The artist we are featuring this week is D. Ross Scribe. Donald Ross is also known as “scribe” currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri. The murals by Scribe are recognizable by the animated characters and designs in Midtown Kansas City. Throughout different parts of the United States, Canada, including down into Mexico he has designed public murals including exhibits.

The style of R. Scribe incorporates a menagerie of animal characters developed of many years of his work, and representing a particular trait that he inserts into various scenarios. R. Scribe distributes personal iconography, biblical and fairytale references, animation, and metaphor in works intended as modern fables for public audiences. R. Scribe combines humor and puns in the conveyance of serious messages. In the past years, R. Scribe focused on creating a diverse art career. He is currently the Art Director of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where he does everything from graphic designs and creating fun murals in the hospital.

Children’s Mercy Hospital may not be a place where to be as a child. While the hallways are often filled with crying kids, worried moms who hold their babies and toddlers extra tight and dads staring off into the distance. The creative walls provide relief and a distraction to the children and also to the parents. I have seen these murals at Children’s Mercy and they bring life into the hospital walls.

Apart from his gallery work, R. Scribe has also had a children’s book published called “There’s an Octopus Under my Bed”. This children’s book shows his style of artwork that he uses for his murals and other designs. One of Scribe’s focus in the past years had been on what is called the Urban Toys where he has had several figures released and sold out in 2009 based on his signature character “Rumpus” the rhino and “Sumego” an egotistical beaver.

His work may not be something that everyone prefers, but his artwork is unique and astonishing to see in Kansas City. His creations are ones you can’t miss, and you may want to do a double-take to understand what you were viewing. I am always astonished in how he can create unique characters and interesting backgrounds to design a marvelous final product.

This week’s artist of Kansas City is Ruthie Ozonoff. She is a graduate from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration and Animation and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. She was also the Head Creative Director at The University Daily Kansas Newspaper and led a team of four designers and illustrators. The team created many professional advertisements and were featured in the university’s newspaper and website.
Ruthie has painted several well-known murals here in the Kansas City area. One that is very famous is “Kansas City I’m so in Love” at the Imagine That! Art Studio in the Crossroads. Another picture-worthy painting is “Where KC Plays” for KC Parks and Recreation in the West Bottoms.

Ruthie’s artwork technique is composed of calligraphy lettering, bright colors, and simplistic but intricate designs. The murals are acknowledged to be the most desirable location to capture Instagram worthy photos. Her artwork remains to be an attraction for tourists that want to capture a marvelous vacation photo. Her artwork is one that I enjoy seeing here in Kansas City. She recently did a mural piece at Pink Antlers Studio that has created a marvelous new atmosphere in the business.

Not only does she do murals, but she also has an apparel line featuring her designs. She has a wide range of clothing, such as hats, beanies, scarves, and t-shirts. These pieces can be seen on her Instagram account @designebyruthie.

One of her new concepts of artwork is creating a post card mural and combining the name of the place the mural resides. So when people take a photo with the mural people will recognize where they are at.
Ruthie is now a Graphic Designer and Marketing Executive at PSA Worldwide in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her main role at PSA Worldwide is to develop educational products and operations. Even though she may be busy, she is always creating new artwork somewhere for us to see.

Phil Shafer, AKA Sike Style, artwork can found all through Kansas City. For the past 15 years, Sike Style has channeled his creativity through his art business: Sike Style Industries. He revolutionizes building walls and vandalized surfaces with a great art piece. He is better known for many murals here in Kansas City. In the Fox4 Green Room, he redid the artwork and gave it more flare for their guests. This mural shows a great emphasis on Kanas City and the main channel of the news with the large four as the center of attention.

One of his extravagant murals here in Kansas City was explained more in-depth on Fox4. In his interview on Fox4 News, he explains the symbolism of his zebra mural. “The zebra is a metaphor for myself as a biracial person, and so I like to show the zebra doing fun things, like leading a pack of horses or running free on a wall,” Phil “Sike Style,” Shafer said on Fox4 News.

When creating his artwork he has the mindset of wanting everyone to be able to enjoy it and for people to think about following their dreams just like he did. “Public art is a chance for people who don’t know about art to at least enjoy and engage in it. The idea that I guess it’s a demonetized form of artwork. There’s no entry fee to see a mural, you can just walk by and see it and you don’t need to feel like you’re an elitist in a gallery or snooty in a museum. It’s there for the public and for everybody,” Shafer said on Fox4 News. Whenever I see his murals here in Kansas City, I am always astonished at how he is able to create just an ordinary wall into a fascinating mural. This artist will be one that I will always look forward to seeing what he can create next.

Jason Harrington, or better known as Rif Raf Giraffe, is another artist known here in Kansas City. He was born and raised throughout the suburbs of Kansas City and attended Johnson County Community College and then went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied painting and film. After many years of living in Chicago, he decided to return to Kansas City. This lead to him moving into the Crossroads Art District. This move to the East Crossroads influenced his artistic career and also changed many areas here in Kansas City. Harrington became one of the main cultivators of, and painters in, the Art Alley (located between Locust and Cherry on 18th St). From this foundation, he has built his painting career and brought life, color, and community through his art.

Rif Raf Giraffes murals are known for their bright colors and extravagant graphics. One of his popular murals is found in the East Crossroads District. This mural is titled Dimension 1801, which signifies the street in which it is located, is one mural that shows his amazing talents in creating allusion and patterns that work together. This mural was featured on Fox4News as an iconic location to take photos.

This mural above is another creation of Rif Raf’s down in the Crossroads. This mural is a combination of characters, patterns, and bright colors that make the wall stand out whenever you pass by. When visiting this mural, it was amazing to see all the details that went into making the characters and patterns. Even when it wasn’t sunny outside the colors were vibrant and it seemed that the wall was lit up. This is one of my favorite murals here in Kansas City. I always enjoy going into the Crossroad Art District and seeing all the art pieces being present and all the people taking photos to capture the moment.

This artist is known for his creative and bright bold unique artwork here in Kansas City. This artist’s name is JT Daniels and his work is something to admire. JT Daniels is a social activist who shows support through his artwork to uplift his community. His artwork can be seen all over Kansas City, either on the wall of small business, on streetcar stops and even in galleries. JT’s mixture of illustrations and bright colors gives a new perspective of ways artists can do street art. His signature style of art depicts amazingly draw characters that are infused with words in the forms of hair or in the background.

There is one staple mural down by The River Market at a very popular ice-cream shop that many people have seen here in Kansas City. This mural is found at Betty Rae’s ice cream shop on Delaware St. In his interview on Fox 4 News, he states “This is probably my favorite. I’m lactose intolerant, but I love ice cream. My kids love it. And I feel like a lot of people love taking pictures under it, being under the sprinkles falling down,” JT Daniels said. In every one of his pieces has a special signature of his, “I added the words ‘yep’ and ‘sup.’ ‘Sup’ is Surviving under pressure. Because I feel like everyone as humans are surviving under pressure at some point, and then ‘yep’ is a very Midwestern thing. I learned that from my grandfather before he passed,” Daniels said. All the vibrant colors and the illusion of the building melting gives this small ice cream shop character, there is always someone admiring his work even if they may not be stopping for ice cream. This mural has changed the atmosphere of this ice cream shop and many people enjoy to take family pictures here especially during the summer.