Lock up your daughters and hide your pic-a-nic baskets! Advancement’s own Joe Fuller `11 is bear-suited up and causing mischief on campus.  Alumni, if you don’t have enough excitement in your lives, you should visit us more often to see our fascinating wildlife (not just rabid squirrels anymore!).

Okay, okay: I’m pulling your leg.  Joe isn’t really doing anything untoward.  In fact, he is making art just like we’re encouraging him to.  Check out the blurb Joe wrote below, in reference to his performance on Nov. 14:

“The Picnic,” a collaboration between myself, Joe Fuller, a Digital Film major and Rachel Rolon, a Fibers major.  The piece stems from costume, combined with our mutual interest in creative writing and mimetic story telling (showing rather than telling).  The performance itself depicts a young woman who decides to have a picnic, her dress transforms into the picnic blanket, which in turn sets the stage for the action.  A bear joins her, when he sits on the blanket-like dress the girl is now trapped.  The bear builds trust by playing some games and drinking imaginary tea all to the tune of content-lacking newscasts played from the bear’s furry radio.  It is in this moment of comfort that bear deceives the girl.  He closes here eyes similar to the other games, and then steals all of her belongings.  When she opens her eyes she is shock, she has been taken advantage of, her innocence is lost.  The project was not for any particular class, instead it was a “what if?” that became a reality.

There will be an installation consisting of a video documentation of the performance as well as the costumes themselves.  It will be exhibited during the end of semester show around 5 p.m. on December 5^th, located across from the main entrance of the Irving Building.

We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone involved in this project; it could not have been done without you!

Hello alumni,

On October 23, we had an alumni gathering at the Mike Weiss Gallery in New York.  About 40 alumni came to view Amy Myers’ solo exhibit, “Spin Zero” and catch up with former classmates.  Here are some images from the event:

Kris Umezawa, Amy Myers (`95 painting) and President Kathleen Collins pose in front of Amy’s piece, “Spin Zero.”

harriet regina marion (`74 painting) and Theresa Kasun (`88 painting) get acquainted.

R. Justin Stewart (`03 ceramics), Mamie Kanfer (`04 ceramics) and David Alban (`83 ceramics) are probably talking about how much they love clay.

After our gathering ended, Kathleen, Julie Metzler and I headed over to the Santorelli Gallery down the street to view the group show, “Small Works.”  One of our own, Charles Birnbaum (`76 ceramics) had two exquisite pieces in this exhibit.

Hello alumni,

Believe it or not, 2009 is right around the corner.  That also means winter is coming…yuck.  But who can think of a better way to cure the winter blahs than a KCAI alumni gathering?  I bet nobody can think of a better way.  In fact, if anyone can, I challenge that person to call me at the alumni relations office - 816-802-3461, and I will engage that person in a lively debate and surely win.

Printmaking alumni will surely be glad that we will be in Chicago during the Southern Graphics Council Conference (SGCC), because we will have an alumni gathering then.  The conference will be held the last week of March 2009.  Our gathering will take place in the evening, sometime between March 25-29.  I will get back to you on that as we get closer to that time. All alumni are invited (not just printmakers!), so I hope to see many of you there.  We can compare notes about who makes the best Chicago-style pizza.  It’ll be great.

I’ll leave you with a recent photo of the printmaking department taken by our own Krystal Kuhn (`11 printmaking).

This past Saturday, I attended an evening reception at J. Bird Studios in Kansas City, Kan. for Holly Swangstu’s (`94 fiber) September exhibit of fiber paintings. Holly is the gallery director of the Leedy – Voulkos Art Center, and she is also currently making new work.  Holly also has tie-dyed baby onesies for sale at J. Bird. I thought they were very cool.

Holly Swangstu

As well as chatting with Holly, I caught up with Jori Cheville Herbert (`04 ceramics) and Cara Long (`04 ceramics/art history).  They have also been very busy.

Jori is the director of J. Bird Studios.  Her ceramic pins, necklaces, and coasters caught my eye as I made my way to the refreshment table set up in the back.  Jori told me she was getting ready for a solo show at the Opie Gallery at the Leedy – Voulkos Art Center.  Go Jori!  You can check out her blog at joriandthejbird.blogspot.com.

