Program

Public Programs: Exhibitions: Implementation

Period of Performance

5/1/2021 - 4/30/2025

Funding Totals

$400,000.00 (approved)
$400,000.00 (awarded)


Revisioning the Spencer Museum of Art’s Collection Galleries

FAIN: GI-278338-21

University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (Lawrence, KS 66045-3101)
Saralyn Reece Hardy (Project Director: September 2020 to present)

Implementation of a thematic reinstallation of the permanent collection at the Spencer Museum of Art.

The revisioning of the Spencer Museum of Art's collection galleries will expand the diversity of cultures and identities represented in these exhibitions, center the experiences and comfort of visitors, and foster sustained inquiries into broad humanistic themes. The resulting exhibitions will be organized around four overlapping themes exploring ideas of intersections, empowerment, displacement, and illumination. These new thematic exhibitions will rebalance the collection galleries to showcase a breadth of mediums and foreground works of art by Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color and by women. An award from the National Endowment for the Humanities would provide critical support for continued community involvement in the realization of the project, as well as for casework, seating, production and installation, and evaluation of these fully reinstalled collection galleries across their first three years on view (2022-2025).





Associated Products

Design Thinking & Research Methods (Department of Design) (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Design Thinking & Research Methods (Department of Design)
Author: Cassandra Mesick Braun
Author: Hannah Park
Abstract: Hannah Park invited the Spencer team working on the reinstallation project to challenge her students with a ‘problem’ that the students could ideate solutions for via the design thinking process. SMA Curator Cassandra Mesick Braun worked with Park and her students to develop an engaging, game-based survey for visitors to assess the reinstalled collection galleries. This collaboration between Park and the Museum gave students the opportunity to have educational experiences grounded in real-world applications of humanistic research.
Year: 2021
Audience: Undergraduate

Phase II renovation and fourth-floor gallery reinstallation (Article)
Title: Phase II renovation and fourth-floor gallery reinstallation
Author: Elizabeth Kanost
Abstract: When our galleries close on May 16, the Museum will embark on exciting renovations and installation changes for our fourth-floor galleries that will increase our capacity for teaching, learning, and research.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://indd.adobe.com/view/1534e20f-fe27-4d7b-94d6-503c294b9116
Primary URL Description: View: Spencer Museum of Art newsletter, Spring 2021
Access Model: open access
Format: Other
Publisher: Spencer Museum of Art

Debut Preview and Renovation Reveal (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Debut Preview and Renovation Reveal
Abstract: Enjoy X-ray vision for a night at this behind-the-scenes preview of the exhibition Debut and renovations currently underway inside the Museum. This twist on a gallery talk takes place outdoors with projections of art and what’s happening inside the galleries lighting up the exterior of the building. Spencer Museum interns take the mic to share their research on works soon-to-be-exhibited for the first time in Debut, and Deputy Director Celka Straughn brings you into the construction zone of the Lee Study Center and all-new collection galleries. No hard hat required!
Author: Sadie Arft
Author: Celka Straughn
Author: Adina Duke
Author: Ying Zhu
Author: Rachel Quist
Author: Sara Johnson
Date: 09/22/2021
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Revisioning the Museum (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Revisioning the Museum
Abstract: Be the first to hear plans underway for four all-new exhibitions of the Museum’s collections and the addition of the new Lee Study Center. This major renovation and reinstallation project, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, strives to rebalance the collection galleries and reflect the Museum’s growing emphasis on social justice. Join us to learn how we are testing new collaborative strategies for exhibition development and meet our new Head of Exhibitions Trang Nguyen. Ask us the hard questions to inform new ways of displaying and interpreting museum collections. Your ideas and input are welcome and appreciated.
Author: Adina Duke
Date: 07/08/2021
Location: online (Zoom)

