Kansas City Crossroads Arts District was adorned this past September with more colorful murals, as dozen of artists set up more than 40 new murals to the neighborhood.

The SpraySeeMo Mural Festival bills itself as the “largest-ever” painting exhibition, where the public can watch artists coat the walls of downtown buildings with creative imagination in real-time.

The even features several top street artists and muralists from Kansas City and around the world, who will paint predominantly in the Crossroads and a part of Midtown. Artists visiting from around the U.S., as well as other countries, will fly to participate in this festival. The festival also showcases artists from the Kansas City area, including Jason Harrington, known as Rif Raf Giraffe.

Vince Sanders, of CBD American Shaman, the lead sponsor of the 2019 festival, said he has always been a fan of street art and fell in love with the idea of a festival “bringing street art to Kansas City in a large way,” he said. Inspired by artistic hot spots like Wynwood Walls in Miami and the Bushwick Collective in Brooklyn, the vision, Sanders says, is to put Kansas City on the map and create a national — or international — arts festival driving thousands of people to the city.

The attendees of the festival are encouraged to meet the artist and watch them work. They can also join Graffiti KC for a walking tour or take a ride on the Barley Bus or a mobile tour of the walls. Highlighted free activities throughout the week of the festival include the annual SpraySeeMO Group Exhibition, a Birthday Bash at The Truman KC and a Secret Wall art battle. After a week of painting, the SpraySeeMO Board is expecting to pick the top three murals and artists to share in the prize money.

If ever considering to go see the festival in person next year, I would recommend visiting SpraySeeMO.com or their Instagram @sprayseemo to see when the scheduling of the festival and all the activities planned and be able to have the best experience.

It’s crazy how December is already here and the crazy Kansas weather is coming in full swing. In getting back to introducing you guys to new graffiti artists, this week’s artist was featured in Kansas City’s SpraySeeMO fest in September of 2019.

Spaceship Zulu has emerged on the Kansas City street art scene as a street-smart artist who has successfully crossed into the gallery circuit. In a few fast-paced years, he has swiftly risen to become one of the tops up and coming artists in Kansas City. His works range widely in style but celebrate the new wave of street art happening across the world.

With equally interesting street and legal name, it seems as though Brew Lamb aka Spaceship Zulu, has always been destined for the art world. Since answering an open call for a Downtown mural several years ago and emerging the winner, he has made his mark on Kansas City.

Spaceship Zulu started doing graffiti on the streets of Wichita back in 2005 as a member of the Bomb the City Crew, with EPEK and INC. He was first inspired to start doing graffiti and art again on a trip to KC. He was taken aback by all of the beautiful street art and graffiti in the urban landscape of The Crossroads and The West Bottoms. Now, his work is displayed prominently in those same locations next to some of the same artists that first inspired him. Now he is part of the larger Kansas City street art scene that has inspired others.

​From the start, Zulu has used stencils in elements of his works, but by 2013 he had turned fully to the art of stenciling for large works. He soon became more widely noticed for his mural work around the area, and since has done solo, group and collaborative shows in multiple galleries throughout the city.

For the artist of this week, I wanted to introduce you to a new artist who added another mural to Kansas City. In the last month of September is when Kansas City had there third annual SpraySeeMo Festival. The festival bills itself as the “largest-ever” painting exhibition, where the public can watch artists coat the walls of downtown buildings with creative imagery in real-time.

One of the artists that participated in this year’s SpraySeeMo was Ivan Rogue. Born December in 1991, Ivan J. Rouge is a visual artist from Miami, Florida. He was raised in the inner city of the infamous Carol City. Ivan has a passion centered on the concepts of birth, death and social struggles. He is influenced by both old masters such as Marcel Duchamp, Caravaggio, and Mark Rothko. Today he is also been influenced by Shepard Fairey, Antony Lister, and Tyope in his artwork.

