Public Art
Travelers visiting Kansas City International Airport also experience the largest public art project in Kansas City history. Exhibits from local and international artists are featured throughout the terminal and concourses, with works ranging in medium from traditionally framed drawings, paintings and photography to textiles, floor mosaics, tile wall hangings, mixed-media, assemblage, digital and electronic art displays, reliefs and sculptures.
One Percent for Art Program
Kansas City International Airport participates in the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s “One Percent for Art” program administered by the Municipal Art Commission, stipulating that one percent of public construction costs be set aside for public art enhancements. This program provides a catalyst for artistic growth and aesthetic excellence in the community while enhancing the vitality of Kansas City, enriching the lives of its citizens and visitors.
Cloud Gazing is located in the New Terminal's concourse Connector, taking advantage of the long open perspective. The custom artwork will include 10 "clouds" with colorful backgrounds, frames with white nylon straps form a barrier-grid animation. This creates the appearance of movement as travelers walk or glide on the moving walkways below. The glass-sided connector offers views of the airfield and sky on both sides, complemented by the custom artwork overhead.
A series of ten cloud-like forms suspended along the concourse ceiling. Hanging nylon straps give each cloud a three dimensional and billowing quality while obscuring vibrant interlaced patterns printed on the ceiling tiles above each cloud. As visitors walk down the concourse or travel on the moving walkways, the straps and interlaced image produce unexpected animations through the pattern interference they create.
Cloud Gazing is inspired by the dream-like quality of watching clouds over the expansive planes of the Midwest and pareidolia, the tendency to see images in nebulous forms like clouds. The artwork consists of ten cloud-like forms suspended along the concourse ceiling. Hanging nylon straps of varying and precise length hang down to give each cloud a three dimensional and billowing quality while obscuring vibrant images above each cloud. These images are made of four prismatic combinations of color that are interlaced together and UV printed on the acoustic tiles within the frame of each cloud. Together the straps and images produce a three-dimensional barrier-grid animation. The image shifts as visitors walk down the concourse or move at a constant speed on the moving walkways. Depending on a visitor’s orientation, they will notice the animated shift between the interlaced images, or they will see a softer shift in colors through the pattern interference created between the hanging straps and the image above. This animated pattern interference is both unexpected and creates a sensation that the clouds are moving. These vibrant and animated forms take advantage of the space in the concourse as a place where people don’t often expect stimulus to create a magical daydream-like experience where they may or may not notice that they are seeing images in the clouds.
Cone Worship captures a pyramid-shaped wind direction indicator placed near runways to guide aircraft takeoffs and landings. The artist states "Through my work I highlight the beauty and complexity of subtle, sometimes completely unnoticed surroundings. I'm always scanning for unique shapes, distinct patterns or superior light. I combine the uniquely complex aspects of everyday industrial or organic landscapes with artistic components like contrast or unpredictable compositions."
I began my career as a photographer using traditional techniques and building my skillset in a wet side darkroom. As I have evolved as an artist, so have my photographic processes. By integrating digital technology into my artistic process I have found that subtle modifications to an original image can produce a very unique and visually striking final product. At a glance, my work can be described as landscape photography, although my images represent a diverse array of subject matter including manufactured and natural subjects. Through my work I attempt to highlight the beauty and complexity of subtle, sometimes completely unnoticed surroundings. I am constantly on point to find my next shot, always scanning my surroundings for unique shapes, distinct patterns or superior light. I find uniquely complex aspects of everyday landscapes, industrial or organic, and combine them with artistic components like contrast or unpredictable compositions to make an image my own.
Multimedia collage and digital storytelling about native lands and people.
Keith Sonnier’s Double Monopole is currently undergoing needed conservation and is not on view. Once the restoration is completed, the sculpture will be located adjacent to the reservoir. It will be viewable from Cookingham Drive and Brasilia Avenue.
The Double Monopole consists of two steel monopoles, each one 60 feet tall. The south monopole is 60 feet wide and the north monopole is 80 feet wide. The artwork lights up in neon blues, pinks and yellows from dusk until dawn and serves as a welcoming beacon for those entering the airport from both the air and the ground.
Each monopole contains a 30 foot tall fountain/waterfall. Water is pumped from the reservoir across the street to the North. This artwork is not only ornamental but also functional as the waterfalls help aerate the water in the reservoir.
Commissioned in 2006 as part of the One Percent for Art Program.
