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At Prairiefire, Space is the Place
Space exploration has been somewhat crowded out of the news feeds lately, but it remains a topic that can stir spirits and ignite imaginations. For those who would like to learn about the potential of space travel and reflect on cosmic possibilities, the Museum at Prairiefire in Overland Park is presenting “Beyond Planet Earth, the Future of Space Exploration,” opening Sept. 30.
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American Portraiture at Kemper Museum
Visiting a portrait show can be like standing in a room full of people you don’t know. But with prolonged contact, artworks, like people, reveal themselves. A fascination with portraits led Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920 – 2005), a docent at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, to endow a portrait competition at the museum where she led tours for almost 20 years.
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At Crystal Bridges, Stuart Davis Will Color Your World
As a painter, Stuart Davis (1892-1964) represented a trailblazing strain of 20th-century American optimism. His jaunty canvases extended European modernism over a wide range of territory and human subject material. He celebrated urban streetscapes, shorelines and mundane life with an eye-popping sense of jazz-influenced rhythm and invention.
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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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A Pollock Masterwork Stops at the Nelson
Want to see the largest painting Jackson Pollock ever made? Now’s your chance. Through Oct. 29, Pollock’s “Mural,” measuring 8 by 20 feet, is on view in the Bloch Building Project Space. The showing in Kansas City is part of a global victory lap for the painting — now back in U.S. from a tour of Europe — following two years of restoration work. Made in 1943, “Mural” is the ultimate transitional work in Pollock’s oeuvre.
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Editor’s Weekend Calendar Picks, September 7 – 10
This fall, the Nelson-Atkins teams up with performance group Quixotic to present a third Surfaces performance in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Bloch Building. Quixotic will use projection, choreography, and musical composition to honor Bloch Building architect Steven Holl, and shine a new light on this iconic building. Come early to claim your spot!