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Alumni Weekend is only two weeks away! Register online, and please direct all questions to alumni@kcai.edu. By now, you’ve heard of our fabulous symposium speakers, Shawn Brixey '85, Ming Fay '67, and Valerie Eickmeier '79, sculpture graduates who have chosen to fly back to Kansas City to share their wisdom and visit their old stomping grounds. Also, you’ve heard about our fun and free opening and closing receptions - great places to network and rub elbows with former classmates. You’ve also heard about our informative, can’t-miss workshops, hosted by Kansas City business professionals, KCAI faculty and KCAI alumni. You’ve heard about the Friday night pig roast and much, much more!

But, have you heard the latest?

Professors Jim Leedy and Shirley Luke Schnell are retiring from full-time teaching at the end of the current semester. (However, they continue to be active artists and members of the KCAI community.) Alumni Weekend would be the perfect opportunity to celebrate with them their lengthy tenures at KCAI.

Most Alumni Weekend activities are free! You will not regret spending some of your weekend with us!

Marcus Cain ('98 painting), curator of the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom in Overland Park, announces the exhibition, “Remembering Beauty: The Ceramic Work of Victor Babu,“ Feb. 3-Mar. 30. Babu was a KCAI ceramics department professor from 1968-2001. The exhibition is guest curated by Sherry Cromwell-Lacy ('72 painting).

Maria Creyts ('86 painting) exhibits her work in "mariaurora:  paintings, prints, & projects by Maria Creyts,” at the Thornhill Gallery, Whitfield Centre, Avila University, Kansas City, Feb. 29-Mar. 30. She will be giving an artist's talk at the Thornhill Gallery on Saturday, Mar. 29 at 10:30. Creyts’ work is also featured in “2008 Kansas City Flatfile,” H&R Block Artspace at KCAI, Feb. 23-Apr. 5.

Loreta Feeback ('60 design) is exhibiting work at the Images Art Gallery in Kansas City, March 7- 29.

Max Key ('96 painting) is exhibiting new work in a March two-person show with Chris Teasley at the Hoffman Lachance Contemporary Gallery in St. Louis. Bill Lachance ('93 painting) co-owns the gallery. www.hoffmanlachancefineart.com.

Sherry Leedy ('74 painting), owner of Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City, announces Larry Schwarm’s exhibit, “Larry Schwarm: Devastation/Renewal,” Feb. 29-Apr. 12.

Apryl Murray ('91 painting) announces a new exhibit for April at the
Slap-n-Tickle Gallery in the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City. The show will feature the work of feminist artist Heather Weathers.

David Ottinger ('74 painting) and Barry Sullivan ( '74 painting) are exhibiting new work in "Common Concerns," an exhibition at the Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, Apr. 4 – May 11. The opening reception is Friday, April 4, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

Margaret Shelby ('96 painting) and Michele Bridges ('97 painting) lead “One As Many - Many As One,” an installation project in which community members take part at the ArtsTech Center, Kansas City, Apr. 4. www.oam-mao.com



Charles Stonewall ('01 design/illustration) is exhibiting his work in a two-person show, “Common Ground,” at the Apex Gallery, Kansas City, Mar. 7-Apr. 18. He will also be in a group show at Digital Labrador, opening Apr. 4, 5-9 pm. Also, “A New Moon,” his M.A. thesis exhibition in the Fine Arts Building at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will open Apr. 10, 5-8 pm. www.charlesstonewall.com

Davin Watne ('94 painting) exhibits “Life is a Collision” at the Review Studios Exhibition Space in Kansas City, Mar. 14-Apr. 23.

Mary Beth Yates ('03 fiber) and Jori Cheville Hebert ('04 ceramics) will be exhibiting new work in a two-person show at the KCAI alumni gallery in Vanderslice Hall as part of the 2008 Alumni Weekend, April 4 & 5. The exhibit will remain up for the month of April.

Lauren Boilini ('06 painting/art history) is exhibiting work in “Hello, Hello,” her MFA thesis show, at the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Mar. 28-Apr. 6.

Leslie Sheryll ('76 photography) is exhibiting work in the group show “SPRAWL: The 2008 New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Arts” at the Jersey City Museum. The opening is Mar. 20 from 6-8 pm.

For the month of March, Paul Brandwein ('73 ceramics) is exhibiting painting and sculpture work in a solo show at the Wellsville Creative Arts Center in Wellsville, N.Y.

Ming Fay ('67 sculpture) exhibits “Back to the Garden” at Crossing Art in Flushing, N.Y., Mar. 8-Apr. 26.