This acrylic sculpture features digital images of "Dream Clouds" and flowers from the artist's ceramic artworks. As the daughter of a florist, Torres grew up surrounded by beautiful colors and amazing smells, forms and shapes. The artist says, "Flowers represent the fragility of the cycle of life. Their presence always brings me joy."
"Dreaming Of The Beautiful Places You Will Go allowed me to communicate my autobiographical narrative of being an artist/educator into this large plexiglass sculpture made of digitally printed images of my ceramic built artworks. As a daughter of a florist, I have always been surrounded by beautiful colorful flowers, amazing smells, forms and shapes. Flowers are intrinsic to all my sculptures. For me, flowers represent the fragility of the cycle of life. Their presence always brings me joy. The self-portrait in this artwork is in a state of wanderlust, eyes wide open dreaming of what I lovingly refer to as “Dream Clouds”, that attract enchanting butterflies representing endless opportunities to come. The Java Sparrows in the art piece represent my cheerleaders, allowing me to manifest my intentions of making an artwork bigger, stronger and more beautiful than I ever made to date. It has been an amazing journey watching my big dreams of building a permanent sculpture for many generations to enjoy. I hope by planting “Big Beautiful Dream Cloud” seeds of intentions into the universe they will grow into a positive, loving, beautiful world for us all.”
Inside a stairway, within a parking garage, surrounded by an airport, movement is everywhere. Zooming further out, the context expands and we see Kansas City, a cultural hotbed and fountain of musical innovation.
Flights celebrates the improvisational character of Kansas City jazz and the aerodynamic forms that enable flight. Featuring a variety of widths and palettes, the project’s streamlined fins evoke the qualities of feathers and airfoils. Running parallel to the trajectory of the switchback stairways, the fins weave together into a syncopated rhythm, punctuated by unique apertures and moments of contrast that invite exploration and discovery. Beyond the nuanced moments and details that one encounters directly while passing through the stairway, Flights broad and generous scale creates a dramatic visual impact when observed from a distance, particularly when illuminated at night.
Just as melodies are made of multiple notes, and communities are defined by people who live there, Flights is a collection of individual parts that gains meaning and strength when joined together to create a greater whole.
Far from the East and West Coasts, the Midwest is sometimes referred to as “fly-over country.” Leaning into that nickname, Fly-Over Country: The Wild Side highlights the wildlife in the Missouri / Kansas region far below the airplane cabin window. From the red-tailed hawk and the channel catfish, to the purple prairie clover and button snakeroot, the visitor is offered a glimpse into the natural world.
This textile work can also be considered as a drawing and a painting. First, the artist “paints” by laying down loose tufts of wool, blending to achieve a watercolor-like effect for the background. Then she uses a sewing machine to draw with thread in a method similar to modern quilt-making.
The background of hand-dyed Shetland sheep and alpaca wools is from the artist’s family farm in rural Missouri. Rain falls, sun shines, grass grows, animals eat and are cared for by people. This cycle creates a material that may be humble, but in its structure, there is the passage of seasons, the energy of the artist’s family made manifest, and the ever-cyclical nature of life.
Leo Villareal’s Fountain (KCI) is a light sculpture that pays homage to Kansas City’s legacy as The City of Fountains. The artwork transforms this gateway into a welcoming and dynamic environment.
Throughout history, fountains have played a key role in human settlements as well as in historical and mythological stories. Fountains act as sites of gathering, of beauty and as places to make wishes. They are public spaces that encourage socialization and connection. Fountain (KCI) integrates these age-old tenants of human civilization into a contemporary form that employs software and light to create an immersive experience. The artwork is composed of simple and repeating metallic forms embedded with thousands of monochromatic LEDs, through which Villareal evokes the movement of water.
Villareal’s bespoke sequencing software allows him to arrange light patterns in random, non-repeating order creating a presentation that is constantly evolving. Fountain (KCI), is ever-changing, eliciting circulation and breath within the terminal. Like Villareal’s greater body of work, Fountain (KCI) explores not only sculptural physicality but adds the dimension of time, combining both spatial and temporal resolution. The resulting forms move, change, interact, and ultimately grow into complex compositions that are inspired by mathematician John Conway’s work with cellular automata and the Game of Life.
