Belonging

Thu, 14 May 2026 17:47:57 -0500

I went to the End of Semester Shows at KCAI last Friday, where the students have the opportunity to show what they’ve been working on all year and sell their art if they choose. It’s a fun event and, in my opinion, the culmination of everything that I did at KCAI — it’s one of the main reasons I worked there to facilitate the students’ creative endeavors. It’s also a great opportunity to not only support the students, but to score some affordable art from up and coming artists. We have a lot of KCAI alumni work in our house. In fact, every year for the past nineteen years, I’ve purchased my wife, Maura a piece of student artwork that reflects the anniversary gift for that year — our anniversary is at the end of May. It’s hard to believe that it’ll be twenty years in a couple of weeks!

I got to campus a little early and the buildings weren’t open yet. I instinctively reached for my ID to swipe so I could enter one of the buildings and realized that I no longer had access. I knew going to campus for the first time since my last day, now almost four months ago, would be tough. It was nice to see all the work and the students, staff, and faculty that night, but it was even harder than I expected. I was walking around realizing that I didn’t belong there anymore; I was no longer a part of the community. It took a lot of effort to keep going and not just walk back to my car to drive home. I’m glad I went, the shows were great and I faced the challenge and the next time I went back wouldn’t be as bad.

Last night there was a celebration/retirement party for Cary Esser, Ceramics faculty member for thirty years, alumnus, and chair of the department for many years. There were many faculty, staff, and former faulty and staff there to celebrate her — it was so great to see everyone. So many hugs, handshakes, wonderful comments, and promises to grab lunch/drinks soon. As I was chatting with folks, I realized that I do still belong. It’s not the place, it’s the community and I am still very much a part of it. Not in the same way, I don’t see most of those people as often as I used to, but I am still part of the wonderful Kansas City arts community. I drove home from KCAI tonight feeling lighter, even happier than I have been the last couple of months. I came home with something better than art — a renewed sense of belonging.

Belonging on Something Out of Nothing

Belonging