Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

The Nelson-Atkins is not just the place for artist lectures, poetry slams and the housing of beautiful and thought-provoking works of art. Recently, it was also the perfect place for movie shooting. The film crew of Works In Progress, a local film directed by Stephen Pruitt, visited the museum a couple of weeks ago to shoot a scene involving four works: Francesco Mosca’s Atalanta and Meleager with the Calydonian Boar, El Anatsui’s Dusasa I, Thomas Hart Benton’s Rape of Persephone and George Inness’ Old Farm–Montclair.

The scene is of a date between the two main characters in the film. As they meander through the museum, the artwork gives them the means by which to engage in a little harmless flirtation. The scene is a typical one as far as museum dates go. Perusing works of art while secretly sizing up your date, trying to impress your date with how much you know about each piece – this is the stuff that makes museum dates so much fun. Watching the actors rehearse and perform their lines again and again to the backdrop of eye-catching works left no doubt that the Nelson-Atkins in real life would be as charming a date destination as it was in film. The writer humbly suggests you try it for yourself. Though, I must say, the actual filming proved to be much more demanding than making a good impression on a first date.

The museum date will eventually take up only a small portion of Works In Progress, but it took around six hours to shoot. I couldn’t believe how much went into setting up the lighting and cameras for only a few seconds of film. Having the pleasure of escorting the crew through the museum and also playing a small part as an extra, I was exhausted by the end of the day. I can’t imagine how people who had to do real work must have felt. I have a new respect for filmmakers, and this group of filmmakers in particular. Not only were they respectful of the museum and its regulations, but they also managed to stay upbeat and energized throughout the whole process.

At last Saturday’s Farmers’ Community Market at Brookside, hard-working Museum volunteers showed their support by handing out free grocery totes to customers. It was the market's Fifth Annual Tomato Festival and local residents loaded their Fresh Art bags with one of the best-tasting harvests around.

The red favorite—technically a fruit, even more technically a berry, yet legally a vegetable—was even seen greeting customers and handing out samples. (You try refusing that face!)

The sweetness didn’t stop there.

One of our volunteers, Elisabeth, brought her special Earl Grey & Lemon Iced Tea that kept all of us cool while we worked. Even the market vendors graciously sent us home with fresh-baked bread and hand-picked veggies—on the house.

While the heat can sometimes bring out my grumpy side, I can’t help but smile when I see such cheerful faces and acts of kindness at these events.

Look for Fresh Art bags (and goodwill) at these upcoming markets!

August 1—BadSeed Farmers’ Market 4:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
August 9—City Market Farmers' Market 6:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
August 23—Overland Park Farmers’ Market 6:30 a.m.-sellout
September 6—Downtown Lawrence Farmers’ Market 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

A recent entry on another blog titled "Severed Heads at the Nelson-Atkins" caught my attention for obvious reasons. As I read it, I noticed an image under the "New Flickr images" that I have always thought of as one of the creepiest objects in the Museum's collection.

The image is of a Monstrance (or Reliquary) that is on view in Gallery P6. This reliquary was created circa 1400 in Germany. The story goes that the object contains a finger bone from John the Baptist.

Every once in a while the Museum gets some interest in this object. Just a few years ago, we had a call from a man who had a great idea on how to get us on the Discovery channel. Since John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins on the mother's side, this man was convinced he could authenticate the Shroud of Turin by matching the DNA from our finger bone to the DNA in the cloth.

Sadly, a call to the curator confirmed that the bone is not even human. It is a bird bone, most likely from a chicken.

The Monstrance is still pretty cool to see and who knows, maybe one day a long, long time ago, it did contain a bone from the Baptist. I guess that is why they call it faith.

One sign that we are a step closer to the international exhibition Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway: 1830-1960 is that the Museum's website has been updated.

The newly expanded online version mimics the installation planned for the galleries by dividing the information into 6 categories. Each category has examples of the art you will see in the exhibition if you are lucky enough to visit it in person.

For instance, States of Mind includes Time Transfixed by Rene Magritte (above).

Another section, called Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, features three of my all-time favorite paintings, The Railway by Eduoard Manet, Gare Saint-Lazare by Monet and On the Pont de L'Europe by Gustave Caillebotte.

The exhibition will contain more than 100 paintings, drawings, photographs and prints drawn from 64 museums and private collections.

