Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

We had 16 children of Museum employees participate in our Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work day last week. The kids were able to learn about many areas of the Museum from security to conservation.

The kids were finger-printed and received official ID badges from our security department, they got a behind-the-scenes tour of the new stacks in the Spencer Art Reference Libray and they enjoyed a gallery activity in the new contemporary galleries in the Bloch Building with a member of our education department. After lunch, they chatted with one of our conservators about the restoration of our Greek Lion and watched Rozzelle Court Restaurant Executive Chef Dwight Hawkins demonstrate some desserts as well as find out how many kids can fit in the walk-in freezer.

One of the coolest parts of the day (at least for me) was a special tour of the Museum's central plant with the head of our operations division. The kids really liked all the machines and noises but we all learned that one of the biggest and most difficult tasks is making sure the galleries are regulated to 70 degrees and 50% humidity at all times.

We also got to see the big drain for when we must drain One Sun / 34 Moons by Walter De Maria and the pump that helps maintain the water in Fountain in the Isamu Noguchi Sculpture Court.

As we are rapidly approaching the opening of the Bloch Building on June 9, we have been looking back at images of the construction process. In this image, we see the workers installing the glass doors by the new Museum Cafe in the main lens of the Bloch Building.

It reminds me of the very famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945 that is part of the Museum's photography collection. The real photograph will be on view in the new photography galleries in the Bloch Building.

It seems like everyone is talking about the Bloch Building. Time magazine called it the "most anticipated building of 2007" and the New Yorker is coming out with a "glowing" review (pun intended) in their April 30 issue.

There is an excellent blog on Inhabitat.com with some fabulous images. Inhabitat says "The outside appearance of the Bloch Building does not prepare you for the space you experience once inside. The large volumes of the building pierce the landscape of the Country Club Plaza district, following the line of the hillside like a little child whose full hands couldn’t carry their set of building blocks, dropping a few along the way. In the interior, visitors will have a hard time figuring out which glowing box they are in, with the differing grade changes and curved coves weaving through gallery spaces."

As we press full-steam ahead toward our June 9 opening, I'm sure there will be much more. Keep your eyes open.

The first time I met Museum Director Marc Wilson, he had a broken leg. When I asked him what happened he told me he had wrecked his motorcycle. I also found out that in addition to graduating from Yale and having worked as a translator at National Palace Museum in Taipei, he was also a race car driver and a farmer.

In the years since that day, I have heard Mr. Wilson speak eloquently on everything from elevators to the Museum's world-class collection. I have seen him roll up his sleeves and pitch in with a project on more than one occasion.

Recently, he was presented with a plaque that will hang in the new Bloch Building. It simply says "He led with vision and transformed our future." Well put.

I had the chance today to observe artist Kiki Smith as she and her assistant install her work of art called Constellation in the Bloch Building. The room-sized installation consists of a cloth covering on the floor that is adorned with cast glass animals and stars. Constellation will be on view beginning June 9.

As I watched her work, I noticed some materials on a table. At one point she came to get "her maps" as she called them. When I took a closer look, I found there were two books and a chart that shows the alignment of the constellations at different times of year.

The "map" that intrigued me the most was called The Stars, A New Way to See Them. The author's name was H.A. Rey and the book was published in 1952. I thought for a moment, is that the same man who wrote the Curious George books? Sure enough, it is. An exerpt from the book was utterly charming:

"The space age is upon us. Rockets are leaving our globe at speeds unheard of only a few years ago, to orbit earth, moon and sun. People have visited the moon, we have sent space probes to all but one of the planets, and words like “orbit” and “satellite” are picked up by children in the nursery.

And how has all this affected the age-old pleasure of watching the starry sky? Has it made stargazing obsolete?

It has not, and it never will. For we live on this earth and always shall. After the day is gone we shall go out, breathe deeply, and look up – and there the stars will be, unchanged, unchangeable. Even from the moon or Mars, or from Pluto, the outermost planet…the stars look the same as they do from the earth.

Night after night they are here. And night after night they arouse our curiosity, our urge for knowledge.

Stone age or space age, man will be asking the question his grandparents have asked before him and his grandchildren will ask after him: 'What star is that?'"

Even though these words were written more than 50 years ago (back when Pluto was considered a planet), they still ring true. I had thought that Constellation was an interesting piece when I first saw it. After having learned about some of the inspiration, I left feeling a little more connected to the universe. I hope that on June 9, you might too.

