Program Description

Kansas City Art Institute


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Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), founded in 1885, is a private and fully accredited distinguished four-year college of art and design. Kansas City Art Institute is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, a commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. KCAI’s 670 students are from thirty-seven states and six foreign nations. Kansas City Art Institute combines intensive time in the classroom, extensive experience in the studio, a broad liberal arts background, focused learning opportunities, and a dynamic campus community. It is this rich combination that develops the “whole” student as an artist and a person.

Kansas City Art Institute is located in the heart of the cultural community of Kansas City. Across the street to the east is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, consistently ranked in the top fifteen general art museums. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is across the street to the west. Galleries and studios, restaurants and cafés, the Country Club Plaza, and other entertainment spots are only a short distance from the campus.

Kansas City Art Institute provides an ideal environment to bring the students’ art to life. A scenic 15-acre campus is complete with individual studio space as early as freshman year, cutting-edge technology, wide open spaces, and first-rate facilities that foster creative spirit. The commitment to high-quality resources provides materials that enhance a finished product. The Living Center is a hub of student life and very much the students’ space, from the Foundation artwork displayed in the cafeteria to the places, indoors and outdoors, where students gather and talk about their work.

KCAI, consistently recognized for the rigor and diversity of its curriculum, provides quality academic programs that are strengthened by first-rate support services such as the Academic Resource Center, the Computer Graphics Center, the Media Center, the Central Shop, the Career Services Office, and the Library.

KCAI makes it possible for students to study at other schools in the United States and Canada as well as schools in Australia, Ecuador, England, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Spain, and others. It is also possible for students to take part in internships at places such as Hallmark Cards, Industrial Light and Magic, Warner Bros., and Bernstein-Rein.

All serious students with a passion for art are encouraged to apply. While it is not mandatory that applicants follow a college preparatory program in high school and take courses in studio and art history, it is highly recommended to assure competitiveness with other applicants. Students are advised to follow a college preparatory curriculum based on the following: four years of English, three years of social sciences, and art courses if possible. Considerable emphasis is placed on abilities in the areas of drawing, color, and design. The criteria for admission requires evaluation of the student’s portfolio, academic transcripts, standardized test scores, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, and other indicators of potential success as a professional artist. Applicants must have successfully completed a recognized secondary school program (high school) or its equivalent, with a good academic record to be eligible for admission to KCAI. KCAI students’ backgrounds are diverse, but they share a desire to pursue an education in the arts. The Admissions Committee looks for serious and motivated students who are willing to work hard and take risks. The committee evaluates each application with a great deal of sensitivity and open-mindedness before reaching an admission decision because the Committee knows each student’s level of imagination, innovation, and academic achievement is highly individual.

KCAI makes every effort to help students who need financial aid. More than 90 percent of the students attending KCAI receive assistance from one or more financial aid sources. When awarding need-based assistance, KCAI first looks to the financial contribution of the parents and/or student. Students are expected to take an active part in the financing of their education through working, saving, and pursuing scholarships from outside sources. Grants, loans, employment, and monthly payment plans are available. KCAI offers a competitive scholarship competition and KCAI merit awards. The state of Missouri also provides the Charles Gallagher Grant for in-state residents, the A+ Program, and the Bright Flight Program. Applications from students seeking the full range of financial aid opportunities must include the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). For more information, students should contact the admissions office or the financial aid office.

For more information about The Kansas City Art Institute in general, students should call 800-522-5224 (toll-free) or visit KCAI’s Web site at http://www.kcai.edu.

Faculty

The approximately 75 faculty members at KCAI are a distinguished group. They are recognized scholars, sought-after consultants, talented artists, and professional mentors. They bring impressive degrees from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Pratt Institute, Alfred University, Yale University, and other prestigious programs. Their work has been exhibited all around the world, and it resides in the permanent collections of places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, The National Museum of Wales, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian. They have professional experience through employment and consulting with companies such as Atlantic Records; Hallmark Cards, Inc.; Perry Ellis; and Time/Life Books.

