Kansas City, Missouri — Dozens of stunning works of art will greet travelers when the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport opens this spring.
Kansas City’s 1 Percent for Art program has a budget of $5.65 million for artwork for KCI’s new terminal. This is the largest public art project in Kansas City history.
From over 1,900 applicants, the Build KCI team selected 28 artists to create works for the terminal.
Nine of these works are large sculptures, hangings and ceramics found in the main terminal areas, arrival roads and parking lots.
These calls for proposals were open to professional artists from all over the world, but the selection committee was made up of local leaders, art experts and others. Build KCI said 75% of her selected works were from women or people of color.
The remaining 19 pieces are wall-based artwork at the two concourse gates.
These proposals were open to artists in the Kansas City area or with significant connections to the area. According to Build KCI, the selection committee is made up of national arts experts to ensure objectivity, and 78% of her artists are women or people of color.
75% of all art in KCI’s new terminal was created by Kansas City area artists or artists with whom we have a close relationship.
The Kansas City Aviation Authority has not set an official opening date, but the agency is targeting March, with an announcement expected soon.
See all the artwork by local, national, and international talent in Kansas City Airport’s new terminal and parking lot.
The Air Up There
Created by internationally renowned artist Nick Cave, this massive piece of art hangs on the wall. check-in hall ceiling. There are thousands of colorful windmills, many featuring local connections such as shuttlecocks and fountains. The city commissioned this work for his $1 million.
wings
This large-scale ceramic work by sculptor John Baristrelli check-in hallFeatures include human fingerprints, Missouri River lines, and dogwood blossoms.
let the music take you
at the southern end of check-in hall, travelers will find large ceramic figures of jazz bands. Created by sculptor George Rodriguez, this piece pays tribute to Kansas City’s impressive jazz history.
fountain
The new terminal in the city of fountains must have a fountain. Artist Leo Villarreal’s take will certainly leave travelers in awe.This part can be found in what the KCI folks call Retail node Awhere Concourse A intersects the connector.
stare at the clouds
Created by SOFTlab and artist Michael Szivos, this ceiling piece connector between two concourses. A KCI official said the image was created “with a barrier grid animation to show movement” by interweaving images against a colorful background.
ornithology
The work of artist Willie Cole Retail node B, the area between concourse B intersects the connector. It features 12 larger-than-life birds suspended from the alto saxophone ceiling. Cole said the piece is a tribute to Charlie Parker from Kansas City.
molten swing
The eye-catching work of artist Soo Sunny Park Escalator to baggage claim, catches and reflects light. Build KCI’s Crew Says ‘Morten Swing’ Honors Kansas City Jazz Musician Benny His Morten said.
sky prairie
As travelers leave KCI’s new terminal, this gigantic creation Arrival road underpassCreated by artist Jill Anholt, ‘Sky Prairie’ is inspired by the beautiful rolling hills that surround Kansas City.
riff/lift
Park in the new garage next to the KCI terminal and you’ll find the colorful creations of Hou de Sousa Studio. “The streamlined fins in this project evoke the nature of feathers and wings,” says Build KCI.
Concourse A and Concourse B have 19 wall-based works near the Gate Lounge. The Build KCI crew does not disclose where specific pieces can be found in the concourse.
Laura Berman
Created by artist Laura Berman, this three-panel work is called “Kansas Lays.” Berman is from Spain, but she is currently a professor at the Kansas City Institute of Art, where she teaches, among other things, printmaking, the technique she uses in this KCI work.
Mona Cliff
The new terminal creations by artist Mona Cliff are made from live edge wood and beads. The Lawrence-based artist explores her Native American culture through traditional craft methods such as beadwork, according to her biography.
Santiago Cucule
Artist Santiago Cucullu created this archival digital print for Kansas City’s new terminal. Cucullu is a visiting professor at the Kansas City Art Institute and has been featured in numerous international exhibitions.
JT Daniels Mural
JT Daniels murals can be found all over Kansas City, and one of them will appear at KCI Terminal. He plans to paint acrylics on his three wood panels.
Israel Alejandro Garcia Garcia
This multimedia installation by artist Israel Alejandro Garcia Garcia is called “Diaspora No. 1”. According to KC Studios, he incorporates numerous pieces, including photographs, fabrics, and his father’s immigration card, all of which tie into the story of the deportation of people of color.
John Hans
Photographer John Hans’ work will be exhibited as a 3-panel print at KCI Airport. His work, the Excelsior, captures his indicator of the tetrahedron above his marker at Springs Airport, he told his KC Studio.
Kwanza Humphrey
Johnson County-based artist Kwanza Humphrey created five oil paintings on canvas for the terminal. According to his website, he features five of his people from diverse backgrounds who represent what it means to live in Kansas City.
Debbie Barrett Jones
Textile artist Debbie Barrett-Jones created four metal prints from one fabric. After she made the original, she photographed it four different ways, printed it on aluminum, and put it in a frame.
Rachel Hubbard Klein
Teacher and artist Rachel Hubbard Klein’s beautiful mosaic tiles are quilted together and framed in large, unique frames. See 1950s newspaper advertisements and tiles with headlines.
Cathy Liao
Called “Hello and Goodbye,” artist Cathy Liao’s work combines painted wood panels with ceramic inlays. “Mixed her media work is about the notion of intimate yet universal relationships,” said Liao, a native of Taiwan who now works for the Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Linda Righton
Kansas City-based artist Linda Lighton looks to nature for the KCI terminal piece. The tiles feature flowers and insects from the Great Plains.
John Lauder
Artist Jon Lauder created four oil paintings on canvas called “Lines of Sight, Flight Lines”. A professor at Central Missouri University features views of country roads and planes flying overhead.
Sean Nash
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Artist Sean Nash is building work for KCI terminals (Courtesy Build KCI) -
Artist Sean Nash is building work for KCI terminals (Courtesy Build KCI)
Artist Sean Nash’s work creates mixed-media three-dimensional works that celebrate minority growers in the Kansas City area. Nash said on social media that he visited six farms “to learn from the farmers and document the relationships between people, plants and communities.”
Stephen Proski
Kansas City artist Stephen Proski created a three-panel work for the new terminal. According to Prosky’s biography, his art “addresses the personal experience of blindness,” and his work is also on display at the Kansas City Museum.
Rachel Gardner-Law
Johnson County-based artist Rachelle Gardner-Roe created this three-panel piece called “Flyover Country: The Wild Side” for the new terminal. Made from hand-dyed wool, it features the colorful creatures and nature of the region.
Hasna monkey
Artist Hasna Sal created a large Venetian glass painting using the sgraffito technique and framed it in a custom light box. Her colorful work is called “Nostalgia”.
Kati Toivanen
Kati Toivanen’s work “I-Spy Carry-On” is a digital collage. In it, KCI passengers can find all kinds of personal items that their families might pack in their luggage, from keys to small toys, Toivanen said.
Bernadette Esperanza Torres
Kansas City artist Bernadette Esperanza Torres’ colorful work is called “Beautiful Dreams Where You Go.” Among her proposals, Torres said it was a custom digital print of pottery handmade flowers and pottery-painted tiles, plus it has some three-dimensional aspects.
Hong Chan
Lawrence-based artist Hong Zhang created two intricate charcoal drawings for the new terminal. For over 20 years, she has focused on her hair as a central theme in her work, producing her rightful creations, another one of hers called ‘Kansas Blaze’. .
