Southeast Community Center is nestled near the northwest corner of Swope Park on 63rd Street. The center opened in 2008 to replace a beloved but smaller and mostly obsolete facility.
As a city building, it required the inclusion of a one percent for art component. In collaboration with the Parks and Recreation Department, the Municipal Art Commission implemented a national call to artists and received some 60 responses from local and national artists. The selection panel carefully reviewed the submitted portfolios and accompanying information and ultimately selected local artist team Julia Cole and Leigh Rosser who proposed a conscientious, multi-faceted approach to honor the site, its history and future activities in the community center.
Inheritance consists of five artworks that connect thematically throughout the facility.
Upon entry, visitors encounter a touchable, topographical “map” of the community center site and surrounding area made from carved plywood, called Common Ground.
To the right of the reception desk, visitors see three maps mounted on glass panels titled, Mapping Community: Map of Probability, Map of Possibility and Map of Being, which explore ways of representing “community,” both as a place and a way of living.
Hanging from the ceiling in the clerestory, visitors see Ripple Effect, a 150 foot long kinetic sculpture crafted of translucent blue fins mounted on a cable spine. When visitors pass a secret sensor the sculpture reacts by sending a gentle rhythmic ripple down the length of the artwork much like a ripple in a pond or a community.
In the community area opposite the fireplace, visitors encounter Connection Web, a unique wall hanging that serves both as art and a working instrument to teach and explore webs of connection. The panel includes dozens of artist-drawn ceramic “buttons” which illustrate the relationships between living beings in Kansas City; where they live and how they eat. By moving a lever, an instructor can move the buttons, and the artists have provided blank backing pins so that community members can create their own teaching exhibitions.
The final artwork includes two video stations called Video Explorers, mounted outside the two doors of the Game Room. The artists created videos that show the discoveries they made while exploring Swope Park. They plan to work with the Parks Department staff to purchase video cameras so that students at the facility can create and exhibit their own videos about their community.
Inheritance was funded by the City of Kansas City One Percent for Art Program and implemented in collaboration with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. Julia Cole and Leigh Rosser are among a handful of local artists who have gained valuable experience through the city’s one percent for art program and who have gone on to compete for other, larger commissions locally and nationally.
Southeast Community Center is nestled near the northwest corner of Swope Park on 63rd Street. The center opened in 2008 to replace a beloved but smaller and mostly obsolete facility.
As a city building, it required the inclusion of a one percent for art component. In collaboration with the Parks and Recreation Department, the Municipal Art Commission implemented a national call to artists and received some 60 responses from local and national artists. The selection panel carefully reviewed the submitted portfolios and accompanying information and ultimately selected local artist team Julia Cole and Leigh Rosser who proposed a conscientious, multi-faceted approach to honor the site, its history and future activities in the community center.
Inheritance consists of five artworks that connect thematically throughout the facility.
Upon entry, visitors encounter a touchable, topographical “map” of the community center site and surrounding area made from carved plywood, called Common Ground.
To the right of the reception desk, visitors see three maps mounted on glass panels titled, Mapping Community: Map of Probability, Map of Possibility and Map of Being, which explore ways of representing “community,” both as a place and a way of living.
Hanging from the ceiling in the clerestory, visitors see Ripple Effect, a 150 foot long kinetic sculpture crafted of translucent blue fins mounted on a cable spine. When visitors pass a secret sensor the sculpture reacts by sending a gentle rhythmic ripple down the length of the artwork much like a ripple in a pond or a community.
In the community area opposite the fireplace, visitors encounter Connection Web, a unique wall hanging that serves both as art and a working instrument to teach and explore webs of connection. The panel includes dozens of artist-drawn ceramic “buttons” which illustrate the relationships between living beings in Kansas City; where they live and how they eat. By moving a lever, an instructor can move the buttons, and the artists have provided blank backing pins so that community members can create their own teaching exhibitions.
The final artwork includes two video stations called Video Explorers, mounted outside the two doors of the Game Room. The artists created videos that show the discoveries they made while exploring Swope Park. They plan to work with the Parks Department staff to purchase video cameras so that students at the facility can create and exhibit their own videos about their community.
Inheritance was funded by the City of Kansas City One Percent for Art Program and implemented in collaboration with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. Julia Cole and Leigh Rosser are among a handful of local artists who have gained valuable experience through the city’s one percent for art program and who have gone on to compete for other, larger commissions locally and nationally.
