Debra Smith, Fiber alumna (‘93), graciously receives the Fiber department with a display of work and cookies at her exhibition at Studios Inc. Debra sat us all down and shared some advice about sustaining a practice and making a career as a studio artist.
KC Gallery Tour with Marie's Juniors!
Fiber Juniors take a Friday field trip to three KC institutions—Mid-America Arts Alliance (MAAA), Haw Contemporary, and PLUG Projects. Students visited a not-for-profit Mid-America Arts Alliance (MAAA) and saw the work of Marcie Miller Gross, went to the commercial space Haw Contemporary to see the work of Claudia Casarino, and checked out the artist-run space PLUG Projects to see an installation by Amy Kligman. The day concluded with a discussion of the differences between these various platforms to exhibit works and the possibilities inherent within each of them.
Utopian Library Exhibition @ KCAI Crossroads Gallery
The Utopian Library was a collaborative exhibition highlighting thinking and research by KCAI students from the electives Hand and Machine Knitting taught by Marie Bannerot McInerney and Utopias taught by Anne Boyer. Along with texts and objects selected and/or made by students the library included a micro residency of the award-winning poet CA Conrad whose poetry has expanded the notion of the lyric to include the idea of the “extreme present”. This exhibition was in connection with the Hand and Machine Knitting elective’s involvement with The West Bottoms Reborn Project—a collaborative effort involving PLUG Projects, The Kansas City Design Center, and visiting artist Julie Schenkelberg, funded by an NEA Grant.
Max Adrian Teaches an Inflatable Workshop
Alumnus and current Arrowmont Resident, Max Adrian, visits the Fiber Department to teach a one-day workshop about inflatables! Under Max's tutelage, students made large-scale sculptures with vinyl table cloths, irons, and box fans. Check them out!
Kim Teaches A Natural Dye Class At Powell Gardens!
Kim taught a one-day natural dye workshop packed with information about the history and process of using natural dye. Through the Continuing Professional Studies (CPS) department at KCAI, 14 members of the community learned about imparting color on fiber with plant-based (and bug-based!) materials. Students experienced the magic of a vat dye with the only true blue, indigo, and played with mordant dyes sourced from the bountiful gardens at Powell, marigold, walnuts, sumac, and so much more!
Pam Johnson's Donation of Historic Textiles!
Casting Shadows 2017 Faculty and Staff Biennial Exhibition
The Kansas City Art Institute is home to faculty that are passionate about teaching because they are artists devoted to their crafts and the continued growth of their artistic practices. The campus at large is a creative community made up of full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, and staff who work together and contribute to a diverse landscape of talent and creativity. The 2017 KCAI Biennial Exhibition will include both faculty and staff members with a studio practice, focusing on sculptural exploration and uncovering the many ways that artists form ideas and give form to those ideas.
This exhibition is organized by Jennifer Baker and has been planned to coincide with The 27th International Sculpture Conference: Intersection + Identities being held in Kansas City on October 25-28, 2017. Submissions were juried by Jennifer Baker, Assistant Curator at H&R Block Artspace; Sally Frater, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Ulrich Museum of Art; and Joey Orr, Assistant Curator of Research at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Featuring work by: Logan Acton, Marie Bannerot McInerney, Patricia Bordallo Dibildox, Jill Downen, Cary Esser, Cyan Meeks and Karen McCoy, Jarrett Mellenbruch, Il Sung Na, Liz Smith, Damien Spader, Natalie Spicker, Caleb Taylor, Pauline Verbeek-Cowart and Dwight Frizzell, and James Woodfill.
Featured in this post, left to right: Fiber Department Chair, Pauline Verbeek-Cowart (in collaboration with Dwight Frizzell), Assistant Professor of Fiber Marie Bannerot McInerney, and Fiber Technician Natalie Spicker
Photos by E.G. Schmpf
Juniors in the Beals Studios - Modeling, Milling, Felting Form!
As a part of the Junior curriculum exploring Hand and Digital Tools, Marie's Juniors visit the David T. Beals III Studios for Art and Technology where they learn about 3D modeling and milling and lasercutting. Students listen attentively as Studio Coordinator, Nathan Neufeld, gives a crash course of modeling with the CAD program Rhino, which the students will use to create 3D forms to use for felting. After CNC milling their forms, students process the raw wool—skirting and washing the fleece, carding the fiber, and everyone's all smiles when wet felting commences!
