FEATURE Review
Public Art In North Kansas City North Kansas City has had the opportunity recently to install three pieces of public art. These projects are the result of the Tim C. Crummett Family Charitable Fund, established in 1991 for beautification projects in North Kansas City. The Tim C. Crummett Family Charitable Fund Projects Committee was established in 2018 to identify projects that enhance North Kansas City’s quality of life and create a culturally rich community.
Public Art Mural Program Murals create a tangible sense of place, adding color, vibrancy and character to urban environments. Public art offers accessibility to art without the cost and barriers associated with museums and galleries. This mural program aims to commission a new, original public art mural on a building with a project budget of up to $8,000. Two murals have been installed in NKC through this program.
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“This is Us” by Spaceship Zulu, Artist N o r t h w a l l o f T h e B r e w k e r y, 1443 Swift St, Artist Statement: The mural “This Is Us” hopes to represent the past, present and future of the area known today as North Kansas City. Imagine it is 1849 and just north of what today is Kansas City resides a little unincorporated town called Harlem. Most do not know that this town even existed nor its cultural significance as one of the starting points for many C O N S E R V A T I O N
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cowboys, trappers, and frontiersmen headed west. It sits right at the point where the Kaw River meets The Mighty Missouri. Without a bridge to connect the two cities in those days, Harlem was one of the main riverboat ferry drop off location for many of the 5,000 to 9,000 African American cowboys that headed west during that time. This little-known town once matched Westport in size and prominence. This portion of the City’s history is represented in the mural as the cowboy peering west. Fast-forwarding our timeline to the early 1900s, the area known as Harlem had dramatically changed from the rough-and-tumble saloons and horse stall rentals of the late 1800s. New and exciting industrialization and urban development came to the area, due to city developers like William E. Macken. This is represented in the mural by the young woman from the era (Urbanization). Today the present is represented in the mural by the design elements of the brushstroke, benday dots and the fade of color to show that North Kansas City has a wonderful and thriving arts community. Now we look toward the future, that is represented in the mural as the words “North Kansas City” displayed directly in the center of the piece to provide a glimpse of what lies just ahead on the horizon for the City.
mdc.mo.gov/community
www.mocities.com
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