Hard Hats & Hardwoods (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Hard Hats & Hardwoods
Abstract: Prepare to be floored by the features of the Museum’s Phase II renovation. Friends of the Art Museum are invited into the construction zone for a tour with Director Saralyn Reece Hardy and other key project leaders. Be the first to wander the gleaming new white oak floors and learn what’s in store for four all-new collection galleries and the Lee Study Center.
Author: Ryan Waggoner
Author: Saralyn Reece Hardy
Author: Adina Duke
Author: Jennifer Talbott
Author: Celka Straughn
Date: 03/30/2022
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Spencer renovation and reinstallation (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Spencer renovation and reinstallation
Abstract: Presentation of progress on the gallery renovation and reinstallation project to Lawrence civic leaders.
Author: Celka Straughn
Author: Jennifer Talbott
Date: 06/15/2022
Location: Maceli's Banquet Hall & Catering, Lawrence, KS

Graphtec CE7000-1300 Vinyl Cutter Plotter (Equipment)
Name: Graphtec CE7000-1300 Vinyl Cutter Plotter
Description: With permission from NEH, we purchased a Graphtec CE7000-1300 vinyl cutter plotter from US Cutter to produce signage for the reinstalled galleries. The Graphtec CE7000 Vinyl Plotter Series is equipped with features such as a registration mark sensor for print & cut jobs, perforation cutting ability and a guaranteed cut accuracy of over 15ft at an extremely competitive and cost effective price point.
Location: Vendor located in Tukwila, WA. Equipment resides at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Year: 2022

Collective Curating--Collaboration and Community (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Collective Curating--Collaboration and Community
Author: Joy Beckman
Author: Celka Straughn
Author: Michelle Sunset
Author: Beth Watkins
Abstract: Presenters will share four case studies from institutions across the country about working with collaborators outside of their staff to design exhibitions that share new voices and different perspectives. These projects are diverse in how community and collaboration shaped the resulting exhibitions--from working with contemporary artists to campus partners, students, and community members--but are united by their mission to shift curatorial practice to be more inclusive and accessible. Presenters will share planning, logistics, successes, and lessons learned. Presenters and participants alike should walk away with new ideas and insights for curating more collaboratively.
Date: 06/13/2023
Conference Name: Association of Academic Museums and Galleries annual conference

First-year Honors Seminar: Inside Museums (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: First-year Honors Seminar: Inside Museums
Author: Celka Straughn
Abstract: Museums are considered trusted cultural institutions. Why, and perhaps why not? This course will look beyond surface displays and into the “cracks” to examine some of the ways museums function and for what purposes. We will also explore some of the ways those inside, outside, and at the threshholds of museums can open up museums as civic spaces for building community. Sessions will include site visits to campus museums and other cultural organizations.
Year: 2022
Audience: Undergraduate

Museum Studies - The Nature of Museums (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Museum Studies - The Nature of Museums
Author: Celka Straughn
Abstract: The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the kinds of museums, their various missions, and their characteristics and potentials as research, education, and public service institutions responsible for collections of natural and cultural objects. (Same as HIST 720.) Prerequisite: Museum Studies student, Indigenous Nations Studies student, or consent of instructor.
Year: 2022
Audience: Graduate

Museum Studies - Introduction to Museum Public Education (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Museum Studies - Introduction to Museum Public Education
Author: Rachel Straughn-Navarro
Abstract: Consideration of the goals of an institution's public education services, developing programs, identifying potential audiences, developing audiences, and funding. Workshops and demonstrations are designed for students to gain practical experience working with various programs and developing model programs.
Year: 2022
Audience: Graduate

Empowerment (Exhibition)
Title: Empowerment
Curator: Susan Earle
Abstract: How do artists, artworks, and museums express power? Empowerment explores this question through a variety of mediums from across geographies and time periods. Themes include storytelling, human relationships with the earth, and artistic uses of form and figure. Displays will feature ceramics created by multiple generations of the Nampeyo family, a dedicated space for textiles, and installations that amplify the power of music. The music area will showcase the Betty Austin Hensley Flutes of the World collection and other musical instruments.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://spencerart.ku.edu/exhibition/empowerment
Primary URL Description: Empowerment | Spencer Museum of Art

