KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan. 27, 2011) – “On Watch” opens Feb. 10 with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, 16 E. 43rd St. The exhibition explores strategies of surveillance in contemporary art and culture in the works of six international artists and a pioneering open-source project team.

KANSAS CITY, MO. (Jan. 23, 2011) – Ann Willoughby of Willoughby Design, a nationally recognized brand innovation and identity design firm, has been appointed as the Joyce C. Hall Distinguished Professor of Design at the Kansas City Art Institute, a private four-year college of art and design. Having aided in launching the pilot AIGA design leadership program at Harvard, Willoughby will significantly enrich the school’s graphic design program and the experience of its students.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan. 20, 2011) – Kansas City Art Institute alumnus Akio Takamori was recently awarded a $50,000 USA Fellow grant from the United States Artists Foundation. The USA Fellow grants are annually distributed to innovative performing, visual, media and literary artists across the country. Takamori’s hand-painted ceramic sculptures of standing, seated or sleeping human figures are often drawn from childhood memories of small-village life in Japan and are said to “evoke an eerie sense of reality and presence.”