Roque has accomplished many impressive achievements for his young age. Among these are working artistically with rapper Denzel Curry and being selected to collaborate with the major brands Beck’s, Seagram’s Gin and The Opium Group. He frequently showcases alongside established artists such as Stephen Gamson, David Detuna, John “CRASH” Matos, and many others. Additionally, Ivan was chosen to be a part of the acclaimed Pop Up Pianos Miami during Art Basel 2012 and Surfside commissioned one of his pieces for the town.

This young artist has had three gallery solo shows and has participated in numerous group shows. Ivan Roque’s first museum solo show will take place this summer at The Coral Springs Museum of Art. Roque’s pieces are increasingly in demand. His works are sold to collectors worldwide.

Roque’s art can be found in galleries in New York, Miami, and Dubai and in murals internationally. His work is truly innovative and something to follow. Ivan Roque is a true example of what can become of those who are “forever lost”.

With November almost about to come to an end, the holiday spirit will be in full swing, even if some people have already decked out their house in Christmas decorations. Around this time of the year is when children start to make their Christmas list, mailing letters to Santa and making sure the family has their wish list. This means that it’s time for the parents and adults to go out shopping.

One place where many people may go for shopping or just to celebrate the holidays is the Crown Center. Before World War I, Downtown Kansas City was heavily populated and bustling. The area today home to Crown Center was an extension of the Union Hill historic neighborhood. The master design was prepared by Edward Larrabee Barnes

Edward Larrabee Barnes (April 22, 1915 – September 22, 2004) was an American architect. Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942 and served in the Navy during World War II. After the war, he worked for Henry Dreyfuss in Los Angeles designing prototypes for mass-produced homes.

One of the main attractions of the Crown Center is during Christmas. A century-old tradition, the Mayor’s Christmas Tree at Hallmark Cards’ Crown Center is strung with more than 7,200 white lights during the winter holidays and stands 100 feet tall, which is taller than the famous National Christmas Tree and Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, as well as the White House Christmas Tree. A special guest “flips the switch” each year. For example, in 2010 Chef Celina Tio (owner and chef of Julian in K.C., Missouri) joined Kansas City’s Mayor Mark Funkhouser to light the tree. The lighting ceremony is held the day after Thanksgiving and the annual Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony. After the holidays, the tree is cut into commemorative ornaments and sold to benefit the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund, which assists city residents in poverty.

Many of us this holiday season desire to take photos for Christmas cards, winter weddings, or just for Instagram. One place here in Kansas City families decides to take photos at is Union Station.

Kansas City Union Station opened in 1914, serving Kansas City, Missouri, and the surrounding metropolitan area. It replaced a small Union Depot from 1878. Union Station served a peak annual passenger traffic of over 670,000 in 1945 at the end of World War II. It quickly started declining in the 1950s and closed in 1985.

In 1996, a public/private partnership undertook Union Station’s $250 million restorations. By 1999, the station reopened as a series of museums and other public attractions. In 2002, Union Station saw its return as a train station when Amtrak began providing public transportation services and has since become Missouri’s second-busiest train station. As of 2010, the refurbished station boasts theaters, ongoing museum exhibits, and attractions such as the Science City at Union Station, the Irish Museum and Cultural Center, and the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity.

The architect of Union Station is Javis Hunt. Jarvis Hunt (August 6, 1863 – June 15, 1941) was a Chicago architect who designed a wide array of buildings, including train stations, suburban estates, industrial buildings, clubhouses, and other structures. Hunt was born in Weathersfield, Vermont, and graduated from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He had a passion for golf and qualified for the 1904 Olympics Golf Team, but failed to make the final selection. Hunt later designed the clubhouses of several clubs including the National Golf Links of America Golf Course, of which he was a founding member, and the Chicago Golf Club.

Most of his projects are associated with the United States Midwest, including the Kansas City Union Station and the Joliet Union Station. Hunt based his architectural firm in Chicago’s Monadnock Building.
Hunt retired to his home in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1927. He died on June 15, 1941, in St. Petersburg.

