A viewer may ask: What are those things on the side of that building? Are they silly hats? Or colorful giant nipples?  They will actually be Those Things That Protrude, a soft sculptural public art installation made of crocheted nylon cord.

Rie Egawa and Burgess Zbryk comment: “We moved into a 100 year-old building 18 years ago, a little before the neighborhood became the “Crossroads Art District”. It was exciting to see the transformation of a once neglected neighborhood into a vibrant creative community.” But that transformation also resulted in a speculative real estate boom that happened too fast to accommodate the more organic growth of the arts community, and many artists can no longer afford renting or owning a space there.

The artist team was concerned that the “Crossroads Art District” was slowly becoming just a name, with the “art” and artists becoming invisible to the outside world. They would like to assert the presence of both by creating an installation for the north wall of their building which is very visible on Grand Blvd., right in between the Crown Center and the Power & Light District.

The temporary, non-invasive nature of the materials respects and engages their inheritance of an old mural painted on the wall decades ago by a local De Stijl artist, who also painted at least 2 more murals nearby – one of which was painted over and the other torn down to make a way for the Power & Light District.

Those Things That Protrude will be a public art installation using a form of “yarn bombing”, which is a type of graffiti or street art that is created using fiber materials. The artist team hopes that it will encourage a more spontaneous encounter with art by people who might not typically frequent museums and galleries.

About the artists:

Egawa+Zbryk is a collaborative team composed of Rie Egawa (’83 Pratt Institute, BFA in Printmaking) and Burgess Zbryk (KCAI), that explores increasingly blurred boundaries between art and design.

The artist team received a Charlotte Street Award in 2004, and have just completed the installation of Barnacles, a large scale Kansas City “1% for Art” sculpture in the downtown Power & Light District.

Egawa+Zbryk have exhibited, been published and received commissions, both nationally and internationally.

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