The Nelson-Atkins is the only scheduled stop for the United States. If you can't make it to KC, book your flight today for Liverpool, England. Art in the Age of Steam is on view at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool through Aug. 10.

The recent exhibitions Sparks! and Print Lovers at 30 closed this past Sunday. Yesterday, I peeked into the gallery to watch the prep staff take it all apart. Unfortunately, I got there a little too late. This was all that I found:

The good news is that some of the works from Sparks! will return to the contemporary galleries.

In a few short weeks, the prep crew will be very busy installing more than 100 works for Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960. Artists in the exhibition include Claude Monet, Charles Sheeler, Thomas Hart Benton and Rene Magritte.

I'll be sure to keep you updated.

One of the best parts of my job as the Ford Learning Center Assistant is interacting with the youth and adult students who participate in studio art classes. Therefore, I was very eager to join family, friends and Nelson-Atkins staff gathered in Atkins Auditorium to watch the final class performance of Act It Out, a unique offering that brings the Museum collection to life by combining visual and performing arts.

Inspired by Joseph Cornell’s A Pantry Ballet (for Jacques Offenbach), student-lobsters popped, locked and pirouetted to Herbie Hancock’s classic 1980s tune, “Rockit.” Led by full-time Ford Learning Center teacher, Kreshaun McKinney, and assistant Jane Hahn Leat, the students’ two weeks of hard work creating costumes and choreography paid off with a fantastic performance before an enthusiastic crowd.

After the show, the rock "lob-stars" enjoyed a brief photo shoot in the Atkins foyer before returning to their classroom for an after-party of cookies and lemonade.

Thanks to all of the students, parents and staff who made my afternoon so enjoyable. I’ll never look at lobsters the same way again!

Upstate by Stanley Whitney

Ekphrasis: ek ‘out’ + phrasis ‘speak’ = to speak out…which is exactly what happened at last night’s Sparks! Out Loud Alive Poetry Slam and Jam as literary artists gave dramatic vocal life to the exhibition’s works.

Bob Holman, founder of Bowery Poetry Club in New York City; Glenn North, poet-in-residence at the American Jazz Museum, and many other local, talented writers gave fantastic ekphrastic performances to a near full Atkins Auditorium. From an answer-call between original visual works, spoken word response and musical elaboration, came an inspiring evening of fused artistic media that kept this audience member on the edge of her seat.

The guitarist, whom I remembered from my last visit to a favorite KC music nest, The Mutual Musicians Foundation, blended silky, echoic tones with the bongo and saxophone players—the overall impression of which seamlessly wove into performers’ words.

Each writer picked a piece from the Sparks! exhibition, wrote an original poem based on that work, then performed the artistic birth on stage.

Faith Scott had the audience moving in “Stanley’s Bebop,” a poem inspired by Stanley Whitney’s bold, quilt-like Upstate. Scott gave smooth, climaxing praise to Whitney’s own rhythm, teasing that the artist already slips “on to the next riff” while others become “just another square in the room,” as playful shouts and applause rose from the spirited audience.

On a more serious note, Stanley Banks’ “After Katrina: The Bodies are Rising” (based on Kerry James Marshall’s Memento #5), touched upon the country’s open wounds, speaking not only of the importance of remembrance, but of the nation’s continued forward movement.

My personal favorite was The Recipe’s (poets 337 and Priest) performance on El Anatsui’s Dusasa I. The symbiotic verse was as impressive as the tremendous tapestry on which it was based. Bound of discarded liquor caps and metal labels from Anatsui’s Ghanian homeland, the reflecting Dusasa I laboriously weaves the tiny reminders of commodification, historic enslavement and global capitalist expansionism into an ironically majestic and elegant amalgamation of materials. All of these themes found illumination in the joined, penetrating vocal accents of The Recipe.

The winning prize, however, went to the poet "Lou" who gave a performance inspired by Alex Hay’s pop art piece Paper Bag. At times, the artist had the crowd laughing out loud, and at others, quietly nodding in profound agreement, hanging on every syllable as a nearness seemed to crest in the room. The crowd favorite received a standing ovation and later returned to the stage with his son (also named Lou) who, filled with child-certitude, accepted the award on his father’s behalf.

