemper Museum and this special exhibition is free.

The 13 artists represented in Dark Days, Bright Nights were all born in Finland, and now work in locations including the city and countryside of Finland as well as Berlin, New York City, and Stockholm. Artists include Jani Hänninen, Heikki Marila, Marika Mäkelä, Jarmo Mäkilä, Rauha Mäkilä, Reima Nevalainen, Leena Nio, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Mari Rantanen, Mari Sunna, Nanna Susi, Sirpa Särkijärvi, and Anna Tuori. The artists selected represent a wide range of experiences and painting styles, but are connected by the Kemper Museum’s philosophical focus on investigating the history of the gesture in painting and in creating a conceptual and art historic bridge from the 20th to the 21st century in both exhibition program and the Permanent Collection.

Jarmo Mäkilä’s narrative tales of country life in the shadow of WWII are a counterpoint to the 21st-century inspiration of cityscapes and graffiti in works by Jani Hänninen. The relationship to the natural world, so important to the Finnish people, is vividly realized in the paintings by Lapland artist Sirpa Särkijärvi. The space between waking and sleeping seems to come to life in the snow-globe-like paintings by Anna Tuori. The desire to control and genetically manipulate nature is explored in a video installation by Vesa-Pekka Ranniko.

Anna Tuori
Things I’ve Seen I Can See No More, 2013
acrylic and oil on MDF board
84 x 120 1/8 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
© Anna Tuori
Photo: Jussi Tiainen

A full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition, and is available for purchase in the Kemper Museum Shop. The catalogue provides art historical scholarship and cultural context to the exhibition and includes essays written by Peter MacKeith, Honorary Consul General to Finland; Timo Valjakka, an independent writer, curator, and critic based in Helsinki and London; and curator O’Brien.

Support for the Kemper Museum is generously provided by members and donors, especially Frame Visual Art Finland, and The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General of Finland. Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Bag Sale @ The Studio (Knitting and Needlepoint)

Thought some of you might like to know about the…..

 

$5.00 a bag
(stuff in as much as you can)

---

Also, some other things to consider…….

WAVERLY WOOL

 

This 100%Wool Persian Yarn is ideal for needlepoint. The plies can easily be separated to cover the different sizes of canvas. One strand of the three ply yarn will nicely cover a 13-count canvas.

Although this product is designed expressly for needlepoint, it is also a wonderful knitting yarn. It knits at 3 stitches per inch on size 10 needles. There are approximately 164 yards in the four ounce skein.

---

And……

Overstock Sale
There are over 100 colors to choose from.  Some of the hanks are cut for needlepointing and some of the hanks are still whole.  Full skeins can not be cut.

Knitters – don’t miss this.  Get a sweater or poncho’s worth for next to nothing.  Consider hats and fingerless mitts.

 

The Studio Knitting & Needlepoint
9555 Nall Ave.  –  Overland Park, KS  –  66207
www.thestudiokc.com

Stories….Between Blues

This upcoming Friday, September 18th, marks the opening reception of two solo exhibitions taking place at PLUG Projects, located in the Stockyards District of Kansas City.

The front space at PLUG projects presents Between Blues, a solo exhibition featuring Sonja Dahl and the Local Solo space in PLUG Projects will present …or the stories we tell ourselves, a solo exhibition featuring the work of interdisciplinary studio artist and Assistant Professor in the Fiber Department at the Kansas City Art Institute, Marie Bannerot McInerney.

Exhibition Opening: Friday, September 18, 6pm – 9pm
Gallery Hours: Saturday 10am – 5pm and by appointment
Contact: info@plugprojects.com
646-535-PLUG (7584)
*print quality images available on request

---

…or the stories we tell ourselves: Featuring the work of Marie Bannerot McInerney

KANSAS CITY – Opening September 18, 2015 PLUG Projects is pleased to present, …or the stories we tell ourselves, in the Local Solo space, an exhibition by Marie Bannerot McInerney. In her installation, McInerney examines our sources of knowledge and the variability of our shared history. Her process driven work utilizes the properties of found materials and recontexualizes them through methodic augmentation. For her new installation at Plug Projects she will construct a pyramid form with roughly two thousand collected books that have been laboriously sealed within handmade paper skins and dipped into black ink.  Set against an atmospheric sound piece, the redacted texts call to question what we know, what we don’t know, and who controls our narrative.

