The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri.
KCAI is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. It has about 75 faculty members and some 600 students.
KCAI offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, in which a comprehensive liberal arts program is complemented by emphasis in one of the following studio majors: Animation, Ceramics, Design, Fiber, Painting, Photo & New Media, Printmaking, Interdisciplinary Arts , and Sculpture. Majors in Art History as well as Studio Art with an Emphasis in Creative Writing are also available.
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History
The school started in 1885 when art enthusiasts formed the "Sketch Club" with the purpose of "talking over art matters in general and to judge pictures." Meetings were originally in private homes and then moved to the Deardorf Building at 11th and Main in downtown Kansas City.
The club had its first exhibition in 1887 and 12 benefactors stepped forward to form the Kansas City Art Association and School of Design.
In 1927 Howard Vanderslice purchased the August R. Meyer residence, a Germanic castle entitled Marburg and its 8-acre (32,400 m²) estate at 44th and Warwick Boulevard adjacent to the planned Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. A Wight and Wight addition was added to the building. The residence was later renamed "Vanderslice Hall" and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with another building on the campus—Mineral Hall. The campus has since expanded to 15 acres (60,700 m²).
In 1935 painter Thomas Hart Benton left New York City to teach at the school. Among the artists Benton influenced as a teacher at KCAI were Frederic James, Margot Peet, Jackson Lee Nesbitt, Roger Medearis, Glenn Gant, and Delmer J. Yoakum.[1] Though Benton brought attention to the Art Institute, he was dismissed in 1941 after making disparaging references to, as he claimed, the excessive influence of homosexuals in the art world.[2]
In 1977, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival was founded as a benefit for the school, which it remained until sold to a for-profit company in 1999. In 1992 the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened on the west side of the campus.
Notable faculty
- Thomas Hart Benton - Leader of Regionalist art movement; KCAI teacher, 1935-1941
- Elaine de Kooning -- Painter, visiting critic
- Dale Eldred - Sculptor, enviornmentalist
- Glenn Gant - Regionalist painter, student of Benton, KCAI teacher
- Frederic James - Watercolor painter, KCAI teacher
Notable alumni
- Martin Arnold - Filmmaker
- Robert Berdella, serial killer [3]
- Dan Christensen - Painter
- Richard Corben - Comic book creator
- John Steuart Curry - Painter
- Marisol Deluna - New York Fashion designer, founder of Deluna By Design, Inc.
- John de Martelly - Regionalist printmaker, KCAI printmaking teacher
- Walt Disney - Animator, media entrepeneur (attended Saturday morning classes as a child)[4]
- Angela Dufresne - Painter
- Ellen Fullman - Inventor of long string instrument
- Jon Gnagy, - Nationally syndicated television art teacher
- Michael Greathouse - Video artist
- April Greiman - Graphic designer
- Christian Holstad - Conceptual artist
- Dennis Hopper - Actor, attended Saturday classes during high school
- Arthur Kraft - Sculptor and Painter
- Frank S. Land, founder of DeMolay [5]
- Ronnie Landfield - Painter
- Doris Lee - Painter
- Mercedes Matter - Painter, co-founder of the New York Studio School
- Louisa Matthiasdottir - Painter
- Roger Medearis - Regionalist Painter, student of Benton
- Robert Morris - Sculptor, performance and installation artist
- Jackson Lee Nesbitt - Artist known for his regionalist etchings and lithographs, student of Benton
- William F. Nolan - Screenwriter, original Twilight Zone co-author
- Victor Papanek - UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) designer/mediator; author, Design for the Real World; campaigned against unsafe design, advocate for design in the developing world
- Margot Peet - Painter, student of Benton
- Sam Prekop - Chicago Photographer, musician with The Sea and Cake
- Archer Prewitt - Chicago Illustrator, musician with The Sea and Cake and the Coctails
- Robert Rauschenberg - Painter
- Mikel Rouse - Composer who developed Totalism (music)
- Eric Sall - Painter
- Jim Suptic - Sculptor, musician
- Akio Takamori - Ceramic artist
- Christopher Willits - Musician, sound and multimedia artist
- Delmer J. Yoakum - Artist, set designer/painter
References
- ^ Under the Influence: The Students of Thomas Hart Benton. Marianne Berardi. The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. 1993.
- ^ "Benton Hates Museums". Time. 1941-04-14. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932248,00.html. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
- ^ My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers Helen Morrison - William Morrow; 1st. edition (May 4, 2004) ISBN 0060524073
- ^ Biography of Walt Disney, Film Producer - kchistory.org - Retrieved September 14, 2009
- ^ Frank Sherman Land - kchistory.org - Retrieved September 14, 2009
External links
Coordinates: 39°02′47″N 94°34′59″W / 39.046253°N 94.58308°W
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