May 13, 2013Art on the go
On a recent Saturday morning, the weather outside was disgusting, but it wasn’t enough to keep kids from filling the fourth floor gallery of the Spencer Art Museum. The draw? The museum’s weekend Art Cart.
Source: Lawrence Journal World
February 12, 2013An Errant Line: Ann Hamilton / Cynthia Schira Opening March 2, 2013
The Spencer has commissioned internationally recognized artists Ann Hamilton and Cynthia Schira to create large-scale installations in several of the Museum’s galleries. An Errant Line is open to the public March 2 to August 11, 2013.
Museum Press Release
January 29, 2013Collaborating With The Xijing Men
Kansas City Art Institute students experienced cross-cultural communication through art during a Sunday workshop with visiting artists at the H&R Block Artspace. As part of their 1o-day residency in Kansas City, the Xijing Men led the students through...
Source: KCUR 89.3 FM
January 27, 2013Spencer Museum to host Xijing Men for 'art summit'
This week, the Xijing Men will open their first North American exhibition in Kansas City, Mo., and play host to a "summit" in Lawrence.
Source: Lawrence Journal World
January 20, 2013Spencer's new permanent exhibit puts 'Things' back in place
"Empire of Things" explores the concept of collecting through an opulent gathering of art objects ranging from 2,000 B.C. to the modern era, some of which the museum has never before displayed. The exhibit is the latest step of Project Redefine.
Source: Lawrence Journal World
January 18, 2013A Petrovski Flux by blotto Epsilon and Cutea Benelli. Wow!
I decided to visit 'A Petrovski Flux' after seeing an artistic, psychedelic photo of it by JJ Coronet posted on Google+. (Let's face it, colourful shots look great in blog posts.) When I arrived there was little time to take in my surroundings because...
Source: SL Art Exposed
January 18, 2013Some Good Things Last in Second Life
I told you recently about making a new friend inworld and having one of the best moments of any life as a result. He sent me a landmark the other day to the Spencer Museum of Art. Some of you will understand that means he found the Petrovsky Flux.
Source: Honour's Post Menopausal View (of Second Life)
January 9, 2013The Xijing Men Make U.S. Debut in Kansas City, MO and Lawrence, KS
The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas and the H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute are pleased to present the inaugural North American exhibition by the internationally renowned Xijing Men.
Museum Press Release
December 31, 2012Maxim Recruits a Readership in Uniform
Magazines featuring provocative images of women have faced opposition before. During WWII, Esquire's watercolor pinup 'Varga' girls were so popular that some soldiers were found clutching these magazines pages in their hands when they died...
December 30, 201213 things to kick off 2013
Spencer exhibitions are numbers 9 and 10 in this list of 13 things to kick off 2013.
December 5, 2012Art Legacy
An article from the Lawrence Journal-World honoring Dr. Marilyn Stokstad in recognition of the endowed directorship she generously established at the Spencer Museum of Art.
November 16, 2012Spencer Museum of Art Holiday Hours
The Spencer Museum of Art will remain open to the public throughout the fall and winter holiday season except on dates that are holidays. Our hours on other days will be unaffected. Specific dates and hours during holiday weeks are listed below.
November 8, 2012An Artistic Slant On Health Care At The Spencer
In the lobby of the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence are two kiosk-like pieces of a new installation by Marguerite Perret, Bruce Scherting, Robin Lasser and James Stone. Both stations solicit visitors' thoughts and opinions on health care.
October 30, 2012Genuinely Artificial: The Art of Randy Regier
Art in America is traditionally defined by its price tag: if someone will buy it, it is real; if not, the maker is a mere hobbyist. In Randy Regier's case, he creates artwork that immediately generates desire because ...
October 18, 2012Political Power Of Imagery
What images best convey the meaning of politics in America? An exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence explores this idea through photography, prints, paintings, archival political ads, and a poodle skirt.
September 17, 2012Art, Politics and the American Narrative: A Q&A With Burdett Loomis
As the curator of the exhibit currently showing at the Spencer called Politics as Symbol/Symbol as Politics, KU political science professor Burdett Loomis has gathered up a treasure trove of images that explore meaning of politics in America.
September 17, 2012Art, Politics and the American Narrative: A Q&A With Burdett Loomis
As the curator of the exhibit currently showing at the Spencer called Politics as Symbol/Symbol as Politics, KU political science professor Burdett Loomis has gathered up a treasure trove of images that explore meaning of politics in America.
June 29, 2012Spencer Museum of Art closed July 4
On Wednesday, July 4, the Spencer will close in observance of the national holiday. Have a happy and safe Independence Day.
June 27, 2012'Yarn Bombing' ignites SMA entrance
Knitting & crochet enthusiasts cover SMA entrance in stitches; short-term installation features contributed work from as far away as Brazil, United Kingdom, Maryland & West Virginia
June 25, 2012Elegance Under Foot: Turkish Weavings
A new exhibition on view through July 8 on the Spencer Museum of Art’s fourth floor, features highlights from a private collection of Turkish Kilims, an amazing group of weavings that encapsulate Turkish history, culture, and tradition...
June 21, 2012Politics & Art
As Americans, politics are a part of the daily landscape, especially as the presidential election nears. To taken on a different view, a political science professor and art historian have decided to present an exhibit that looks at the art and imagery...
June 18, 2012Spencer to screen acclaimed Alan Turing docu-drama
In honor of Alan Turing’s upcoming centenary, the Spencer this Wednesday evening will screen Codebreaker, a critically acclaimed docu-drama about the highs and lows of Turing's fascinating life.
May 30, 2012Cryptographs! Family Day at the Spencer
The Spencer will celebrate Father’s Day by offering one of its always popular Family Days from 1-3 PM on Sunday, June 17. We invite families to spend a captivating and fun-filled afternoon discovering a world of hidden secrets, puzzles, and cryptogr
May 16, 2012Interview with Steve Kraske on KCUR's Up to Date
In the first part of Up to Date, Steve Kraske talks with Spencer Museum's Steve Goddard, Perry Alexander, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and Leonard Krishtalka, director of KU's Biodiversity Institute about Cryptograph.
May 11, 2012Hutch High School junior's work in KU protest art show
Cassie Zook is her own person. So, when a teacher made a joke about her choice of lipstick color, the young woman turned her feelings into art. Protest art.
May 1, 2012Occupying Minds, Not Streets
Mounting an exhibition anywhere in the neighborhood of occupation aesthetics can be precarious nowadays, for people are increasingly fed up with the same reiterations of ideological conceptualism and the ultra-politically correct ...
March 9, 2012NEA Chairman to visit Spencer Museum
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman will visit Lawrence on March 15, the latest stop on his nationwide Art Works tour.
February 21, 2012Internationally acclaimed sculptor Karen LaMonte to speak on 'Beauty & Catastrophe'
Karen LaMonte has earned international praise for her striking cast-glass sculptures. The New York-born artist, who now lives and works in Prague, the Czech Republic, will speak on 'Beauty & Catastrophe' at 4 PM on Sunday, March 4, at the Spencer.
January 19, 2012Spencer Museum to serve as Lawrence location for 2012 International Craftsy Meetup Party
Area craft enthusiasts can come together and share their collective enthusiasm and experience from 5:30-7:30 PM on Thursday, January 26, when the Spencer Museum of Art serves as the Lawrence location for the 2012 International Craftsy Meetup Party
January 18, 2012Art in pieces: How the details of a piece of art make it whole.
The Crafting Continuities exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art provides insight into a little thought of piece of the artistic puzzle, the materials and processes that go into creating the final work.
January 12, 2012Spencer Museum soliciting submissions for 2012 Jack and Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards
The Spencer is soliciting submissions for the second annual Jack and Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards. Benefactor Lavon Brosseau established the prizes to celebrate undergraduate students at KU who engage in creative scholarly work in any discipline.
December 19, 2011Spencer Museum of Art Receives Highest National Recognition
The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has again achieved accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition afforded the nation’s museums.
October 13, 2011SMA Fall Press Preview & Lunch
The Spencer Museum of Art invites members of the press to a light lunch and preview of the Museum’s fall 2011 lineup of exhibitions next Wednesday, October 19, from Noon to 1 PM.
October 3, 2011KU alumnus Jon 'J.T.' O'Neal returns for Oct. 16 screening of Au Pair, Kansas
Filmmaker, photographer, and physician Jon “J.T.” O’Neal graduated from KU with an honors degree in history of art. His latest feature film, Au Pair, Kansas, took inspiration from O’Neal’s long-time interest in the artist Birger Sandzén.
