It weighs 5,000 pounds. It’s powder blue. See new art installation on KC’s riverfront
Memphis, Tennessee, artist Ben Butler called the moment on Friday morning “terrifying.”
That’s when, around 10 a.m., Butler, fitted with a hard hat and gloves, watched through his glasses as crane operators carefully snapped straps to “Rivercloud,” the weight of a Dodge Durango, and hoisted it until it dangled.
At 5,000-pounds, or two tons, the abstract powder-blue sculpture — created from thin layers of curvilinear steel sheets — is one that Butler created and which, as of Friday, would be lowered and fixed into place to become the latest in a growing number of public art pieces now overlooking the Missouri River at Kansas City’s Berkley Riverfront Park.
“The site ended up being really perfect for the piece,” Butler said Friday.
Public art in Kanas City
He said that in 2024, he was commissioned by the city, as part of it’s 1% art program, to create a sculpture which was originally slated to be installed downtown, perhaps even at City Hall. But as Kansas City’s riverfront developed, so did the idea to place the work at the riverfront, which ended up being fitting given the piece’s inspiration.
“It was designed as kind of an abstract manifestation of cloud forms and river forms,” Butler said.
“One thing I’m really excited about with this sculpture — because of the way it is constructed as layers — it is this solid complex form from most angles, but then from the side angle it almost sort of disappears. You can see right through it. . . .”
Massive but ephemeral
Butler spoke of his interest in “hybrid” forms, like clouds and coursing rivers, that possess dual natures.
“Something that really interested me is this kind of visual paradox, maybe, where it can at once seems both massive, complex and ephemeral, light. The way we’re installing it, hopefully it has this kind of quality of lightness, like it’s barely perched on the grass. Even though it’s 5,000 pounds, it has this kind of ephemerality.”
Patrick Pierce, the director of communications for, PortKC, said the development agency looked to get the sculpture installed prior to the beginning of the World Cup, with the first match in Kansas City at GEHA field at Arrowhead Stadium scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, when Argentina faces Algeria.
“You know, getting the riverfront ready for the world to see,” Pierce said, “but also for Kansas Citians.. Kansas City is really a city for the arts in many ways. And, obviously, the riverfront has, historically, been underserved.”
That is changing, he said.
Art grows on the riverfront
On May 18, an extension of Kansas City’s streetcar line opened to the riverfront. Just prior, Kansas City artist Dani Roma was commissioned to paint a mural in bold orange, blue and purple, “Welcome to Berkley Riverfront” on a shipping container at the entrance to the park.
On Memorial Day weekend, 100 graffiti artists gathered along the Riverfront Heritage Trail to paint 40-foot long mural along a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of the river’s levy wall. That same weekend, another mural of red and yellow daises went up on the corrugated gray wall of the Two Birds One Stone beer garden.
Aaron Plumb, PortKC’s development manager, said there is a plan to add more color to the new color to the CPKC Pavillion, which is the final stop of along the streetcar line.
Designed by a team that includes Burns & McDonnell, Zahner, the metal fabricators, and KEM Studio, the pavilion features and a reflective metal canopy inspired by the reflection and flow of the Missouri River.
“This ‘Rivercloud’ sculpture coming in,” Pierce said, “we think it’s going to be talked about, not just short-term. But long-term, it’s going to be something — people coming down — where you’re doing something Instagram worthy, where you’re taking photos, putting it on social media, talking about it.
“It just highlights Kansas City. We want it to be warm, and welcoming and inclusive. And we think things like this make it not only a beautiful place — because you already see that with the river — but how do we enhance that? That’s the thinking overall.”