Displacement (Exhibition)
Title: Displacement
Curator: Kate Meyer
Abstract: Museums hold collections of objects identified by researchers as important to keep, protect, and share. As Western art museums reckon with their colonialist pasts, the ways museums collect and display objects must be reexamined. This gallery’s theme of displacement extends across place and time, highlighting geographic dislocation, extinction, immigration, resource extraction, and objects moved from their original cultural contexts. Displacement invites visitors to consider acts of positioning, placement, and relocation as they relate to objects, peoples, and meanings. Displacement can harm. It has caused loss through forced migration, conquest, and plunder. People have also transformed such experiences to evoke new and emergent forms of agency, forging cultural acts of recovery, repair, and inspiration. Through an exploration of the social and migratory lives of objects, discover how a museum can be both a site of displacement and empowerment, where historical record meets lived experience.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://spencerart.ku.edu/exhibition/displacement
Primary URL Description: Displacement | Spencer Museum of Art

Intersections (Exhibition)
Title: Intersections
Curator: Cassandra Mesick Braun
Abstract: An intersection is a place of possibility and potential where a traveler can choose which route to take. Like an intersection, a museum is a crossroads where people, ideas, and objects come together through many paths. This exhibition shares works of art from the Spencer Museum’s global collection that demonstrate how knowledge, understanding, and meaning have been co-created. Thematic groupings invite you to consider topics such as the connections between craft, community, and social ritual; artistic creativity and innovation; the movement of ideas, people, and objects; and the commodification and consumption of goods, natural resources, and human labor. Interpretive materials provide multiple points of access for audiences and invite them to chart their own paths through the galleries.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://spencerart.ku.edu/exhibition/intersections
Primary URL Description: Intersections | Spencer Museum of Art

Illumination (Exhibition)
Title: Illumination
Curator: Kris Ercums
Abstract: What is light? A physicist may discuss light in terms of its physical properties, such as speed or wavelength, while a biologist may admire the essential role of light in the creation and perpetuation of life. Yet, the significance of light surpasses the physical world. Moral and philosophical implications have surrounded the concept of light since ancient times. Art has a long tradition of using both light and darkness as a subject and tool to elicit emotion and denote meaning. In this way, art acts like a beam of light cutting through space and time, revealing thoughts about the world, humanity, and ourselves. By contrasting artworks associated with light with others conjuring darkness, Illumination expands awareness about the hidden and obscured.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://spencerart.ku.edu/exhibition/illumination
Primary URL Description: Illumination | Spencer Museum of Art

Art on the Move (Article)
Title: Art on the Move
Author: Elizabeth Kanost
Abstract: You might imagine that reinstalling an entire floor of collection galleries requires moving a lot of art. What you might not realize is just how much art we needed to move for our Phase II renovation and reinstallation that won't necessarily be displayed in our new exhibitions. For the past year and a half, our collections and exhibitions teams have been hard at work moving art for this major undertaking.
Year: 2022
Access Model: subscription only
Format: Other
Periodical Title: View
Publisher: Spencer Museum of Art

Spencer Museum of Art: Renovation, Reinstallation, Reimagining (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Spencer Museum of Art: Renovation, Reinstallation, Reimagining
Abstract: KU’s Spencer Museum of Art is a local and regional treasure. Much of the museum has been closed for the past year for a major gallery renovation. The project also included the creation of a second study center for class visits, research, and temporary installations. In early November, both levels of exhibition space will be open to the public, with innovative reinstallations of works from the permanent collection. Susan Earle, curator of European and American art, will provide an overview of the changes and a preview of what to expect the next time you visit this leading academic art museum. She will respond to questions and comments.
Author: Susan Earle
Date: 10/13/2022
Location: Kansas Memorial Union (Lawrence, KS)

New Generations Society of Lawrence Tour (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: New Generations Society of Lawrence Tour
Abstract: Susan Earle of the Spencer Museum of Art gave NGSL a tour of the newly renovated and installed fourth floor. The renovations include beautiful new flooring and redesigned lighting. Much more art is on display, and several old favorites are back. The renovation is divided into four spaces called Intersections, Empowerment, Displacement and Illumination. Also included in the fourth floor renovation is a beautiful new large study center.
Author: Susan Earle
Date: 03/30/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