September 21, 2011Material Madness & Process Pandemonium! A Family Fun Day at the Spencer
The Spencer Museum of Art will conclude KU’s 2011 Homecoming weekend in style with a Family Fun Day from 1-3 PM on Sunday, October 2. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Crafting Continuities, the free event will feature a variety of ...
September 1, 2011Vocalist Genaro Méndez and accompanist Robert Hiller to perform concert at Spencer
On Sunday, September 11 at 5 PM, Mexican-American lyric tenor Genaro Méndez, a KU associate professor of voice, and accompanist Robert Hiller, a KU alumnus and university voice coach in Germany, will perform a program that celebrates music...
August 19, 2011Crews to remove The Bedazzler sapling sculpture on Friday, Aug. 19
For more than two years, sculptor Patrick Dougherty’s The Bedazzler, a temporary sculpture commissioned by the Spencer for a 2009 exhibition about trees, has anchored the corner of 14th Street and Jayhawk Boulevard in front of Spooner Hall.
June 6, 2011Pomp up the Jam: Splendor, Pageantry, and Performance in Art
A sparkling and diverse study in parades, processions, and ceremonies throughout history that will be on view June 12-September 4 on the Conversation Wall of the Spencer’s 20/21 Gallery.
May 11, 2011Spencer Museum of Art, KU Libraries earn major grants for cataloging and digitization
In support of projects to thoroughly document two significant and historic collections at the University of Kansas, the National Endowment for the Humanities recently awarded grants totaling $245,939 to the Spencer Museum of Art and KU Libraries.
May 9, 2011It figures he would fall
It’s a shocker, no matter how many times you watch it. A new installation by Shanghai-based artist Jin Shan in the Spencer Museum’s central court features a 180-pound silicone policeman that falls from the 'sky' with a thud.
April 27, 2011 Spring Arts & Culture Festival
SMA Student Advisory Board presents its fourth annual Spring Arts & Culture Festival Featuring local and student artists, live music and activities for everyone.
April 26, 2011Chilling Exhibit on Campus
It may be spring but and art exhibit on campus has spectators visualizing icy temperatures. KUJH-TV's Ann Wilson has the story.
April 25, 2011Art installation combines music and visuals with climate change data
'Mutatis Mutandis,' a Latin phrase meaning 'by changing those things that need to be changed,' explores the relationship between time and glaciers. An interdisciplinary group used sound and information graphics ...
March 31, 2011Student Advisory Board to Host Spring Student Night, 2011: A Space Odyssey
University of Kansas students can enjoy a night of science-fiction inspired activities at the Spencer Museum of Art on Thursday, April 7, as the SMA Student Advisory Board (SAB) hosts the Museum’s annual spring student night.
March 15, 2011Renowned performance artist spends a day at Spencer
Ernesto Pujol's performance was based on the history of painting, which involved subtle gestures through walking, pausing, looking and drawing the entire contents of the Museum throughout the day.
March 8, 2011Ernesto Pujol to present Visitation, a one-day performance art piece
The Spencer Museum of Art will become an experimental performance laboratory for a day as performance artist Ernesto Pujol conceptualizes the representation of gaze--the artist as the embodiment of our human gaze.
February 17, 2011The Commons bestows funding for research, artist projects
The Commons, a partnership at the University of Kansas that promotes learning across disciplines, has awarded more than $20,000 to faculty, staff and students in support of their research in the 2010-11 academic year.
January 20, 20112011 Governor’s Arts Award winner Louis Copt to give painting demonstration at Spencer
Louis Copt, one of five Kansans named as recipients of the 2011 Governor’s Arts Awards, will discuss his working methods, materials used, and philosophy in choosing subject matter during a 6:30 PM painting demonstration in the Spencer on January 27.
January 1, 2011Rocket Grants propel artistic innovation
Leralee Whittle mimicked the motion of cardio exercise, jerking her arms and torso back and forth. Dumbbells hanging in a sling formed by her stretchy workout clothing echoed her body’s movements....
December 2, 2010Jayplay cover story focuses on campus outdoor sculpture
SMA Director Saralyn Reece Hardy and Curator of European & American Art Susan Earle are sources for this feature, which follows a Kansan cover story earlier this week about the Spencer's "An Ear for Art" cell-phone audio tour expanding outdoor
November 29, 2010"KU art has hidden history"
A front-page University Daily Kansanfeature about the Spencer's "An Ear for Art" campus cell-phone audio guide expanding to include 15 outdoor sculptures on the KU campus.
November 11, 2010Rocket Grants fuel creativity
The Journal World features two art projects supported by Warhol Foundation-funded Rocket Grants, which are administered by the Spencer and Kansas City's Charlotte Street Foundation.
November 8, 2010Leralee Whittle - Forces presents WorkArtOut
This weekend, performance art will usurp sport for two nights on basketball courts in Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., as Warhol Foundation-funded 'Rocket Grant' recipients Leralee Whittle and Paul Sprawl present Work/Art/Out
November 3, 2010Art branches out with pieces on trees
From a woodcut depicting the scene of the Fall of Man with vine-covered, leafy trees to a print of a tree farm in China littered with plastic bags, the latest exhibit at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University looks at trees...
November 2, 2010Love in the Time of Beer Bellies ... a Mass. St. Romance
Lawrence Magazine gave 5 art collectives 5 days to come up with a work of art based on 1 theme -- 'Love in the time of beer bellies ... a Mass. St. romance.'
October 20, 2010As Heard From The Hill: Romanian Film Series Starts Thursday
Recently, Lawrence has been doing it’s best Bucharest imitation. Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi just finished up a residency at the Spencer Musuem, and his central court installation will be up until February 6th. This week, the Spencer screens...
October 4, 2010KU alumnus and author Robert Day to speak, sign books at Spencer
Author and professor Robert Day, a Kansas native and KU alumnus who gained national acclaim for his 1977 novel The Last Cattle Drive and, more recently, for his 2010 collection of nonfiction essays ...
September 30, 2010Kansas Arts Commission awards SMA Arts Leadership Program grant
The Kansas Arts Commission recently awarded the Spencer an $18,000 Kansas Arts Leadership Program grant, recognizing the Museum as a statewide pacesetter in comprehensive arts-learning programs united by a cohesive educational approach.
September 27, 2010'Black, White, and Read All Over' Fall 2010 Student Night @ the Museum
The Spencer Museum of Art Student Advisory Board invites students to enjoy its annual Fall Student Night on Thursday, October 7. Taking cues from the Museum’s current exhibitions, the evening’s activities revolve around ...
September 22, 2010Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence Arts Center welcome three artists-in-residence
Specializing in drawing, printmaking and sculpture, the artists-in-residence this fall at the Spencer Museum of Art and the Lawrence Arts Center cover a wide spectrum of skills, while all working toward the same goal...
September 21, 2010These Moved Me exhibition run extended
The Spencer has extended the run of a special exhibition honoring the life and legacy of Dalton Howard (1943-2010), a longtime member of the SMA family and a beloved local artist, musician, raconteur, and thinker.
September 15, 2010African Healing Journeys: Historical & Contemporary Responses to Disease
A new exhibition brings together an array of African objects from the collections of the Spencer and the Kauffman Museum, Bethel College, in conjunction with an upcoming international conference at KU. On view through Oct. 3.
September 15, 2010Dan Perjovschi’s Work
Perjovschi is the artist in residence at the Spencer Museum of Art. His exhibit, Dan Perjovschi Central Court, will officially open Thursday and run until Feb. 6, 2011.
September 12, 2010Romanian artist’s work on display at Spencer
A man with a thick black and grey beard stands 20-feet high on a cherry picker in the Spencer Museum of Art, drawing on the walls. He wears a green fly-fishing jacket, which holds everything he needs -- a few markers and a notebook.
September 9, 2010Dalton Howard Remembered
KUJH's video report on the Dalton Howard exhibition, These Moved Me
September 9, 2010Can you see the writing on the walls?
JayPlay Photo Gallery of pieces from Dan Perjovschi's Dan Periovschi Central Court debut on Sept. 16, in the Spencer Museum of Art.
September 9, 2010Exhibit displays areas of African culture
Like People or Cosmopolitan magazines of Western societies, African societies portray their cultural perspective of beauty and culture through popular images and art. Now students of the University of Kansas can see glimpses of those perspectives...
