Marci Aylward
Painting-Drawing
Campus Location:Dallavis, Office room 810
Phone: (816) 501-3659

A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Marci Aylward received a B.F.A. from Kansas City Art Institute in 1988. While attending Kansas City Art Institute she was chosen to take part in a mobility program to study art abroad for a semester. Marci was accepted and spent one and one half semesters attending Brighton Polytechnic, in England. Marci went on to receive her Masters in Fine Art from Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Upon returning to the Midwest in 1993, she taught at KCAI, Rockhurst University and Avila University.  Along with teaching, Marci has been Curator of Thornhill Gallery since 2002. SHe has taught at Avila University since 1997.

Marci Aylward's artwork is primarily oil and pastel painting.  SHe has had her work on display at various galleries on the East Coast and in the Midwest area.  Presently she is represented by the Late Show in Kansas City.

Artists Statement

I grew up in Kansas City Missouri where drawing has been an outlet since childhood.  Art was there for me while going through parochial elementary and high school with dyslexia.  The first formal art education began in College at Kansas City Art Institute and there received a BFA in Painting.  At KCAI I had the opportunity to study art in England during my third year.  My formal education concluded in New York City at Parsons School of Design where I received an MFA in Painting,

Living in different cultures was just as important to my education and my work as my College educational experience.  Being exposed to great works of art that I had only glimpsed in books and slides before, was inspirational.  Artists such as Corot and Constable have had an impact on the work that I do.  Traveling, living, working and surviving in various environments helped guide my direction along the path that I am presently taking.  I have been back in Kansas City for 13 years now.  The work that has been done in this time centers on open air landscape painting.  when returning to the midwest from New York City, I saw the midwestern landscape as if for the first time.  I have been painting it since.  Perhaps the dense urban landscape of New York City made me look to the purity of the rural countryside. 

In landscape, color and light are what draws me.  The endlessly changing land, sky, moving clouds, cast shadows is vital to life.