The University of Kansas
Spencer Museum of Art
The University of Kansas Spencer Museum of Art
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Online Resources

Click on a link below to view more information about the resources below.

Activities for Children

  • Art of Kansas and the Region Fourth Grade Museum Tour
    Learn what creates the mood or feeling in an artwork. Learn how artists work with the elements of art to create: repetition, contrast, emphasis, balance, movement. Learn what kinds of works artists from Kansas and this region created.
  • "How Does It Feel?" Gallery Activity
    Learn about different kinds of texture in art. You will look at visual texture and real texture to learn about how texture may affect how we feel about a work of art.
  • Langston Hughes at the Spencer Museum of Art with Tim Rollins
    Tim Rollins was artist-in-residence at the Spencer Museum of Art, Feb. 4-10, 2002. Rollins worked with 24 Lawrence middle-school students to study the writings of Langston Hughes and produce a collaborative work of art based on Hughes's poetry.
  • Tourin' with the Jayhawk
    Take a tour of the Spencer Museum of Art with the Kansas Jayhawk.

Activities for Adults

  • The Gilded Age at the Spencer Museum of Art
    This resource begins with a brief overview of the Gilded Age and several key points of Gilded Age art. Then for each of six works of art from the Spencer's permanent collection there is a brief description of the artist and work as well as visual and cultural/historical discussion starters.
  • Museum Highlights Activity
    This online activity is part of an informal study on ways to motivate you to visit the art museum, improve the experience, and encourage return visits. You will be introduced to the art museum first by looking at objects online and then looking at the same objects in the art museum, revealing the difference between a virtual and an actual experience with works of arts.
  • Narrative Devices in Art
    This instructional resource introduces upper-elementary and middle school students to narrative devices (methods or formats that artists use to tell stories). Discussion questions also encourage students to consider how artists manipulate elements such as time and space to enhance their narratives.

Gallery Guides

  • Early European Art
    The Spencer Museum of Art has a rich collection of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
  • Asian Art I
    The Spencer Museum of Art houses over 4,000 Asian paintings, prints, ceramics lacquer ware, metalwork, textiles, furniture, and sculpture. Although these include fine examples from Korea, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, the strength of the collection is Japanese and Chinese prints and paintings from the 18th through 20th centuries.
  • Asian Art II
    The Spencer Museum of Art houses over 4,000 Asian paintings, prints, ceramics lacquer ware, metalwork, textiles, furniture, and sculpture. Although these include fine examples from Korea, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, the strength of the collection is Japanese and Chinese prints and paintings from the 18th through 20th centuries.
  • Works on Paper
    The Spencer Museum of Art has a large and comprehensive collection of approximately 15,000 works on paper, including prints, drawings, photographs, and artists’ books. The print collection is a representation of 500 years of print history. Included are woodcuts, etchings, engravings, aquatints, mezzotints, lithographs, screenprints, and many other less common printing techniques.
  • 20th Century Art
    Art movements and styles have multiplied and changed so rapidly since the early 1950s that audiences often have difficulty keeping up with them. Many major art movements have become remote from the taste and understanding of the public at large. At the same time, artists, like other professionals, have become more specialized and often depart from traditional concerns such as representation and beauty to focus on other aesthetic, philosophical, and political issues.

Classroom Collection

  • detail: The Edge of the Prairie by Terry Evans An Outreach Program for Lawrence-Area Schools
    The Spencer’s Classroom Collection contains 29 works of art in various media including photography, painting, sculpture, jewelry, printmaking, and ceramics. The collection is available to all area art teachers to check out and display in their classrooms.
  • detail: Farm Pond by Judi Geer Kellas Collection Index
    Featured local and internationally known artists include Roger Shimomura, Terry Evans, Joseph Judd Pennell, and Elizabeth Layton.
  • detail: Nothing Gold by Larry Schulte Check Out Procedures
    The collection is available to all area art teachers to check out and display in their classrooms. Each object is stored in its own protective carrying crate for easy transport. The SMA Education Department provides teachers with accompanying resource notebooks that include artists’ statements, images of additional works, biographical information, websites, and newspaper articles.
  • detail: Clock by Tom Waller Teacher Evaluation
    The Teacher Evaluation form is intended for Classroom Collection participants, if you would like to send us any feedback please email us at educate@ku.edu.