Beth Galston ('77 sculpture) is exhibiting a large-scale installation in New York this spring at Reeves Contemporary Gallery, Mar. 22-Apr.19. The exhibition is a walk-through luminous environment made of cast resin seedpods and LED lights.



Ke-Sook Lee ('82 painting) exhibited her work “One Hundred Faceless Women” for “Pricked: Extreme Embroidery” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, Nov. 8-Apr. 27. www.ke-sooklee.com

Janice Urnstein Weissman ('67 painting) is exhibiting "Thru The Looking Glass"-Tattoos and Kimonos, at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in New York, Mar. 6-Apr. 26.

Ke-Sook Lee ('82 Painting) has a solo show "Threads of Memory: An Installation," at Rosemont College, March 6-31.

Deirdre Murphy ('91 painting) is showing her work in “ARTIFICE: a solo exhibition,” at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, Mar. 3-29. www.mayerartconsultants.com

David Poindexter ('86 photo/video) will be exhibiting new work in a group show entitled “High Plains Photographer” at the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, Mar. 7-Apr. 13.

Cynthia Wolfe ('70 ceramics) is exhibiting work in her show “Altered State,” at the Production Network in Seattle, March 12 through mid-May. gallery.mac.com/wolfem

Maren Kloppmann ('93 ceramics) showed work in the ceramic invitational at Cervini Haas Gallery in Scottsdale, Feb. 21. This show coincided with the Gala Benefit Auction at the ASU Ceramics Research Center in Tempe, Feb. 23. Kloppmann also submitted a piece to this event.

Elmer Kurtek ('77 sculpture) contributed a stone carving to a group show at the Pelican Art Gallery in Petaluma. The show ran October through January.

John Ferry ('92 illustration) exhibited his work in “Deconstruction & Resurrection,” Kehler Liddell Gallery, New Haven, Jan. 23-Feb. 24.

Ralph J.J. Provisero ('95 sculpture) exhibited his work in the following shows in Miami: “Sculpture: 1940 to the Present-Selections from the private collection of Martin Z. Margulies,” The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Dec. 3-9; “Topsoil,” Casa Lin, Nov. 25-Dec. 9; “Miami Contemporary Artists: Creating a Scene,” an exhibition of selected artists from the book, “Miami Contemporary Artists,” on view at both the Art Center South Florida Gallery and The Freedom Tower, Nov. 28-Jan. 6; “Breaking the Waves,” Dorsch Gallery, Dec. 1-31. www.provisero.com

Maren Kloppmann ('93 ceramics) exhibited in a group show “From the Studio” at Lacoste Gallery in Concord, Nov. 17-Dec. 10.

Bruce Campbell ('00 ceramics) showed work in “Some Sort of Uncertainty,” Axiom Gallery, Boston, Jan. 11-Feb. 17. www.bruce-campbell.net

David Angell

Sherri Warner Hunter ('74 sculpture) exhibited work in “Connections” at Gallery 130 on the University of Mississippi campus, Meek Hall, Jan. 21-Feb. 28.

William Jones ('92 design) exhibited new digital work in “The Freedom Paradox,” Medgar Evers College, Bedford building, Brooklyn, Feb. 21-Mar. 6. Jones, a multimedia and digital artist, is an adjunct computer professor at two New York-based colleges. He was the recipient of a fellowship award at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Education, Ghana, West Africa. Jones serves as a program director for a nonprofit organization that provides children's services in East Harlem, New York. He holds a master’s degree in design management from Pratt Institute. www.williamjonesdesign.com

George Schweser ('70 painting) exhibited work in “26th Annual Visual Arts Showcase,” Beaverton City Library, Beaverton, Feb. 3-16.

Maria Creyts

April Greiman ('70 design) exhibited her posters in the University Gallery at Salve Regina University in Newport. " Craig Coonrod ('70 sculpture) is the gallery’s director. The exhibit was called “Objects In Space” and ran Oct. 17-Nov. 11.

Robert Russell ('61 painting) exhibited work in a solo show “Abstract: Large and Small” at the Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, Nov. 10-24. www.jackmeiergallery.com

Cay Weston Drachnik’s ('42 design) acrylic painting "Magarita and her Pet Iguana" was accepted in Triton Museum of Art's Statewide Painting Competition and Exhibition. The Triton Museum is located in Santa Clara, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco. She is a signature member of the California Watercolor Association and ran the organization’s exhibition in Folsom, Calif., which ended in October.

Bill Rakocy ('51 painting) is an El Paso artist and historian whose newest book is “The Art and Times of Bill Rakocy.” El Paso Scene features his column, “Racking Up History.”