September 7, 2010Dan Perjovschi: Fall 2010 SMA International Artist-in-Residence
Romania-based international artist Dan Perjovschi is working at the University of Kansas from September 2-16, 2010, as the fall Spencer Museum of Art International Artist-in-Residence.
August 31, 2010Site Specifics on view through January 16, 2011
Contemporary art and the natural world collide in a new exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art. Site Specifics considers several objects and related sketches made from or for specific sites or conditions, most on land and one in the air.
August 23, 2010Media Memes: Images, Technology & Making the News
Understanding how we make meaning from photography constitutes a key element of media literacy. Our perceptions of news, privacy, awareness, the past and the present are culturally and emotionally anchored in the visual reality that we perceive ...
August 16, 2010Spencer shortens hours for memorial service
The Spencer Museum of Art, which normally opens at noon Sundays, will open at 2 PM on Sunday, August 22, so that staff members can attend the celebration of life for Dalton Howard, a long-time member of the SMA family who recently passed away.
August 12, 2010SMA Student Advisory Board Presents...
The Spencer’s Student Advisory Board kicks off the 2010-2011 school year with a special Hawk Week screening of the critically acclaimed new documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, next Thursday, August 19, at 6 PM in the SMA Auditorium.
July 12, 2010Academic journal dedicates issue to KU's Aaron Douglas exhibit
Three years after the Spencer Museum of Art premiered its landmark exhibition 'Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist,' a special double-issue of the journal American Studies celebrates Douglas’s legacy.
July 7, 2010Debbie Divine to recreate design talk of famed Emporia quilter Rose Kretsinger
On Thursday, July 15, at 6 PM, Salina-based historical re-enactor and quilter Debbie Divine will assume the persona of Rose Good Kretsinger, a legendary quilter from Emporia, Kansas, whose dynamic artworks have garnered international praise.
June 29, 2010SMA galleries closed for Independence Day
In recognition of the Independence Day national holiday, the Spencer Museum of Art galleries will be closed on Sunday, July 4, 2010.
June 14, 2010Saralyn Reece Hardy named treasurer for AAMD board of trustees
At the annual meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) last week in Indianapolis, the membership elected Spencer Museum of Art Director Saralyn Reece Hardy as treasurer of its Board of Trustees. The appointment is for a two-year term.
June 8, 2010Quilting Time & Space: On view through May 30, 2010
A new summer exhibition at the Spencer, organized and curated by the Museum’s advanced-level student interns from 2009-2010, presents quilts from different times and places in conversation with each other.
June 7, 2010Cateforis featured in PBS program on contemporary art, calligraphy
You never know where research will lead you. David Cateforis’ knowledge of a contemporary Chinese artist led to his involvement in a national television special -- about a completely different artist.
June 3, 2010Spencer, Charlotte Street Foundation announce recipients of 'Rocket Grants'
The Spencer and Charlotte Street Foundation are pleased to announce the 2010-2011 recipients of Rocket Grants, a new program that provides direct support for innovative, experimental, artist-driven, and artist-centered projects in the Lawrence-KC area.
June 2, 2010Conversation VIII: Serious Play
Summertime is perhaps the season most associated with play and playfulness, so it seems the perfect time for a fresh 'conversation' in the Spencer’s 20/21 Gallery that goes beyond mere fun and games to explore the topic of play in a variety of way
May 29, 2010KU’s Spencer Museum is looking to expand
For years, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has sought to expand. Now it’s taking a major step in that direction.
May 28, 2010Spencer Museum of Art Looks to the Future with Expansion Plan
Over the last three decades, the Spencer Museum of Art has nearly doubled the size of its collection. Looking ahead to future expansion, the museum recently hired an internationally renowned architectural firm to create a plan.
May 27, 2010KU museum expansion taps renowned architectural firm
The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas isn’t the Louvre, but the museums have this in common: the same internationally renowned architectural firm.
May 25, 2010Editorial: Bright future
It’s good to see Kansas University’s art museum taking a dynamic approach to its future.
May 23, 2010Spencer wants to be 'museum of the future'
Spencer Art Museum at Kansas University is making some big plans for the future, starting with a study by world-renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
May 19, 2010'Beaded Heritage' Explores Traditions and Identity
The art of bead work has a long tradition in the Native American culture, passed down from one generation to the next. An exhibition at the Spencer Museum in Lawrence, Beaded Heritage, pairs...
May 19, 2010EXHIBITION EXTENDED: Machine in a Void
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to extend by one week the run of its major spring exhibition Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts. The show will now remain on view through Memorial Day weekend.
May 10, 2010International Museum Day: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Guided tours, free gifts, shopping discounts, and a 2 PM talk in the SMA Auditorium by conceptual artist and educator Ernesto Pujol highlight the Spencer’s celebration of International Museum Day on Tuesday, May 18.
May 5, 2010FINAL DAYS: Machine in a Void
Thursday, May 13, at 12 PM, curator Stephen Goddard will give an in-depth gallery talk on the Spencer’s major spring exhibition Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts...
April 20, 2010Spring Arts & Culture Festival
The SMA Student Advisory Board presents its third annual Spring and Arts & Culture Festival Featuring live music and dance, local and student art for sale, family activities, the SMA spring exhibitions and more.
April 20, 2010Spring Student Night and Juried Art Show
The Spencer Student Advisory Board presents its annual Spring Student Night and Juried Art Show.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 / 5:30-7:30 PM Free & Open to the Public
April 13, 2010Booths available at Spring Arts & Culture Festival
The SMA Student Advisory Board invites KU and Lawrence area Artists to showcase and sell their work at the 3rd annual Spring Arts & Culture Festival, Saturday, May 1 from 1-4 PM inside and outside the Museum. Deadline for participation: Friday, April 22
April 1, 2010Artist Talk: Ann Hamilton
At 5 PM on Thursday, April 8, acclaimed artist Ann Hamilton will give an informal presentation about her work in the SMA Auditorium. Hamilton, who earned her bachelor’s degree in textile design from KU in 1979...
March 25, 2010Connections close to home
Seoul-based artist Kim Jongku spent two weeks in-residence at the Spencer Museum of Art in February.
March 1, 2010Machine in a Void: World War One & the Graphic Arts
March 4, the Spencer will unveil Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts, presenting approximately 200 works of graphic art made during the years of the First World War (1914-1918), with a post-script on the art of the decade following the war..
February 18, 2010SMA International Artist-in-Residence speaking on the installation Mobile Landscape
On Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 PM, Seoul-based artist Kim Jongku will talk about his site specific video installation Mobile Landscape, which opens that evening and will remain on view through June 25 in the Spencer’s Electronic Media Gallery.
February 4, 2010This weekend: Art of Utopia at the Spencer
Our tragic human flaw may be our desire for perfection. From plastic surgery to hippie communes, people are constantly looking to improve themselves and society. But, is a utopian society tangible or ultimately unattainable?
January 21, 2010Anschutz Foundation donates $200,000 to Spencer Museum of Art
A $200,000 gift from The Anschutz Foundation of Denver significantly advances an academic programs initiative launched by the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas....
January 19, 2010Rocket Grants Informational Sessions
There will be a series of informational sessions for artists about Rocket Grants, a new program that will provide direct support for innovative, experimental, artist-driven and centered projects in the Lawrence-KC area. Held at diverse locations ...
January 19, 2010Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill Project
The Spencer Museum of Art, in partnership with the Lawrence Arts Center, brings artist Mel Chin to Lawrence this weekend for a special presentation on his past and present work and his unique conceptual approach....
December 21, 2009Flemish tapestries, Italian nativity scene highlight Museum’s holiday offerings
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to share rarely-seen objects from its collection with the public this season. In accordance with a long-standing tradition, the 18th-century Italian presepio, or nativity scene, is on view in the Renaissance Gallery...
December 14, 2009Spencer Sets Winter Break Hours
In observation of the annual winter holidays, the Museum will be closed December 24-25, and January 1. We will observe shortened Thursday hours (close at 4 PM) throughout the KU Winter Break (days affected: December 17 and 31, and January 7).
November 28, 2009Morning in the Adirondacks
'It’s comforting to look at--a reminder of a simpler time,' says Charles Eldredge, distinguished professor of American art and culture at the University of Kansas, of an 1860s landscape by Sanford Robinson Gifford. 'It is an image of the sort that
November 15, 2009Jim McCrary and Judy Roitman, book release and reading
This reading is the Lawrence release for local writer Jim McCrary's first 'real' book, 'All That' -- a collection of chapbooks dating from 1987 to 2008 published by ManyPenny Press.