It’s finally November which means that Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. So I thought why don’t I introduce you to the architect that created the Plaza, since many of us may go shopping there this holiday season.

Edward Beuhler Delk was a prominent architect who has designed many landmarks and building in the Midwest and Southwest regions in the United States. Delk was born on September 22, 1885, in Schoharie, New York. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1907. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War I where he then studied at the University of London after the war. Among his most famous works were the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture building in the 1920s for Kansas City developer J.C. Nichols.

The Country Club Plaza – often called The Plaza – is a privately owned American shopping center in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. The center consists of 18 separate buildings representing 804,000 square feet of retail space and 468,000 square feet of office space. Designed in a Moorish architectural style, its buildings are arrayed along with a collection of streets at the northern edge of the Country Club District, which leads the center to blend in with the apartment and office buildings and houses that surround it.

It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. The 55-acre site is about four miles south of downtown, between 46th Street and Brush Creek to the north and south and between J.C. Nichols Parkway and Madison Avenue to the east and west. Established in 1922 by J. C. Nichols and designed architecturally after the city of Seville, Spain, the Plaza comprises high-end retail establishments, restaurants, and entertainment venues, as well as offices. The neighborhoods surrounding the Plaza consist of upscale apartment buildings and mansions, especially those of the Country Club District built along Ward Parkway on the Plaza’s southern and southwestern side.

During his long career as an architect, Delk designed many large homes, churches, and other types of buildings in Kansas City and Oklahoma, including the open-air Starlight Theater in 1950-51, located in Swope Park.

In this week’s Artist Of Kansas City is another architect by the name of Charles Deaton. Deaton studied structural engineering, industrial design, and architecture on his own, and earned certification. He designed the futuristic Sculptured House on Genesee Mountain near Denver, Colorado that was featured in the Woody Allen movie Sleeper.

In 1967, Kansas City Missouri was planning to build a new multipurpose arena for its professional baseball and football teams. Deaton caught the ear of Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Jack Steadman and suggested building side-by-side stadiums customized to its needs. The entire complex would share parking facilities and highway infrastructure. Deaton’s design for Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium was implemented by Kivett and Myers.

Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums. Clarence Kivett graduated from the University of Kansas in 1928 and his first big design project was the art deco design of Katz Drug at Main Street and Westport in 1934 in Kansas City. He was joined by Ralph Myers in 1940. They went on to design the Cumonow Residence in Mission Hills, the Missouri State Office Building at 13th and Holmes, the old Temple B’nai Jehudah at 69th and Holmes, Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Building at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Fairmount Hotel in the Country Club Plaza and the Mission Hills Country Club clubhouse.

Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). It is part of the Truman Sports Complex with adjacent Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arrowhead Stadium has a seating capacity of 76,416, making it the 27th largest stadium in the United States and the sixth-largest NFL stadium. It is also the largest sports facility by capacity in the state of Missouri. A $375 million renovation was completed in 2010.

Unfortunately, Deaton died in Morrison, Colorado at the age of 75. His work is now the staple of Kansas City for both the Royals and Kansas City Chiefs.

With the weather now changing and fall has now begun, I thought a change of artist would be nice. I have been introducing you to many of the graffiti artists here in Kansas City, but I thought I should introduce you to some architects that have made Kansas City as well. This week’s artist is known for his astounding architecture in Kansas City and across the world. Moshe Safdie, an Israeli-Canadian-American architect, is best known for designing Habitat ’67 at the site of Expo 67, a yearlong international exhibition in Montreal.

Safdie studied at McGill University School of Architecture in Montreal and began his career in 1962. He worked in the offices of Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn. Subsequently, he opened his own architectural offices in Montreal, Jerusalem, Boston, and Toronto.