The cyclic shape of the sculpture's body is informed by the toroid—a nested and balanced geometry—the repetition of which expresses a sense of harmony. Metallic extrusions containing the LEDs emerge from a mirrored sculptural pedestal, which creates a bowl of light akin to a reflecting pool. Reflective materials allow the sculpture’s structural components to recede into and embody their environment. The base reflects and amplifies the sequenced light, integrating the piece with its surroundings. Fountain (KCI) harnesses the power of light to elicit a universal human response as it bridges Kansas City’s past to its future.
Hello and Goodbye relates to Liao's immigrant background and captures a fluid state between experience, memory, and place. Through various versions of this work the artist revisited images, snapshots, and memories until they began to morph, overlap, and unravel. The artist says, "In the design, I think about the division of spaces and how that translates in my composition and color choices. Ceramic tiles that capture fragments of memory interrupt once-familiar patterns."
“I immigrated to the US from Taiwan as a teenager. Growing up in the suburbs of Southern California, I remembered my father visiting every three months, traveling between my Taiwan home and my America home. My family became intimately familiar with the airport – we had our established routine of finding the same spot in the parking garage, which line was the fastest to check-in, followed by the exact same food court menu as our final parting meal, before we send my father off to the long-winding security line.
These routines were etched in my memory like a well-worn track through repetition; these are familiar rituals performed by many immigrant families, navigating the distance and the liminal space in between.
During the pandemic in 2020, as travel came to a stop, my family felt out-of-reach and the distance felt further than ever. Our screens became a portal bridging long distances, but also ironically a dividing wall. From this side of the screen, I watch as my grandmother’s memory deteriorates through dementia. We wave hello and goodbye, and watch our loved ones mirror us back - how casual and instantly gratifying a swipe or tap is, versus the physical impression and gravity of a squeeze of the hand, or an embrace.
“Hello and Goodbye” documents a fluid state between experience, memory, and place. In the design, I think about the division of spaces and how it translates in my composition and color choices. Ceramic tiles that capture fragments of memory interrupted once-familiar patterns. I revisit images, snapshots, and memories through iterations, until they begin to morph, overlap, and unravel.” - Kathy Liao, artist.
These digitally composed photographs invite the traveler to seek and find personal items a family might pack in their carry-on luggage. Reflecting on the duty of the security officer, who surveys contents flowing through the x-ray machine, the traveler discovers objects from logistics and grooming to small toys and snacks. The project and its title were inspired by the compelling visual riddles made popular by the classic I Spy books.
For my photography, I embraced a shadow-show approach, a playful technique children often use to invent and perform stories. To photograph the individual articles, I placed them on a light table covered by a sheet of vellum paper. Then I digitally combined the pictures to construct each collage. I also created visual connections between the three compositions to further emphasize the continuous nature of an x-ray belt. My method slightly obscures the items, to convey mystery and intrigue. The dream-like imagery provides a calming moment for the travelers, and children will delight in recognizing familiar toys like dinosaurs and dolls. The viewer might even spot a pair of red ruby slippers, a playful nod to our local cultural history.
In this work, Rachel Hubbard Kline celebrates Kansas City's history by combining patterns from her collection of ancestral quilts with news stories and quilt patterns published in the Kansas City Star 1928-1961. Laser engravings of historical events documented in the Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times appear on clay tiles that make up quilt-like geometric patterns.
In Kansas City: A Quilted History, Rachel Hubbard Kline pieces together Kansas City’s rich history through archived newspaper stories and traditional quilt patterns. The colorful ceramic tile installation sources quilt patterns published in the Kansas City Star between 1928 to 1961 and from her collection of ancestral quilts. Hubbard Kline researched historical events through archives of the Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Times, featuring topics such as mayoral elections, sporting victories, river floods, and cultural stories. Through a process of transferring laser engraving onto clay slabs, the stories of our great city are emblazoned in heirloom patterns and colors. The resulting relief texture, though subtle, preserves Kansas City’s history for generations. Hubbard Kline blends the artful quilt patterns with the historic events, strengthening and preserving the bond between the cultures of home and of the city. “Rain Drop” represents river floods, “Four-Leaf Clover” references riverboat gambling and The Woodlands racetrack, “Many Roads to the White House” symbolizes Harry Truman’s presidential election, “Economy” speaks to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and “Tumbling Blocks” laments the 1981 Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse.