November 12, 2009Digital Canvas: East meets Midwest in Asian video exhibit, 'Extra/Ordinary'
The new exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art, 'Extra/Ordinary: Video Art from Asia' is an exploration of Asian art that’s more YouTube than Louvre, examining the commonplace through video, a medium that has itself become commonplace.
November 12, 2009Poetry and paintings
The exhibits of the Spencer Museum of Art will set the scene for a reading of three of the University’s preeminent poets this afternoon.
November 12, 2009Spencer Museum of Art to show 'Moolaade'
The Spencer Museum of Art is hosting a screening of the Senegalese film 'Moolaade.' The film tells the story of one woman protecting a village's girls from female circumcision and the controversy her stand causes.
November 8, 2009American heritage: KU contributes to new Native galleries at Nelson-Atkin
It’s certainly a star in the Kansas University anthropological collection. But now it’s co-starring in the new American Indian Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which open to the public on Wednesday.
November 3, 2009Town & Gown Forum: Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
What do Andy Warhol, Boy George, and 1980s photographs have in common? What is it about celebrity culture that is distinctly visual? How have 1980s music videos affected our personal gender politics?
October 16, 2009ART:21--Art in the Twenty-First Century
Spencer continues partnership with Art21,Inc., will host special screening of Season Five of the Peabody Award-winning documentary as part of National Arts & Humanities Month
October 8, 2009Day-long 'ACT OUT: ART IN!' workshop
Fall break in Lawrence promises to be a dramatic experience for seventh- through 12th-graders who participate in a new art-into-theater workshop that focuses on the current Spencer exhibition The Graphic Imperative.
October 1, 2009WARhol & PEACE: Student Advisory Board Fall Party
Art all around, custom screen-printing of t-shirts, live music, '80s-inspired appetizers, a soup-can drive and more add up to make 'WARhol & PEACE,' the SMA Student Advisory Board's 2009 fall student party.
September 30, 2009LECTURE Warhol Museum Curator Eric C. Shiner
Eric C. Shiner, Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, visits the Spencer next Wednesday evening to discuss the Warhol legacy in his talk, 'Andy Warhol: Consumption x Production.'
September 22, 2009Spencer Museum Shop 'Bag to School' Sale
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the Museum Shop's 'Bag to School' Sale. Shop the Spencer from Tuesday, September 22, through Sunday, September 27, and score sweet savings...
September 17, 2009Reframing the worlds of art and science
For scientists and artists alike at the University, crafting a greater public understanding of their respective fields is crucial....
September 17, 2009An Ear for Art
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the launch of a new cell-phone audio guide. 'An Ear for Art' enables Museum fans to access information about objects in the galleries simply by dialing their cell phones.
September 15, 2009The Graphic Imperative on view through November 29, 2009
Why posters? Because they have the power to change our minds. Because they stir our emotions and cause us to reflect. Because they are a call to action....
September 9, 2009Campus museums getting creative
It's another quiet day at the museum, which is a reminder of adjustments it's been forced to make. Like most institutions with an allocated budget, the Spencer Museum of Art face financial setbacks because of the economic recession...
August 28, 2009Warhol Exhibit Focuses on Celebrity Culture at the Spencer Museum
When the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence received a collection of 180 of Andy Warhol's photographs in 2008, it wasn't long before the museum's staff felt compelled to spotlight the gift within the context of Warhol's New York circa the 1980s.
August 26, 2009Exhibit makes statement on masculinity
Kris Ercums knew he would be using objects from the Spencer’s permanent collection in a new exhibition, but he didn’t know what that exhibit would be. But as Ecrums, creator and curator of the new xy exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art...
August 26, 2009Are We Not Men?
This synchronized collision of images makes up the Spencer’s latest exhibit, 'xy,' an exploration of the masculine mystique. It’s a collection heavy on the Y chromosome that raises the question, 'Are you man enough to handle it?'
August 20, 2009Get some culture: Warhol at the Spencer
Somewhat like Perez Hilton, Andy Warhol was famous simply for being famous and made a living talking about and photographing celebrities. Similar to Hilton, his pop art examines the ideas and effects of popular culture, fame and mass production.
August 18, 2009Spencer Museum of Art shows Big Shots - Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
Joan Collins and Wayne Gretzky. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Liz Taylor. Chris Lawford and William S. Burroughs. What do these seemingly dissimilar individuals have to do with each other? The answer is simple: They were among the many celebrities ...
August 14, 2009KU puts Warhol work on display
Most of us are familiar with the work of artist Andy Warhol -- and this Saturday, a KU gallery will present some of his most stylish works.
August 14, 2009Kansas Public Radio: Warhol Exhibition Puts the Spotlight on Celebrity
The Spencer Museum of Art is opening an exhibition of photographs taken by Andy Warhol. It includes portraits of artists, athletes, singers and others Warhol found interesting. Susan Earle is the curator of European and American Art at the Spencer, and ..
August 9, 2009Andy Warhol exhibit opens Saturday in Lawrence
An exhibit of dozens of rarely seen photographs by pop artist Andy Warhol goes on display Saturday at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence.
August 5, 2009Big Shots: Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
Joan Collins and Wayne Gretzky. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Liz Taylor. Chris Lawford and William S. Burroughs. What do these seemingly dissimilar individuals have to do with each other? The answer is simple: They were ...
July 30, 2009xy exhibition examines male identity
Male sexuality is determined by the x and y chromosomes, yet what does it mean to be a man? Through October 5 in the Kress Gallery, the Spencer Museum of Art will explore the complexities of this question via a large-scale exhibition...
July 10, 2009Lawrence, Spencer museum finalists in tourism contest
The Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association announced that Lawrence has been selected as one of the finalists for the top day trip destination in the area, and the Spencer Museum of Art is a finalist for the favorite art museum or gallery.
July 1, 2009Climb a Tree
Thanks to Patrick Dougherty, nests needn't be for the birds.
July 1, 2009Friends & Neighbors
Sometimes it takes a village to raise an exhibition. At least, that’s the premise of a new installation at the Spencer Museum of Art featuring the selections of four Lawrence community members, each paired with a Spencer curator...
June 30, 2009Friends & Neighbors exhibition features community curators
Sometimes it takes a village to raise an exhibition. At least, that’s the premise of a new installation at the Spencer Museum of Art featuring the selections of four Lawrence community members, each paired with a Spencer curator to create a show that ..
June 13, 2009Sculpture is swirl of saplings
North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty likes to build things with sticks -- and the bigger, the better.
June 9, 2009Spooner Hall’s lawn gets bedazzled
A dying tree on Spooner Hall lawn gave the University a chance to combine art and nature in a sculpture made of tree saplings.
May 26, 2009SMA Collection Manager to attend national conference on collections care
Spencer Museum of Art Collection Manager Sofía Galarza Liu has been selected by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to attend a national forum, June 16 and 17, 2009, in Buffalo, New York.
May 22, 2009Artist has designs on KU tree
What do you get when you take 6,000 pounds of maple and dogwood saplings and put them in the hands of an internationally known sculptor? The answer is taking shape at the corner of 14th Street & Jayhawk Boulevard in front of Spooner Hall on the KU campus.
May 20, 2009Ink Magazine
Daycations: Take a tiny trip to Lawrence
May 14, 2009Artist Patrick Dougherty to speak about his tree sculpture at KU
World-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty will give an artist’s talk about his work, which consists of large-scale tree sculptures, on Thursday, May 21 at 5:30 PM in the Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.
May 13, 2009Museum of Modem Art
Thanks to the gushings of local art maven Molly Murphy, I decided to check out the Spencer Museum of Art online collection...
May 4, 2009Style savvy rocks Lawrence runways
'Art on the Green' featured sustainable clothing styled by local companies or created by designers with ties to Kansas University. Models walked through the main gallery at Spencer Museum of Art, wearing sustainable clothing.
May 1, 2009The art of healing
The Spencer Museum of Art Student Advisory Board will participate in its first relay tonight in hopes of not only raising money toward a cure, but also sharing the healing power of art with the community.
May 1, 2009Art festival adds a cultural element
For the second year in a row, Student Union Activities and the Spencer Museum of Art’s Student Advisory Board are teaming up to bring the Spring Arts and Culture Festival to campus on Saturday.
April 29, 2009Gnarly!
