Portfolio of Projects |
|
Collaborative Art in Practice
Art by the Yard’s collaborative projects grew out of decades of work creating murals, public installations, youth programs, and socially engaged art initiatives across Kansas City.
Early in our careers, we worked with schools, neighborhood organizations, youth courts, public agencies, and national institutions to design creative projects that invited community members to participate directly in the making of art. These projects often took place in neighborhoods where access to arts programming was limited, and where collaborative creativity could help strengthen community identity and opportunity.
Through these experiences, we developed a structured approach to participatory art—one that balances artistic vision with meaningful public involvement.
That approach eventually evolved into what we now call Assembly Painting, a collaborative art process where individual contributions come together to form a unified work. Today, this methodology continues to guide our projects with schools, nonprofits, companies, and community groups.
The projects below represent some of the early foundations of this work.
Art by the Yard’s collaborative projects grew out of decades of work creating murals, public installations, youth programs, and socially engaged art initiatives across Kansas City.
Early in our careers, we worked with schools, neighborhood organizations, youth courts, public agencies, and national institutions to design creative projects that invited community members to participate directly in the making of art. These projects often took place in neighborhoods where access to arts programming was limited, and where collaborative creativity could help strengthen community identity and opportunity.
Through these experiences, we developed a structured approach to participatory art—one that balances artistic vision with meaningful public involvement.
That approach eventually evolved into what we now call Assembly Painting, a collaborative art process where individual contributions come together to form a unified work. Today, this methodology continues to guide our projects with schools, nonprofits, companies, and community groups.
The projects below represent some of the early foundations of this work.
Public Murals & Early Collaborative Works
Michele's Work -
Click to Enlarge
|
Bartle Hall Public Mural Project
Kansas City Convention Center – 1997 Shortly after graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute, Richard and Michele Fritz participated in a large-scale public mural project installed in the underground corridors of Bartle Hall Convention Center. The installation stretched 237 feet and included work by 30 regional artists. Each artist created a section within the continuous mural. Richard and Michele each contributed an individual panel measuring approximately 10 feet tall by 8 feet wide, marking one of their first major public art projects. The people in the paintings are friends of the artists. |
Rich's Work - Click to Enlarge
|
|
La Strada dell’Arte Chalk Festival
Liberty Memorial – Kansas City, MO Richard and Michele participated as featured artists in La Strada dell’Arte, a large-scale chalk art festival held at Liberty Memorial. Using pastel chalk on asphalt surfaces, artists created temporary street murals while thousands of visitors watched the works develop throughout the event. The festival regularly included 60–120 artists working simultaneously across the memorial grounds. During one year of the event, Richard and Michele were also commissioned by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art to create a chalk artwork featuring children and butterflies. |
|
Youth Arts & Education Initiatives
 Click to Enlarge Image
Your Name Ain’t on the List, graphic novel
Summer Entrepreneurial Youth Training Program – Kansas City, MO Kansas City, Kansas Housing Authority Working with youth from the Wyandotte County youth employment program, Michele Fritz collaborated with art teacher Laura Porras, and 14 teenage interns to create an illustrated book reflecting their experiences growing up in urban Kansas City. Participants contributed writing and personal stories, while Michele guided the group in translating those narratives into visual form using her collage-based artistic style. The resulting book combined photography, drawing, and digitally manipulated imagery alongside excerpts from the students’ journals. The project encouraged young participants to express their perspectives on resilience and identity while developing creative and entrepreneurial skills. |
Example of Michele's early collage artwork
|
|
Wyandotte County Afterschool Arts Program-KIDZONE
Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools – District 500 Early 2000s Richard and Michele Fritz served in leadership roles within an arts organization that developed and administered after-school arts programming funded through federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grants. They helped design and coordinate programming across 12 schools in the Kansas City, Kansas Public School District, managing the recruitment, training, and supervision of approximately 50 professional teaching artists. Under their direction, artists worked with students to use the arts as a communication and learning tool through projects including visual art, murals, theater, puppetry, video, poetry, dance, and collaborative installations. The program also partnered with organizations including the Kansas City Kansas Housing Authority, KC Mentoring Initiative, and Campfire, providing safe and enriching after-school environments where students could work directly with practicing artists and explore creative disciplines often unavailable in their schools. 
|
| ||
Arts in Detention Program – Sentenced to the Arts
Jackson County Family Court – Kansas City, MO
Richard and Michele Fritz played leadership roles in the Sentenced to the Arts program, an initiative developed in partnership with Jackson County Family Court to provide creative programming for adjudicated youth.
