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Spencer in the News
October 27, 2009
A new display of KU design student work, inspired by the current Spencer exhibition
The Graphic Imperative, will be on view in the Museum’s main entry hall through November 29.
October 25, 2009
When Richard Klocke goes to art museums, he pays as much attention to presentation as he does the art itself.
October 22, 2009
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.
October 16, 2009
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 15, 2009
Please join us for a guided tour and Q&A with Curator Kris Imants Ercums, followed by lunch.
October 8, 2009
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 7, 2009
In celebration of Homecoming 2009 the Spencer Museum of Art will offer special tours led by Director Saralyn Reece Hardy and free art projects for children and teens on Saturday, October 10.
October 4, 2009
The curator of art at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh will speak this week at the Spencer Museum of Art.
October 1, 2009
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.
October 1, 2009
The SMA and KC's Charlotte Street Foundation announce the launch of Rocket Grants, a new program that will provide direct support for innovative, experimental, artist-driven, and artist-centered projects in the Lawrence-Kansas City area.
September 30, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
For scientists and artists alike at the University, crafting a greater public understanding of their respective fields is crucial....
September 17, 2009
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 17, 2009
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.
September 15, 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, 2009
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...
September 7, 2009
It might seem like a project that’s about fabric and seams. But Marla Jackson says it’s about much more than that.
August 28, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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 24, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art has announced several grants that will support a variety of initiatives at the museum.
August 24, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art is flourishing because of the support of students and donors, despite budget cuts being made by the University....
August 20, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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 12, 2009
'A good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous,' Andy Warhol once said.
August 9, 2009
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,' ...
August 9, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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 27, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art is pleased to announce several important grants supporting a variety of initiatives at the Museum.
July 10, 2009
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, 2009
Thanks to Patrick Dougherty, nests needn't be for the birds.
July 1, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty likes to build things with sticks -- and the bigger, the better.
June 9, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
Daycations: Take a tiny trip to Lawrence
May 14, 2009
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, 2009
Thanks to the gushings of local art maven Molly Murphy, I decided to check out the Spencer Museum of Art online collection...
May 9, 2009
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.
May 4, 2009
'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 4, 2009
A Chinese artist is using animals to connect with KU students and show similarities between the United States and China.
May 3, 2009
Percolator Eric Farnsworth has designed new bike racks for the Spencer Museum of Art.
May 1, 2009
Patrick Dougherty will now arrive in Lawrence May 10, and his residency at the Spencer will continue through May 31. Please note that his artist’s talk remains as originally scheduled.
May 1, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
BMXers crash campus (legally!), a sign of the sport's persistent popularity
April 28, 2009
The last month of the exhibition Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture will feature the arrival on campus of world-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty.
April 27, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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 21, 2009
Steger uses compelling data and satellite imagery to show the extent of global warming at the polar ice caps.
April 16, 2009
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 15, 2009
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.
April 13, 2009
The Spencer Museum will kick off the Apparel-geddon with Spring Student Night, Thursday, April 23.
April 2, 2009
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.'
April 1, 2009
SMA Director Saralyn Reece Hardy talks climate change with KS Lt. Gov. Matt Parkinson.
March 26, 2009
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, 2009
Trees are taking center stage at local art galleries starting this month as three separate exhibits of arboreal art open.
March 10, 2009
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 9, 2009
Expanded exhibition listing in ArtTattler
March 5, 2009
Attendance is booming at Kansas University museums during the economic recession, and for more than one reason, museum officials said.
March 5, 2009
Come spin "The Wheel of Willing Diversion" - a Percolator project
February 25, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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 14, 2009
Climate change is the topic of two current exhibitions at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art.
February 12, 2009
Ice Wolf, a tragic drama written for a child audience, runs this weekend at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.
February 12, 2009
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 6, 2009
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?
February 5, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art and the Lawrence Public Library are teaming up to offer a monthly, Thursday night book discussion and film series for community members to further explore the topics presented in the exhibition Climate Change at the Poles.
February 5, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art is showing climate change in a way that combines maps, photographs and an 18-foot-long kayak.
January 29, 2009
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 27, 2009
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 26, 2009
The Spencer Museum of Art presents today Climate Change at the Poles, on view through May 24, 2009.
January 23, 2009
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, 2009
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, 2008
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, 2008
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 18, 2008
The museum’s galleries, currently open Tuesday-Sunday, will close one hour earlier each day.
December 16, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2008
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 ...
December 4, 2008
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award underscores the Spencer Museum of Art’s place among select national company.
November 18, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2008
Ms. Brackman is a noted quilt historian, author, and fabric designer. Her name appears extensively in the quilt world.
August 23, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2008
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, 2007
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"
