Notable Alumni of Kansas City Art Institute

Walt Disney 1901–1966

Animator and founder of The Walt Disney Company

Attended until 1910

Child: Diane Disney Miller (University of Southern California)

R. H. Barlow 1918–1951

Anthropologist and executor of Lovecraft's estate

Dennis Hopper 1936–2010

Actor and filmmaker of the New Hollywood era

Spouse: Katherine LaNasa (Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, University of North Carolina School of the Arts)

Spouse: Brooke Hayward (Vassar College)

Robert Rauschenberg 1925–2008

Painter and multimedia artist

Also attended: The University of Texas at Austin

Thomas Hart Benton 1889–1975

Painter and muralist of the Regionalist movement

Also attended: George Washington University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Father: Maecenas Eason Benton (Saint Louis University)

Robert Morris 1931–2018

Minimalist sculptor and conceptual artist

Also attended: San Francisco Art Institute, University of Kansas, CUNY Hunter College

Spouse: Simone Forti (Reed College)

Marc Davis 1913–2000

Disney animator, one of the Nine Old Men

Also attended: Otis College of Art and Design, San Francisco Art Institute

Victor Papanek 1923–1998

Designer and educator, author of Design for the Real World

Also attended: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Richard Corben 1940–2020

Comic artist known for Heavy Metal magazine

John Steuart Curry 1897–1946

Painter known for rural Kansas scenes

Also attended: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Geneva College

Chris Pitman 1976–

Musician and keyboardist with Guns N' Roses

Fatimah Tuggar 1967–

Nigerian-born interdisciplinary artist

Also attended: Yale University

William F. Nolan 1928–2021

Science fiction, fantasy and horror author

Hugh Harman 1903–1982

Animator and co-founder of Harman-Ising Productions

Paul Jenkins 1923–2012

Abstract expressionist painter

Spouse: Alice Baber (Indiana University-Bloomington, Lindenwood University)

Martin Arnold 1959–

Austrian experimental filmmaker

Nick Cave 1959–

Artist known for Soundsuit sculptures

Theo Parrish 1972–

Detroit DJ and record producer

Louisa Matthíasdóttir 1917–2000

Icelandic-American painter

April Greiman 1948–

Designer and early adopter of computer design

Kathryn Zaremba 1982–

Former actress known for Full House

Also attended: George Washington University

Ellen Fullman 1957–

Composer and instrument builder known for the Long String

Paul Briggs 1974–

Disney head of story and voice actor

Robert Berdella 1949–1992

American serial killer