The Conduit for our current show Floor Plan focused on three different groups in Kansas City that use creative design techniques as a business model for interior spaces and objects.

Jessica Rogers of Cartwheel provided a creatively designed bus for transportation to and from sites.

The Crew

And Jeffrey Isom, a local artist and designer, helped lead the tour to each location, and gave backgrounds while on the way on Cartwheel!

Utilitarian Workshop

First stop was Utilitarian Workshop. This design duo helped construct the vision of the interior of Port Fonda, where we ended our tour.  ”Utilitarian Workshop is a collaborative design studio and retail co-op in which handmade goods are the core of who we are. Our goal as designers is to transcend the traditional views regarding materials and their function, and in turn, create a fresh dialogue within an ever changing modern environment.”

Jarboe Initiative

Next was the Jarboe Initiative.  Nick Ward-Bopp showed us around his house, where he established a contract with the owner to rehab the torn down building, free of rent for about a year.  This project helped to fix up a house that would otherwise be left run down to help benefit the community on the West Side.

3 Axis Inc

The third stop was at 3 Axis.  This group was less DIY and enabled technological printing methods and tools to construct objects for more commercial purposes. They showed us how they fabricated these objects out of styrofoam and fiberglass and they built sets for museum displays.

Last Stop: Port Fonda!

Utilitarian Workshop design at Port Fonda

The tour ended for drinks at Port Fonda, where we met up again with Utilitarian Workshop and they went into detail how they collaborated to build the vision for the interior.

Thanks to everyone who came out and Jeffrey Isom and Jessica Rogers for being great guides!  If you haven’t checked out Floor Plan yet, it is still up!  Come by every Saturday 10-5pm for regular hours and we open up by appointment.

What is the significance of book fairs in the digital age?

This great article by Catherine Roche spells out the current (and popular) state of book fairs and self publishing.  While giving a London-spin on the topic, it is very relatable to our local network of arts publications.

“At the core of artists’ self-publishing is its relationship with control, dissemination and distribution of ideas. Following a clear historical precedent, self-publishing culture offers freedom from the editorial restrictions exerted by mainstream publishing and print distribution processes, whilst also circumventing gallery systems to reach new audiences. Publication is to make public. Authorship is entirely attributed to the artist, with ideas freely or affordably exchanged.”

Today, digital technologies have allowed us to further our tools into making and self publishing zines, and give more artistic intent behind choosing analog technologies.  Self publishing today offers a wide variety of options, more than ever before, and now it is an easier to access process, which has led to its current popularity.

Anyone publishing or distributing art zines, essays, art writing, criticism, self-published artist books, etc., in the Kansas City area and are interested in promoting this dialogue?  Or know of anyone?  Feel free to contact us at info@plugprojects.com to get some ideas brewin’ to showcase the local scene.

In case you didn’t know – our space is open every Saturday from 10 to 5. In addition to our exhibition space, we have a collection of artist materials such as local publications, exhibition catalogs, critical journals, etc behind the gallery. We welcome you to use our resources and chat with us about art!

You might also want to know that every Saturday at 11 am we will be screening two episodes from the PBS Series “Art in the Twenty-First Century”.

A short description of the program from the Art21 website: ” ”Art in the Twenty-First Century” is the only series on television to focus exclusively on contemporary art, and it uses the medium to provide an experience of the visual arts that goes far beyond a gallery visit. Fascinating and intimate footage allows the viewer to observe the artists at work, watch their process as they transform inspiration into art, and hear their thoughts as they grapple with the physical and visual challenges of achieving their artistic visions.”

I personally have found that the most effective way of learning about an artist’s work and his or her process is through direct communication, but this might be hard to come by. Art21 offers the next best thing.

Next week’s episodes feature artists Kara Walker, Kiki Smith, Gabriel Orozco, Janine Antoni and more so be sure to be there!

In planning for next month’s exhibition, Floor Plan, we visited the studio of the collaborative team Egawa+Zbryk.

Since 1996, Rie Egawa and Burgess Zbryk have worked together to create work of high craft and aesthetic sensibility, floating between functional design and visual form as art objects.

As we think about the relationship between art, design and function, the work of Egawa+Zbryk is of much inspiration and we  were most excited to see what they were up to.

Let us not forget the added excitement provided by:

their beautiful dog Bacon!

In early November, Plug Projects traveled to Chicago to participate in the MDWFAIR.  MDW is focused on presenting projects orchestrated by artist-run spaces and non-profit venues in the Midwest.  As part of our Unplugged Series, Plug Projects curated seven artists from Kansas City in an exhibition titled “Secrets” (MDW) that presented work that addressed a sense of ambiguity/mystery and complemented our exhibition in our KC gallery space (Secrets (KC) is on view until January 5th).  Corey Antis, Jonah Criswell, Scott Dickson, Mike Erickson, Justin Gainan, and Jessica Kincaid were included and presented an outstanding show.  The image below is an installation view of our booth and depicts the paintings of Mike Erickson, collages by Scott Dickson, and the sculptures of Corey Antis.  Two new sculptures by Antis are on view in our current exhibition.