2016 End of Semester Show preview

Around this time every year I find myself completely amazed at how fast the semester has flown by and I wonder where the time has gone. Once again, our students have created some wonderful, inspiring, thoughtful work - we're so proud of you all! To give you a taste of what's going to be in the show, we've decided to give you a little sneak peek and show some of the work here. But don't take our word for it -- come by and see the entire show for yourselves! There are close to 150 pieces in this year's show. Join us for the opening THIS FRIDAY, May 6 from 5-8 pm! KCAI Illustration is at 324 East 43rd Street, KCMO, 64111. Hope to see you there!

The show continues this Saturday, May 7 from 10am-5pm and will be open again on Sunday, May 8 from 12-5pm.

Twodee Weaver, senior

Coti Meier, junior

James Mied, sophomore

Karolina Asimov, senior

Steven Bolds, junior

Jess Bonniwell, sophomore

Tobias Rose, senior

Ethan Tucker, junior

Cece Martin, sophomore

Emily Woodson, senior

Luna Green, junior

Gabrielle Brandini, sophomore

JOIN US for the 2016 KCAI Illustration End of Semester Show!

JOIN US on Friday, May 6th from 5-8pm to view the 2016 End of Semester Illustration Exhibition, featuring works by sophomore, junior, and senior illustration students. The exhibition will be open to the public throughout the weekend. Refreshments will be served!

Come on by! We'd love to see you!

Stay tuned for a preview of the work that'll be in the show, here.

KCAI Illustration 2016 End of Semester Show poster by junior Lauren Sieder

Society of Illustrators Student Competition 2016!

We just found out that several of our students and recent alums have had work accepted into the Society of Illustrators Student Competition! AH we're so proud of you all!  

All of the pieces below will be on display at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, NY from May 10 - June 4, 2016 with an opening reception and awards ceremony on Friday, May 13, 2016. A full color catalog will also accompany the exhibit.

Check out the winning pieces below. Big congrats everyone!! 

Title: Age of Information

Artist: Rosie Ruzicka

Medium: Digital

Instructor: David Terrill

Title: Keep it Weird

Artist: Kelsey Wroten

Medium: Ink and Digital

Instructor: David Terrill

Title: Ouija Alphabet Soup

Artist: Allason Lewis

Medium: 3D Mixed Media

Instructor: Hector Casanova

Title: Wild

Artist: Coti Meier

Medium: Ink pen and acrylic with digital finish

Instructor: Maura Cluthe

Title: Bicylce Shadows

Artist: Courtney Belisle

Medium: Ink

Instructor: Johne Richardson

Coming to the Kansas City Auto Show!

Three Illustration students from the Kansas City Art Institute, in cooperation with the Kansas City Auto Show and the Art of the Car Concours, are wrapping three BMW MINIs with original artwork for display at this year's Kansas City Auto Show. The program is coordinated through KCAI's Sponsored Studio program where students find creative solutions for local businesses. KCAI's Illustration students were asked to create unique designs that could be applied to cars. Representatives from the KC Auto Show, BMW, and Art of the Car Concours selected the top three designs for display at the Auto Show, held March 2-6, 2016 at Bartle Hall.

The three senior Illustration students whose work was selected for the program include Alison Polston from O'Fallon, MO; Emily Woodson from Pensacola, FL and Twodee Weaver from Austin, TX. 

Illustration/concept by Alison Polston

Illustration/concept by Emily Woodson

Illustration/concept by Twodee Weaver

The public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite design while attending the Auto Show. The Automobile Dealers of Greater Kansas City Charitable Foundation will award scholarships to the three students based on public vote. The car with the top votes will receive $2000, second place will receive $1000 and third place will receive $750. The three final designs were culled from 13 student entries.

Additional partners in this project include Baron MINI, who provided the three Mini Coopers and Wrap It Up! Vehicle Wraps in Shawnee, KS.

BiG CONGRATS to Alison, Emily and Twodee!

