Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

The Museum recently announced an exhibition by British designer and artist Michael Cross to open in October. This will be Cross's first American exhibition and I have to say I'm quite intrigued. According to the press release, "visitors...will enter a space unlike any other in the Museum."

Specifically, the space in question is the contemporary Project Space in the Bloch Building. So far, it has contained three exhibitions of works by contemporary artists: Kiki Smith's Constellation; Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora; and currently, Siah Armajani: Dialogue with Democracy.

The new exhibition, Resting Places, Living Things: Designs by Michael Cross, will be the first time the Project Space will be used to exhibit contemporary decorative arts.

Trained as a product designer, all of Cross’ experimental designs can be industrially manufactured and then used in everyday situations. He uses the gallery as a design laboratory, an environment where experimental forms of objects can be nurtured into life and then studied for characteristics that can be transplanted into the wider world.

According to Mr. Cross, the exhibition can be summed up under one meta-message: "Everything can be seen differently - imagine, dream, play." I'm looking forward to it.

Pieces of art like those found in the Musuem's collection of Wedgwood have not, in the past, been my cup of tea (pun intended). My range of artistic interest is usually relegated to those pieces you will find at your typical modern art museum – you know, screen prints by Andy Warhol; paint-splattered canvases by Jackson Pollock. Thankfully, the handmade ceramic tea sets and dishes are there to show me how limited that range is.

The Wedgwood collection is part of the Museums collection of Decorative Arts. Each piece of Wedgwood is extraordinary in its detail. Many new additions have recently been added to Gallery P12 in conjunction with this week’s Wedgwood International Seminar being held here in Kansas City. Observe a charming tea set (see example above). The cups, teapot and saucers are all saturated with the colors pink and a smattering of orange. Placed around the tea set are several other matching pieces one might use at an afternoon tea party, like a tureen and a potpourri jar. All the pieces are shell-like. Some are actually in the shape of a shell and all of them are glazed to a brilliant shine as if the ocean itself had weathered away the dull outer parts and left a few shiny pieces in the shape of a tea set sitting amiably on the beach. While looking at this collection, a thought came into my head that has never entered it before: Wouldn’t it be fun to have a tea party?

Another of my favorites was a Pair of Plaques. The plaques are made of plaster with glaze and their shine factor could rival the tea set’s. They have a three-dimensional quality to them with raised patterns of grapes that look good enough to eat and a lemon and lime that look good enough to use as a garnish on an evening cocktail. Yes, I have been converted into someone who adores pottery and hand-crafted tea sets as works of art. Undeniably, these pieces are lovely to look at and any artwork that makes me think of food and cocktails is the artwork for me.

Today, I made a visit to one of my favorite spots in the Museum; standing in front of the enormous Water Lilies painting by Claude Monet in Gallery P31. Generally, when I enter the gallery, I head straight for this painting. This time, after spending a few moments considering the amazing canvas of colors and swirls, I took the time to reaquaint myself with other works of art in the space including three lovely paintings by Pissarro, portraits by Manet and Caillebotte and two dazzling works from the Decorative Arts collection.

For the first time, I realized that there are actually four paintings by Monet in this little room. Just to the left of Water Lilies are two snow scenes. One is View from Argenteuil - Snow from 1874-1875 and the other is the landmark painting Boulevard des Capucines from 1873-1874 that was shown at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. I have appreciated these paintings on many occasions however there was one more that I don't recall having seen previously.

In the corner before you move into the next gallery, is Mill at Limetz (above) from 1888. The vibrant scene shows the mill in the background looking across the Epte River. There are two things that I really love about this painting. One is that the view is partially obscured by low hanging tree branches. It is as if you are on the river bank peering through the dark green curtain of foliage.

The second is that Monet has used such vibrant colors to capture the dancing sunlight on the leaves and the river. The reflection of both the tree and the mill on the opposite bank blend together to give the water an iridescent quality. The label explained that this painting was probably a response to Georges Seurat and Paul Signac whose pointilist style emerged in the 1880s to "bring order" to the loose brushwork of the Impressionists. This powerful canvas certainly places Monet as the greatest of the Impressionists; something that I think he was definately proud to be.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Bloch Building. In many ways, it seems like it just happened yesterday but in others it feels like its been 10 years. The Nelson-Atkins has become a well-known name in the Museum world.

The Bloch Building has helped to change everyone's outlook on Kansas City. When artist Kerry James Marshall visited a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he was very impressed with the Bloch Building and with Kansas City's multitude of cultural offerings.

One of the reasons we started this blog was to give readers an insider's look into the construction, progress and completion of the Bloch Building. You can read those archives and more here.

