Steel. Bronze. Terra Cotta. Strong mediums turned into three-dimensional works of art continue to inspire at the UMKC campuses.
The Roo statue is just the start of what you can see on a walk around campus. Look a little closer, and you can see the history behind them, too.
President Truman bust
It’s true that President Harry S. Truman studied law at UMKC in the 1920s, but he did not graduate from the program. He was, however, awarded an honorary doctorate when he returned to Kansas City in 1945. Two years later, Mexican President Miguel Alemán was given the same honor. As a gift to the university, he brought a bronze bust of President Truman in academic regalia, posed from the previous ceremony. Check out the bust in the Truman Courtyard at the School of Law.
Playhouse patio
At one time, the Playhouse patio served as a lobby for an operational playhouse. The physical building was an army surplus movie theatre from World War II. The masks of comedy and tragedy, the country’s largest terra cotta sculpture at the time it was built, would spill smoke from their mouths when fires burned on show nights. The Playhouse was torn down in the 1970s, but fortunately the patio, at the southwest corner of the Miller Nichols Library and Learning Center, still stands as a beautiful spot to enjoy a sunny day on campus.
Pair of Archipenko statues
Cubist artist Alexander Archipenko was once in residence here at UMKC. The only sculptor to hold the position, Archipenko gifted two steel statues to the university, placed on University Walkway between Swinney Center and Miller Nichols Library and Learning Center. While they look different due to their positioning angles, the statues are completely identical. True to Archipenko’s style, they also play with light and shadow, and change in appearance depending on the time of day.
‘Dancing’
This big, yellow statue, sculpted by university alumna Rita Blitt, once on display at Bannister Mall when it opened in 1980. When the mall announced it was closing its doors in 2007, she reclaimed the statue and gifted it to the university. Placed in front of the Olson Performing Arts Center, you can see “Dancing” before you see some amazing dance performances from our students in the Conservatory.
Bloch statue
You can’t miss the sculpture of Henry and Marion Bloch outside of the Bloch School of Management. The Blochs’ children commissioned the piece from Eugene Daub in 2011 to celebrate the couple's contributions to the UMKC community. If you’re looking for a little extra luck during finals week, be sure to visit and give the statue a fist bump.
‘Any Word Except Wait’
This statue by Flávio Cerqueira was gifted to the university by the R.C. Kemper Charitable Trust. Its installation was a part of the inaugural Open Spaces performing arts festival, a collaboration between Kansas City’s Office of Culture and Creative Services and a private arts initiative to highlight Kansas City’s arts, culture and creativity. Find her in front of the Fine Arts building.
‘Blue Steel’
It won’t help in your modeling career, but it can help in your construction career! Designed by the American Institute of Steel Construction, it’s a teaching aid to help students get a visual understanding of steel framing and full-scale steel connections. The piece, located in front of Flarsheim Hall, has been educating students in the Quad since 2004.
Graces Fountain
Another sight in the Quad you can’t miss is the Graces Fountain. First built in 1940, it was a traditional, terracotta fountain until it was dismantled in 1973. The story goes that an artist wanted to revive it with a new stone base, but the rocks were haphazardly placed instead, creating the campus icon we know and love today.
Robert Flarsheim bust
See the man Flarsheim Hall is named after! Robert H. Flarsheim was a university benefactor who lived in a house at 50th and Cherry, where the Student Union is today. When he passed in 1995, he left a large gift to the university for campus beautification, and students frequently hang out in the shady green space near his likeness.
‘Rivers, Rails and Trails’
You won’t notice much if you meander by the Miller Nichols Library and Learning Center in the daylight. If you happen to do so after nightfall, though, you’ll be treated to a 22-foot-tall and 49-foot-wide map depicting Kansas City in 1926. The stainless-steel panels are illuminated with LED lights and intend to convey “flow”— of information, rivers and people.
‘Take Wing’
There’s beautiful art to see on our Health Sciences Campus as well. This bronze sculpture, cast from a carving by E. Grey Dimond, M.D., one of the founders of the UMKC School of Medicine, stands in front of the school. It shares a name with Dimond’s book Take Wing! Interesting Things That Happened On My Way to School as well as a School of Medicine graduate award. While you’re there, check out the bronze bust of Dimond and fellow founders Nathan J. Stark and Homer C. Wadsworth.
If you decide to take your own campus sculpture tour, be sure to share your photos on social with the hashtag #UMKC.