"After graduating from University of California in Davis, I moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 2004. Since then, I have enjoyed living in my adopted mid-west home and fell in love with the rolling hills and the open space. My work started taking on a more dynamic flow, integrating my identity of long hair with regional environments such as the iconic tornados, Kansas prairie and the Flint Hills. For the KCI new airport project, I made two horizontal charcoal drawings incorporating long hair with Kansas wheat field and tall-grass to depict the local beauty. Each drawing is presented as a Chinese scroll painting to accentuate the length and the flow of long hair. The black and white colors create a more contrast between light and dark. The realistic style came from my training in Chinese fine style ink painting at Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts. The finished image is built with layers of details through a time consuming process." - Hong Chun Zhang
Kansas City Reciprocity is a socially researched artwork that depicts six local farmers through their favorite things to grow. The artist visited six farms over the 2022 growing season to learn from the farmers and to document relationships between people, plants, and communities. The final project exists as a sculptural painting and as a documentary archive on the artist’s website.
The Buffalo Seed Company, Longfellow Community Garden, Ki Koko Farms, Maseualkualli Farms, Sankara Farm and Young Family Farm are represented by Cherokee white corn, tomatoes, long beans, jicama, hot peppers, and okra. Patty pan squash, kiwano melon, and cucumbers are also included in the colorful array of produce. The cucumber and pickles represent the artist, who is also a gardener and food fermenter; he is moving throughout the piece and changing over time.
A kinetic illustration of local diasporic foodways, Kansas City Reciprocity asks us to consider reciprocity as a foundational principle for building diverse communities. Reciprocity is more than a transaction or exchange- the concept reminds us to tend to expansive webs of crucial interactions within environments. The fruits and vegetables repeat across the three panels and form images of a sun, a rainbow, a flower, a wave – the recognizable forms that emerge make us think of interdependence and transformations, like photosynthesis, along with the generational movements that have brought each of these foods here in the present day.
Kansas City Reciprocity celebrates the commitment of KCI area farmers to food security, land stewardship, sustainability, ecological diversity, and preservation of cultural heritage.
A larger than life ceramic full jazz band of figures and instruments cases line up to check in for a flight. Celebrating Kansas City’s historic jazz culture, ceramics, and love of travel.
This work depicts the diverse types of people you may meet in Kansas City, as well as the changing landscape you experience while driving 30 minutes in any direction.
“Driving 30-50 minutes in any direction will allow you to experience the changing landscape that’s associated with the Midwest. More than just a flyover state, KC is home to fantastic people. I wanted to focus on not only the changing landscape, but also on the varied people you’ll most likely meet while visiting here.”
-JT Daniels, artist.
This composition honors Bennie Moten (1894-1935), whose innovative “Moten Swing” helped Kansas City become the only UNESCO City of Music in the United States. Jazz makes something new of ordinary musical materials. Molten Swing uses ordinary steel frames and acrylic tiles to sculpt a malleable visual structure that changes as travelers flow through the space. It is a center of energy that reshapes the space around it.
This 10-part installation is a kaleidoscope of momentous experiences that transcend the ordinary into extraordinary, presented in unitary time and space upon the viewer’s eye, through the medium of glass and light to convey stories of human connection and emotion, in the language of color, shapes, shadows and tonalities.
Process is sgrafito technique. Amorphous glass powders mixed with binding agents, brush worked intricately and melted into the glass at high temperatures after multiple calculations of temperature gradients, coefficient of expansion and heat index, layers upon layers applied meticulously to achieve perfect chromatic intensities for appropriate refraction and diffraction of light, and finally each plane is annealed in the kiln for weeks to achieve molecular stability for this viscous material. This installation took more than nine months to complete.
Over time, some colors can change into slightly darker hues from constant exposure to sunlight. But overall, glass as a material is eco-friendly, recyclable and can withstand large variations in temperature. It is a sound interior and exterior material for the public domain.
To create Ode to the Tallgrass Prairie, the artist investigated the flowers and fauna common in this region that are displayed in this work. The midwestern tallgrass prairie, at 11,000 acres, previously 170 million acres, is the largest area of tallgrass prairie remaining on earth. It consists of a luscious sea of green and rustling grasses, rippling under a vast blue sky.
“In conceptualizing this piece, I researched many of the iconic plants and insects that are native to this area and some that are invasive to the prairie. I found recipes for the original maraschino cherry that is wild in our region and how to cook cicadas. I learned that the female firefly lures the males and eats them to produce a smell that protects them from other insects, and that echinacea is a helpful cure for lung problems” - Linda Lighton, artist.
