Events Calendar
Events are free and take place in a variety of locations and formats. The Museum is committed to accessibility for all visitors. Our efforts are ongoing. To request an accommodation for an upcoming event, please contact the Museum in advance at spencerart@ku.edu or 785.864.4710.
March 20
Talk
JACOB LAWRENCE AND THE LEGEND OF JOHN BROWN
12PM
– 1PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 404 Marshall Balcony
Join Curator Kate Meyer and graduate intern Claire Cox as they discuss the history and continued relevance of Jacob Lawrence's prints depicting the life and death of abolitionist John Brown.
March 22
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 22
Talk
ON HOW PORTUGUESE FOOTHOLDS ALONG THE COASTAL LINE OF MOROCCO BECAME SITES OF IMPERIAL POWER
12PM
– 1PM
Online
Harbor cities usually display the amalgamation of two, though entwined, urban systems: an open public space for the exchange of traded goods – usually a market or piazza located next to, or at, the port – and a protected and defensive architectural set of buildings attuned to the contemporary technologies of war. It is the collision of two vectors: one which promotes the freedom of movement and of social mingling and the other which stages the presence of control, surveillance and the power to protect through display of fortified and armored architecture. In this short paper I would like to discuss several Portuguese footholds along the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in which the Moroccan harbor cities were transformed into military strongholds for securing maritime trade. I argue that these cities went through a sudden transition of turning harbor cities into military strongholds. I also suggest that this specific change involves the reverse of the gaze, in which the guarding ‘eyes’ of the harbor city was set over the open sea. Thus, the Imperial Portuguese project of building strongholds along the African coast caused a rupture in the architectural urban history of the Moroccan port cities and situated these spaces as part of the global display of Portuguese power along the expanded empire’s frontiers. This talk will be Live Streamed via YouTube, @KUArtHistory.
March 23
Activity
ART CART LIGHT AND DARK IN HARMONY
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Learn about Notan—a Japanese design concept of balancing light and dark—and create a paper cut-out of your own. This drop-in activity station rolls into the galleries each month for children and grown-ups to create hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original art on view.
March 23
Performance
GOLDENBERG DUO
2PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 317 Perkins Central Court
Siblings Susan Goldenberg, violin, and William Goldenberg, piano, present a concert of classical music featuring works by Black composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Florence Price. William will play the Museum's Bechstein grand piano. Susan is a violinist with the Kansas City Symphony and William is a distinguished professor of piano at Northern Illinois University.
Sponsored By: Kansas City Symphony Community Connections Initiative (CCI), Spencer Museum of Art
March 28
Talk
SENIOR SESSION THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACE FROM HAND-MADE TO MACHINE-MADE
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 318 Brosseau Learning Center
During the 19th century, making lace transitioned from a hand process to a machine process as part of the Industrial Revolution. Retired textile professor Tess van Groll discusses this shift using examples from the Spencer's collection. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
March 28
Activity
ARTISTS UNITE!
4PM
– 5PM
Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St
Join Spencer staff for an hour of fun and creativity celebrating Women’s History Month with our friends at the Lawrence Public Library. Learn about artists Louise Nevelson, Clementine Hunter, and Elizabeth Layton. For ages 8–11. Registration required. For more information, visit the Library’s website at lplks.org.
Sponsored By: Lawrence Public Library
March 29
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 04
Activity
STUDENT TRIVIA NIGHT
5PM
– 7PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Put your knowledge to the test with Trivia Night at the Spencer! Gather your friends, form a team, and join us for an evening of fun and friendly competition hosted by the Spencer Student Advisory Board.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art , Student Advisory Board
April 05
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 09
Activity
TEXTILE TUESDAYS
1PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Drop by the Lee Study Center on the second Tuesday of the month to see textiles not currently on view. Come back to see different rotations each month.
April 11
Talk
INTRO TO ART LAW/HOLOCAUST ART RESTITUTION WITH RAYMOND DOWD
4:30PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Join the Federal Bar Association Chapter for the districts of Kansas & Western Missouri for Intro to Art Law/Holocaust Art Restitution, featuring attorney Raymond Dowd. The program begins with an “Introduction to Art Law” panel discussion, followed by a presentation from Dowd on related litigation and topics of interest. The evening concludes with a reception in the Museum. This event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is required. To RSVP and learn more, please visit: fedbarkanmo.org/ajde-events/art-litigation-panel
April 12
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 19
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 25
Talk
SENIOR SESSION THE INSPIRING STORY OF A VANDALIZED SIGN
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Perkins Central Court
Learn the true story of a sign that was stolen, throw in a river, replaced, shot, replaced again, and shot again. Follow the sign as it travels from rural Mississippi to the Smithsonian to the White House to Lawrence with KU Professor Dave Tell, author of the 2019 book "Remembering Emmett Till." Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
April 26
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 01
Talk
ARTIVISM AND AFROFUTURISM
11AM
– 12:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence members Alex Kimball Williams and Anthony Boynton share their research and its relationship to art displayed in the exhibition “One History, Two Versions.” Williams will speak about police brutality and protest art and Boynton will discuss Afrofuturism.
May 03
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 09
Performance
Q&A WITH JOHN BROWN
6:30PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
Local John Brown impersonator Kerry Altenbernd visits the Spencer Museum on John Brown’s birthday to answer questions about the abolitionist’s time in Kansas, including events featured in the exhibition “Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown.”
May 10
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 14
Activity
TEXTILE TUESDAYS
1PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Drop by the Lee Study Center on the second Tuesday of the month to see textiles not currently on view. Come back to see different rotations each month.
May 18
Activity
ART CART JACOB LAWRENCE IN SHAPES AND COLORS
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 317 Perkins Central Court
Celebrate International Museum Day with the Spencer! Take inspiration from works of Jacob Lawrence and create your own collage. This drop-in activity station rolls into the galleries each month for children and grown-ups to create hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original art on view.
May 23
Talk
SENIOR SESSION A GOTHIC MARVEL
10:15AM
– 11AM
409 Lee Study Center, Spencer Museum of Art
Experience the splendor of the Spencer's iconic "Tympanum with the Lamentation (Pieta)." Graduate intern and art history doctoral candidate Sarah Dyer explores the history, original location, function, and style of this impressive portal sculpture once placed over the entrance of a Late Gothic Spanish church. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
June 13
Talk
SENIOR SESSION JACOB LAWRENCE AND JOHN BROWN
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Marshall Balcony, 404
Curator Kate Meyer leads a tour of the exhibition "Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown," discussing the artist and his series of prints as well as John Brown and his ties to Kansas. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.