They were responsible for recruiting, training, and supervising professional artists, guiding them in developing arts-based workshops designed for youth involved in the detention and court system. Richard and Michele also facilitated programming directly with participants, helping artists adapt their practices into structured learning environments.
Through visual art, writing, performance, and collaborative projects, the program provided constructive creative outlets while helping participants build confidence, discipline, and communication skills. The initiative aimed to expose youth to professional artists and creative pathways that could support personal growth and reduce the cycle of reoffending.
Jackson County Family Court – Kansas City, MO
Richard and Michele Fritz played leadership roles in the Sentenced to the Arts program, an initiative developed in partnership with Jackson County Family Court to provide creative programming for adjudicated youth.
They were responsible for recruiting, training, and supervising professional artists, guiding them in developing arts-based workshops designed for youth involved in the detention and court system. Richard and Michele also facilitated programming directly with participants, helping artists adapt their practices into structured learning environments.
Through visual art, writing, performance, and collaborative projects, the program provided constructive creative outlets while helping participants build confidence, discipline, and communication skills. The initiative aimed to expose youth to professional artists and creative pathways that could support personal growth and reduce the cycle of reoffending.
Flash 20/12 and Your Super Grill
Reach Healthcare Foundation Initiative – Kansas City, MO
Richard and Michele Fritz led the creative development of Flash 20/12 and Your Super Grill, a multimedia health education project designed to raise awareness about the importance of dental hygiene among urban youth.
Working with Kansas City high school students and a team of collaborating artists, Rich and Michele developed a comic-book style story, animated media, and live performance program that used humor and superhero storytelling to communicate the dangers of gum disease and poor oral health.
The project introduced characters such as Flash, the hero promoting healthy habits, alongside villains like Dr. Decay, Gingivitis, and Halitosis. Through comic books, animation, music, and theatrical presentations performed in schools, the program engaged over 2,000 middle school students while also helping 200 youth gain access to free dental care services.
The project demonstrated how creative storytelling and participatory art can be used as powerful tools for public health education and youth engagement.
Reach Healthcare Foundation Initiative – Kansas City, MO
Richard and Michele Fritz led the creative development of Flash 20/12 and Your Super Grill, a multimedia health education project designed to raise awareness about the importance of dental hygiene among urban youth.
Working with Kansas City high school students and a team of collaborating artists, Rich and Michele developed a comic-book style story, animated media, and live performance program that used humor and superhero storytelling to communicate the dangers of gum disease and poor oral health.
The project introduced characters such as Flash, the hero promoting healthy habits, alongside villains like Dr. Decay, Gingivitis, and Halitosis. Through comic books, animation, music, and theatrical presentations performed in schools, the program engaged over 2,000 middle school students while also helping 200 youth gain access to free dental care services.
The project demonstrated how creative storytelling and participatory art can be used as powerful tools for public health education and youth engagement.
| Flash 20/12 The Book |
Public Art & Institutional Collaborations
1Percent for the Arts Program
Kansas City International Airport Renovation Projects
Kansas City International Airport Renovation Projects
- Aviation Heritage Mural
- Community Tribute Mural (2001)
|
|
Northeast Corridor Community Mural
Commissioned by COMBAT (Community Backed Anti-Crime Tax), this mural project celebrated the growing immigrant communities in northeast Kansas City and honored their contributions to the neighborhood. Richard and Michele worked closely with community members, conducting interviews and gathering stories that informed the imagery used in the mural. Painted by Rich, Michele, and Richard Day. The final artwork measured approximately 8 feet tall by 56 feet long and was created with a team of professional artists and adjudicated youth participants. The project emphasized themes of perseverance, family, faith, and the hope carried forward by immigrant generations building new lives in Kansas City. |
|
CDC “VERB: It’s What You Do” - CDC Media Campaign
Kansas City Zoo – 2003 Commissioned as part of the national CDC campaign encouraging youth physical activity. Richard and Michele designed and hand printed four life-size interactive game boards printed on carpet flooring and installed at the Zoo for three months. Participants became the “game pieces,” completing physical challenges while moving across the board. |
|
|
|
18th & Vine Jazz District Revitalization Murals
Kansas City Historic District During revitalization efforts in the historic jazz district, Richard and Michele, and other lead artists, facilitated community mural projects painted on construction barrier walls. Local residents participated in painting imagery celebrating the cultural history and musical heritage of the neighborhood. |
Continuing the Work
One as Many, Many as One
ArtsKC Inspiration Grant Project – 2008
This community art project, led by Michele Fritz in collaboration with artist Margaret Shelby, engaged over 190 participants in creating handmade ceramic pinch pots.
