Press

Hufft collaborates with multiple artists for Open Spaces exhibitions

Our fabrication studio is a collective of artists and craftsmen that specialize in a variety of materials and techniques. The recent opportunity to partner with exhibiting artists for Kansas City’s inaugural Open Spaces program was a perfect alignment of work for our shop.

A public-private partnership between the City of Kansas City, MO, and community arts leaders and enthusiasts, Open Spaces is a celebration of Kansas City’s arts, culture and creativity. The two-month long event features work from more than 40 regional, national and international artists, and is spread across multiple pop-up exhibitions around the city that are open to the public. The event kicked off on August 24 and runs through October, and our shop partnered with three artists to fabricate Open Spaces installations.

Meat and Music by Alex Arrechea is a metaphorical exploration of two economic forces and prominent cultural elements integral to Kansas City history. Kansas City’s meat industry gave rise to its fame as a barbecue lover’s dream, and its jazz and blues scenes from the 1930s and ‘40s was transformative for American music. Alex’s meat thermometer sculpture is a clear link to Kansas City’s meat industry, and the combination of piano key details with the piece’s location in historic Swope Park is an undeniable link to the city’s musical culture.

Carlie Trosclair’s Fractured Horizons is inspired from nightfall scenes of dilapidated homes in St. Louis. Much of her art focuses on decorative shifts a single building can experience in its lifetime. In Fractured Horizons, panels are attached to stud framing to represent a home’s interior “walls,” with jagged and angled lines that represent the horizon. The panels are covered in wallpaper to reflect a sunset at different times throughout the evening, or in reflective materials to mirror the sky at sundown. Carlie’s installation is on display at Westwood Park.

Shawn Bitters is a sculptor known for pieces that connect to the environment, and his Burn Out installation is no exception. The exhibit includes more than two dozen 2D metal “stones” designed to blend in with their environment and placed along Swope Park’s Limestone Glade Trail. In addition to colorfully-painted stone patterns, each piece has a single word from a poem printed on it so that, as visitors walk along and complete the path, they will have read the piece in its entirety.

We’re honored to have collaborated with Alex, Carlie and Shawn for each of their installations. More information about Open Spaces and the various artists, exhibitions and events happening now through October can be found on the Open Spaces website.