Charlotte Street Foundation

New large-scale commissioned images by Kansas City based artists Michael Sinclair and Allan Winkler debut on Missouri Bank Crossroads Branch’s Art through Architecture “Artboards” at 125 Southwest Boulevard in time for First Friday March, 2010.

Michael Sinclair presents photographs taken at two Kansas City, Missouri parks: Blue Valley Park at East 23rd and Topping, and Loose Park at 52nd and Wornall. The two images (from a much larger body of Sinclair’s work focused on urban parks in the area) share a strong sense symmetry, emphasizing the carefully designed interplay of nature and culture in these places while also calling into relief the contrast between the two parks, one on the East side of the city, the other on the West. Allan Winkler presents images of two new black and white paper-cut artworks that offer a portrait of community; a lively, diverse neighborhood of friendly cohorts.  Titled “Community Meeting,” Winkler’s detailed pair of images exemplify the artist’s skillfulness in the medium of paper cutting as well as his ability to convey joy, delight, and a deep sense of humanity using the simplest of means.

An Art through Architecture “Art Achievement” project, the Missouri Bank “Artboards” launched fall 2008, when the building’s existing double-sided billboards were renovated and converted into a highly visible site for work by area artists as part of the bank’s purchase and renovation of the building to house its Crossroads Branch, completed by Helix Architecture + Design. Art through Architecture (AtA) is a partnership of American Institute of Architects-Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation designed to encourage collecting and commissioning work by Kansas City area artists through architectural practice. Read full press release.

Missouri Bank, BKS Real Estate, and Helix Architecture + Design have been awarded highest level “Art Achievement” by Art through Architecture (AtA) for commissioning “DREAM,” a new, site-specific art installation by Kansas City based artist Archie Scott Gobber. The project was commissioned as part of the architectural renovation of the historic former Star Motors building at 7 West 62nd Terrace in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, MO.

Gobber’s installation animates one long wall of Missouri Bank’s new vehicular drive-thru, which runs straight through the center of the building. It features large-scale, hand-painted aluminum letters (each approx 93”x84”) spelling “DREAM,” which float off of a brightly painted, horizontally-striped background spanning the length of the drive-thru, some 90 feet long.

“DREAM is a spectacular addition to the building,” said Grant Burcham, President and CEO of Missouri Bank. “Not only does it make an ordinary drive-through extraordinary, it speaks to our entrepreneurial niche: entrepreneurs are dreamers by definition! We are very pleased with the public support we have received for participating in the Art through Architecture program for both our Crossroads bank, and our new Brookside bank,” he added. “The response has been so overwhelmingly positive, we would not consider another project without participating in the program.”

Read full press release. For more about Art through Architecture, a partnership of Charlotte Street and American Institute of Architects-Kansas City, visit www.artarch.org.

See Review article featuring the installation by Jessica Sain-Baird.

Charlotte Street Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of three Kansas City artists to receive unrestricted cash Awards of $10,000 each in 2010. Selected by a panel of local and national curators from a pool of 48 nominated artists, the recipients are Ari Fish, Sonie Ruffin and Caleb Taylor.

Charlotte Street Foundation has now recognized 71 Kansas City based visual artists with Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, with a total of $452,500 in unrestricted cash grants distributed directly to visual artists over thirteen years.  (An additional $25,000 has been awarded to five generative performing artists, through CSF’s Generative Performing Artists Awards launched in 2008.) An exhibition of the work of the 2010 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards Fellows will presented at Grand Arts in fall, 2010. Read full press release. Press about the 2010 Awards fellows (click each for link): Kansas City Star; KCUR-FM, Kansas City Free Press, Review.

Charlotte Street Foundation is planning its first benefit party ever and, of course, wants artists of all disciplines to be at the center of it! For one night, *you are HERE will transform a downtown parking garage into an urban destination.  Individual parking spots will serve as the sites for art installations, live performances, and other artist-driven projects, as well as for food and drink stations, cocktail lounges, picnic areas, and other mobile elements. Our vision is of a high-energy party spreading throughout the parking garage, where guests of all walks of life mix and celebrate amidst and among a series of wildly diverse installations, destinations, happenings, and experiences. At the end of the night, everything packs up and drives away.

Proposals are invited from artists and creatives of all kinds interested in producing a *you are HERE destination for the benefit. You may submit a proposal as a solo artist or on behalf of a collaborative group. Download application info HERE. Deadline is March 15, 2010. The event is October 2, 2010.