About the Artist:
Marie Bannerot McInerney  is an interdisciplinary studio artist and educator.  Her work investigates conceptions of fragility, instability, truth, and experiential knowledge. is an interdisciplinary studio artist and educator.  Her work investigates She has exhibited across the United States and abroad including shows at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, WA, Mildred Lane Kemper Museum in Saint Louis, MO, Corcoran College in Washington, DC, The Schiller Garden House at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, and The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in Saint Louis, MO. McInerney co-authored an essay in the newly published book, Probing the Skin: Cultural Representations of our Contact Zone and was recently awarded a Cultural Exchange Grant from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin to travel and present work. Her formative years were spent in Houston, TX before she earned her BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute and her MFA at Washington University in Saint Louis as a Danforth Scholar. She is currently Vice President of Annual Meetings for the Friends of Dard Hunter and serves as Assistant Professor in the Fiber Department at the Kansas City Art Institute. www.mbmcinerney.com

---

BETWEEN BLUES: Featuring the work of Sonja Dahl

KANSAS CITY – Opening September 18, 2015 Plug Projects is pleased to present, Between Blues, a solo exhibition by Sonja Dahl which engages ideas of communities, collectives and collaboration. Her recent works involve looking at the complex relationships between humans and the natural and constructed worlds we live in. Utilizing the deep blue of indigo dye and of cyanotype prints, Dahl instrumentalizes natures “blues” to actively respond to our contemporary ecological devastation.

About the Artist:
Sonja Dahl is an independent artist and researcher with a fluid, traveling, and collaboration-focused practice. She is a founding member of Craft Mystery Cult (United States) and has worked with The Poetic Everyman Project based out of Indonesia and Australia. Her 2012-2014 research projects in Indonesia, supported by the Fulbright Foundation and Asian Cultural Council, focused on the culture of collaboration, artist collectives and participatory projects in Yogyakarta’s contemporary arts, as well as in-depth study of batik, ikat weaving and indigo dye production in Java, Bali, Sumba and Flores. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art, 2012. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at Bezirksmuseum Neubau, Vienna, Austria; The Darwin Visual Arts Association, Darwin NT, Australia; and The Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR, USA. Her writing is published with Carets and Sticks Contemporary Arts online, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Dilettante, and forthcoming in Surface Design.

www.sonjakdahl.com

---

About PLUG Projects:
PLUG Projects is a curatorial collaboration and exhibition space run by six Kansas City artists who share the mission of bringing fresh perspectives and conversation to the local art community. Our goal is to energize artists and the public at large by exhibiting challenging new work, initiating critical dialogue, and expanding connections of artists in Kansas City as part of a wider, national network of artists.

PLUG Projects presents bi-monthly exhibitions featuring national and international artists who are actively challenging contemporary perspectives in all disciplines. Accompanying each exhibition, PLUG’s program includes critique nights, a curated blog, interdisciplinary events, lectures and studio visits to contribute to greater artistic dialogues.

PLUG Projects is in the Stockyards District of Kansas City, Missouri at 1613 Genessee Street, 64102.
Gallery Hours: Saturday 10am – 5pm and by appointment

Additional information regarding PLUG Projects programming and schedules are available at http://www.plugprojects.com

An Exquisite Corpse

There’s only a few more days left  to go see KCAI at SACI: An Exquisite Corpse, an exhibition featuring work from the summer 2015 Kansas City Art Institute program in Florence, Italy.  The exhibition is currently on view in the Dodge Painting Galleries – 3A space (take the elevator to 3A), located on the Kansas City Art Institute campus, and closes September 11th, 2015. Especially if this program has ever been of interest to you, this exhibition might offer a taste of what the experience would be like with KCAI at Studio Art Centers International (SACI), per the artwork of the students exhibited. KCAI at SACI: An Exquisite Corpse features the work of: Katie Pilmaier (ceramics) Davin Roberson (painting) Lauren Seider (illustration) Natalie Spicker (fiber) Lauren Taylor (design) Fazida Yathali (painting) If you would like more information about the summer 2016 program, please contact Misty Gamble at mgamble@kcai.edu For more information about Studio Art Centers International (SACI), please visit: www.saci-florence.edu

Undergrads Underground

On behalf of the Educational Outreach and Exhibition Committee:

The Educational Outreach and Exhibition Committee is now accepting applications for exhibitions at Undergrads Underground, the KCAI gallery at Leedy Voulkos Art Center. Individual students or groups of students are eligible to apply. Applications are due by noon on Friday, October 2.  For any questions, contact Marie Bannerot McInerney and Kim Eichler-Messmer at eoec@kcai.edu.