A New Blueprint for Learning, Research, and Community (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: A New Blueprint for Learning, Research, and Community
Abstract: Join Director Saralyn Reece Hardy and Phase II project leaders for brunch in the galleries and revelations about the evolution of our architectural program and new exhibitions, as well as a preview of what's to come.
Author: Saralyn Reece Hardy
Date: 04/22/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Get to Know the Spencer Museum (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Get to Know the Spencer Museum
Abstract: Drop in for any part of this open house to learn about the Museum’s next steps for improving access, inclusion, and belonging based on community input and explore our new collection galleries through tours or self-guided activities. Fun for all ages and light refreshments provided.
Author: Sydney Pursel
Author: Elizabeth Kanost
Author: Rebecca Blocksome
Date: 05/11/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Zone Display Cases (Equipment)
Name: Zone Display Cases
Description: Modular display case system--13 freestanding units 32"w x 32"d x 84"h Glass door, side, and top panels Sheet metal steel frame
Location: Spencer Museum of Art
Year: 2023

stabaArte drawer cases (Equipment)
Name: stabaArte drawer cases
Description: 3 flat file cabinets, customized 1680mm x 885mm x 980 mm with three drawers, each equipped with plexiglass hoods 1530mm x 810mm x 140 mm
Location: Spencer Museum of Art
Year: 2023

"Growing Pains" (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: "Growing Pains"
Abstract: “Growing Pains” tour of collection galleries focused on artwork with themes of growing up, growing old, outgrowing, and other life transitions.
Author: Abby Bishop
Author: Tess van Groll
Date: 07/16/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Senior Session: Innovation and Legacy in the Pottery of Maria Martinez and Nampeyo of Hano (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Senior Session: Innovation and Legacy in the Pottery of Maria Martinez and Nampeyo of Hano
Abstract: Senior Session about Native American artists, focusing on a case in our “Empowerment” gallery displaying pottery by artists in the Nampeyo family from different generations.
Author: Angela Watts
Date: 08/31/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Revisioning the Collection Galleries at the Spencer Museum of Art (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Revisioning the Collection Galleries at the Spencer Museum of Art
Abstract: Session by Celka Straughn. Association of Academic Museums and Galleries - Session: Collective Curating: Collaboration and Community – panel invited to reprise presentation for AAMG virtual convening
Author: Celka Straughn
Date: 10/02/2023
Location: Virtual

Updated Gallery Activity Guides (Equipment)
Name: Updated Gallery Activity Guides
Description: Gallery activity guides updated with more user-friendly design.
Location: Spencer Museum of Art
Year: 2024

Empowerment (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Empowerment
Writer: Susan Earle
Writer: Celka Straughn
Director: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Celka Straughn
Producer: Ryan Waggoner
Abstract: How do artists, artworks, and museums express power? Empowerment explores this question through a variety of mediums from across geographies and time periods. Themes include storytelling, human relationships with the earth, and artistic uses of form and figure. Displays will feature ceramics created by multiple generations of the Nampeyo family, a dedicated space for textiles, and installations that amplify the power of music. The music area will showcase the Betty Austin Hensley Flutes of the World collection and other musical instruments. Feel empowered by artists’ perspectives that speak to you and explore ways that empowerment reveals itself in unexpected objects. This exhibition is organized by a team of Spencer Museum staff from multiple departments including student staff, with contributions from community advisors. The project is generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. PRODUCER AND EDITOR: Ryan Waggoner PRODUCER: Celka Straughn SCRIPT: Susan Earle Celka Straughn SCRIPT EDITING:Elizabeth Kanost, Sara McClure, Kristina Walker CAMERA: Chris Blunk, Jeremy Osbourne, Through A Glass Productions, Chris Bradley NARRATOR: Nancy German COLORIST: Jared Taylor | JT VSUALS MUSIC “Baladjigui Moussa” by Musa Afia Ngum, “Mounamadou Bamba” by Thione Seck, “1984” by Julia Govor
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77VWBPC81fY&list=PLz3HvGH_1aI3nyeEHrpkpcZXqIBSK6cl4&index=1
Primary URL Description: Open Access version of video available on YouTube.
Format: Video
Format: Web

