Impressive exhibits! Well worth the time to meander through. Wide variety of works on display.read more

I attended KCAI between 1965 and 1966 and was planning to major in Industrial Design. Having taken…read more4 year of art classes in high school in Shreveport Louisiana I had been lucky enough to have gotten a good foundation in art early with dedicated teachers. While in Louisiana I had some newspaper articles written about my art while there. When I first arrived at the Art Institute in 1965, I move into the then new dormitory with a excellent cafeteria and dinning area that impressed me. However, dorm life was a disappointment since I had to share the room with a roommate that had no intentions of finishing the semester and I had one these guys for my first two semesters. Both boys (they never grew up) were always having friends over (who also were quitting) so they were drinking and partying in the room at all hours of the night. I was forced to go downstairs and study in the dinning area to get my work done. I was disappointed in the Art Institute, first in my Foundation Training in that from what art work I saw that my instructors had done reminded me of my first year in high school art. However, I had never liked English or History in high School but I love attending both of these classes taught by Roy Culver (English) and John Burke (History) . My second year I started my major Industrial Design thinking about being a car designer or at least product designer. Again, I was disappointed in the teaching and had a strong feeling that my teacher who was also the Dean John Lotus really had no experience teaching Industrial Design. I also noticed that there were many manufacturing companies in Kansas City at the time that were probably using Industrial Designers but we were never exposed to these companies and those companies more than likely never knew there was a Industrial Design department at the Art Institute. The final straw and the reason I dropped out of the Art Institute was a story told to our Industrial Design class mid term of my second semester. I was already wondering what I was doing at the Art Institute when one morning Dean Lotus came into the classroom with a big smile on his face and told us that he had received a phone call from one of his best students that had graduated the year before and that the student had gotten a great job. After a long story about how great the student had been while a student at the Art Institute our Dean told us that this student had gotten a job in Minnesota with a big manufacture called Church they manufactured toilet seats. I said nothing and finished the class then walked to the Resistor Office and resigned. I was drafted into the Army 90 days later and later sent to Vietnam. I did get the job as an Technical Illustrator and stationed in Saigon where I not only helped put out a magazine there (GRUNT Magazine) that turned out to be quit popular and even today issues are for sale on the internet and even some colleges have it in their archives. I was assigned to a photo unit and we sometimes made ID photos for American construction contractors and after talking to them I decided to change employment directions. When I left Vietnam I when back to LSU in Louisiana and got a degree in Engineering and 4 months after graduation I got a job with a oil company working in New Guinea, I never stopped from that point working in Thailand, Sumatra, Vietnam, Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Nigeria. Frist I will say that my early art education taught me to think outside the box that had been an asset in my professional life enabling to solve engineering problems that were though impossible before. I went on to being a Project Manager on my last $6billion project in Nigeria before retiring in Thailand where I am writing this review at 76.

I have been volunteering at Mattie Rhodes for 10 years now, Their new gallery is down the street!…read moreThey still own the art building for educational classes for kids after school! but the gallery address is 1701 Jarboe St, Kansas City, MO 64108! I absolutely love it! It is a space open to the public, they have an immense amount of talented artists from all over Kansas City! I would 10000% recommend you visit!

Nothing beats wearing a brand new outfit to a big party…read more And Mattie Rhodes knows how to party. The gallery and art center has moved down the street into a much larger and full sized room. The tight and cramped spaces at the old location have been turned into a bright, open and inviting space for people of all ages and backgrounds. The art exhibitions are more in depth. The workshops can include more participants. And those exhibition opening and closing parties? They're better than ever. For more info, please visit the art center's website and Facebook page.

