At Escape Lounges, every detail of our interiors is inspired by the local area, with carefully curated zoning, color schemes, and furnishing. Our Kansas City lounge is heavily influenced by the city's reputation as the City of Fountains, with the Lodes lighting feature in the lobby and the undulating ceiling of the bar area both designed to evoke water droplets.  

The artists featured in the Kansas City lounge have been hand-selected to represent the rich artistic heritage of the local area, bringing the space to life with a range of colors, textures, and materials. Each piece has been chosen to enhance the sense of place in the lounge, and each is accompanied by a QR code so you can find out more about the artist and their work while you wait for your flight. 

Suze Ford 

Suze Ford is a prominent local artist, who has exhibited at galleries and public venues across Kansas City, including a period as the resident artist at ARTichokes in Leawood, Kansas. A Kansas City native who has also studied in Florence, Italy, Suze is known for her vibrant, colorful oil paintings.  

There are three Suze Ford pieces in the Kansas City Escape Lounge: Make a Way, Grounded, and Time for Healing. The three circular oil painting and resin pieces were each made with layers of expression through brush marks, textures, and oil paints, with vibrant neon colorways and a shimmer effect. Suze calls these pieces “A visual representation of bringing joy to the world.” 

Melissa McCracken  

Melissa McCracken paints bold, visually stunning pieces that incorporate elements of synesthesia to create visualisations of music. Her piece At Last, inspired by the Etta James classic, currently hangs in the lounge. The blue, gold, and pink color scheme combines to dramatic effect, creating a stand-out piece for guests to enjoy. 

Holly Swangstu 

Local artist Holly Swangstu specializes in textile paintings, making dyed fabric compositions that she calls “journey page expressions about time and place.” She uses paintings made in the field, alongside photo documentation and notes, to then create her textile paintings and installations.  

There are two of Holly’s pieces in the lounge: Broomtail Sunset Meditation I and Broomtail Sunset Meditation II. Each piece is made using hand-dyed cotton fabric torn into strips and layered on stretched canvas. The red and orange hues of the pieces sit alongside earthy colors to create a stunning overall effect.  

Nathan Neufeld 

In his pieces, Kansas City ceramicist Nathan Neufeld has pioneered the use of digital technologies to work alongside traditional processes. There are three of his vases in the MCI Escape Lounge: Untitled Red Vase, Untitled Black Vase, and Untitled Gray Vase. 

Debbie Barrett-Jones 

Kansas City weaver Debbie Barrett-Jones creates woven panels using a range of patterns, spacing, scale, and colors. Her aim is to bring harmony and an inner sense of peace to the viewer: “The goal in creating my art is to be able to give my viewer the opportunity to have time to slow down and breathe, being stimulated by visual art that is pleasing to the eye and peaceful to the mind.” 

Debbie has provided two textile pieces for the lounge: Woven Landscape no. 5 and Spring Aurora. She creates each panel of her woven fine art textiles from start to finish, even dying her own yarn. The gradation of color in each piece creates a sense of movement and life. 

Jenny Meyer-McCall 

Painter Jenny Meyer-McCall creates abstract floral pieces with thick acrylic paint, often incorporating small personal heirlooms into the paint for specially commissioned pieces. She likes to explore trends in color, as well as visual and textural patterns. Her piece Little Ones Grow Fast is in the lounge. 

To discover the local artwork in Escape Lounges at Kansas City International Airport for yourself, book your escape to remember next time you fly out of MCI