Sprinkled with velvety sax solos, Holman eventually brought the evening down in an affectionate sing-speak decrescendo: “There’s got to be a way to add this all up together—the personal, the political, the art…”

You sang it, Bob.

As part of my job, I try to keep in touch with what people are saying about the Nelson-Atkins on websites and other blogs. Today, I decided to check out what people have posted to You Tube. I found about 40 posts (technically 43 but some of them were not directly related to the Museum).

I tried not to spend too much time "researching" so here are just a few of my favorites:

A Day at the Museum which was posted by a former security officer. I particularly enjoyed the music. It is a little reminiscent of the scene in Ferris Bueller when they romp through the Chicago Art Institute.

There is also a great excerpt from Charlie Rose's interview with Steven Holl after the opening of the Bloch Building in 2007.

Another one I found very interesting was a high school documentary called What is Power. It features a lot of fellow Museum staff members trying to answer deep, theoretical questions. It was actually produced through the Museum's New Dimensions program but I still found it quite enlightening.

I have to say that my favorite entry on You Tube would be Waitress Clearing a Table in Rozzelle Court (Restaurant). I guess you could call it performance art.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to help with the Museum's farmer's market outreach. My husband and I woke up bright and early and headed to the Shawnee Farmer's Market.

Once we got our tent up, we had a pretty steady stream of folks stopping at our booth. The free, reusable bags were a huge hit because we ran out by 9 a.m.!

It was great talking to people in the community and hearing how much people love the Nelson-Atkins. There are more opportunities to get your green Fresh Art bag.

Stop by these locations:

Zona Rosa on July 15 from 4 to 8 p.m.
Crown Center on July 22 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sadly, the Sparks! exhibit will soon be closing. I hadn’t had a chance to visit it again since it opened, so I spoiled myself a bit and took some time to experience it again this morning. I even decided to treat myself to an audio guide tour, which was very interesting and added a little extra something to my visit. There are two pieces that really caught my attention this trip through the exhibit. The audio guides offered some further information than the wall label, and they also have a touch of music that is quite fun for each piece.

I know a lot of people don’t necessarily understand pop art or at least some pieces of the genre, but I have to admit – I love it! For example, Alex Hay’s Paper Bag is a featured work in Sparks! Perhaps you’re wondering what this work of art looks like. Well, close your eyes and imagine a big paper bag. I mean really big. That’s pretty much it. I like to hear the comments people make regarding work of art such as this, but I have to say the ideas behind pop art are pretty darn interesting.

Pop artists are typically celebrating and critiquing society’s consumerism at the same time. I think the pop artists wanted people to take a look at all the items that you consume throughout the day. Can you imagine what these pop artists from the 1960s would think about society today? Pop art always offers an element of surprise for me, and it also often makes me laugh. Paper Bag seems very relevant still today with all the talk of “going green” and focus on the environment and recycling. This piece questions the ideas of convenience and how society is constantly buying more and more of bigger and bigger products. Who knew a monstrous paper bag made out of fiberglass could say all that?

The second work that I’ve always really admired is by Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Untitled (March 5th) #2 is a fairly unassuming work. In fact, many people may not even acknowledge it as art. This piece consists of two light bulbs simply hanging on the wall together. This may not sound like much, but the meaning of the work is truly powerful. Gonzalez-Torres was an AIDS activist until his death in 1996. The date of the work is in honor of his late partner’s birthday, who passed away in 1991.

The work is symbolic of their relationship. It represents one point of illumination for both their lives. I really appreciate how subtle Gonzalez-Torres’ political message is because it makes it so much more personal and intense. The light bulbs reflect the transience of human relationships and the fleetingness of life. I’ve always been intrigued by art that is considered to constantly be in progress. Once the bulbs burn out, they are replaced and the artwork begins anew.

Sparks! will close on July 20th, so if you haven’t had a chance to see this impressive collection of modern and contemporary art - make time!

During the last two weekends of June, the Museum showed its support of local communities and farmers' markets by giving away FREE, recycled and reusable grocery totes to marketgoers. What a hit!

At the City Market Farmers' Market and the Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market, over 1000 shoppers signed up for the Museum's e-newsletter and were rewarded with a Fresh Art bag to carry home their local goodies. Many thanks to the market hosts and our team of extraordinary volunteers who made both events such huge successes!

