Artist Alex MacLean visits with
guests at the grand opening.
MARC News
Photography exhibit opens in MARC's Conference Center
August 27, 2008
Internationally acclaimed artist Alex MacLean speaks at grand opening
The Alex S. MacLean Exhibit at MARC's Conference Center, 600 Broadway, Suite 200, official opened on Thursday, Aug. 21 with a special visit from the artist. MacLean, whose work is found in collections around the world, shared his techniques and environmental observations during the evening's presentation about the photographs.
MARC’s Conference Center is a highly accessible public location, and is one of the region’s most significant gathering points for community decision making. MARC hosts more than 40 standing committees that work on a wide variety of issues affecting the future of the region. Hundreds of elected officials, local government staff and civic leaders regularly visit MARC’s offices. The William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, Trustee) provided funding for the exhibit with the hope that the art, which vividly illustrates the relationship of policy decisions to the natural and built environment, would inspire and inform actions taken there.
The photographs in the exhibit were taken by MacLean in 2002, when he was awarded the first resident design fellowship from the Kansas City Design Center, an urban design research and education center affiliated with the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. Over a period of six months and nearly 100 hours of flight, MacLean created more than 3,000 photographs of the region. The Kansas City Design Center presented the first public display of these images from September 2003 through January 2004, with support from the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Hall Family Foundation and William T. Kemper Foundation.
MacLean, whose studio Landslides Aerial Photography is located in Cambridge, Mass., flies a Cessna 182 solo while he takes his photos. For 35 years, he has created stunning aerial photographs that are not only works of art, but illustrations of complex ideas and concepts related to urban design, housing, transportation and other development that affects the natural landscape.
There are approximately 60 framed prints of MacLean's work throughout the conference center as well as an interactive touch-screen display in the lobby for visitors to enjoy.
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