Intersections (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Intersections
Writer: Celka Straughn
Director: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Celka Straughn
Abstract: An intersection is a place of possibility and potential where a traveler can choose which route to take. Like an intersection, a museum is a crossroads where people, ideas, and objects come together through many paths. This exhibition shares works of art from the Spencer Museum’s global collection that demonstrate how knowledge, understanding, and meaning have been co-created. Thematic groupings invite you to consider topics such as the connections between craft, community, and social ritual; artistic creativity and innovation; the movement of ideas, people, and objects; and the commodification and consumption of goods, natural resources, and human labor. Interpretive materials provide multiple points of access for audiences and invite them to chart their own paths through the galleries. This exhibition is organized by a team of Spencer Museum staff from multiple departments including student staff, with contributions from community advisors. The project is generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. PRODUCER AND EDITOR: Ryan Waggoner PRODUCER AND WRITER: Celka Straughn SCRIPT EDITING: Elizabeth Kanost, Sara McClure, Kristina Walker, CAMERA: Chris Blunk, Jeremy Osbourne, Through A Glass Productions, Chris Bradley NARRATOR: Nancy German COLORIST: Jared Taylor | JT VSUALS
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuRCvDmk7BU
Primary URL Description: Open Access version of video available on YouTube.
Access Model: Open access via YouTube.
Format: Video
Format: Web

Illumination (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Illumination
Writer: Kris Ercums
Director: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Kris Ercums
Abstract: What is light? A physicist may discuss light in terms of its physical properties, such as speed or wavelength, while a biologist may admire the essential role of light in the creation and perpetuation of life. Yet, the significance of light surpasses the physical world. Moral and philosophical implications have surrounded the concept of light since ancient times. Art has a long tradition of using both light and darkness as a subject and tool to elicit emotion and denote meaning. In this way, art acts like a beam of light cutting through space and time, revealing thoughts about the world, humanity, and ourselves. By contrasting artworks associated with light with others conjuring darkness, Illumination expands awareness about the hidden and obscured. This exhibition is organized by a team of Spencer Museum staff from multiple departments including student staff, with contributions from community advisors. The project is generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. PRODUCER AND EDITOR: Ryan Waggoner PRODUCER: Celka Straughn SCRIPT: Kris Ercums SCRIPT EDITING: Elizabeth Kanost, Sara McClure, Kristina Walker CAMERA: Chris Blunk, Jeremy Osbourne, Through A Glass Productions, Chris Bradley NARRATOR: Nancy German COLORIST: Jared Taylor | JT VSUALS
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy7yUqaht4U
Primary URL Description: Open Access version of video available on YouTube.
Access Model: Open access via YouTube.
Format: Video
Format: Web

Displacement (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Displacement
Writer: Kate Meyer
Writer: Joey Orr
Director: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Ryan Waggoner
Producer: Kate Meyer
Abstract: Museums hold collections of objects identified by researchers as important to keep, protect, and share. As Western art museums reckon with their colonialist pasts, the ways museums collect and display objects must be reexamined. This gallery’s theme of displacement extends across place and time, highlighting geographic dislocation, extinction, immigration, resource extraction, and objects moved from their original cultural contexts. Displacement invites visitors to consider acts of positioning, placement, and relocation as they relate to objects, peoples, and meanings. Displacement can harm. It has caused loss through forced migration, conquest, and plunder. People have also transformed such experiences to evoke new and emergent forms of agency, forging cultural acts of recovery, repair, and inspiration. Through an exploration of the social and migratory lives of objects, discover how a museum can be both a site of displacement and empowerment, where historical record meets lived experience. This exhibition is organized by a team of Spencer Museum staff from multiple departments including student staff, with contributions from community advisors. The project is generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. PRODUCER AND EDITOR: Ryan Waggoner PRODUCER: Celka Straughn SCRIPT: Kate Meyer, Joey Orr SCRIPT EDITING: Elizabeth Kanost, Sara McClure, Kristina Walker CAMERA: Chris Blunk, Jeremy Osbourne, Through A Glass Productions, Chris Bradley NARRATOR: Nancy German COLORIST: Jared Taylor | JT VSUALS
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WznXzzC0HCw&list=PLz3HvGH_1aI3nyeEHrpkpcZXqIBSK6cl4&index=4
Primary URL Description: Open Access version of video available on YouTube.
Access Model: Open access via YouTube.
Format: Video
Format: Web

