Art professor goes to the birds

By Brandy Entsminger

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Matthew Burke, associate professor of art, will install his 75-foot long kinetic sculpture 20 feet above the ground in Kansas City, Mo., by the end of the month.

Burke was one of six artists selected for the 2008 Avenue of the Arts, a program that places artwork along a section of Central Street in downtown Kansas City every year. The piece, called “Hoops and Birds,” will be attached to the side of Bartle Hall Convention Center, the building in Kansas City with four art deco pylons that jut into the city’s skyline.

Burke said he applied for Avenue of the Arts because he wanted to share his work on a local level and also because he applied last year and wasn’t selected.

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Photo by Allison Richardson

Matthew Burke, assistant professor of art, works on his sculpture for Avenue of the Arts on Tuesday afternoon. Burke wears gloves while glueing together pieces of wood because the type of glue he uses can bond to skin and stay there for three weeks.

“Kansas City is a very vital, really vibrant city and has an incredible art scene,” Burke said. “Through this, I wanted to be a part of that art scene.”

Porter Arneill, director and public art administrator with the Municipal Art Commission of Kansas City, said about 30 artists applied for the Avenue of the Arts this year. The six who were selected were provided with $5,000 to bring their proposals to life.

Burke’s piece, which will be displayed from September to May of next year, features three gold, high-density foam birds encircled by 20 hardwood hoops that range in diameter from three to six feet. Burke called the work a kinetic sculpture because the hoops and birds rotate around a large pole sticking out of Bartle Hall.

He said his inspiration for the piece was the passage of time — the hoops represent days, weeks or moments and the birds represent travelers through time.

The sculpture is a larger version of a piece Burke had already created, which measured about 14 feet in length and was designed to hang on a wall.

Burke said the scale of this sculpture was his biggest challenge. With the original, smaller sculpture he was able to rearrange the components easily. But the placement of the components on the new piece must be determined before installation.

“Hoops and Birds” is the largest suspended work Burke has ever created. He said he hired a structural engineer, Eric Graham, to make sure the piece would be installed properly.

Graham said the piece would be difficult to install because he was not allowed to drill new holes in the outside wall of Bartle Hall. Instead, he will have to use pre-existing holes that measure two inches in diameter and two inches deep.

Graham usually works on buildings and said this project was unique because it was something that hadn’t been done before and probably wouldn’t be done again.

“Its a little bit of a challenge because there’s just not a real textbook way to do it,” Graham said.

Burke said the majority of his artwork was slightly larger than life-size and that he had been working primarily with wood for the past 10 years. But he said his past work didn’t limit what he could do.

“You’re able to kind of expand your artistic vocabulary when the situation arises,” he said.

Burke said he used the money for labor, materials, hardware and rental of a scissor lift for installation. Burke has created only one other large piece, a 100-foot snake for the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina this summer. He said he created the basic shape of the snake from wire and then invited community members to help weave thin strips of wood onto the frame.

Avenue of the Arts: http://www.kcmo.org/cimo.nsf/web/avenue

Municipal Art Commission: http://www.kcmo.org/cimo.nsf/web/art

— — Edited by Mary Sorrick

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