See the Call for Gallery Submissions with application information and guidelines via the following link: undergrads underground call F15

Laura Spencer KCUR

Kansas City Art Institute receives a record donation of $25 million

BY MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS

mdwilliams@kcstar.com

Tony Jones came from Chicago to be interim president at the Kansas City Art Institute eight months ago and brought along dreams to renovate some buildings, beef up the school’s endowment and help more students afford to attend the private college.

On Tuesday afternoon, to a champagne toast, Jones announced that a generous benefactor has now given the school the means to make some of those dreams come true.

The 130-year-old college of art and design has received the largest single donation in the school’s history — $25 million from an anonymous donor.

“This gift to the Kansas City Art Institute means that someone believes very strongly in what this institution is trying to do,” Jones said in an interview before Tuesday’s announcement. “It is a vote of confidence. The gift is a pillow on which we can dream about the future of our college and know our dreams will become reality.”

Jones called the gift “transformative” and said it will touch faculty, community and students. Students like Natalie Spicker, a junior double majoring in fiber and art history at KCAI.

Spicker, a native of Covington, Ky., said more than three-quarters of her college education is being paid through scholarships she received from the art institute.

Getting those scholarships, she said, meant she could attend the first school on her college hope list without having to take on a load of debt or lean heavily on her parents.

“I know a lot of students who if they hadn’t gotten scholarships would not have been able to come here to school,” Spicker said.

Tuition at KCAI is about $34,000 a year. Jones said that 95 percent of the 610 students attending the four-year institution are getting part of their education paid through grants and scholarships.

The record gift to KCAI is critical to increasing need-based and merit scholarship funds, Jones said. Six million dollars of the gift, in the form of a two-for-one challenge grant, will be used for student scholarships, endowed professorships and visiting professors.

Through Dec. 31, 2016, a fund established by the anonymous donor at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation will match and double every dollar donation KCAI receives from outside sources up to a total of $6 million. To get the full $6 million, the institute will need to raise $3 million.

Jones said a two-to-one match is unusual.

“Most donation matches are a dollar for dollar. I have never seen anything like this in the arts education industry,” he said.

The spring 2016 applicants will likely be first to reap the benefits of the new gift, in the form of hefty scholarship offers, Jones said.

Under the school’s plan, $14 million will go into a general endowment and $5 million will go toward campus improvements, including deferred maintenance on buildings and landscaping projects.

In the last 20 years, the Kansas City Art Institute has completed campus improvements totaling more than $27 million, and right now it’s finishing one of the most important projects — a $750,000 renovation at its ceramics building. The new funds will help the school bring state-of-the art equipment and technology into that building.

Jones said there’s more to be done on the campus on Warwick Boulevard, and KCAI administrators, faculty and students will begin meeting once classes get underway in a few weeks to brainstorm ideas for improving the campus using the big gift of money.

He said that what happens at the art institute complements other recent investments in Kansas City’s arts culture, including the construction of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the $30 million already donated toward construction of a $96 million University of Missouri-Kansas City downtown campus for the performing arts.

“It will take a while to realize what a gift of this scale can do to transform student lives and the physical look of the campus,” Jones said.

But it certainly has him dreaming again.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article31463165.html

The Locust Factory Exhibitions Tonight!

The Locust Factory KC First Friday Art Fair presents:

Kansas City Art Institute Senior Thesis Exhibitions-

“Lepidopteric Dichotomy”: Fiber and Video Installation, by Emily Blaser and Kristen McLaren, is an exploration of the process of production with textiles connected to the life cycles of different creatures, such as moths, who both constantly create and destroy fibers.

“Behind Closed Doors Vol. 1”: Photographs by Derek Hutsell, dealing with the subject matter of religious morality and sexuality.

“Woven Sanctuary”: Gradient Hand-Dyed Weaving Installation by Evander Camorlinga.

Locust Factory KC
504 East 18th Street, KCMO, 64108
Contact: Apryl McAnerney 816.716.5940

Opening Reception: First Friday, May 2nd, 6-9pm
Open Saturday, May 3rd, 12-4pm
Show closes May 3rd at 4pm.