Research Roar Trip Day 3: Lawrence to Denver

Research road trip, day 3: breakfast with Jo Kamm, K-State Ceramics, Amy Santoferraro and Lauren Karle.

After we left Kansas City and arrived in Lawrence I received an invite to meet and chat with Jo Kamm, a talented artist living and working in Kansas City. We met Jo for breakfast.

When I was at Arrowmont for the surface forum symposium/ residency in January I spent my time making a complex mold of a sock to allow people to juggle with. Dylan Beck, a good friend of Jo's, mentioned Jo's recent piece titled- dangerous games, a performance piece and collaboration with the Kansas City juggling club that features very skilled juggling using porcelain juggling props. Conscience of Jo's work I almost pulled my sock juggling game from my thesis but after a long talk with my committee chair we decided that both pieces where similar but also very different where my piece was more about participation and audience interaction in a playful way. 

A little background on my piece- as a high school student I had to juggle to pass gym class one year and fell in love with the playful activity. As an adult and as a way to make everyday activities more fun (a theme throughout my thesis work) I continue to juggle my clean, folded socks everytime I do laundry. 

I was a little nervous to meet Jo knowing that I had just completed this piece less than a month ago. As soon as I met Jo I realized I was worrying for no reason. Jo was one the nicest and intelligent guys I have ever met. He admitted he followed my work and complimented me right off the bat, that always feels good! I proceeded to tell Jo about my piece and his reaction was pure excitement and happiness that I enjoyed to juggle. The three of us continued to talk about just about everything: social practice, the internet, interactive art, mold making, traveling, Hungary, digital fabrication, rhino 3d, and much much more. It took us almost 30 minutes before we were even able to look at the menu. We both agreed we needed to collaborate on some future projects, an article, and or organize an artist-invite-artist residency together- I can't wait!

Towards the end Jo gifted us one of his handmade juggling balls (holder included) and in exchange I gifted a slip-cast sock. What an amazing gift/ trade!! 

After Lawrence we continued West on I70. Shortly after we were on the road, we saw a mileage sign for Manhattan Kansas and knowing that K-State was in Manhattan we decided to stop off to check out the art building and of course the ceramics area. When we arrived the building was quiet and relatively empty due to the semester recently ending. 

We walked around a little and noticed that Amy Santoferraro's office and studio light was on but the door was closed. Unsure if Amy was there, we decided to knock. Amy was there and was very happy to see us- She said she was following our trip online! Amy was very friendly, high energy, smart, and funny. We received a wonderful tour and I was even able to take home a skateboard (score!). Our visit was perfect and we highly recommend this program for post-bac and graduate studies! Jeni had the pleasure of meeting Lauren Karle fellow ceramicist and social engager they would have talked for hours if we hadn't needed to get back on the road. I think it was the beginning of a long friendship!

Above is student work from K-State.

Kyle Triplett exit show from K-State residency.

Research road trip. Day 2: Kansas City, MO and Lawrence, KS

Day two. We woke up in St. Louis, MO and drove west across the state to Kansas City, MO. What an incredible city it blew us both away and now I can understand why there is a ceramic meca in KC...we both could easily live there- Kansas City left a good inpression; clean city, amazing museums, farm-to-table restaurants, and much more. Our first stop in KC was at Red Star Studios and Gallery. Unfortunately since it was Sunday Red Star was closed :( we were both bummed and had been looking forward visitng Red Star in person. We peaked in the windows and named off all the artists and artwork we could see. 

After a failed adventure to Red Star we grabbed lunch at Cafe Gratitute and started to plan our next move. We were aware that the Kansas City Art Institute was in the city and that near by there was an art museum but the exact details and the extent of the museum was still unknown to us. I used my phone to acquire more information and discovered that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was currently featuring a ceramic exhibition- once upon a time: stories in contemporary ceramics.

