Author: Brian Hearn
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The High Art of the Throw-Away
Six artists make the most of materials found, discarded, avoided or unappreciated in the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Ephemera” exhibit, which opened in time to be seen by visitors to the 27th International Sculpture Conference, from Oct. 25 through 28, in Kansas City. Presented in pairs in three spacious first floor galleries, the artists source wildly different artistic media from the throw-away world of global capitalism or forgotten elements of nature.
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Cat Mahari: Centering Blackness
If you have seen Cat Mahari perform, you don’t forget. True to her name, she moves with a fierce feline swagger. Her presence in a room can be equivalent to a mic drop. Fearless? Yes. Challenging? Definitely. Mahari is a battle-tested warrior. When she roars her truth you will pay attention. Her confidence is grounded in lived, embodied experience and intense study. It comes through her work as “centering blackness.”
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Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights
A small exhibition about an outsized legacy proves that small groups of committed people can change the world in profound ways. “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights” at the Miller Nichols Library tells the story of how Kansas City became the unlikely site of the first national organizing efforts for LGBT rights more than 50 years ago. The 12 exhibition panels begin by asking the question, “How does change happen?”
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“Separate And Not Equal”
If you needed a compelling reason to justify public funding for the arts, look no further than KU’s Spencer Museum of Art this summer. Thanks to a six-figure grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Spencer Museum will offer two in-depth K-12 teacher workshops this summer on the subject of “Native American and African-American Educational Experiences in Kansas, 1830 – 1960.”