Cara Long is getting ready to exhibit , as well.  Her show, “suspension and pause: illuminated porcelain installations,” will take place October 10 - November 8, 2008 at J. Bird.  Cara visited my office today just before driving off to Tennessee for another solo show. She will be showing translucent porcelain artwork at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville. The ACC is one of the premier art and fine craft centers in the nation, featuring local and national artists in their galleries, and offering long-term residencies in multiple fine craft disciplines.  She is probably about halfway to Tennessee right now.  It’s a 10-hour trip. Safe travels, Cara!

Cara Long

Hello alumni,

Please allow me to “introduce” Krystal Kuhn and Joe Fuller, the advancement department’s work study team.  Krystal and Joe are sophomores, studying fiber and digital filmmaking/creative writing, respectively. Because the alumni relations office is a part of advancement,   Krystal and Joe help me to complete a number of important tasks, such as day-to-day stuff like filing and mailings and special projects during our big events, Alumni Weekend(May 1 & 2 this year) and the Auction (June 6).

Since Joe is studying creative writing, I asked him if he’d write a little something for our new blog, and he graciously obliged me. Please read his thoughts below.  You’ll get some insight into his choice to attend KCAI.

When posed with the quandary of choosing a path in the art world, I have found my answer quite simple, I wish to pursue a field that enlarges.  My name is Joe Fuller, I am a sophomore in the digital film department.  While it has been renamed, and thus introduced as a new department it embodies a culmination of Ideas and disciplines which have made the Kansas City Art Institute known.  I have found myself particularly interested because of its freshness, which resembles a ball of clay.  It has yet to find a complete form, however, it is not devoid of form all together.  Sure there will not be too many balls of clay lying around a digital studio; some might argue that nothing is really being made, in a tactile sense.  This is true if one would ignore the interdisciplinary aspects of film, from scripts to characters, costumes, props, sets, digital backgrounds, green screens, sound, lights, and everything in between.

I also plan on double majoring in creative writing, which in my mind serves as the main course in my film aspirations.  While I acknowledge the importance of visual arts, being heavily involved in painting and drawing myself, I reserve a great deal of respect for the story.  Visual components, sound, and characters all serve the story, whether it be simple or complex or not even obvious at all.

My aspirations for enlargement are secure in KCAI through its traditional art atmosphere which provides me with reference and vitality as I take what I have learned in foundations into a new direction.  I feel like a musician, standing backstage, with the curtain drawn, awaiting my cue, my performance, I am both restless and excited.

-Joe Fuller

Hello KCAI alumni,

For those of you who do not know me already, I am Andrea Adams,  your new (highly caffeinated) director of alumni relations.  It is my pleasure to work for all of you. I can’t tell you how much I love my job!  It is my charge to maintain/develop a mutually beneficial relationship between KCAI and the alumni. That means I get to learn about all of the fascinating things you are doing along the way.  What fun!  Speaking of which, if you would like to share your accomplishments to the whole world via this new-fangled inter-web business (did I mention I am a blogging neophyte?), please contact me about being alumni blogger of the month.  This would be a great way to share stories about your work, your travels and your family. I know many of you have cute baby pictures to share!  Bring `em on! (John Ferry, I’m talking to you!) You can reach me at alumni@kcai.edu.  Now, read on for alumni news…

President Kathleen Collins, Julie Metzler (Career Services) and I will be traveling to New York in October to spend time with our NY alumni. I am very excited about this trip, because I find New York to be fabulous. It must be especially nice in the fall.

The alumni gathering will be held from 5:30 - 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 23 at the Mike Weiss Gallery. The lovely and gracious Amy Myers will be our special guest. She will be showing new work in the gallery at that time. Amy is pictured below. Her billboard-sized piece, “Liquid,” was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation’s ARTwall. Please check out Art in the Loop! This is a great opportunity for KCAI alumni to make public art for Kansas City. http://www.downtownkc.org/content.aspx?pgID=959

Speaking of New York, Al Lupiani, an artist and manager of the AICAD studio in Brooklyn (our students have the opportunity to spend a semester there), visited our campus earlier this month.

I asked him for advice about blogging over dinner at the Classic Cup on the Plaza. He launched an art review blog recently (www.artblognyc.com), so he had a lot to say on the topic. He suggested I write interesting, grammatically correct things, update frequently, and post a lot of pictures. Committed as I am to the KCAI alumni readership, I plan to do all three.

Thank you for reading my first entry. Stay tuned for alumni news and the latest KCAI buzz.

This blog is under development.  Please check back soon!