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Julius A. Karash on Business and the Arts
Jeff Owens, a high-profile artist/filmmaker and developer in Kansas City’s Crossroads area, recalls a time when he actually benefitted from the ghostly atmosphere that permeated a largely abandoned neighborhood. “It was extremely quiet, hardly any activity going on,” Owens told me. “I could do all kinds of things movie-wise.
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KC Collector Helps Launch Artist-Run Super PAC
That’s what artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman have to say about the current American political climate. Their frustration, shared by many Americans, is not unique. But their solution, the creation of an artist-run super PAC called “For Freedoms,” is without precedent.
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Siah Armajani: Bridge Builder
This fall, over 30 drawings, sculptures and architectural maquettes by internationally renowned artist and architect Siah Armajani will be on display at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. “Siah Armajani: Bridge Builder” will showcase five decades of work focusing on bridges, highlighting Armajani’s technical expertise as well as his symbolic and political investment in the bridge form.
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Artist to Watch: Michael Kirkendoll
A grotto in a 13th-century Tuscan monastery. A mechanic’s garage. A floating barge under the Brooklyn Bridge. A haunted Gothic chapel in downtown Kansas City. Wherever he goes, pianist Michael Kirkendoll brings his passion for the music of living composers. Considering that he studied his whole life — well into his doctorate — basically despising new music, the turnabout has been completed.