aia-kc awarded art through architecture “art achievement” for site-specific commission by marcie miller gross – public reception friday, june 4, 6:30-9pm

American Institute of Architects-Kansas City (AIA-KC) is being awarded Bronze level “Art Achievement” by Art through Architecture (AtA) for Recirculate, a new site-specific art installation by Kansas City based artist Marcie Miller Gross.  Commissioned for AIA-KC’s new offices on the ground floor of 1801 McGee, a historic building in the East Crossroads District of Kansas City, Mo, Recirculate debuts with a public reception on Friday, June 4, 6:30-9:30 pm.

“As an artist and maker, I am compelled with the dynamic dialogue between art and architecture, between objects and space,” said Miller Gross.  In this case, the artist was particularly inspired by the office space’s high, concrete ceilings, the “marks and traces of history” evident in the space, and by “the activity of cables and electrical wiring” that Helix Architecture + Design, which designed the recent renovation of the space for AIA-KC, opted to leave exposed overhead. 

Identifying the electrical cable trays that carry telecommunications wires through the office as “an inherent element within the vocabulary of this utilitarian space,” Gross determined to employ these same metal trays as a key component of her artwork. Her installation incorporates a series of cable trays as the support structures for colorful, neatly folded stacks of discontinued fabric samples, which Miller Gross collected from architectural office libraries in the Kansas City area.

Marcie Miller Gross was awarded this $5500 commission by a committee comprised of AIA-KC Executive Director Dawn Kirkwood;  AIA-KC Board Member Kimball Hales, architect, Hufft Projects; and immediate-past AIA-KC Board Member Debra L. Smith, Architect and Planner, City of KCMO, Water Services Department.

Through AtA, a partnership of American Institute of Architects-Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation, new architectural projects may earn Gold, Silver or Bronze levels of Art Achievement by dedicating a percentage of the total construction budget to collecting artworks, commissioning temporary or permanent artworks, and/or including artists on design teams. AtA facilitates this process by providing a web-based database at http://artarch.org, featuring work by some 90 artists selected for the program through a competitive process, and by providing hands-on support for project implementation, from artist selection through completion. Read full press release.