Kansas City Star: Visual Arts

Longtime American curator to leave Nelson for Texas

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:00 CDT

For two decades, Margi Conrads put American art front and center at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, through big shows of American greats, stellar acquisitions and a comprehensive reinstallation of the museum's American galleries.

Lucas, Kan., to show off world's most artistic bathroom

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00 CDT

The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kan., the most significant folk art site in the state, now boasts what must be the most artistic public restroom on the planet.

Art review | David Ford explores dark themes in brilliant colors

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00 CDT

Against a blue sky with black birds, the phrase "We All Die" in white writing hovers above a dark horizon in a large pigment print by David Ford. Installed like a placard on the front exterior of the Dolphin Gallery, the piece begins Ford's new exhibition, "I Like African Chicken."

Summer visual arts | Nelson's 'World's Fairs' beckons

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00 CDT

This summer, experience the pride of nations through their feats of creativity in furniture, glass, textiles, metalwork and more in the mega-exhibit "Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851-1939," at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kemper art museum director resigns

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:00 CDT

Rachael Blackburn Cozad, director of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for 11 of its 18 years, has resigned, the museum confirmed Friday.

Seeking higher recognition, Fantastic Art show comes to Bartle Hall

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00 CDT

The term "fantasy art" used to conjure images of muscled warriors wielding swords and riding unicorns, often viewed on the side of a Chevy Van. But the inaugural Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! event this weekend offers further proof that stereotype is bogus.

'May Day, May Day' juxtaposes delicate landscapes, muscular weaponry

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00 CDT

A binary system is any mechanism capable of being in two mutually exclusive states simultaneously. Tom Deatherage, director of the Late Show, has created a provocative, aesthetic version of a binary installation in his gallery's current exhibition, "May Day, May Day."

Lawsuits aren't the only answer when an artwork's origin is questionable

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:00 CDT

When artworks in a collection turn out to be lost, stolen or fake, there are ways other than lawsuits to resolve the matter.

Sting of recession fades for Kansas City's art museums

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:00 CDT

The recession took a toll on Kansas City's art museums, prompting some to mount fewer shows and others to cut staff or refrain from hiring as their endowments, investments and earned income dropped. Today's brighter economic picture finds the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and many other museums, locally and around the country, in much better shape.

Students take First Friday stage

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:00 CDT

It's student night at First Friday in May, or at least it seems that way as galleries -- established and impromptu -- overflow with works by the Kansas City Art Institute's graduating seniors.

Nelson museum shares a curator to enhance its African galleries

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00 CDT

The African galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will be undergoing a transformation in coming months. The department has a new curator, Nii Quarcoopome, whose mission is to bring new energy to the room and exhibit cases.

Tennessee decision might finally end Fisk University art case

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:00 CDT

Fisk University in Nashville may soon be able to generate cash from its 101-piece art collection donated by the late painter Georgia O'Keeffe. The Tennessee Supreme Court announced last week that it would let stand a ruling allowing the historically black university to complete a $30 million deal to sell a 50 percent stake in the collection to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark.

Shared expressions, one show in 'Shared Space' at Leopold Gallery

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:07 CDT

"Shared Space" presents an unlikely convergence of work by two artists who have shared a studio for four years. The contrast between Derrick Breidenthal's luminous oil-on-panel compositions and Spencer Schubert's cast aluminum figurative sculpture is striking. Yet a connection between the two artists' works reveals itself in this show at the Leopold Gallery.