One of the perks of working in a world-class museum is the chance to be surrounded by incredible works of art. Since my office is not in a gallery, I choose to keep reminders of our amazing collection on my cubicle walls and of course, on my computer desktop.

This picture contains several of my favorite pieces in our contemporary collection installed in the Bloch Building. The work that looks like giant pieces of colorful Play Doh is Six Secret Spaces by Anish Kapoor. On the wall behind it is Elizabeth Murray's Art Part which always makes me think of a giant jigsaw puzzle.

These works and many other contemporary favorites will soon be on view for the public. The Bloch Building opens June 9.

Conceptual artist Sol LeWitt passed away at the age of 78 last Saturday. The Nelson-Atkins has several wonderful pieces by LeWitt in our contemporary art collection. The following entry is from the Museum’s 1999 publication Modern Sculpture at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, An Anniversary Celebration. James Martin wrote:

“Sol LeWitt first came to art-world prominence in the 1960s as one of the pioneers of Conceptual art, which considers the idea behind an art work more important than the object itself. LeWitt’s grid like works are also frequently associated with the geometric forms of Minimalists such as Carl Andre and Donald Judd.

The Museum’s 1 3 5 7 9 11 was commissioned for the Parker-Grant Gallery (Gallery 208 in the existing Nelson-Atkins Building. It is now closed for renovation).

The concept of each LeWitt sculpture is evident in its appearance. For example, 1 3 5 7 9 11 is based on the measurement unit of one cube. The sculpture’s top section is one cube wide; the next section is three wide, followed by a section five cubes wide and so on. The height of each section follows a related logic; the bottom section is one cube high, followed above by sections that are two, three, four, five and six cubes high.”

1 3 5 7 9 11 has been reinstalled in a special gallery in the Bloch Building along with a piece titled Complex Forms. Both of these structures will be on view when the Bloch Building opens June 9.

Electromediascope, the Museum's long-running series of experiemental film, video and new media is back for another installment beginning Friday, April 13. This time the theme is Being There: Experiencing Place and Non-place. The films all somehow challenge "what we think we know or recognize about the geophysical, institutional and cultural aspects of particular places."

It brings up interesting questions about places such as airports, shopping malls, highways and even the Internet. It used to be that people defined their sense of place or personal space in terms of location, where they lived or the traditions they followed. These "non-places" distance us from our surroundings by their boredom, repetition and the amount of time we all spend waiting for them.

Artists Peter Hutton, Tacita Dean, Emily Richardson, Aria Sala, Ken Kobland, James Benning and the German collaboration "e-team" are featured in the spring series. Free tickets are available online.

It is a chilly but sunny day in Kansas City so I took the opportunity to check out what's blooming in the Kansas City Sculpture Park. There were lovely tulips all around the East Scultpure Terrace and on the landing where The Thinker spends his time. Many of the trees were starting to flower as well.

Come by this weekend if you get a chance. Rozzelle Court Restaurant has a special champagne brunch on Easter Sunday. Reservations are required. If you can't come for that, make sure you visit for lunch soon. The new spring menu is sensational!

A new exhibition of works on paper in Gallery P13 contains some sketches that are related to other pieces in the European painting collection.

This print by Rembrandt, tells part of the story from the book of Tobit (a scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblcial canon). Another part of this story is decpicted by Jean-Francois Millet's Waiting in Gallery P30. The wall label describes the scene:

"Here Tobias, watched sympathetically by an angel, extracts the fish gall that will cure his father's blindness according to the Apocryphal story (Tobit 11). Note the concentration in Tobias' profile, reinforced by the pressure applied with his left arm and by his left knee pushing against the rock. The background is no more than bare paper, but convincingly serves as a foil to the figures, suggesting an extensive background space."

Another interesting piece in the exhibit is a study by Nicolas Poussin for his Triumph of Bacchus that is on view in Gallery P14. This painting was one of a series of three commissioned by the famous French statesman Cardinal Richelieu.

The exhibit is on view through October 7, 2007.

There are many beautiful spaces in the new Bloch Building but none as striking as the newly installed collection galleries.

The collections presented in the building include contemporary art, African art and photography. Additional galleries include space for rotating featured exhibitions and special installations.

The galleries are open to one another allowing you to stroll from one collection to another as you wish, eventually spilling into the new featured exhibition space at the southern tip of the building.

It will be even easier to get to know the Bloch Building with free exhibitions and parking on opening weekend, June 9 and 10.