Fall means....the 4x4s are coming!

Every fall, sophomore students in John Ferry's Color & Space class take on the daunting task of creating a 4x4 foot self-portrait. Each portrait, made up of roughly 2300 individually painted squares, comes together over the course of 8-16 weeks throughout the semester. Students create the portraits using oil; for many of them it's the first time they've created a piece this large and it's the first time they've painted in oil. Here are just a few of the wonderful pieces that are popping up within the studio. It's always fun to see these come together!

Sophomore Claire Harlow working on her 4x4

John Ferry's Color & Space class

Sophomore Megan Henley working on her 4x4

Sophomore Astrid Blurr with her completed 4x4

Big thanks JooHee!

This October, we were lucky enough to have super-talented JooHee Yoon join us for a day as a visiting artist to our department. 

Visiting Artist JooHee Yoon with Assistant Professor David Terrill

Needless to say, we were all very excited to have JooHee join us for a day. Her fun, colorful, printmaking-inspired work is something that many of us have admired for some time. Her recently released books, Beastly Verse and The Tiger Who Would Be King, both published by Enchanted Lion Books, have created quite a buzz, in addition to her multifaceted editorial work.

JooHee surprised our students by giving them each a print from her recent book, Beastly Verse -- it was a bit of a stampede as students went up to claim their print! She also brought a stack of her recent picture books to sell. I think she sold every last one!

What a wonderful surprise!

At the end of the day, we all get together for a Q&A session with our visiting artist. This is a chance for the students to ask JooHee all sorts of questions. The students had a lot of great questions and JooHee provided some wonderful insight.

The Q&A discussion begins!

Every visiting artist that comes to KCAI Illustration gives our students a project. All the students within every level in the department participate and create a piece for the project; they usually have about a week to complete it. For her project, JooHee challenged the students to create an 18x24 inch travel poster to a place that could be real or imagined. As an instructor, I always love to see what the students come up with and once again, I was amazed. There were some wonderful pieces!!

The final step for our visiting artist is for them to select what they consider to be the top 25-30 solutions for the project. Out of those 25-30 pieces, they select their Top 3 solutions. The students whose work is selected as one of the Top 3 have the opportunity to go to dinner with the visiting artist! Congrats to the Top 3 picks senior Taylor Fourt, junior Ethan Tucker and sophomore Gabrielle Brandini!

Taylor Fourt

Ethan Tucker

Gabrielle Brandini

Dinner with JooHee at Cafe Trio, Kansas City, MO. Also present Assistant Professor David Terrill, Assistant Professor John Ferry, Instructor Hector Casanova, Instructor Kyle Strahm and Assistant Professor Maura Cluthe (taking the picture!). What a fun night!

There were so many strong solutions to this project, that JooHee had a hard time narrowing it down to these final three. So, she chose 3 Honorable Mentions as well. Congrats to senior Alison Polston, senior Karolina Akimov and sophomore Max Peake! 

Alison Polston

Karolina Akimov

Max Peake

Thanks again, JooHee, for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by and visit with us!

Art of the Car Concours 2015

We're just a little over a week away from the annual Art of the Car Concours event! Art of the Car Concours was initiated in 2007 by event originator/ KCAI supporter / car collector Marshall Miller. Miller wanted to create an event that highlights unique, vintage automobiles, race cars and motorcycle designs. Additionally, it is also a benefit event for the Kansas City Art Institute Scholarship Fund. For this year's event, Assistant Professor John Ferry worked with Marshall Miller to provide an opportunity to students to create artwork for the event catalogue through John's Illustration elective, The Voice. This year's theme: Dream Cars of the Mid Century.

In addition to having their work printed and part of the 2015 Art of the Car Concours catalogue, individual prints will be available for sale at the event on Sunday, June 28, 2015. Congratulations to all the students below!

For more information on Art of the Car Concours, visit their website.

Another fun Rail Project this year!