Thousands more will get their chance to pick up a FREE bag as we roll up our sleeves for these upcoming events:

July 12--Shawnee Farmers' Market 7-4 p.m.
July 15--Zona Rosa Farmers' Market 4-8 p.m.
July 22--Crown Center Farmers' Market 7 a.m.-1 p.m.

Come early because they go fast!

Cubism is just plain neato. I think it’s so interesting that artists chose not to draw, paint or sculpt exactly what they saw, but instead create something that is purely perceptual, an experience. I was lucky enough to re-discover a fantastic cubist sculpture today as I showed a few people around the Museum. The Modern and Contemporary collection really does have some amazing cubist examples. I have always really liked Jacques Lipschitz’s work, and today I was reminded why.

Lipschitz’s Bather is a bronze sculpture of a woman bathing. It may be difficult to detect the figure of the woman through all the edges and corners, but look harder – she’s there. Sometimes I think that cubist work is very similar to one of those 3-D picture puzzles where an image appears as long as you “relax your eyes.” Once your eyes are relaxed, the woman’s figure really just pops out at you.

Another aspect that fascinates me about the ideas behind cubism is how the artists manage to turn natural and organic shapes into a geometric puzzle. It seems that cubism somehow strips its subject down into its most basic form. Apparently these cubists really did know what they were doing.

As I was reading my colleague's recent entry about the new photography exhibition Human/Nature: Recent European Landscapes, I was moved to write a response. I would like to say up front, that I don't discount her sentiments; I just had a different reaction to the works of art, which after all is what art should do.

The specific line I would comment on is her description of Verdun 1916, Le Mort Homme by Bart Michiels. She says: "It makes me want to jump inside and experience for a day...the vivid green grass and fog-soaked sky that are the photograph’s only subjects." Literally, the landscape is the subject however, the title indicates that there is much more to it.

On the surface, this photograph and the other two by Michiels (Passchendael 1917, Goudberg and Passchendaele 1917, Ravebeek), are verdant landscapes that range from the mysterious to the ordinary (a field of pumpkins). However, I had a very different reaction once I read the label and realized that more than 1.5 million people had lost thier lives in these locations during World War I.

The overall theme of the exhibition is exploring the complex relationship between human beings and the natural world. In this case, the artist has documented the natural reclamation of places that were once a source of much misery and pain. The comparison between the idyllic appearance in the present and the knowledge of the past brutality reminded me of the the old saying that the past will come back to haunt you. In this case, I think that is a good thing.

In the new American galleries, a basic grid stands ready to receive the new glass laylight ceiling that is representative of the ceiling treatment in the existing adjoining galleries. Glass installation will begin in July.

Construction of the American art spaces will be complete in November 2008, with newly installed galleries scheduled to open spring 2009.

I am officially in love with Bart Michiels’ Verdun 1916, Le Mort Homme. It makes me want to jump inside and experience for a day (or two or three or 10) the vivid green grass and fog-soaked sky that are the photograph’s only subjects. The saturation of color in the lower half of the piece and the complete lack of it in the upper thrills my minimalist-starved soul and if ever there was a piece of art that I would marry, this one would be it.

Okay I hyperbolize (a bit), but suffice it to say that Human Nature: Recent European Landscape Photography is a very fine exhibit indeed. Curators at The Nelson-Atkins have brought together an enticing feast of landscape photography by artists like Michiels, Marc Räder and Massimo Vitali. But the subjects are not just of scenery alone. Several of these large-scale pieces are of populated landscapes, and visitors to the exhibit will be hard-pressed not to wish they were sunning themselves on the beach or trekking through a snow-covered mountain along with the people in the photographs. How could they not when gazing at such beautifully represented pieces of the world?

Take Vitali’s Viareggio Tuffo, for example. Sunbathers on a sandy beach is a sight many of us have seen and or experienced before (though perhaps not on a gorgeous Italian sandy beach populated with gorgeous Italians). But there is a dreamyness to this landscape that is absolute perfection. The cloudless sky complements the 50s Technicolor look of bathing suits and umbrellas and bronzed skin crowding the beach underneath. From afar the photo looks digitally-enhanced, but up close it seems just possible that Northern Italians are lucky enough to experience days that look exactly like this one. Oh, to be them!