The Kansas City Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is completed by Safdie in 2011. Clad in waves of stainless steel, which form the main performance venues. A glass atrium connects the two spaces and offers views of the city skyline. The Kauffman Center is home to resident organizations such as the Kansas City Ballet, Lyric Opera, Kansas City Symphony, and innovative programs. It embraces a variety of audiences with different tastes, interests, and passions.

His second project here in Kansas is located in Wichita. The Exploration Place Science Center and Children’s Museum is located near downtown Wichita at the convergence of the Arkansas River. With a mission to provide scientific and humanistic education meaningful to people of all ages, the center organizes interpenetrating elements of the river’s edge, public park, and museum.

I have visited the Kauffman Center many times and it is something to marvel. The designing of the building is extraordinary and what makes it a staple for Kansas City. I have yet to go visit the Exploration Place Science Center in Wichita, but it is now on my list of places to go visit in Kansas.

This week’s artist is Peter Robinson a.k.a Ten Hundred is an artist and designer from Seattle, WA. He was born and raised in Michigan and moved around the United States before settling in Seattle.

He specializes in rich, colorful, imaginative character work. He has shown his work in Seattle, Portland, Denver, and Los Angeles. He has murals in Seattle, New York City, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Tokyo Japan, and Buzios Brazil.

One of the perks of being an artist is that it teaches you to look at your world differently. Inspiration can be anywhere, and an artist’s eye seeks out the beauty and wonder in the world around us all the time. Every artist can a different perspective on how they see things. Which creates an array of styles and unique art pieces.

His inspiration comes from cartoons. anime, street art, graffiti, childlike imagination, comics, world cultures, religions, and folklore. It creates something new that people haven’t seen before.

One of his murals here in Kansas City shows these inspirations come to life. The photo above demonstrates how his imagination and bright colors created this amazing mural that has so much to look at.

He spends his time creating fine art, gallery shows, running his shop “Statix” in Seattle WA, creating clothing, toys, and figurines, designing art for businesses, and creating large murals all around the world.

The image below is one of his most popular murals here in Kansas City. It is featured on Fox 4 News as a spot to go visit and see the art up close. This artwork is again a representation of his childlike imagination to create a cohesive final look.

His murals are ones that I enjoyed visiting and seeing the work up close. Inspiration can come from everywhere and Ten Hundred is projecting his style and demonstrating his unique, creative artwork to the world.

It a new month, so here is a new Artist of Kansas City. This week’s artist is Ade Hogue. Ade is an Art Director, Designer, and Letterer based in Chicago, Illinois. He has an amazing skill in applying his ability to combine the aesthetic with the practical.

He was born in a small town in southern Virginia but moved to Northern Carolina when he was a kid. As a child, he didn’t have any background in art or design. He then decided to attend college in Charlotte, North Carolina. While attending college, he wanted to major in Civil Engineering before deciding that this wasn’t something he wanted to pursue. When introduced into the arts in college, he decided that this was something he aspired to attempt.

His work covers a pretty wide range of designs, but overall, he works with type. He tries to combine type and lettering into everything he creates, no matter the kind of medium.

One of his most notable accomplishments is highlighted in Print Magazine as one of the 2017 New Visual Artists. It held an incredible honor to have his work recognized by such a prestigious magazine.

One of his most notable accomplishments is highlighted in Print Magazine as one of the 2017 New Visual Artists. It held an incredible honor to have his work recognized by such a prestigious magazine. His work in Kansas City can be found in West 74th Terrance and Broadway Road.

This art composition is designed with an abstract pattern of fun shaped lines in a circular pattern. Each line illustrated in the artwork is unique and has no specific pattern, but it all fits together perfectly as one. With the wall being a solid white, the cool shades of blue lines ground the mural to stand out. The saying “Well that was fun” gives the mural a fun and quirky aspect to the artwork. This art piece is one I appreciated to go see here in Kansas City and can’t wait to see what else Ade Hogue will create next.