The suspended artwork is a tribute to Kansas City native son, jazz great, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, and his 1946 tune titled, "Ornithology". Constructed in the historic 18th & Vine District in Kansas City, Ornithology consists of twelve larger than life birds made entirely from alto saxophones.
People of KC features three women and two men of various backgrounds that represent what it means to live in greater Kansas City. Women make up the majority of these panels because he believes "the pendulum needs to swing in more of a feminine direction." He adds, "A city isn’t about the objects, buildings or what there is to do, but it's about the people. How we live in the community and what we care about is what defines a city."
“I chose to paint 5 people of various backgrounds that represent what it means to live in greater KC. A city isn’t about the objects, buildings or what there is to do, but it's about the people. How they live in the community and what we care about is what defines a city. When people travel through the airport I want them to see a snapshot of the people that are here.” - Kwanza Humphrey, artist.
About the portraits:
Necia - Music is a big part of Kansas City. I think it represents the soul of the city. Necia has been instrumental in KC’s hip hop scene. While she is not known as a musical artist, she has been instrumental in supporting, encouraging and providing for many of KC’s local hip hop artists. I have her here looking through records on her living room floor enjoying the albums with her home open to the sky allowing you to peer in and be a part of her world
Harold - Harold represents what it means to work. He is a prolific artist and a recently retired teacher. I have him here with his work rolled under his arm reminiscent of carrying a lunch pail to work. Like food, it nourishes your body. Art feeds your soul. His gaze off to the leaves next to him is aware of what's just out of sight because no matter how hard you work there can always be something to trip you up. It’s how you respond and navigate those challenges that make you successful.
Andrea - Andrea is a life couch and urban garden. I chose her because of her skill in taking care of the whole person. She balances an active lifestyle, a career in business while also cultivating a garden. I have her here surrounded by greenery representing the abundance and opportunity for growth in not just food but in personal well being.
Jose - Jose is a renaissance man. Poet, muralist, activist and teacher. He’s such a gem to have him in the city. He has such a great perspective and is willing to share with anyone if you take the time to listen. Jose is always on the go and I was fortunate to capture him in the middle of a project. He’s here looking off to the sky as if pondering his next project while simultaneously working and dropping knowledge. I captured him to represent the voice we have and our duty to speak our truths.
Included in the 2000 KCI renovations was Kristin Jones’ and Andrew Ginzel’s, Polarities, an iconic design featuring over 200,000 square feet of terrazzo flooring inlaid with mosaic medallions, brass inclusions, glass, mother of pearl, and marble aggregates. This artwork was one of several chosen under the city’s One Percent for Art Program. Mosaic medallions such as the one shown in the foreground were placed throughout the floor. Reuse of 39 medallions from the demolished terminal into the new terrazzo floor of the new terminal near each gate gives travelers a sense of nostalgia for MCI, creates a visual marker, and invites exploration to find each design.
Prairie Confluence is an organic abstraction and expression of converging influences. The inspirations is skyscapes & landscapes of the Kansas prairie. During my time here in Kansas I've come to love the billowing clouds of incoming thunderstorms and the subtle beauty of the rolling hills and how light plays against the gentle mounds. I wanted to depict this scenery in a way which alludes to a number of organic influences, such as waterways, rolling hills and landscapes, of which whom ever is viewing this piece may see what they will because of their own life experience.
Inspired for many years by the landscape surrounding Kansas City, and its dynamic relationship to the sky and earth, artist Laura Crehuet Berman created “Rays”. This work depicts an imagined landscape across a vast distance. The shapes within this work refer to the interconnection of the rays of the sun and the growth of uniquely tall grasses in this region of the world.
Originally begun as a tiny doodle, the grass-like images were scanned, enlarged, and repeated throughout the piece as various-sized printing plates. Each image in the work was inked with a unique color and placed by hand in its own space within the overall composition. Overall, the triptych contains 20 different hand-mixed colors and hundreds of printing plates, printed together in five runs through a large intaglio press.
The artist created this work at Pele Prints in St. Louis, Missouri, a studio she has collaborated with since 2009. Amanda Verbeck at Pele Prints brought her printmaking know-how to help envision the scale of this work and create its precise execution with the help of her large, custom-designed intaglio presses.
It is easy to overlook a landscape that seems “empty” on first view, such as the Flint Hills region of Kansas. Taking the time to look more closely enables a deeper understanding of what the essentials actually are. A landscape which contains only the earth and sky is a place of timeless beauty and universal connection.