Bob Morris ('60 graphic design) retired from Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo., after teaching 37 years. He still teaches part time. He was director of the graphic design program.

This month, Janice Urnstein Weissmann ('67 painting) was recently chosen by Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art as “Pick of the Week” for her upcoming exhibition (please see “New York” above).

Bruce Robinson ('73 painting) had work in the Black Creativity 2008 exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. Also, he received an “Individual Excellence” grant from the Ohio Arts Council.



Nano Nore ('74 painting/printmaking) has been a professor of art for the past 20 years at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo.  Last year she had two solo shows: one at the Stocksdale Gallery of Art on the William Jewell campus in March and the second at Park University's Campanella Gallery November-December.  The artwork in the exhibits was inspired by a 2006 summer residency in Norway and included abstracted landscapes and linocuts. 

Michael Gault ('76 painting) was among the 35 artists invited to participate in this year’s Rocky Mountain PBS Auction Showcase. Gault has been a contributor to the PBS Art Auction for the past five years. Gault was also selected by Slifer Designs, Edwards, Colo., to supply paintings for the Arrabelle, a new Vail resort in West Lionshead. The resort opened in January 2008. Michael received a commission for 186 original oil paintings featuring western landscapes from areas throughout Colorado. Subject matter included mountainscapes, waterfalls, lakes and landscapes of mine areas as well as ranches, wildlife and outdoor still-life. Gault began his 10th semester teaching at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. He received his M.A. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Jan Huling ('76 design) is a fulltime freelance product designer and has also taken up the fine art of crafting. Three of her pieces will be included in the upcoming 2008 New Jersey Arts Annual at the Montclaire Art Museum. Also, she has a piece in the recently released "500 Handmade Dolls," published by Lark Books. Huling also has a side career as a children’s book author. Her first book was "Puss in Cowboy Boots" (Simon & Schuster, 2002) and her second book, "Ol' Bloo's Boogie-Woogie Band and Blues Ensemble," is expected to be released in the fall by Peachtree Publishers. www.janhuling.com



The painting by Peggy Nichols ('76 painting/printmaking), “The Korai Series: Red Carpet (gold),” has been included in “American Art Collector,” published by Alcove Books, an art book publisher in San Francisco. It will be distributed to more than 600 galleries and curators throughout the United States. Also, Nichols has been awarded a partial grant for a residency this spring at the Vermont Studio Center. www.absolutearts.com

Donald McKenna ('78 photography) announces that the Missouri Historical Society has posted a portfolio of selected images from his ongoing project "In Missouri" to their on-line magazine, Voices. www.donaldjmckenna.com

Catharine Magel ('79 ceramics) was commissioned last year by the Cloud County Historical Society to create the “Whole Wall Project,” a 140-foot mural that will depict the development of Concordia and Cloud County, Mo. From a studio at the Cloud County Community College art department, Magel and her assistant are creating one brick at a time. 6,400 bricks are needed for completion of the mural, which is targeted for late summer.

Eric Brightfield ('83 design) was elected president of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators and recently hosted more than 200 architectural illustrators from all over the world in Chicago for “Architecture In Perspective,” the 22nd annual conference of the ASAI. Brightfield continues to head up ImageFiction, one of the largest private illustration firms in the country dedicated solely to advancing the art and technology of architectural illustration, representation and animation. www.imagefiction.com

Debra Di Blasi ('85 painting) is the keynote speaker at the 5th annual “Graduate English Organization Conference” at Truman State University, April 4-5, 2008. She will read from her new mixed media fiction and discuss pop and celebrity culture in 21st Century literature. She also will teach a workshop on experimental writing forms. On Apr. 10, Di Blasi will be a visiting writer at Sacramento State University, and on Apr. 15 she will be lecturing on "Science In/And Literature" at the &NOW Conference of Innovative Literature & Art, Chapman University in Orange, California.

Roberta Gallagher-Rivera ('87 design) is now illustrating her first children's book for the Developing Hearts Organization. The book is part of a series to promote reading and bonding with new parents and their newborns. The book will be released next year. Gallagher-Rivera is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and a member of the Long Island Children's Writers & Illustrators. Also, she is the editor of the LICWI newsletter.

Michael Greathouse ('91 sculpture) had the following shows in 2007: International Festival of Independent Cinematography "KinoLev," Lviv, Ukraine; Story Tellers, Livingallery, Lecce, Italy; Art Basel Miami, Repetti Gallery, Miami. He has the following upcoming shows: Kargart International Video Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, and the Armory Show in New York.