Every year, sophomores in the Illustration Department take part in the "Rail Project" led by Professor and Department Chair Steve Mayse. I asked Steve recently about how the Rail Project came about and why he has the students take on such a unique endeavor. "The "Rail Project" was born out of what I felt in the program was a need for pure creative problem solving or solution finding, using simple materials (cardboard and glue, only), a break from the norm and a chance to revitalize the effort toward team-building and away from an emphasis on the art form result serving only the self. As illustration majors, most students find the assignment a bit of a nuisance, generally, but I believe in the end, they realize the significance of the off-track (no pun intended) experience and how important collaboration/team, play, exploration, invention and discovery is to their overall artistic experience."

Students usually have about 3-4 weeks to build their vehicle that will carry their weight, roll (somehow) or move down the "rail" and survive the test from start to finish. They have to be in it or on it. Each student is assisted by other students down the "rail" for safety reasons and for the team-building effort.

The Rail Project gets started. Photo by Jake Fowler.

Steve made the "rail" and the stands out of scrap 2"x4"s. The length is approximately 80' long and the rail is elevated 18" off of the ground with a secure stand every 4 feet. The stands are secured to the ground with 8" nails to eliminate any movement and the rail is screwed to the stands with 2.5" screws. The system goes up in about an hour and tears down in about 30 minutes. Steve calls the assignment the "yougottobeinit" project. Every year, Steve prints everyone a t-shirt to commemorate the event; they are different every year. This is used as a way for the media (KC Star and tv stations) to identify the project participants for interview and photos.

Click on the image below for a short slideshow. Photos by Steve Mayse.

Professor Steve Mayse and Assistant Professor John Ferry with KCAI Illustration sophomores. Photo by R.T. Smith.

Senior artwork featured at the WWI Museum event

Senior R.T. Smith recently did a piece for an event called Operation: War Fare, held this April at the National World War I Museum here in Kansas City. "They hosted the event and had an unbelievable turn out. The museum said the campaign for this event was one of the most successful they've ever had! We hope to do a series of illustrations for their events throughout the rest of the year," said R.T., who interned at the museum during his junior year.

Illustration by R.T. Smith

Attached are a few shots that the museum sent R.T. from the night of the event. The museum decided to use R.T.'s illustration behind the panel of celebrity chef's and Kansas City Mayor Sly James. Too cool! 

2015 End of Semester Show preview!

Holy cow there's a lot of incredible work once again this year! To give you a taste of what's going to be in the show, we've decided to give you a little sneak peek and show some of the work here. But don't take our word for it -- come by and see for yourselves! Join us for the opening Friday, May 8 from 5-8 pm! KCAI Illustration is at 324 East 43rd Street, KCMO, 64111. Hope to see you there!

Adam Soyring / senior illustration

R.T. Smith / senior illustration

Lois Krumlauf / sophomore illustration

Kelsey Borch / senior illustration

Jessica Becker / junior illustration

Emily Woodson / junior illustration

Kelsey Wroten / senior illustration

Tobias Rose / junior illustration

Allason Lewis / sophomore illustration

Lauren Seider / sophomore illustration

Alicia Wyatt / junior illustration

Jasper Swindell / sophomore illustration

Emily Stout / junior illustration

Spencer Ryan Edward Pullen / senior illustration

Alison Polston / junior illustration

Twodee Weaver / junior illustration

Megan Fitts / junior illustration

Shafer Brown / sophomore illustration

Zoe Chressanthis / junior illustration

Johannah Miller / junior illustration

2015 End of Semester Show!

It's that time again!  After another incredible year we're proud to announce that the 2015 KCAI Illustration End of Semester Show opens NEXT FRIDAY, May 8 from 5-8 PM, featuring work by sophomore, junior and senior illustration students. There is some incredible work this year so be sure to stop by and take a look or consider adding something to your collection; much of the work is for sale.