BMXers crash campus (legally!), a sign of the sport's persistent popularity
April 27, 2009Wang Tiande is Spencer’s inaugural international artist-in-residence
Shanghai-based experimental calligrapher Wang Tiande’s work is hailed for dissolving traditional boundaries and definitions of Chinese art. He now brings his innovative ideas to the Spencer as international artist-in-residence.
April 23, 2009Makoto Nakura: The Wood and Forests Project
Japanese marimbist Makoto Nakura will give a concert at the Spencer Museum of Art on Wednesday, May 6 at 7 PM. Accompanied by cellist Matthew Herren and flutist David Fedele, Nakura will perform his original piece 'The Wood and Forests Project.'
April 22, 2009Spring Arts & Culture Festival
Celebrate spring at the Second Annual Spring Arts & Culture Festival on May 2. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature live music, performances by various artists and the opening of the annual Children’s Art Exhibition.
April 16, 2009Art on the Green: Spring Student Night offers eco-friendly fun
The Spencer Museum of Art Student Advisory Board invites students to enjoy its annual Spring Student Night on Thursday, April 23. Featuring free food, live and DJ music, an artist’s demonstration, and a fashion show
April 2, 2009Festival planned for fans of Liszt
The American Liszt Society meets Friday through Sunday in Lawrence for its annual festival, which is expected to draw several hundred people. The theme is 'Liszt and the Art of Transcription.'
March 26, 2009Bruce Mau - Massive Change: the Future of Design and Life on Earth
What if the questions surrounding design turned out to be the big questions? What if life itself became a design project? What if the welfare of the entire human race became design’s practical objective? What if we succeeded?
March 10, 2009Photojournalist, KU grad Stephen Williams to discuss work at North Pole
Photojournalist Stephen Williams will be at the Spencer Museum of Art on March 26 and 27 to talk about his photographs and observations of Inuit life that appear in the exhibition Climate Change at the Poles.
March 5, 2009Percolating at the Spencer
Come spin "The Wheel of Willing Diversion" - a Percolator project
February 25, 2009Opening March 5 - Trees & Other Ramifications
The exhibition features prints, drawings, books & photographs drawn from KU and area collections, explores works of art inspired by trees & images from the arts & sciences in which trees have served as a metaphor for real & imagined branching systems.
February 20, 2009Why University Museums Matter
Cease and desist is the advice I give university administrators toying with thoughts of closing their campus museums and peddling the art, as Brandeis recently threatened to do. Just stop. Period. Bad way to go.
February 17, 2009Opening February 21 - A Tradition Redefined
A spectacular national traveling exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art honors Chu-tsing Li--one of KU’s most distinguished retired faculty members and a pioneer in the teaching, study, and collecting of modern and contemporary Chinese art in the West.
February 14, 2009Chinese Music Ensemble
Members of the Kansas City Chinese Music Ensemble perform and give a teachers workshop Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 at KU's Spencer Art Museum.
February 12, 2009Ice Wolf offers lessons on toleranceIce Wolf, a tragic drama written for a child audience, runs this weekend at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.
February 12, 2009Inuit Culture Explored in New Production of The Ice Wolf
Theater always involves collaboration between like-minded actors, directors, and designers. This weekend, a theater in Lawrence expands that relationship to the staff of the Spencer Museum of Art.
February 5, 2009Polarizing Artwork
It's difficult for many metro residents to imagine thriving in a biome harsher than the unpredictable Midwest, but for thousands of years, our neighbors to the extreme north and south have lived well, despite the cold.
February 3, 2009Opening this Sunday - A Greenland Glacier: The Scale of Climate Change
What’s it like for an artist who has revealed ecological issues in her photographs of the American landscape to turn her attention to one of Greenland’s Glaciers? What can her work bring to that of KU scientists who are studying the same glacier?
February 2, 2009Teaching gallery exhibition to explore images of revolution
In collaboration with KU’s international area studies centers, the SMA presents images of revolution in the 20th century in an installation titled Changing the World: Images of Revolution, on view February 12--March 1.
January 30, 2009New exhibition highlights climate change
The Spencer Museum of Art is showing climate change in a way that combines maps, photographs and an 18-foot-long kayak.
January 29, 2009Spencer Museum Asks for Submissions
The Spencer Museum of Art Student Advisory Board invites student artists to submit their work for a juried show to be held March 29 through April 18 in the SUA Gallery in the Kansas Union.
January 23, 2009Gallery talk, performance to explore life at the Poles
TheSMA invites the public to a free gallery talk on the exhibition Climate Change at the Poles and a preview of the Lawrence Arts Center's upcoming play The Ice Wolf on Jan 29. The talk begins at 6:30 PM, with the performance to follow
January 21, 2009Spencer Museum of Art announces Spring 2009 exhibitions & programs
Highlights of the Spencer Museum of Art’s spring 2009 schedule include a retrospective of one collector’s modern and contemporary Chinese art, installations that consider climate change and trees, and a full, diverse slate of public programs.
December 26, 2008Earle to present lecture Feb. 26 on artist Douglas
The Hall Center for the Humanities will present a lecture titled 'Beyond Harlem and Modernism: Aaron Douglas and Art History' by art historian Susan Earle at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Wichita Art Museum.
December 23, 2008KU Works for Kansas radio spot
Hope you enjoy the attached 'KU Works for Kansas' radio spot about the Spencer (and, specifically, Rose Kretsinger), which will be played during KU basketball broadcasts on a rotating basis.
December 16, 2008The Spencer’s array of Korean toys puts away childish things but not playfulness
Toys are never just toys. The playroom remnants of childhood embody the cultural and social mores from which they emerge and suggest a multitude of meanings. Far from benign objects, they function as stand-ins for experiences and memories and retain...
December 12, 2008Sanford Gifford: A Discovery Joins a University Collection
Like every museum curator, I fantasize discovering a major work of art in a second-hand store or an attic, or revealing that a painting previously considered unimportant is actually a masterpiece. It happens rarely. But as director of the Spencer Museum..
December 8, 2008Grant will allow Spencer Museum of Art to expand teaching, researching capabilities
The works in Spencer Museum of Art aren’t just for looking at. They’re also for learning. Or at least that’s the idea behind a grant totaling $1.2 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will help expand the use of the museum’s art for .
November 18, 2008Spencer is selected as Kansas institution to receive major contemporary art donation
The Spencer Museum of Art has been selected as the Kansas institution to receive a gift of 50 works of contemporary art from New York collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, with the help of the National Gallery of Art, the NEA and IMLS.
October 24, 2008The Spencer Art Museum Presents Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood
On view through January 24, 2009. Toys are more than fun. As cultural artifacts, they embody the fantasies, values, obsessions and anxieties of a generation, speaking to the global relevance of play and the imagination across cultures.
October 8, 2008About Time: Wendell Castle's Art on Exhibit
Question—When is furniture not furniture? When one leg of the chair braces itself against the wall, when the drawers of a dresser protrude from a metallic sphere, or maybe when the surface of the table is smaller than the legs?
October 2, 2008Climate Change At The Poles
Change is coming. From the perspective of an art museum, the prospect of climate change raises some elemental questions. For example, what impact will changing conditions have on current culture, thought, behavior, and artistic expression?
August 23, 2008American Quilt Store: Barbara Backman
Ms. Brackman is a noted quilt historian, author, and fabric designer. Her name appears extensively in the quilt world.
August 23, 2008American Quilt Store: Spencer Museum of Art
The Spencer Museum of Art has an exhibit entitled "Quilts: Flora Botanica" on this year from July 12 to October 12. This themed exhibit targets the generation and genesis of patchwork patterns.
August 22, 2008Graduate students’ works explore time
An art exhibition exploring the representation of time throughout history and within cultures will open at the Spencer Museum of Art on Aug. 23.
February 4, 2008Exhibitions at Spencer Museum of Art explore social change in Russia
Artist Alexander Rodchenko called the lens of the camera "the pupil of the eye of the cultured man in socialist society." Now visitors to the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas can see for themselves what Rodchenko meant.
August 27, 2007All signs point to a unique art experience
Even if you’ve been to the Spencer before, you’ve never seen it quite like this. Artists Maria Velasco and Janet Davidson-Hues have created a playful "way-finding" system for the museum called "Stop // Look // Listen"
Popular painting on loan for landmark exhibit at National Gallery of Art
Visitors to the Spencer Museum of Art may notice one of its leading ladies is missing. She’ll return, though, after an important East Coast mission.