Program Facilities

KCAI’s ceramics department contains a clay-mixing room, a plaster room, potter’s wheels, kilns, and a pitfiring space. There are also various low, mid-range, and high-temperature gas and electric kilns. Glass has recently been introduced. Students in the painting program have individual studio space as well as studio facilities and resources for a range of painting media and techniques, including oil, acrylic, watercolor, collage, and mixed-media construction as well as art-making innovations in computer technology. Students in the printmaking program work in a well-equipped facility with access at all times to etching, lithography, monoprinting, screen and relief printing, photography, letterpress, digital imaging, and multimedia software. Students in the sculpture program work in both indoor and outdoor areas containing hoists, a forklift, loft studios, and video and slide projection equipment. It is also possible to access ceramic kilns, clay mixing facilities, a complete foundry, and metal fabrication facilities. In all programs, computer hardware and software are available in networked, multiplatform surroundings.

Special Programs

In pursuit of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, students may complete a comprehensive liberal arts program that complements an emphasis in one of the following majors: animation, art history, ceramics, creative writing, fiber, graphic design, painting, printmaking, photo and new media, sculpture, and interdisciplinary arts.

The School of the Foundation Year provides KCAI’s first year studio program. Foundation provides an ideal groundwork for upper-level studies and combines discovery, discipline, and dedication. Studio space is reserved solely for freshmen, giving them an ideal place in which to create.

The School of Liberal Arts offers a curriculum that adds a dimension to a B.F.A. degree that makes a vital difference in the student’s education. The liberal arts enhance education by fostering critical-thinking skills and by opening the doors to new subjects in the arts and sciences. At KCAI, it is possible to pursue a major in art history or studio art with an emphasis in creative writing.

The School of Design prepares students to grow with the rapidly developing professional design and animation fields. These programs explore how graphic design and animation create rich communications and tell important stories, emphasizing visual form, process, and “the architecture of experience.”

The School of Fine Arts offers majors in the following areas: ceramics, fiber, photo and digital filmmaking, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and interdisciplinary arts.

The ceramics program at KCAI provides a technical, visual, and conceptual basis for the education of artists. Traditions in ceramic history, pottery, the figure, architecture, and new forms in contemporary sculpture and installation are all explored in the curriculum.

The fiber program at KCAI encompasses not only textile processes, but also experimental techniques and the investigation of materials, issues, ideas, and forms of presentation. Students discover the vast potential of fiber, its history, and its place in contemporary art and design. Internationally prominent faculty members direct an integrated program involving surface design, weaving, papermaking, felting, basketry, clothing and costume construction, and sculptural form-making.

The photography and digital filmmaking department allows students to select one of two tracks or courses of study. Students produce innovative forms of contemporary image-making in a 20,000-square-foot facility with well-designed networked production and post-production equipment. Students are actively engaged in critical, historical, and theoretical discussions examining the interaction of media, art, and society. The program stresses experimentation, collaboration, self-motivation, research, mentoring, and professionalism through curating, exhibitions, and internships.

The painting program at KCAI covers painting’s past and present and introduces students to an unusually broad foundation in drawing, painting, and printmaking. The program balances formal and technical experience with intellectual activity, perceptual acumen with conceptual skills, and an awareness of space with attention to effect.

The printmaking program provides a blend of basic studio practice—drawing, painting, collage—with a core of technologies specific to print, such as intaglio, wood block, lithography, letterpress, silkscreen, and book-making. Simultaneously, students learn to utilize digital and Web possibilities, including iMovie, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, and FinalCut Pro.

The sculpture program at KCAI is known among undergraduate programs for providing a strong background in materials, techniques, aesthetics, and ideas. Students learn to carve stone, cast metal, choreograph performance, shoot video, program electronic media, and manipulate sound and light.

The interdisciplinary arts major establishes a dialogue between students and faculty members who are grounded in an established discipline yet are simultaneously investigating ideas and processes that are not easily categorized or defined. Audience, public art, community, ecology, and technology are all explored in order to discover new avenues for art to influence culture and to affect social and political change.

Application Procedures

Deadline--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Required: essay, high school transcript, college transcript(s) for transfer students, 2 letters of recommendation, portfolio, SAT or ACT test scores. Recommended: interview, minimum 2.5 high school GPA. Auditions held 1 time. Portfolio reviews held continuously on campus and off campus in various locations on National Portfolio Days; high school visits; the submission of slides may be substituted for portfolios (CD-DVD preferred).

Undergraduate Contact

Mr. Larry E. Stone, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Kansas City Art Institute, 4415 Warwick Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64111; 800-522-5224, fax: 816-802-3309.