Can't make it Friday night? Stop by over the weekend! Our weekend hours are 10am-5pm on Saturday, May 9 and 12pm-5pm on Sunday, May 10. It's Mother's day - bring your mom! Hope to see you there. (Stay tuned for a show preview starting on Monday!)

2015 exhibition poster by sophomore Jasper Swindell

Mystery Project 2015

It's become somewhat of a tradition in the Illustration Department to drop a "Mystery Project" onto the students from time to time. Although this project tends to happen in the spring, the students really have no idea when one of these projects is going to fall into their lap. The Mystery Project has taken on a few different forms, but it always starts first thing in the morning (at 8 am) and is due by mid-day. Students have about 3 or 4 hours to create a piece around specific parameters, however they want using whatever medium they have on hand.

This spring, instructor Hector Casanova received a generous donation of old vinyl records which he brought into the Illustration Department. On the day of the Mystery Project, each student was randomly given one vinyl record. Their goal was to reinvent the artwork / packaging for the album with fresh sensibilities. They had to keep one element from the original packaging, be it typography, color palette, or any physical element. The results were fun, silly, sophisticated and wonderfully all over the place!

Professor Steve Mayse with students, checking out all the solutions to the Mystery Project

At mid-day everyone put their transformed records up on the wall in the flex space in the studio. Seeing all the different solutions from sophomores, juniors and seniors is always a lot of fun. Department Chair and Professor Steve Mayse then has students vote on some of their favorite submissions. The following pieces are just a few of the results of this project.

The Way We Were / Emily Stout

A Star Is Born

The (NEW) Christy Minstrels

All About Eve / Zoe Chressanthis

Doctor Zhivago / Kelsey Wroten

Summerdog / Purps Percival

Mystic Moods Orchestra / Elisa Cox

Jimmy Durante

The Hillside Singers / Kelsey Borch

The Oak Street Boys

Jim Reeves / Slimm Fabert

The Slightly Fabulous Limelighters

Randy Travis / Muriel Fogarty

Oak Ridge Quartet / Nicholette Haigler

Sons of the Pioneers

Shaun Cassidy

Stafford & MacRae

The Idea Collective

The KCAI Illustration Department recently debuted a new elective this semester called “The Idea Collective.” It operates as an in-house “micro-agency” composed of select senior students, led by assistant professor David Terrill.

Performing the typical tasks of a small creative firm, conceptualizing, designing, illustrating and presenting the work, their first client was the Coterie Theatre, a professional equity theatre based here in Kansas City.

“The partnership has proven to be a success for both the students and the client,” said Terrill. “Students were responsible for preparing and delivering final artwork to the client ready for production. Through this exposure, students received hands-on experience working with the Coterie in a professional manner culminating in tangible results.”

The students created six promotional posters for the upcoming 2015-2016 theatrical season. The posters were designed for “The Miracle Worker” by Kendall Quack, “And Justice for Some: The Freedom Trial of Anthony Burns” by Kendall Quack, “Tomas and the Library Lady” by Kristopher Martin, “Where the Wild Things Are” by Taylor Smith and Kendall Quack, “Dreamworks Madagascar: A Musical Journey” by Rosie Ruzicka and “The Magic Treehouse: A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens” by Kelsey Borcherding, opening during the 2016-2017 season. Check out these wonderful posters below.

We're all looking forward to seeing what The Idea Collective is up to next! 

Kendall Quack

Kendall Quack

Kristopher Martin

R.T. Smith and Kendall Quack

Rosie Ruzicka

Kelsey Borcherding

The 2015 Covers + Pages Anthology is almost here!

Covers and Pages is a junior-level sequential storytelling course in which illustration students are encouraged to tell short, sequential, visual narratives. Oftentimes these narratives are without text, so the narratives rely exclusively on visuals as a means to tell the story. 

Every spring, assistant professor Maura Cluthe and instructor Hector Casanova compile and curate the content for the anthology. The covers, however, are judged by various comic book artists from the Kansas City Community. This year, we were lucky enough to have John Bergin and Steven Sanders stop by and jury the covers this year. What an honor!

