Charlotte Street Foundation

The Missouri Bank Crossroads Branch, 125 Southwest Boulevard, debuts four new large-scale commissioned images, by Kansas City based artists Elijah Gowin and Emily Sall, on its “Artboards” in time for First Friday June 5, 2009.  Elijah Gowin’s images, featuring a single figure set against a backdrop of blue sky punctuated by wispy clouds, might be seen as poignant meditations on personal and societal anxiety during a time of global change and crisis, as evocations of existential uncertainty, or as portraits of escape or release.  Inspired by the urban environment, Emily Sall describes her two east-facing images as “graffiti like blueprints of ever changing cityscapes.”  They also play on the idea of billboard advertising in terms of their bold colors, flattened imagery, and the digital manner in which they were created.

The “Artboards” project began last fall, 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 Missouri Bank’s purchase and renovation of the building. Designed by Helix Architecture + Design, Missouri Bank’s  was the first Kansas City area building project to gain “Art Achievement” through Art through Architecture (AtA), 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’s Crossroads Branch, 125 Southwest Boulevard, debuts four new commissioned images on its “Artboards” on Feburary 6, by Kansas City based artists Archie Scott Gobber and Miki Baird. Gobber’s images, to be displayed side-by-side, reference, and literally illustrate, the buzzword that so pervaded the recent presidential election, while also capitalizing on the nature of the billboard itself as something temporary, to be replaced in the near future with  a different message. Miki Baird’s “Urban Deposit” draws upon her interest in pedestrian waste—“litter, trash and ‘stuff’—the kind of things we all leave behind.” For this piece, Baird walked around the Crossroads area photographing plastic bottles, cups, and discarded wrappers, in situ and close-up, then combined dozens of these small images to create a larger pattern.

The “Artboards” project began last fall, 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 Missouri Bank’s purchase and renovation of the building. Designed by Helix Architecture + Design, Missouri Bank’s  was the first Kansas City area building project to gain “Art Achievement” through Art through Architecture (AtA), 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 the full press release. Visit AtA’s NEW WEBSITE: www.ArtArch.org.

Missouri Bank’s new Crossroads Branch, 125 Southwest Boulevard, is the first Kansas City area building project to gain “Art Achievement” status through Art through Architecture (AtA), a new program designed to encourage collecting and commissioning work by Kansas City area artists through architectural practice.

Among the building’s integrated art components is Golden Hedges, a multi-part, site-specific sculptural installation by Jesse Small. In addition, the building’s existing pair of double-sided billboards have been transformed into “The Artboards,” a highly visible new site for commissioned images by Kansas City area artists. Debuting with works by Kansas City based artists Warren Rosser and Jaimie Warren, these renovated and repurposed billboards will present newly commissioned artworks by Kansas City area artists every four months, produced as digital prints on ECO-flex, a new, “green” billboard material.

“Local artists have long been an important part of our customer base, and we are thrilled to include their work as an integral part of our Crossroads Branch,” said Grant Burcham, President of Missouri Bank. “The Art through Architecture program has helped us to do exactly what we wanted to do, without re-inventing the wheel.”

Read full press release.

The Charlotte Street Foundation and the American Institute of Architects-Kansas City (AiA-KC) are excited to announce Art through Architecture (AtA), a new partnership to promote and support the work of Kansas City area artists through architectural practice. AtA provides incentives and tools to encourage and empower architects and their clients to incorporate art and artists from the Kansas City area into their projects. New architectural projects may qualify for Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels of “Art Achievement” by dedicating percentages of total construction budgets to collecting artwork, commissioning temporary or permanent artworks, and/or including artists on design teams.

The new AtA website, www.ArtArch.org, launching late fall 2008, will serve as a tool for architects and their clients to identify artists of interest for specific projects. Artists within a 60 mile radius of downtown KC were invited to apply earlier this year for potential inclusion in the program’s on-line artist database, which will be updated annually. In addition, AtA representatives will provide hands-on support to architects and their clients pursuing Art Achievement status for their projects.

A new call to artists will be posted annually.