Kansas City’s favorite art walk, First Friday in the Crossroads district, has a surprise in store for visitors on Septrember 5. Art Walk revelers will be transported by bus from the Crossroads to the Buttonwood Art Space at 3013 Main to see a full house of new paintings of Kansas City’s famous fountains. The featured art is part of the City of Fountains Foundation’s On-line Art Auction to raise funds for local fountains in need of repair.
The bus, which arrives at the NE corner of 20th and Main every 20 minutes from 5-8 p.m., will bring revelers south to the Buttonwood to see the fountain paintings and return them to the same location. Artists will be available at the Buttonwood from 5-8 to interact with the visitors who will enjoy traditional First Friday refreshments. Bidding for the paintings will begin that evening at the gallery and ends September 25th.
Artists began painting at local fountains in June and completed their Plein Air works in August for submittal to the second On-line Art Auction. The first Auction in 2013 raised over $4000 to repair local fountains that are the target of the Foundations Wish Upon A Fountain campaign. The effort, which began in 2013, hopes to raise $3.2 million for the nine fountains in need of critical repairs. Kansas City has opened its pockets to the tune of over $2 million to date but over $1 million is still needed to return the fountains to their original condition. Artists are certainly doing their share by offering 50% of the sale of their work for the fountains.
Visitors can view the large collection at the Buttonwood on Septrember 5 and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.weekdays through September 25 when the bidding for the art at the on-line at www.kcfountains.com ends. All of Kansas City now has an opportunity to help the fountains and get an original work of fountain art by purchasing it at the on-line auction.