Don Bernier ('92 photo/video) collaborated on the PBS program "The Jewish Americans." The three-part series was broadcast Jan. 9, 16 and 23. Bernier edited "Part 2: A World of Their Own," and co-edited "Part 3: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times." His own film "In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian," was screened at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 22. A festival favorite from Slamdance to the Los Angeles Film Festival, Bernier's film won a Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award by Filmmaker Magazine. The Nelson-Atkins screening is part of its Electromediascope series, curated by Patrick Clancy, KCAI photography and digital filmmaking chair, and Gwen Widmer, former KCAI faculty. www.mimeticmedia.com

John Ferry ('92 illustration) and family are featured in the February issue of Kansas City Spaces Magazine. The article discusses the modern baby shower that the Ferry family hosted in their modern home.

On Nov. 2, 2007, Treden Wagoner ('92 design) received the 2007 Museum Educator of the Year Award from the Art Educators of Minnesota. This award is in recognition of his 11 years as a museum educator and his work on the educational Web resource, ArtsConnectEd. AEM is a professional organization made up of visual art educators from kindergarten to college.

In April, Robert Morrissey ('93 photography) will be adding a Los Angeles office for his advertising agency, “Big Red Nose Productions.” He currently has offices in Boulder and Longmont, Colo.

Chris Kienke ('94 design) was on a one-month fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center in December. Three of his paintings were purchased for the permanent collection of the Savannah College of Art and Design in November.

Timothy Hutchings ('96 photo/video) is preparing for three solo shows, one at the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna this June and another at the Center of Contemporary Art in St. Louis in 2009. The third opened in February at the I-20 Gallery in New York. He is also in the following group exhibitions in 2008: “DA2,” Contemporary Museum of Art, Salamanca, Spain; “locate | navigate - exercises in mapping,” Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, Mo.; “Fake,” Redsaw Art, Newark; “Trunk Selects,” traveling exhibit in Norway and Sweden; and “Accidental/Coincidental,” Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, New York. In 2007, Hutchings exhibited work in the following shows: “25 Years Later...,” Art in General, New York; “L.I.C.,” Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens; “For Sale,” Espacio Liquido, Gijón, Spain; “Urban Spaces,” Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, Calif.; and “Red Badge of Courage,” Newark Arts Council, Newark. Later this year, Hutchings is scheduled to be a resident artist at the Sydney College of Art, in Australia.

Jenny-Sue Kostecki-Shaw ('96 illustration) announces the publication of her first children’s picture book she wrote and illustrated. “My Travelin’ Eye,” published by Henry Holt & Company, will be released April 1.



Ethan Turpin ('97 sculpture) received the “Best Documentary: Heartland Award” from the 2007 Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee for his 20 minute piece, "The Crocodiles of Kansas City," a film about his friend and former employer, the late Pat Nichols Jacobs. His experimental short "Terror and Tourism: The Ill-fated Adventures of Harry and Rita Krackendorf" was an official selection in the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. www.TerrorAndTourism.com. Also, Turpin exhibited his latest installation/photo work, "Stereocollision," in Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum's "True Métier: Call For Entries '06-'07." A new arrangement of the work was on view in January at Edward Cella Art & Architecture as part of a group show called "Curiosities." www.edwardcella.com. Turpin's photo collage, map collage and documentary video work was included in "On The Edge," a group show at the Elverhoj Museum in his hometown of Solvang, Calif., which also showed last fall. Turpin also screened “Her Duty: A Military Wife Speaks Out” at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January.

Kristie Alshaibi ('99 photo/new media) announces that “Nice Bombs,” the documentary she produced about her husband Usama Alshaibi's return to Iraq to reunite with family after the fall of Saddam Hussein, will have its broadcast premiere on the Sundance Channel this spring. After being purchased by Seventh Art Releasing, the movie had a brief theatrical run in Chicago and New York, and it received a glowing review in Variety. Locally, the movie screened at the 2006 Kansas International Film Festival. She looks forward to a future DVD release as well. Currently, she is directing her newest documentary which addresses incest and pedophilia, tentatively titled "Daddy." The film will be a combination of animation, live interviews, home movies and found footage. artvamp.com

Kristin Miltner ('99 photo/video) released a solo electronic experimental CD entitled "grains." Click here for a review. Miltner is production manager and co-curator of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. Also, she is a professional composer and sound designer for Leapfrog (specifically Leapster handheld educational learning system) and Somatone Interactive Audio (casual and
console games).

Amelia Ishmael ('04 photo/new media) published an exhibition review in the September/October issue Art Papers magazine.

Jack Boge ('49 painting) died Feb. 22 in Quincy, Ill. Boge taught art for 37 years in the Wichita, Ks. Public Schools, and his paintings have been exhibited at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, the Springfield, Mo. Art Museum, and the Wichita Art Museum.

