Chris Morrey, a lecturer in the Division of Architecture, recently installed a sculpture suite in the Columbia Regional Airport. The sculptures, two large scale rings titled “Returning,” were inspired by the “the cyclical nature of days, seasons and years, and resonates with concepts of leaving, returning and repetition.”
The pair of five-by-six foot oval rings feature different detailed shapes and surfaces. They will be installed on the terminal’s main entry side walls and face into the north and south lounges.
Chris Morrey with one of the featured sculptures.
“I thought that the rings embody a sense of departure and returning that was in keeping with a project for an airport,” Morrey told the Missourian, “They also sort of describe the cyclical nature of our days, our lunar cycles, our years; there’s a larger context we can put our journeys into. We can see them in this different light as a bigger part of the motion of the universe.”
Chris Morrey is a sculptor with thirty years of experience building works for public and private commissions as well as for gallery exhibition. He uses production methods ranging from hand craft to bronze and steel fabrication to computer-aided design and production. He seeks to engage craft’s evocation of the human relationship to nature and natural motifs; from small sculptures to large installations, his work provokes surprise and pleasure, leading viewers to appreciate the sensitivity of their physical bodies to the living and material environment.
Morrey is the founder of Dogwood, an artist workspace in Columbia, Missouri that had provided studios to over thirty artists and hosts monthly exhibitions in its gallery. Morrey teaches Design Fundamentals and Drawing to students at the Gibbs College of Architecture, approaching these courses in the same way he approaches his sculptural work: centering in the body and leading students to understand the active role they take in perceiving, interpreting, and creating the world around them.
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