'Yarn Bombing' ignites SMA entrance
Knitting & crochet enthusiasts cover SMA entrance in stitches; short-term installation features contributed work from as far away as Brazil, United Kingdom, Maryland & West Virginia
Elegance Under Foot: Turkish Weavings
A new exhibition on view through July 8 on the Spencer Museum of Art’s fourth floor, features highlights from a private collection of Turkish Kilims, an amazing group of weavings that encapsulate Turkish history, culture, and tradition...
Cryptographs! Family Day at the Spencer
The Spencer will celebrate Father’s Day by offering one of its always popular Family Days from 1-3 PM on Sunday, June 17. We invite families to spend a captivating and fun-filled afternoon discovering a world of hidden secrets, puzzles, and cryptogr
Occupying Minds, Not Streets
Mounting an exhibition anywhere in the neighborhood of occupation aesthetics can be precarious nowadays, for people are increasingly fed up with the same reiterations of ideological conceptualism and the ultra-politically correct ...
NEA Chairman to visit Spencer Museum
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman will visit Lawrence on March 15, the latest stop on his nationwide Art Works tour.
Internationally acclaimed sculptor Karen LaMonte to speak on 'Beauty & Catastrophe'
Karen LaMonte has earned international praise for her striking cast-glass sculptures. The New York-born artist, who now lives and works in Prague, the Czech Republic, will speak on 'Beauty & Catastrophe' at 4 PM on Sunday, March 4, at the Spencer.
Art in pieces: How the details of a piece of art make it whole.
The Crafting Continuities exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art provides insight into a little thought of piece of the artistic puzzle, the materials and processes that go into creating the final work.
Crews to remove The Bedazzler sapling sculpture on Friday, Aug. 19
For more than two years, sculptor Patrick Dougherty’s The Bedazzler, a temporary sculpture commissioned by the Spencer for a 2009 exhibition about trees, has anchored the corner of 14th Street and Jayhawk Boulevard in front of Spooner Hall.
Pomp up the Jam: Splendor, Pageantry, and Performance in Art
A sparkling and diverse study in parades, processions, and ceremonies throughout history that will be on view June 12-September 4 on the Conversation Wall of the Spencer’s 20/21 Gallery.
It figures he would fall
It’s a shocker, no matter how many times you watch it. A new installation by Shanghai-based artist Jin Shan in the Spencer Museum’s central court features a 180-pound silicone policeman that falls from the 'sky' with a thud.
Art installation combines music and visuals with climate change data
'Mutatis Mutandis,' a Latin phrase meaning 'by changing those things that need to be changed,' explores the relationship between time and glaciers. An interdisciplinary group used sound and information graphics ...
Spencer Museum of Art redefines itself
Permanent collections displayed in new, innovative ways; eye-catching installations open
Student Advisory Board to Host Spring Student Night, 2011: A Space Odyssey
University of Kansas students can enjoy a night of science-fiction inspired activities at the Spencer Museum of Art on Thursday, April 7, as the SMA Student Advisory Board (SAB) hosts the Museum’s annual spring student night.
Ernesto Pujol to present Visitation, a one-day performance art piece
The Spencer Museum of Art will become an experimental performance laboratory for a day as performance artist Ernesto Pujol conceptualizes the representation of gaze--the artist as the embodiment of our human gaze.
Smithsonian curator Gwyneira Isaac on 'Object 2.0: New Paradigms in the Interpretation of Ethnographic Collections'
Gwyneira Isaac is Curator of North American Ethnology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
Celebrating final week of Dan Perjovschi installation, SMA Student Advisory Board to host Dunk & Draw
As part of a week-long 'Drawathon' celebrating the final days of the the Dan Perjovschi Central Court drawing exhibition, the Spencer Museum of Art and its Student Advisory Board will host a 'Dunk & Draw' event Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, at 5:30 PM.
2011 Governor’s Arts Award winner Louis Copt to give painting demonstration at Spencer
Louis Copt, one of five Kansans named as recipients of the 2011 Governor’s Arts Awards, will discuss his working methods, materials used, and philosophy in choosing subject matter during a 6:30 PM painting demonstration in the Spencer on January 27.
Rocket Grants propel artistic innovation
Leralee Whittle mimicked the motion of cardio exercise, jerking her arms and torso back and forth. Dumbbells hanging in a sling formed by her stretchy workout clothing echoed her body’s movements....
An Ear for Art cell-phone audio guide expands outdoors with sculpture tour
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the expansion of its popular cell-phone audio guide to include public sculpture located across the KU campus.
Leralee Whittle - Forces presents WorkArtOut
This weekend, performance art will usurp sport for two nights on basketball courts in Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., as Warhol Foundation-funded 'Rocket Grant' recipients Leralee Whittle and Paul Sprawl present Work/Art/Out
KU alumnus and author Robert Day to speak, sign books at Spencer
Author and professor Robert Day, a Kansas native and KU alumnus who gained national acclaim for his 1977 novel The Last Cattle Drive and, more recently, for his 2010 collection of nonfiction essays ...
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence Arts Center welcome three artists-in-residence
Specializing in drawing, printmaking and sculpture, the artists-in-residence this fall at the Spencer Museum of Art and the Lawrence Arts Center cover a wide spectrum of skills, while all working toward the same goal...
African Healing Journeys: Historical & Contemporary Responses to Disease
A new exhibition brings together an array of African objects from the collections of the Spencer and the Kauffman Museum, Bethel College, in conjunction with an upcoming international conference at KU. On view through Oct. 3.
Dan Perjovschi’s Work
Perjovschi is the artist in residence at the Spencer Museum of Art. His exhibit, Dan Perjovschi Central Court, will officially open Thursday and run until Feb. 6, 2011.
African Healing Journeys: Historical & Contemporary Responses to Disease On view through October 3
A new exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art brings together an array of African objects from the collections of the Spencer and the Kauffman Museum, Bethel College, in conjunction with an upcoming international conference at KU.
Romanian artist’s work on display at Spencer
A man with a thick black and grey beard stands 20-feet high on a cherry picker in the Spencer Museum of Art, drawing on the walls. He wears a green fly-fishing jacket, which holds everything he needs -- a few markers and a notebook.
Dalton Howard Remembered
KUJH's video report on the Dalton Howard exhibition, These Moved Me
Can you see the writing on the walls?
JayPlay Photo Gallery of pieces from Dan Perjovschi's Dan Periovschi Central Court debut on Sept. 16, in the Spencer Museum of Art.
Exhibit displays areas of African culture
Like People or Cosmopolitan magazines of Western societies, African societies portray their cultural perspective of beauty and culture through popular images and art. Now students of the University of Kansas can see glimpses of those perspectives...
Site Specifics on view through January 16, 2011
Contemporary art and the natural world collide in a new exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art. Site Specifics considers several objects and related sketches made from or for specific sites or conditions, most on land and one in the air.
Spencer showcase examines photography in the digital age
A new exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art will enable anyone to become a photo editor and choose how history is framed -- at least for a day.
Media Memes: Images, Technology & Making the News
Understanding how we make meaning from photography constitutes a key element of media literacy. Our perceptions of news, privacy, awareness, the past and the present are culturally and emotionally anchored in the visual reality that we perceive ...
SMA Student Advisory Board Presents...
The Spencer’s Student Advisory Board kicks off the 2010-2011 school year with a special Hawk Week screening of the critically acclaimed new documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, next Thursday, August 19, at 6 PM in the SMA Auditorium.
Academic journal dedicates issue to KU's Aaron Douglas exhibit
Three years after the Spencer Museum of Art premiered its landmark exhibition 'Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist,' a special double-issue of the journal American Studies celebrates Douglas’s legacy.
Debbie Divine to recreate design talk of famed Emporia quilter Rose Kretsinger
On Thursday, July 15, at 6 PM, Salina-based historical re-enactor and quilter Debbie Divine will assume the persona of Rose Good Kretsinger, a legendary quilter from Emporia, Kansas, whose dynamic artworks have garnered international praise.
Event Horizons: A Touring Program of New Work by Thomas Comerford, Sabine Gruffat & Bill Brown
At 6 PM this Thursday at the Spencer Museum of Art, film, video, and new media artists Thomas Comerford (Chicago), and Sabine Gruffat & Bill Brown (Madison, Wisconsin) will present Event Horizons--a 90-minute-long touring program of their work
Saralyn Reece Hardy named treasurer for AAMD board of trustees
At the annual meeting of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) last week in Indianapolis, the membership elected Spencer Museum of Art Director Saralyn Reece Hardy as treasurer of its Board of Trustees. The appointment is for a two-year term.
