In The News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 2, 2010 ) — L. William Zahner, CEO of A. Zahner Company, Architectural Metals, has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of the Kansas City Art Institute. His term of office begins July 1. A member of the board of trustees since July 2004, he succeeds Gary Gradinger, chairman and CEO of Golden Star Inc., who had served as board chair since 2007.

Kansas City, Mo. (May 14, 2010) -- “Dried Up,” an animated film by Jeremy Casper (’09 animation), Isaiah Powers (’09 animation) and Stuart Bury (’10 animation), has won a Student Academy Award in the 37th annual Student Academy Awards competition hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The filmmakers will travel to California for the award ceremony June 12, at which time they will learn whether their film is receiving a gold, silver or bronze award.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 26, 2010) — The Kansas City Art Institute this week announced the hire of Tabitha Schmidt as director of special programs for KCAI’s main and Northland campuses.  The main campus is located at 4415 Warwick Blvd., and the Northland Campus for Special Programs is at 1801 N.W. Platte Rd., #275, in Riverside, Mo. Both locations offer programs for children, youth and adults as well as special opportunities for art educators and for high-school students thinking about majoring in art and design in college.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 14, 2010) –– The Kansas City Art Institute’s end-of-semester exhibition and sale, showcasing contemporary student artwork in a wide range of media, will take place May 7-9. The exhibition and sale will feature two- and three-dimensional work by students in the departments of ceramics, digital filmmaking, fiber, graphic design, interdisciplinary arts, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. Pieces will be displayed in the various studio buildings on campus. Work can be purchased beginning at 5 p.m.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 14, 2010) — Kerry James Marshall, known for large-scale paintings, sculptures and other objects that take African-American life and history as their subject matter, has been named the Kansas City Art Institute’s 2010 commencement speaker. Commencement ceremonies will be held at 2 p.m. May 15 at the Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 2, 2010) – Artwork by 98 candidates for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Kansas City Art Institute will be on view in the “2010 B.F.A. Exhibition” from April 17 to May 15 at the H&R Block Artspace at KCAI, 16 E. 43rd St. A closing reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 14. In connection with the exhibition, art history and creative writing students will read from “Compendium 2010,” an anthology of their writings and images, at noon Friday, May 14.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 17, 2010) — Kathleen Collins, president of the Kansas City Art Institute since 1996, today announced she will retire as of June 30, 2011. At the time of her retirement, Collins will have served as president of the college for 15 years, longer than any other president in the Art Institute’s 125-year history.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 5, 2010) — Design Ignites Change, a collaboration between Adobe Youth Voices and Worldstudio, announced the inaugural 2009 Implementation Award winners: PieLab’s “Pecans!” and Kansas City Art Institute’s “A Book by its Cover: Reading Stereotypes” and “Freewall: Making Space for Diversity.”