Eclipse Day! 2018
We got to celebrate the start of the 2018 school year, sitting at the edge of totality. We shared some solar cucumbers ("Pauline's little suns") grown by our department chair Pauline Verbeek-Cowart
THE PERFORMATIVE LOOM
The KCAI Crossroads Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice presents, The Performative Loom: sound, rhythm and experimental making, a collaborative project shared between the KCAI Fiber Department led by Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, students in Advanced Audio-Vision led by Dwight Frizzell, and students in Space Between Papers led by Marie Bannerot McInerney.
Taking into account the experiential relationship between academia, art, community, and labor that took place during the experiment of the Black Mountain College and the interdisciplinary nature of the Bauhuas model, The Performative Loom: sound, rhythm, and experimental making is a collaborative project that hosts various large scale methods of fabrication with linear elements while activating the human body as the central tool. Participants will undertake a series of choreographed movements in response to soundscapes and instruments created with handmade paper to construct large scale sculptural objects.
Students who participated in the ideation, creation, and/or performance include: Fannie Berlau, Ari Bonner, Nina Burton, Michelle Chan, Lizzie Christie, Olivia Clanton, Lizbeth Contreras, Arden Cook, Josie Eckerman, Zak Engelken, Lila Ferber, Chase Ford, Rowen Foster, Rebecca Gemeinhardt, Lizzie Green, Rosemary Hall, Willow Hardman, Emily Harrison, Nicole Hartman, Suzanna Haydt, Matthew Johnson, Minji Kim, Merrick Knudsen, Diana Lerma, Bee Little, Nina Littrell, Kylie McConnell, Xiaolei McKean, Abby Miller, Sydney Mortara, Maddie Murphy, Morgan Nix, Maddie O’Connor, Glitch Perry, William Plummer, Kelly Runningen, Ren Seitz, Natalie Spicker, Jordan Tanner, Sebastian Thomas, Anna Van Gheem, Megan Videmschek, Tamara Walker, Lulu Wang, Cassandra Wegenka, Courtney Whitaker, Rakel Wyatt, and Rebecca Yoo
2017 SENIOR PICNIC & GRADUATION
We are excited for the opportunities ahead for this great group! Good luck everyone!
PREPARATIONS FOR THE PERFORMATIVE LOOM
Faculty members Pauline Verbeek Cowart, Dwight Frizzel, and Marie Bannerot McInerney bring students together to consider weaving, papermaking, sound, and performance for a collaborative installation at the KCAI Crossroads Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice. Here are some in progress pics.
Large Scale Papermaking!
Experiementations with our new 4' x 8' mould and deckle purchased from papermaker Jennie Frederick. over beaten flax combined + pigmented overbeaten abaca = SHRINKAGE!
FOR THE RECORD | 2017 JUNIOR EXHIBITION
Congratulations to: Diana Lerma, Kelly Runningen, Lizzie Christie, Maddie Murphy, Maddie O'Connor, Nicole Hartman, Ren Seitz, Rosemary Hall,and William Plummer!
Hop to it! Spraying Paper with state of the art stucco sprayer
Papermaking elective students spray paper pulp to create sculptural forms
Spring 2017 Sheep Shearing!
Nothing like a beautiful Saturday morning at a sheep farm! Thank you Caryn Miller for inviting us into the process.
TREAT YO'SELF
Come join us in fiber for the TREAT YO' SELF Pop up shop!
Meditation and Exhibition at Paragraph Gallery
Juniors spend the afternoon at Paragraph Gallery participating in a fabric mandala meditation with local artist, Monica Dixon and discussing the current exhibition with artist and fiber alum, BOIBOY.
POM POM WORKSHOP!
Student group, Students For Sustainability hosts a POM POM making workshop using fiber department yarn waste.
Juniors spend the afternoon at H&R Block Artspace
H&R Block Artspace Assistant Curator, Jennifer Baker shares her artist book, zine, and small press publications collection to help Fiber Department Juniors research for thier upcoming exhibition zine. Thank you Jennifer!