Quilting Time & Space: On view through May 30, 2010
A new summer exhibition at the Spencer, organized and curated by the Museum’s advanced-level student interns from 2009-2010, presents quilts from different times and places in conversation with each other.
Conversation VIII: Serious Play
Summertime is perhaps the season most associated with play and playfulness, so it seems the perfect time for a fresh 'conversation' in the Spencer’s 20/21 Gallery that goes beyond mere fun and games to explore the topic of play in a variety of way
Spencer wants to be 'museum of the future'
Spencer Art Museum at Kansas University is making some big plans for the future, starting with a study by world-renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
'Beaded Heritage' Explores Traditions and Identity
The art of bead work has a long tradition in the Native American culture, passed down from one generation to the next. An exhibition at the Spencer Museum in Lawrence, Beaded Heritage, pairs...
EXHIBITION EXTENDED: Machine in a Void
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to extend by one week the run of its major spring exhibition Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts. The show will now remain on view through Memorial Day weekend.
FINAL DAYS: Machine in a Void
Thursday, May 13, at 12 PM, curator Stephen Goddard will give an in-depth gallery talk on the Spencer’s major spring exhibition Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts...
Spring Arts & Culture Festival
The SMA Student Advisory Board presents its third annual Spring and Arts & Culture Festival Featuring live music and dance, local and student art for sale, family activities, the SMA spring exhibitions and more.
Spring Student Night and Juried Art Show
The Spencer Student Advisory Board presents its annual Spring Student Night and Juried Art Show.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 / 5:30-7:30 PM Free & Open to the Public
Booths available at Spring Arts & Culture Festival
The SMA Student Advisory Board invites KU and Lawrence area Artists to showcase and sell their work at the 3rd annual Spring Arts & Culture Festival, Saturday, May 1 from 1-4 PM inside and outside the Museum. Deadline for participation: Friday, April 22
Artist Talk: Ann Hamilton
At 5 PM on Thursday, April 8, acclaimed artist Ann Hamilton will give an informal presentation about her work in the SMA Auditorium. Hamilton, who earned her bachelor’s degree in textile design from KU in 1979...
Connections close to home
Seoul-based artist Kim Jongku spent two weeks in-residence at the Spencer Museum of Art in February.
Museum program brings Kim Jongku's Mobile Landscape to Lawrence
From looking at Kim Jongku’s work, it is obvious that steel powder is his medium of choice. Much of Kim’s paintings and other artwork include this material...
Machine in a Void: World War One & the Graphic Arts
March 4, the Spencer will unveil Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts, presenting approximately 200 works of graphic art made during the years of the First World War (1914-1918), with a post-script on the art of the decade following the war..
SMA International Artist-in-Residence speaking on the installation Mobile Landscape
On Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 PM, Seoul-based artist Kim Jongku will talk about his site specific video installation Mobile Landscape, which opens that evening and will remain on view through June 25 in the Spencer’s Electronic Media Gallery.
Artist Kerry James Marshall on 'John Brown’s Body: The Representation of Black Bodies as Revolutionary Gesture'
Nationally renowned painter, installation artist, and filmmaker Kerry James Marshall will speak on 'John Brown’s Body: The Representation of Black Bodies as Revolutionary Gesture,' on Wednesday, March 3, at 5:30 PM in the Spencer Museum of Art Audit
Flemish tapestries, Italian nativity scene highlight Museum’s holiday offerings
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to share rarely-seen objects from its collection with the public this season. In accordance with a long-standing tradition, the 18th-century Italian presepio, or nativity scene, is on view in the Renaissance Gallery...
Video art from Asia among the new Spencer Museum of Art exhibit 'Extra/Ordinary’
Video shows can be a hard sell. They wouldn’t be if they were all put together as well as 'Extra/Ordinary,' a new exhibit of contemporary video art from Asia, now on view at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence.
Morning in the Adirondacks
'It’s comforting to look at--a reminder of a simpler time,' says Charles Eldredge, distinguished professor of American art and culture at the University of Kansas, of an 1860s landscape by Sanford Robinson Gifford. 'It is an image of the sort that
Digital Canvas: East meets Midwest in Asian video exhibit, 'Extra/Ordinary'
The new exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art, 'Extra/Ordinary: Video Art from Asia' is an exploration of Asian art that’s more YouTube than Louvre, examining the commonplace through video, a medium that has itself become commonplace.
Spencer Museum of Art to show 'Moolaade'
The Spencer Museum of Art is hosting a screening of the Senegalese film 'Moolaade.' The film tells the story of one woman protecting a village's girls from female circumcision and the controversy her stand causes.
American heritage: KU contributes to new Native galleries at Nelson-Atkin
It’s certainly a star in the Kansas University anthropological collection. But now it’s co-starring in the new American Indian Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which open to the public on Wednesday.
Town & Gown Forum: Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
What do Andy Warhol, Boy George, and 1980s photographs have in common? What is it about celebrity culture that is distinctly visual? How have 1980s music videos affected our personal gender politics?
The Nelson’s American Indian exhibition -- more than 200 objects -- opens Nov. 11
Spencer loans to the Nelson-Atkins, featured in KC Star article about Nelson-Atkins reopening Native American galleries
Take five: 2009 Phoenix Awards honor best in Lawrence arts community
When Richard Klocke goes to art museums, he pays as much attention to presentation as he does the art itself.
SMA publishes online exhibition brochure for Extra/Ordinary: Video Art from Asia
As part of an in-depth website presentation for the exhibition Extra/Ordinary: Video Art from Asia, the Spencer Museum of Art has published an electronic version of the exhibition brochure.
Press Preview next Friday for EXTRA/ORDINARY: VIDEO ART FROM ASIA
Please join us for a guided tour and Q&A with Curator Kris Imants Ercums, followed by lunch.
Day-long 'ACT OUT: ART IN!' workshop
Fall break in Lawrence promises to be a dramatic experience for seventh- through 12th-graders who participate in a new art-into-theater workshop that focuses on the current Spencer exhibition The Graphic Imperative.
Spencer Museum Shop 'Bag to School' Sale
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the Museum Shop's 'Bag to School' Sale. Shop the Spencer from Tuesday, September 22, through Sunday, September 27, and score sweet savings...
An Ear for Art
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the launch of a new cell-phone audio guide. 'An Ear for Art' enables Museum fans to access information about objects in the galleries simply by dialing their cell phones.
Mexican artist Emilio Said examines modern metropolis in Unreal Cities: Informal Architecture Zone
Emilio Said's unique exploration and dissection of the modern metropolis forms the foundation of the Mexico City artist's exhibition Unreal Cities: Informal Architecture Zone, opening September 22 in the Spencer's Electronic Arts Gallery.
The Graphic Imperative on view through November 29, 2009
Why posters? Because they have the power to change our minds. Because they stir our emotions and cause us to reflect. Because they are a call to action....
Visual Voices Project teaches quilting, patience to junior high girls
It might seem like a project that’s about fabric and seams. But Marla Jackson says it’s about much more than that.
Warhol Exhibit Focuses on Celebrity Culture at the Spencer Museum
When the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence received a collection of 180 of Andy Warhol's photographs in 2008, it wasn't long before the museum's staff felt compelled to spotlight the gift within the context of Warhol's New York circa the 1980s.
Exhibit makes statement on masculinity
Kris Ercums knew he would be using objects from the Spencer’s permanent collection in a new exhibition, but he didn’t know what that exhibit would be. But as Ecrums, creator and curator of the new xy exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art...
Are We Not Men?
This synchronized collision of images makes up the Spencer’s latest exhibit, 'xy,' an exploration of the masculine mystique. It’s a collection heavy on the Y chromosome that raises the question, 'Are you man enough to handle it?'
Spencer Museum of Art shows Big Shots - Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
Joan Collins and Wayne Gretzky. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Liz Taylor. Chris Lawford and William S. Burroughs. What do these seemingly dissimilar individuals have to do with each other? The answer is simple: They were among the many celebrities ...
KU puts Warhol work on display
Most of us are familiar with the work of artist Andy Warhol -- and this Saturday, a KU gallery will present some of his most stylish works.
