LocationSoutheast Community Center at Swope Park |
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Artist: Julie Cole and Leigh Rosser
Installed: 2008
Medium: Mixed media
KCMO’s One Percent for the Arts Program
This ornamental attraction includes: “Ripple Effect”, “Common Ground”, “Mapping Community: Map of Possibility, Map of Probability, and Map of Being”, “Connection Web”, and “Video Explorers”
The project comprises five thematically connected artworks located throughout the facility. The first artwork is a touchable, polished wood topographical “map” of the community center site and the surrounding area made from carved plywood called Common Ground. (1) The second artwork includes three maps mounted on glass panels entitled, Mapping Community: Map of Probability, Map of Possibility, and Map of Being, which explore “community,” geographically and culturally. (2) Ripple Effect is a 150 foot long moving sculpture composed of translucent blue fins. People in the hallway pass a sensor that sends a rhythmic ripple down the length of the artwork; like a ripple in a pond or community. (3) Connection Web is a unique artwork that also serves as a teaching instrument. Included on the web-like wall piece are dozens of artist-drawn ceramic “buttons” that illustrate the ecological relationships between living creatures in Kansas City. Instructors can remove the artist’s buttons and use blanks to create specialized ecological maps with students. (4) The final artwork includes two video stations called Video Explorers which exhibit artist-created videos and videos created by students at the facility. (5)
Nearly 200 hundred years after the area’s first fur trading post was settled on the bluffs of the Missouri River, Kansas City is preparing to honor the French pioneer Francois Chouteau who established it, and the Native Americans with whom he traded. Francois Chouteau...
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