When we arrived at the museum it was instantly obvious the museum had much more to offer than the exhibition we were first excited about. Upon first arrival we could see surrounding the museum was a large grass area/park that feauted 3 large Claes Oldenburg pieces. 

In a review of my own artwork I was once compared to Oldenburg so it was special to see his work in person- and sure enough it was very playful!!! My phone died a gazillion time (only 6 but still!) so we weren't able to take as many photographs as we wanted but below are the photos we were able to take. For this post in including mostly pictures of our favorite pieces and interactive aspects of the museum (the main focus for my research on this trip). 

As far as interior aspects go below is one of my favorites. There was this incredible wooden bed that was built without nails or glue to make it easy to take apart and move. The museum of course did not want visitors to touch the bed but they did want people to understand the complexity to the joints and the craftsmanship in making the bed: so they set up this interactive station with sample joints that visitors were allowed to touch and play with. See Jeni at the station in the picture below. 

Another interactive station below. 

Here is my favorite piece from the Nelson-Atkins. I have seen Marilyn Levine's work in books and publications but photographs never do justice, it was incredible to see this piece in person. And enjoying a little Donald Judd.

Peter Voulkos, Plate, 1973

The work above is from the Kansas City Art Institute student exhibition. Unfortunately, the show was being deinstalled when we arrived but we saw it in part and did meet some friendly students! It's seems like a great place with some really good student work coming out.

We ended the day with a visit to Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, KS to visit resident artist and studio manager Kyla Strid. Kyla is a talented vessel maker who recently graduated with her MFA from Ohio University. I first met Kyla during an artist residency at Red Lodge Clay Center where I traded her for a few bowls that we still love and use daily!

Stay tuned for our next adventure: topics include breakfast with Jo Kamm, a visit to K-State ceramics in Manhattan, KS with faculty Amy Santoferraro and recent grad Lauren Karle.

City Museum!!

Research Road Trip first day: Left Ohio for St. Louis, MO to visit the City Museum. FYI...I just downloaded the blogger app and this is my first attempt at blogging from my phone. My apologies if something doesn't look right as this is a challenge in itself. Now on to the post. 

For those who don't know...I just finished the requirements for my MFA at LSU and as celebration; Jeni and I are road trippin through the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains (Colorado). Since we are always trying to better our careers, as artists we conduct a lot of research and since we both enjoy our research this trip is a mixture of pure pleasure (camping, hiking, and visiting friends) and research for pleasure (visiting museums, farms, and anything related to our artistic practice as well as contemporary ceramic art). Specifically I am visiting interactive museums and exhibitions as a way to further influence my interactive art. 

Yesterday we left Ohio late and drove straight to St. Louis to visit the City Museum at night. On my Facebook Simon Levin's comment sums up the place extremely well. "The best and hardest place to explain to people." In short it's a giant playground for kids and adults. It's a fully interactive museum and everything is built to play on. There are hidden caves and paths to craw through, a million (a couple dozen) giant slides (including a ten story slide...yes 10 stories high!) as well as giant ball pits old airplanes, fire trucks, buses, and steel structures to crawl through that are so high off the ground that they will make even grown men want to piss themselves (I almost did), and so much more. 

We visited two years ago during the day and had so much fun that we will visit the museum anytime we are near. On the weekends the City Museum is open at night until midnight. Within my own art, I am constantly exploring the carry over from child's play to adult play and am curious where does one line end and the other begin? I am specifically interestd in adults that continue to play throughtout their whole lives and therefore was very excited to visit the City Museum at night. And sure enough it was better than I expected. There were some kids and teenagers but compared to last time there were far more adults at night. It was  amazing to see adults stand in line to ride on a slide! It was hard to take pictures because it was so dark but I hope you enjoy the pictures we were able to take. If anyone is ever in St. Louis or near you have got to stop in to play and relive your childhood. 

    

After the museum we slept in our car at a hotel parking lot and woke up early enough to catch the sun rise over the Missouri River. Next stop Kansas City. Bye for now.