Each participant formed a small clay vessel using simple hand-building techniques, leaving visible fingerprints and marks that emphasized the individuality of each maker. Recycled colored glass was embedded into the pots and melted during firing to create jewel-like surfaces.
The finished works were exhibited collectively at the ArtsTech Building gallery, forming an installation that visually represented the idea that many individual contributions can come together to create a unified whole.
ArtsKC Inspiration Grant Project – 2008
This community art project, led by Michele Fritz in collaboration with artist Margaret Shelby, engaged over 190 participants in creating handmade ceramic pinch pots.
Each participant formed a small clay vessel using simple hand-building techniques, leaving visible fingerprints and marks that emphasized the individuality of each maker. Recycled colored glass was embedded into the pots and melted during firing to create jewel-like surfaces.
The finished works were exhibited collectively at the ArtsTech Building gallery, forming an installation that visually represented the idea that many individual contributions can come together to create a unified whole.
Art Is Long, Life Is Short
Rocket Grant Project – Charlotte Street Foundation
Richard and Michele collaborated with writer Crystal Gould to create an interactive multimedia storytelling project exploring the experiences of youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system.
Funded through a Rocket Grant from the Charlotte Street Foundation, supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the project combined writing, video, and online storytelling through an interactive website.
The work invites viewers to engage with stories that explored cycles of violence and community struggle while encouraging reflection, dialogue, and civic engagement.
Rocket Grant Project – Charlotte Street Foundation
Richard and Michele collaborated with writer Crystal Gould to create an interactive multimedia storytelling project exploring the experiences of youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system.
Funded through a Rocket Grant from the Charlotte Street Foundation, supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the project combined writing, video, and online storytelling through an interactive website.
The work invites viewers to engage with stories that explored cycles of violence and community struggle while encouraging reflection, dialogue, and civic engagement.
|
MashUp Interactive City Project
Kansas City Fringe Festival – Youth Fringe Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch Richard and Michele Fritz created MashUp, an interactive social art installation presented at the Kansas City Fringe Festival’s Youth Fringe program at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library. The project featured a handcrafted three-dimensional cityscape constructed from illustrated paper buildings, vehicles, and architectural elements mounted on foam core and dramatically lit to resemble a miniature theatrical environment. Participants of all ages were invited to draw their own characters and develop short storylines describing who their characters were and what role they played within the city. Richard and Michele then staged the characters within the illuminated cityscape as if they were actors performing their stories. |
These staged scenes were photographed and transformed into MashUpNow vignettes, artworks that combine multiple sources of imagery and text into a single narrative composition. The project demonstrated how individual stories can be woven together into a shared creative environment while encouraging participants—especially youth—to see themselves as storytellers and contributors to a larger collective artwork.
The unveiling of the project also included collaboration with St. Louis photographer Brittany Branson of Loud Sights Art & Photography, who documented the installation and participant contributions. Additional visual narrative development included collaboration with Kansas City artist Mark Meriweather, who helped translate the collected stories into expanded visual vignettes presented online. |
The 4th of July Parade: story by youth of KC Fringe |
Social Art Projects focus equally on the process of making art and the quality of the finished work. |
|
The Rensing Center Artist Residency
Pickens, South Carolina Richard and Michele Fritz were selected to participate in a two-week artist residency at The Rensing Center, a rural residency program that provides living and studio space for self-directed artists seeking time for focused creative exploration.Located in the foothills of South Carolina, the residency offered an isolated landscape where artists could step away from daily obligations and concentrate on developing their studio practice. During the residency, Richard and Michele explored new directions in their individual studio work and produced a body of artwork that culminated in a public exhibition at the residency center. The experience provided dedicated time for experimentation, reflection, and the development of new ideas that would later influence their ongoing artistic practice. |
|
Art Experience Studio
These early projects helped shape the collaborative methodology that Richard and Michele continue to develop today through Art Experience and other community art initiatives.
Current projects include:
Art becomes most meaningful when people create it together.
These early projects helped shape the collaborative methodology that Richard and Michele continue to develop today through Art Experience and other community art initiatives.
Current projects include:
- Assembly Painting collaborations
- community mosaic installations
- school enrichment art programs
- nonprofit fundraising art events
- corporate and institutional collaborative artworks
Art becomes most meaningful when people create it together.