Spending time in woods and forests produces multiple positive physiological effects on us. Separate and Complex Bodies, Sophisticated Interactions, and Unfathomable Lives, is a panoramic collage of various wooded areas around the city at the onset of spring. Winter quickly recedes and the world pushes forward again.This large sign acts as a reminder, that a walk through the woods will place us firmly in the moment. Our perceptions quickly become heightened, and the experience shifts our framing of time and space beyond our own bodies.
Each of these paintings uses a ground-level view and an aerial view to portray a scene typical of the area surrounding MCI. Color-coded lines indicate the lines of sight in each painting, while the passenger plane silhouette in the aerial view points in the direction of the airport.
“I have been painting landscapes for over fifty years and I am always looking for ways to add to the content of the traditional approach to landscape painting. My interest in maps lead to the idea of including the satellite view corresponding and contrasting with the standing on earth view. Hopefully the viewer will be able to expand their understanding of the space being represented in the two paintings by combining the illusions. Using this contrasting view approach in the KCI Airport paintings, I hope that travelers will be inspired to observe and enjoy the richness and beauty of the region as they travel to and from the airport and as they fly overhead.” - John Louder, artist.
Located at two crossroads along the Arrivals Roadway of the airport, Sky Prairie creates an unexpected immersive experience for travelers as they take their first steps out of the Kansas City Airport Terminal, and into the western Missouri geography and culture.
The work is comprised of two arrays of 1714 painted aluminum tubes fastened to a horizontal frame element that floats above pedestrian movements at each crosswalk location. The bottom edge of the tubes is carved into an undulating topography that rises and falls, lifts and descends throughout the ceiling like the rolling hills of the local Osage Plains. Each tube is suspended on a stainless steel aircraft cable which allows it to shift back and forth in sequence along with the other tubes that move in response to air currents flowing through the space.
The artworks are painted shades of golden orange and warm yellows, capturing the hues of the area’s natural grasses and their interaction with sunlight. Integrated LED lighting elements that complement these vibrant colors create subtle highlights that pulse throughout the piece, beckoning travelers on their journey outwards to explore the Kansas City area, and altering the artwork in appearance and sensation each time it is encountered.
This sculpture is part of the One Percent for Art Program and was commissioned in 2007.
Taking Flight is a triptych depicting the three stages of commercial air travel: liftoff, cruise control, and the final approach. In each panel, passengers engage in casual conversation, soaring through the clouds several miles above sea level. In the last phase of descent, passengers look out the window where silhouetted Monarch butterflies flutter above Kaw Point, the point where the Missouri and Kansas rivers meet, greeting you upon arrival to your destination: Kansas City.
The phenomenon of flying is often met equally with feelings of excitement and dread. Some people fly regularly as part of their occupation, while others have never or will never step foot on an airplane. It’s interesting to think about this duality in terms of human psychology, since the concept of flight is still relatively new, even though its origins can be traced back to Leonardo da Vinci, and before that to Greek mythology. Humans have been trying to fly like birds for a long time. This work marks a personal departure for me, not only stylistically but geographically as well. I made this piece shortly after moving away from Kansas City, where I lived and worked for more than a decade. I knew once I left the Midwest that my work would drastically change. Taking Flight serves as an homage to a place I once called home, embarking on new adventures, and the end of a chapter in my life as an artist.
Over 3000 custom strands create an overhead spinner installation. Spinners depict icons from the Kansas City region such as fountains, native plants and animals, as well as symbols of equality and love.
This work began as hand-dyed yarn woven on a 16-harness loom. This traditionally woven textile was then hand-sculpted and photographed to produce these prints. Like a long walk or a country drive, Woven Landscape celebrates how our lives are interwoven with this rich land.
Through life’s many seasons, Debbie Barrett-Jones continues to fall in love with the wide-open prairie and rolling agricultural landscapes of the midwest. In moments of quiet contemplation, whether on walks, bike rides, through a car window, or from above, she finds the ever-shifting seasonal landscape increasingly restorative, inspiring and an invitation to dream. Woven Landscape began as hand-dyed yarn woven on a 16-harness loom. Compelled by curiosity and the desire to see from multiple perspectives, this traditional woven textile was then hand-sculpted and photographed for this original print series.
Large-scale ceramic wings depicting Kansas and Missouri iconography.