Steven Sanders and John Bergin

Potential covers for the anthology, KCAI juniors, 2015

Steven and John graciously joined us one evening in February to jury the covers. With 35 students in the junior class, there were plenty of great covers to choose from. After a few hours of deliberation, Steve and John narrowed it down to 8 covers and then narrowed it down again to these final 4. For the final anthology, we'll be printing 2 separate books with 4 different covers but the content within the two books will be the same. 

Please join me in congratulating Karolina Akimov, Jessica Becker, Slimm Fabert and Cynthia Walpole, whose work will be on the covers of the 2015 Covers & Pages Anthology! Congratulations, too, to runners-up Zoe Chressanthis, Alison Polston, Baldemar Rivas and Leena Toone! Congratulations all!

Karolina Akimov

Jessica Becker

Slimm Fabert

Cynthia Walpole

Zoe Chressanthis

Alison Polston

Baldemar Rivas

Leena Toone

BIG THANKS to Steven Sanders and John Bergin for taking time out of their busy schedules to stop by, jury the covers and spend an evening with us. We really appreciate it!

Society of Illustrators Student Competition 2015 winners!

We just found out that senior Rosie Ruzicka and sophomore Lauren Seider have had work accepted into the Society of Illustrators Student Competition and we couldn't be more proud!  Big congrats you two! 

Both of the pieces below will be on display at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, NY from May 6 - 30 with an opening reception and awards ceremony on Friday, May 8, 2015.

Check out the winning pieces below. To see all of the student work that's going to be in the show, visit the Society of Illustrators.

Rosie Ruzicka, senior

Rosie Ruzicka, senior

Lauren Seider, sophomore

KCAI Scarritt Mural Project in the news

We're a little late in getting this posted, but there was a great article in the Kansas City Star last month about the Scarritt Mural Project. Headed up by instructor Hector Casanova and created by KCAI Illustration juniors, these panels are catching some attention. Great work everyone!!

ILLUSTRATION NOW 2014 opens TONIGHT!

ILLUSTRATION NOW 2014 opens tonight! We're so excited! Make KCAI's Illustration Department one of your stops this First Friday and join us this evening from 5-8pm for our opening reception or stop by sometime over the weekend. We'll be open on Saturday, December 6 from 10am-5pm and Sunday, December 7 from 12pm-5pm. 

KCAI Illustration is located at 324 East 43rd Street, Kansas City, MO, 64111.

ILLUSTRATION NOW 2014

Once again, we're nearing the end of the fall semester which means that we're close to our end of the semester show. ILLUSTRATION NOW 2014 opens this Friday night, December 5, and we couldn't be more excited! Between the ILLUSTRATION NOW show and The Harvest Internship Event and all the work the students are finishing up before the winter break, the studios are buzzing!

Since the exhibition space within our department is somewhat small, we decided to keep this show simple and manageable. This year 34 students (out of 96) were selected by full-time faculty and invited to submit up to 2 pieces for consideration in the show. Once all the pieces were submitted, one piece per student was chosen. 

Here's a little preview of some of the work that will be in the show. Check it out!

Taylor Fourt

RT Smith

Nathan Hall

Nicholette Haigler

Emily Stout

JC Franco

Kristopher Martin

Wesley Derstine

Johannah Miller

Alison Polston

Coleman Stampley

Kendall Quack

Tobias Rose

Twodee Weaver

Thanks for checking out the work! Join us this Friday night at 324 East 43rd Street from 5-8 pm. Be sure to stop by the other departments on campus for the 2014 End of Semester shows! 

Hearts Social Club Charity Event for Children's Mercy Hospital

A charity auction to support Children's Mercy Hospitals new Guest Services department will be held December 5th, First Fridays, from 6-8pm at the WISE gallery in VML, 202 Baltimore. Several KCAI Illustration students and faculty are participating in the event, come out and show your support! 