Donald Sarlo ('52 design) died September 30, 2007, at his home in La Junta, Colo. He was 77 years old. He is survived by his only son, Mark K. Sarlo, and his sister-in-law, Lydia Sarlo. Sarlo was a resident of La Junta all his life except for his time at KCAI and his assignement in the Army in Virginia. He enjoyed several careers after graduating from college. He was an interior decorator before his retirement in 1995, and he continued designing costumes and sets for a theater group after that time.

Hubert A. Wilson, 90, of Prairie Village died in February. Wilson was a KCAI graduate who was assistant circulation promotion manager for the Kansas City Times and the Kansas City Star before retiring in 1979.

The Art in the Loop Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., has named Robin Trafton as director. In this position, Trafton will supervise all aspects of managing a nonprofit organization and administrating ongoing public art program. New public art underwritten by the foundation is under construction. Local artist Laura DeAngelis ('95 sculpture), who teamed up with Davison Architecture + Urban Design, is creating a public art/design project for Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park, a green pocket-park located at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City. A grand opening is scheduled for spring 2008.

The Art in the Loop Foundation is a non-profit organization providing unique opportunities for Kansas City Art Institute alumni and faculty to contribute to the public realm of downtown Kansas City through the creation of public art.

After this semester, Professor Jim Leedy is retiring from full-time teaching; however, he will remain an active artist and member of the KCAI community.
In what year did he begin teaching?
1954
1982
1969
1966
Answer to be posted at www.kcai.edu/alumni.

Alumnus James Woodfill ('80 painting), who currently teaches junior and senior painting classes, has a number of noteworthy projects that have been recently completed or are in progress.

James was awarded a public art project last spring for four bridges over I-670 in downtown Kansas City, Mo., after a competitive selection process that began with a national open call to artists. The project, with a budget of $828,500, includes the bridges on Baltimore Avenue, Main Street, Walnut Street and Grand Avenue and is scheduled for completion in early 2008. It started with the need for safety rails for pedestrians on the bridges, but James thought of it as "an environmental installation that acts to reconnect two areas of the city that have been severed by the interstate highway. The grids that fill the visual environment surrounding the site have become the sources that inform the nature of the project. Photographic images of these grids, primarily from buildings in the area, will be manipulated and embedded in glass panels that will be interspersed through the four bridge sites."

James is working with a team including el dorado architects to realize his vision. Funding was provided by the Gary Dickinson Family Foundation and the city of Kansas City, Mo., from money already budgeted for standard pedestrian railings. More information on this project can be found on James' Web site at www.jameswoodfill.com.

"Relative Field," a commissioned installation that James created, is on view through August at the American Century Sculpture Field, located at 44th and Main streets. The work consists of six stations of galvanized steel with fluorescent lights.

Elysia Contreras, a junior majoring in interdisciplinary arts and art history, describes her experience, living and learning in Brooklyn, N.Y., on her KCAI blog. She is spending the spring semester in New York, working in a studio space in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) district of Brooklyn on the East River in view of the Brooklyn Bridge looking over to Manhattan. The new building is a large renovated space full of arts organizations at 20 Jay St. Elysia recently started an internship at J&R Imex.

Career services and alumni relations have teamed up to offer alumni and alumnae information on professional development. The two offices encourage artists interested in professional networking to attend this year’s alumni weekend and also the alumni receptions in their area (please see “Upcoming receptions” for more information).

At Alumni Weekend, attend one of three Saturday, April 5, morning discussions (9:15-10 am) geared towards professional development:

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You and Your Loved Ones!
Estate planning information session with a leading Kansas City attorney and KCAI’s Pam Sibert. You do not want to miss this session that addresses important tax information for artists.

Networking Is Not a Dirty Word!
Social networking is an important skill critical to professional success, yet sometimes challenging to artists. Discuss your experiences and learn with KCAI staff members.

Alumni, We Hear You!
Learn how engaging the institute can help you achieve your professional goals.

Also, choose to attend one or more of these Alumni Weekend Saturday afternoon workshops for worthwhile, career-oriented information:

From the Artist’s Easel to the Buyer’s Wall
Public Art: What You Need to Know
Getting Down to Business: Taking the Leap

To register and for detailed information about time and place, please visit www.kcai.edu/alumni. Interested in working at KCAI? Be sure to visit our employment web site frequently.

Want to receive ongoing news about campus events? Subscribe to KCAI ARTNotes, an e-mail newsletter that is distributed every other Monday, or view back issues www.kcai.edu/artnotes. To subscribe, e-mail emurray@kcai.edu.