I had no idea that ceramics weren’t truly seen as an aesthetic art form until the turn of the 20th century; schools didn’t even have ceramics programs available until then. All these changes came about due to ceramicists deciding that their work no longer needed to be functional. This brought about the studio potter, as demonstrated through artists showcased in the new ceramics rotation on view in Gallery L7 of the Bloch Building.

Ceramics are typically very pleasing to the eye with bright colors and shiny glazes. The ceramics I saw today were just as visually engaging – but in very different ways. The first piece I came too was absolutely brilliant. Rudy Autio’s, Armington Stampede from 1987 was great. I loved the bright colors and the horses and women entwined around the work. The most interesting aspect of this piece is how the artist rendered such great movement out of clay. I kept walking from side to side of the piece too see all the angles and catch all the colors, figures and texture. Autio grew up in Montana, and his subject matter and form easily reflect that. This piece is very mountainous in form reflecting the topography of his home state.

I mentioned that the new rotation is interesting in different ways. The beautiful colors and some glazes are still present, but some of the artists chose to leave their works with a matte finish adding a different kind of texture and a slightly muted color palette. There is also a great sense of humor, as in the object pictured above (Lighthouse at Bolinas by Richard Shaw), and a definite sense of the artist’s hand. The works are varying, intriguing and definitely worth a look.

Recently, I've become one of the administrators for the Nelson-Atkins pages on Facebook and MySpace. I'm having a lot of fun trying to figure out how it all works but I would love to hear from our readers if anyone has suggestions or requests for information they would like to see.

You can find the Nelson-Atkins on Facebook. Be sure to Become a Fan so you can impress your friends with your artsy connections.

If MySpace is more your thing, check out the Museum's page there. You can get updates on the latest events happening at the Nelson-Atkins. We always love to make new friends!

As part of the Museum's featured exhibition Sparks! The William T. Kemper Collecting Initiative, Kerry James Marshall’s Memento #5 pays homage to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In the 9x13’ larger-than-life piece, a glittery curtain draws close above the words “What a Time, What a Time.” However, the spirit of the era is far from dead. It finds form and breath in contemporary freedom struggles throughout the world and in works by artists like Marshall. During his free lecture at the Museum—to which I had the pleasure of attending—Marshall described his visionary process as one born of synthesized components used to create something new. “I’m working towards something,” he said.

As perceptible as his paintings, there is little mystery as to the inspiration for Marshall’s subject matter. Born in 1950’s Birmingham, Alabama, the artist’s family moved to the vicinity of the Black Panther Party headquarters in South Central, Los Angeles and to the Watts neighborhood in 1963—two years prior to the infamous rebellion. In Watts 1963, Marshall depicts a seemingly romantic scene in the Nickerson Gardens public housing project. Three children stand, kneel and lay among their own irrational shadows—each making acute, intense eye contact with the viewer. Upon closer inspection, the viewer notices that one child is clutching his stomach. In the sunny, blue-skied field, under the banner “Here We Rest,” the children are anything but carefree.

Author Martin Glaberman wrote of the 1965 rebellion, “The events showed the instant mobilisation of a working-class community in a serious struggle against reactionary police, against the business community and against the war in Vietnam, a community acting in unison with the discipline of long association with common problems.”

Suddenly, the unsettling tone makes sense.

This and other works were personally illuminated by the artist to whom the audience responded with an overflow of questions. On challenging stereotypical black depictions within statistically racially disparate art institutions and “making it” as an African American artist, Marshall explained, “You can leave it to chance and hope you are one of the select few or you can think strategically. I think the stakes are too high.” The crowd echoed with their own inspired testimony and bursting applause. After the lecture, some listeners “rushed the stage” with t-shirts and other items to be signed. I even had the chance to speak with the artist one-on-one.

Since that evening, I have revisited Memento #5. I remember Marshall’s closing statement. “Is that it?” he asked, smiling. “I don’t think so.”

I look forward to the artist's future syntheses.

If you think you have a lot of yard work to do, try keeping up with the Nelson-Atkins sculpture technician, Anna. Her job is to keep tabs on the more than 30 works of art in the Museum's Kansas City Sculpture Park. She spends her days examining, cleaning and protecting the sculptures from the weather, animals and the worst offenders, humans.

Today, Anna was busy waxing the Henry Moore bronzes. The Nelson-Atkins is home to 13 monumental bronze sculptures by Moore and they are spread throughout the 22-acre Sculpture Park. The bronzes are waxed twice a year to create a barrier against damaging elements. "The best way to describe it is that it acts like a sunscreen," explained Anna. The wax also helps to preserve the sculpture's patina which is created naturally when a sculpture is exposed to the weather. Some weathering is a good thing. It adds to the sculpture's character.

You can learn more about the Kansas City Sculpture Park online, but be sure to visit in person if you can. And if you see, Anna, please tell her thank you.