I remember my first summer job at a department store. It was air conditioned but it wasn't very exciting. Of course, I didn't live near a Museum like the Nelson-Atkins that offers teen agers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a Teen Guide. The job consists mainly of leading groups of children on tours of the Museum, including the Kansas City Sculpture Park.

Yesterday was a busy day for the Teen Guides. I noticed several groups within a stone's throw of one another on the north plaza. One was discussing Shuttlecocks, another was investigating One Sun / 34 Moons and the final group was exploring Rush Hour.

The group above was just about to launch their own shuttlecocks at the guide. After they threw the birdies, the guide asked the kids to look at how they had landed. The children noted they had landed on the noses. However, the Shuttlecock they were viewing is positioned on the other end, balanced precariously on the edge of a feather.

One of the inscriptions on the cornice of the Nelson-Atkins Building is "It is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live." Another one that I like is "The soul has greater need of the ideal than of the real." They were both said or written by Victor Hugo.

I think it is very fitting that within that same building, there is an exhibition of works on paper that encompasses both of those philosphies. Reality and Fantasy: Land, Town and Sea contains 24 landscapes that run the gamut from bucolic scenes of peasants and country life to a series on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

It struck me as I was viewing the works that the ones I thought were true life locations, often were not and ones that seemed made up, were actually real. For example, one called Alpine Landscape by Pieter Brueghel the Elder is most likely imaginary. In the scene, a small mountain side village is perched next to altitude-sickness inducing cliffs. There are people walking, riding horses and working in the fields. It looked pretty realistic to me. The label informed me that even though the artist had actually crossed the Alps, this scene was probably fictional.

Another example was the series I mentioned earlier of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that includes the Colosseum at Rome, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. These sites did exist, however, by the time the artists were creating the prints in the 15th and 16th centuries, the real locations were long gone. In fact, the artists may have never even visited the remains of the seven wonders as evident by the engraving of the Pyramids in Egypt. These pyramids are none that I have ever found in the many books or on the multitude of Discovery Channel shows I have seen over the years on the great pyramids.

Another of the seven wonders that was obviously made up is the Walls of Babylon by Philip Gall. It was nicely crafted, however, it looked as though Gall had incorporated every convention he could think of to convey the antiquity of the scene. There was a man on a horse shooting a lion with a bow and arrow; statues of naked women at the every entrance; as well as soldiers, arches and palatial buildings at every turn. I guess that's why Babylon was so wonderful.

Many of the works have titles that suggest a certain genericness in location. There is Wooded Landscape with Figures, Riverbank and Landscape with Castle. I found that even those these scenes were obviously not real locations, the details and ordinariness of the people and buildings made these works more real to me. Go figure.

The training of a Museum Guide at The Nelson-Atkins Museum is far less intensive than that of a Docent. Instead of a two-year long study session, Museum Guides spend only a few months studying everything from specific collections within the museum to art history to how to give an effective tour. They are also solely responsible for presenting the free Thursday and Friday evening tours, which have recently been added to the museum’s daily tour repertoire.

I recently attended one of these evening tours and, by the night’s end, I was very satisfied with the experience. Museum Guides are skillful at the art of giving a tour that is as entertaining as it is informative. Although it must be said that my Museum Guide on this tour, an IT consultant named Laura Fredrickson, had a little help with the entertainment portion of the evening. My favorite part about the tour was listening to the many humorous comments made by a group of junior high students taking the tour with me. The Commemorative Head of an Oba wasn’t just a testament to the wonders of 16th-century African sculpture, it was now a person exhibiting clear gender-identity issues. As one student described the androgynous-looking head, “Maybe it’s a girly-guy.” And Caravaggio’s Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness wasn’t just a martyr and a Saint, he was a fine specimen of a man – a little rough around the edges, but also extremely “muscular and buff.”

If you aren’t, however, lucky enough to tour the museum with a group of eager young minds such as these, you will still be subject to a delightful sampling of Nelson-Atkins offerings (for which you can verbalize your own thoughts and perceptions… Museum Guides welcome open participation from the group). Stops on the tour include de Kooning’s Woman IV, Monet’s Boulevard des Capucines and, my personal favorite, Seated Guanyin Bodhisattva. And there couldn’t be a better time to tour. Imagine a relaxing evening after a long day at work, surrounded by beautiful works of art, and you will know the pleasure attached to evening hours at the Nelson-Atkins.