First picture was our own painting from 2/17, 2nd picture is what the instructor did as she was…read morewalking us through. 3rd photo is a reference of what we did with them 2yrs ago. Our first experience with them 2 years ago was great, it was done at a good pace, party size was small and intimate. You had time to ask questions the artist could and would stop and give you some Individual attention if needed. Now the experience we had last night was not good. We had a full class there was 6 couples in total. Our canvases were not ready when we arrived, we stood in the lobby and didn't have direction on what we needed to do or goad there wasn't anyone to greet us. So we decided to walk in and stood there until someone gave us a spot to sit in. She apologized for running behind as we had to wait for her to outline 12 canvases, she said the class size blew up at the last minute and they didn't have the time needed to be prepared ahead of time since they had to make an emergency supply run. Not a big deal! 45min later we start the actual instruction she said it would be speed painting techniques. The instruction went so fast that no one in the class could keep up, at one point someone spoke up and said we aren't ready as we were all several steps behind. What should have been 2hrs of painting and instruction turned in to a 1hr and 15min painting class. We all felt rushed and overwhelmed with the pace she was leading us at. My wife asked for support/help at the end once several couples left. She stopped by for a second but really didn't offer much support she left her board with my wife for reference but went back to cleaning up from the class. Overall it was not the same experience we had the first time, as we didn't feel we were given the same level of care or time to walk away with something we would be happy to hang up in our home. Overall we didn't have a good experience lastnight and as a small business I feel that there roadblock of not being ready for our class affected us and the quality of our experience as they rushed our class to finish on time as the previous class ran late so ultimately we suffered from that. And I don't feel they took the proper steps to make the moment right. We are unsure if we will reserve a class with them again.

My family and I visited for the first time and had such a great experience with Tamara! She was…read morekind, friendly and patient! We'll be back!

Went to a RAKU Firing event in October. What a cool experience! The street was closed off, 2 food…read moretrucks, an awesome live musician and multiple kilns set up. We chose our piece, labeled it, glazed it and hung out while they fired it. Looks like the guild offers classes and studio space for artists. You can even buy pieces from a little shop in the lobby! A very interesting hidden gem! Can't wait to take a class.

We joined KC Clay Guild as adults wanting to start a new hobby, and I couldn't imagine a more…read morewelcoming place than KCCG. Staff is kind, helpful, and always available to teach you something new. The other potters are probably some of the coolest people you'll meet in the city. We bought yearly memberships at $60, and the hourly rate for studio use is $4. They're our one-stop shop for everything ceramics!

I'm a tough crowd to please when it comes to who can watch my kids and I literally cannot say…read moreenough positive things about this school and the little ladies who run it. The communication is just unmatched. The activities are thoughtful and fun; the curriculum is so thoughtful and sweet. I learn new things from my 3 year old all the time now. The most impressive thing about this school is how well it's run. Ashley and Brittany consider every detail, whether it's a birthday celebration or a fire safety drill, they have things completely under control. I literally cannot think of one negative thing to say. I love these girls and I love their school. If I could give them a billion stars, I would.

Two grand daughters attended art daycamp. Different media is explored. Good friends were made…read more Separated by ages. Fun and inspirational environment. Animals were fun to watch and feed.

This art studio fosters creativity! The owners and employees have a real desire to foster the…read morecreative process no matter what your age is. I've been there with 5 year olds and 80 year olds and each has left feeling uplifted and artistic! The setting is gorgeous. Where can you create pottery, paint a keepsake and play with kittens and feed a goat all in the same afternoon? This place is treasure!

I love this place great shows. Its a non profit and very awesome. Please come check out Shakespeare…read morein the Parking Lot Sept10,11,17,18 all shows at 4pm! Say hi if you stop by!

I had my wedding here at the beginning of October and I cannot say enough AMAZING things about this…read morevenue. We were able to plan everything in three weeks and it all came together so well. Being able to sit down and plan out everything from the decorations, the seating, and all the way down to the exact menu we wanted in one meeting made everything so stress free. We were able to have 50 of our closest family friends in attendance and the space fit everyone perfectly. We had so many of our guests compliment the food, and the staff here was so amazing in putting together such an amazing dinner for all of us. However, I will say the cream cheese ice cream that I wanted to see if they could recreate (Which they DID) was the biggest hit of the night! The photos we took at the venue do not do this place justice! I couldn't be happier with our experience here!!

I have been trying to contact them for over 2-3 weeks to book an event and have only been told they…read morewill call me back or let me know. Incredibly unprofessional and frustrating. I called and emailed didn't hear back, then finally got a hold of someone who said they would call me back with information but never did. I can't imagine how their service is if this is the level of unprofessionalism they showed with just booking. Will NOT be booking with them.