The Kansas City Sculpture Park is a popular destination in KC. People love to come out in all kinds of weather to walk on the paths, have picnics or play with their kids/dogs/Frisbees. The south lawn is a great spot to people watch on busy days.

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit part of the Park that I haven't been to in a while. The very southeast corner where Rockhill Road and Emmanual Cleaver II Boulevard meet is one of the only areas of the Park that wasn't affected as much by the construction of the Bloch Building. It was quite distressing to see all the trees that had to be removed during the construction so I was pleased to see this beauty (above) standing proudly.

The area is technically called the East Hill and it contains a handful of scultpures by Henry Moore including Sheep Piece and Three Bowls by Ursula von Rydingsvard.

There's nothing quite like a bowl of cool, ripened strawberries from my mother’s garden to end a long, sun-soaked afternoon in the city. But, sadly, we are geographically divided—and by a good three-hour drive. So, to satisfy my summertime sweet tooth, I often visit one of Kansas City’s many wonderful farmers’ markets. The natural food is fresh, locally-grown and cheap! In addition to these personal benefits, the markets help sustain local farmers and farmlands, reduce the fossil fuels normally used to transport commercial produce, and cultivate cooperative relationships between rural and urban communities.

On top of my beloved berries, local farmers’ markets offer a variety of other fruits and vegetables, fresh meats, plants and herbs, baked goods, flowers and crafts.

This summer, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will be showing their support of local farmers’ markets by giving away FREE, environmentally-friendly, reusable grocery totes to marketgoers. The Fresh Art totes are made of tear resistant, water repellent, non-woven polypropylene fabric: durable and perfect for filling with plenty of local, healthy goodies...like you-know-what!

Join us Saturday morning, June 21, at the City Market Farmers’ Market to pick up your free Fresh Art tote. We will also be at the Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market on Saturday, June 28. More dates to follow.

Here in the Midwest, we measure summer by the weather, not the calendar. Memorial Day weekend and the end of school indicate summer for many. The rise of the thermometer into the 80's and 90's indicates it for others.

However, since today is officially the first day of summer, I would like to take a moment to reflect on ways to spend the longest day of the year a la David Letterman.

Here are the Top Ten Ways to Celebrate the First Day of Summer at the Nelson-Atkins.

10. Grab a picnic, a friend, a dog, a Frisbee, a book or just your self and be one with nature in the Kansas City Sculpture Park.
9. When you get tired of sweating, go inside the Museum to enjoy a cool drink in the Museum Cafe.
8. Enjoy the sunset as it reflects against the Bloch Building.
7. Watch enviously as the ducks swim around the reflecting pool that contains Walter De Maria's One Sun/34 Moons.
6. Sit in the Bloch Building lobby and watch the light change as clouds drift by overhead.
5. Stand in the Museum's parking garage and watch the light dance from the reflecting pool above.
4. Wait for the lights to come on the Bloch Building and stay as out late as you want.
3. Keep track of all the works of art that contain snow, water, sunshine or all of the above.
2. Walk on the roof of the Bloch Building and reflect on the fact that you are standing above priceless works of art.

And the number 1 way to enjoy the first day of summer at the Nelson-Atkins:
1. We're open until 9 p.m.

I love coming to work on a Monday to find out that my job has been done for me. I came in this morning and found a message from the conservation department that they were planning to remove the lid from the outer coffin of our recent Egyptian acquisition. I grabbed my camera and headed off to the lab!

When I got there, they were trying to figure out how to get the lid off without a) destroying it and b) damaging the bottom half. The bottom half is attached to a wooden base because the back wall of the coffin is missing. Turns out the lid is attached to the bottom half only by a few shims and four corner posts. The conservators immediately recognized that the posts were a "modern" addition. When I asked what they meant by modern, they said probably from the 1940s.

Once they figured out how to detach the lid, they lifted it and set it on the table for examination. They noted there were some pieces that had been restored, again probably done in the 1940s. If you look closely, you can see the new pieces on the end. They include the top arched piece and a small plank on the lower right. The paint is much brighter and smoother in those areas.

I thought they were going to do a thorough examination of the lid but it turned out they were more interested in the interior of the coffin. They noted differences in the wood and how the drip marks from the exterior painting didn't match. The next step is to x-ray the coffin to determine the condition and which parts were reconstructed.

I have long been fascinated with the Museum's collection of miniatures. The collection numbers around 250 pieces and currently, only a handful are on view at anyone time.

I hope in the future we can remedy that because even those these little treasures are only 2 or 3 inches big, the details are so interesting and amazing. For example, the piece above definitely caught my eye (pun intended) when it was on view a few months ago.

If you would like to take a gander at some of these pieces yourself, head to Gallery P27 on the Museum's first floor for The Sitter and the Setting on view through November.