Kelsey Borcherding - featured top center, Kelsey Wroten - featured 2nd row center

As the resident artist for Children's Mercy Hospital, local Kansas City muralist Donald Ross Scribe has been pioneering the Hearts Social Club charity event over the past several months. The project humbly began as a drive to bring local artists of all levels together in a fun and casual creative event, dubbed "Drink and Draws," and quickly grew into a fully fledged and ambitions charity art auction. The project features over 200 wooden hearts cut by local shop Sign Connection, many of which were donated to the cause, which were then distributed to participating artists at monthly Drink and Draws at Town Tavern. Why the heart shape? As Scribe puts it, "its a tie in between where this art is going to come from... the heART." 

Several KCAI Illustration students are participating in the event, namely seniors Kelsey Wroten, Kelsey Borcherding, and Rosie Ruzicka as well as instructor Hector Casanova.

The brain child behind the fundraising is the push for a new "Guest Services" department at Children's Mercy, which in conception would take care of visitors needs when caught off guard with the challenges they may face when being a guest at a hospital. It would be about getting patients what they need in order to make people feel more at home during a stressful time. Though Children's Mercy is blessed with many donors, they expressed a need for start-up costs in order to get things moving and thus the idea was born. 

Many local companies have noticed the efforts of the Hearts Social Club and have come together to help meet the needs of the event. VML will be hosting the auction at their downtown WISE gallery, Blick art supplies at Main Street donated supplies directly to the artists at Drink and Draw events, Children's Mercy employees and volunteers have offered to help manage the auction, and many other companies have come forward to offer their support. Scribe would also like to thank the many people involved behind the scenes, his wife, Alisa Ross,  Max Ross, Joc Max, Missy Stover, Kevin Lee, Megan Stock, Lisa Take and John Mulvihill and his support staff at VML, The Tower Tavern, Blick Art Supplies, Sign Connection and Poster Worx and most importantly all the artists and their works.

Heart by Zachary Lama

Already his third heart submission! 

Scribe's Heart

One of many hearts Scribe himself has completed. 

Everyone loves to Drink and Draw!

One of the several events held at Town Tavern over the past several months.

Heart by JT Daniels

Local Kansas City illustrator and muralist. 

VML Promotes with Print Outs

VML has printed many of the unique heart designs and hung them in their doorway to promote the event! Lookin' great! 

Heart by Stacy Hoyt

Another sample of the creativity and variety of the artists!

Drink and Draw turn in

Just a sample of the many many hearts that came home last Wednesday at the turn-in event.

The event is open to the public and Children's Mercy will be there to accept the bid money via cash or credit card. 100% of the proceeds will go to Guest Services at CMH. Donations on the hearts will start at $50 and will be capped at $100, a move which Scribe believes will level the playing field and allow art collectors of all levels and ambitions a shot at a a piece. 

Scribe is already planning the next Hearts Social events and envisions a once a year revival and many more artistically focused events to come. 

Article written by Rosie Ruzicka

Save the date for the 2014 Harvest event!

Our annual internship event, The Harvest, is right around the corner! If you're looking for an intern, save the date and c'mon by during the evening on Thursday, December 4 from 5-8 to talk to our students, check out their work and possibly pick up an intern in the process.

Illustration & design by senior JC Franco

The KCAI Illustration Department requires our students to have an internship. We want to connect local internship sites with the best possible interns. Our students are interested in pursuing internships in a wide variety of fields. Come see what our students have to offer!

Join us on Thursday, December 4th from 5-8 pm to "harvest" your intern(s). Enjoy refreshments while you peruse The Illustration studios, which will be set up trade show style. The students will have samples of their work and will be available to talk to any interested potential internship sites.

The KCAI Illustration Department is located at 324 E. 43rd Street, KCMO, 64111. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Christen Baker at cbaker@kcai.edu or 816.802.3518.