Big shots: Spencer exhibit offers glimpse into Andy Warhol’s working process
Andy Warhol was many things: artist, pop culture icon, filmmaker, author, record producer, photographer. Thomas Sokolowski would add another title to that list. 'He was the consummate packrat,' ...
Big Shots: Andy Warhol, Celebrity Culture, and the 1980s
Joan Collins and Wayne Gretzky. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Liz Taylor. Chris Lawford and William S. Burroughs. What do these seemingly dissimilar individuals have to do with each other? The answer is simple: They were ...
xy exhibition examines male identity
Male sexuality is determined by the x and y chromosomes, yet what does it mean to be a man? Through October 5 in the Kress Gallery, the Spencer Museum of Art will explore the complexities of this question via a large-scale exhibition...
Friends & Neighbors
Sometimes it takes a village to raise an exhibition. At least, that’s the premise of a new installation at the Spencer Museum of Art featuring the selections of four Lawrence community members, each paired with a Spencer curator...
Friends & Neighbors exhibition features community curators
Sometimes it takes a village to raise an exhibition. At least, that’s the premise of a new installation at the Spencer Museum of Art featuring the selections of four Lawrence community members, each paired with a Spencer curator to create a show that ..
Sculpture is swirl of saplings
North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty likes to build things with sticks -- and the bigger, the better.
SMA Collection Manager to attend national conference on collections care
Spencer Museum of Art Collection Manager Sofía Galarza Liu has been selected by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to attend a national forum, June 16 and 17, 2009, in Buffalo, New York.
Artist has designs on KU tree
What do you get when you take 6,000 pounds of maple and dogwood saplings and put them in the hands of an internationally known sculptor? The answer is taking shape at the corner of 14th Street & Jayhawk Boulevard in front of Spooner Hall on the KU campus.
Ink Magazine
Daycations: Take a tiny trip to Lawrence
Artist Patrick Dougherty to speak about his tree sculpture at KU
World-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty will give an artist’s talk about his work, which consists of large-scale tree sculptures, on Thursday, May 21 at 5:30 PM in the Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.
Branching out: A review of Trees and other Ramifications: Branches in Nature and Culture
The exhibition currently on view in the central court at the Spencer Museum of Art plays with this concept of growth systems in alternately scientific, profound, and humorous ways.
Ride Your Bike
Percolator Eric Farnsworth has designed new bike racks for the Spencer Museum of Art.
Art festival adds a cultural element
For the second year in a row, Student Union Activities and the Spencer Museum of Art’s Student Advisory Board are teaming up to bring the Spring Arts and Culture Festival to campus on Saturday.
Wang Tiande is Spencer’s inaugural international artist-in-residence
Shanghai-based experimental calligrapher Wang Tiande’s work is hailed for dissolving traditional boundaries and definitions of Chinese art. He now brings his innovative ideas to the Spencer as international artist-in-residence.
Makoto Nakura: The Wood and Forests Project
Japanese marimbist Makoto Nakura will give a concert at the Spencer Museum of Art on Wednesday, May 6 at 7 PM. Accompanied by cellist Matthew Herren and flutist David Fedele, Nakura will perform his original piece 'The Wood and Forests Project.'
Healing through Art: Local artists to show work at Relay for Life
The Spencer Museum of Art Student Advisory Board will present art as a message of hope and perseverance at the KU Relay for Life on Friday, May 1.
Festival planned for fans of Liszt
The American Liszt Society meets Friday through Sunday in Lawrence for its annual festival, which is expected to draw several hundred people. The theme is 'Liszt and the Art of Transcription.'
Lt. Gov. says scientists, not politicians, will save environment
SMA Director Saralyn Reece Hardy talks climate change with KS Lt. Gov. Matt Parkinson.
Bruce Mau - Massive Change: the Future of Design and Life on Earth
What if the questions surrounding design turned out to be the big questions? What if life itself became a design project? What if the welfare of the entire human race became design’s practical objective? What if we succeeded?
Alternate Realities: Installation explores themes of Second Life
Opening April 4, 2009
Branching out: Tree-themed art exhibits sprout up across town
Trees are taking center stage at local art galleries starting this month as three separate exhibits of arboreal art open.
A Tradition Redefined
Expanded exhibition listing in ArtTattler
Percolating at the Spencer
Come spin "The Wheel of Willing Diversion" - a Percolator project
Opening February 21 - A Tradition Redefined
A spectacular national traveling exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art honors Chu-tsing Li--one of KU’s most distinguished retired faculty members and a pioneer in the teaching, study, and collecting of modern and contemporary Chinese art in the West.
Chinese Music Ensemble
Members of the Kansas City Chinese Music Ensemble perform and give a teachers workshop Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 at KU's Spencer Art Museum.
Art exhibitions track climate change
Climate change is the topic of two current exhibitions at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art.
Ice Wolf offers lessons on tolerance
Ice Wolf, a tragic drama written for a child audience, runs this weekend at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.
Inuit Culture Explored in New Production of The Ice Wolf
Theater always involves collaboration between like-minded actors, directors, and designers. This weekend, a theater in Lawrence expands that relationship to the staff of the Spencer Museum of Art.
Climate control: Spencer Museum of Art exhibit examines human interaction with North, South poles
The term 'climate change' is steeped in divisiveness. Politics vs. science, nature vs. doomsday, Al Gore vs. George Bush. But what about the artistic aspect of the phrase?
Opening this Sunday - A Greenland Glacier: The Scale of Climate Change
What’s it like for an artist who has revealed ecological issues in her photographs of the American landscape to turn her attention to one of Greenland’s Glaciers? What can her work bring to that of KU scientists who are studying the same glacier?
Gallery talk, performance to explore life at the Poles
TheSMA invites the public to a free gallery talk on the exhibition Climate Change at the Poles and a preview of the Lawrence Arts Center's upcoming play The Ice Wolf on Jan 29. The talk begins at 6:30 PM, with the performance to follow
Earle to present lecture Feb. 26 on artist Douglas
The Hall Center for the Humanities will present a lecture titled 'Beyond Harlem and Modernism: Aaron Douglas and Art History' by art historian Susan Earle at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Wichita Art Museum.
KU Works for Kansas radio spot
Hope you enjoy the attached 'KU Works for Kansas' radio spot about the Spencer (and, specifically, Rose Kretsinger), which will be played during KU basketball broadcasts on a rotating basis.
Spencer Museum of Art establishes new gallery hours beginning Jan. 12
The museum’s galleries, currently open Tuesday-Sunday, will close one hour earlier each day.
Sanford Gifford: A Discovery Joins a University Collection
Like every museum curator, I fantasize discovering a major work of art in a second-hand store or an attic, or revealing that a painting previously considered unimportant is actually a masterpiece. It happens rarely. But as director of the Spencer Museum..
KU museum earns $1.2 million grant to expand use of art in teaching, research
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award underscores the Spencer Museum of Art’s place among select national company.
Spencer is selected as Kansas institution to receive major contemporary art donation
The Spencer Museum of Art has been selected as the Kansas institution to receive a gift of 50 works of contemporary art from New York collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, with the help of the National Gallery of Art, the NEA and IMLS.
The Spencer Art Museum Presents Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood
On view through January 24, 2009. Toys are more than fun. As cultural artifacts, they embody the fantasies, values, obsessions and anxieties of a generation, speaking to the global relevance of play and the imagination across cultures.
About Time: Wendell Castle's Art on Exhibit
Question—When is furniture not furniture? When one leg of the chair braces itself against the wall, when the drawers of a dresser protrude from a metallic sphere, or maybe when the surface of the table is smaller than the legs?
Works by Warhol, Arbus part of 'Time/Frame'
Lawrence Journal World
American Quilt Store: Spencer Museum of Art
The Spencer Museum of Art has an exhibit entitled "Quilts: Flora Botanica" on this year from July 12 to October 12. This themed exhibit targets the generation and genesis of patchwork patterns.
Graduate students’ works explore time
An art exhibition exploring the representation of time throughout history and within cultures will open at the Spencer Museum of Art on Aug. 23.
Exhibitions at Spencer Museum of Art explore social change in Russia
Artist Alexander Rodchenko called the lens of the camera "the pupil of the eye of the cultured man in socialist society." Now visitors to the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas can see for themselves what Rodchenko meant.
All signs point to a unique art experience
Even if you’ve been to the Spencer before, you’ve never seen it quite like this. Artists Maria Velasco and Janet Davidson-Hues have created a playful "way-finding" system for the museum called "Stop // Look // Listen"