Tour scripts and materials (Equipment)
Name: Tour scripts and materials
Description: Tour scripts and materials updated to reflect collection galleries written by Rachel Straughn-Navarro.
Location: Spencer Museum of Art
Year: 2024

K-12 Lesson Plans (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: K-12 Lesson Plans
Author: K-12 Instructors
Abstract: o K-12 lesson plans are interdisciplinary, art-based lesson plans that support Kansas K–12 education standards. Each lesson plan is supplemented with images, videos, and other digital resources designed to engage students of all ages.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/k12-lesson-plans#/
Primary URL Description: Open access K-12 lesson plans on the Museum's website.
Audience: K - 12

COMS 930: The Dark Side of Rhetoric - Spencer Museum Worksheet (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: COMS 930: The Dark Side of Rhetoric - Spencer Museum Worksheet
Author: Anne Kretsinger-Harris
Abstract: Keep these questions in mind throughout our museum visit today: 1. What connections can you make between these exhibits and our course concepts? (e.g. propaganda, mis-/disinformation, the relationship between rhetoric & violence, etc.) 2. What rhetorical moves are made by 1) the represented historical/contemporary figures, 2) the creators of the exhibits/artworks, 3) the curators of the museum spaces? 3. Who are the intended audiences of these exhibits/artworks? How do you know? 4. What purpose does each exhibit/artwork serve?
Year: 2024
Audience: Undergraduate

HIST 319 History, Women & Diversity in US (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: HIST 319 History, Women & Diversity in US
Author: Tiffany Gonzalez
Abstract: The purpose of the Empowerment exhibit is to answer: How do artists, artworks, and museums express power? The exhibit explores this question through a variety of mediums from across geographies and time periods. Instructions for assignment: You are to take a picture of two artifacts (paintings, sculptures, etc) of the Empowerment Exhibit and analyze them in relation to the theme of expressing power and creating change in society. More broadly, I’d like for you to also think about how gender and power has been expressed through art and incorporate the topics you have learned so far in class. Make sure to incorporate examples from the museum exhibition but also from readings and lectures. This discussion-based activity should be between 400-500 words.
Year: 2023
Audience: Undergraduate

GEOG/EVRN 300: Geographic Adventures in Climate Change – Spencer (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: GEOG/EVRN 300: Geographic Adventures in Climate Change – Spencer
Author: Shannon O’Lear
Abstract: Learning Outcomes: 1. Experience active learning outside of the classroom. 2. Identify and engage with themes of geographic systems and spatial interactions through visual and creative methods. 3. Develop and demonstrate an understanding of the key geographical concepts of systems and spaces. 4. Think creative and broadly through connections with works of art. Overview: So far this semester, we have worked with several examples of human systems, environmental systems, and spatial scales associated with a variety of topics and current events. Climate change as both an effect of these systems and as a cause of the ways in which some of these systems are changing is an overarching theme of this class. We have started to move into conversations about policy interventions that could be helpful on different aspects of these issues. For this assignment, we step back from our usual classroom format to apply a geographic systems approach to art in order to expand our understanding of the themes of this class. We will consider how visual works of art depict and imply interactions of different systems. From there, we can speculate on how these interactions relate to our changing climate in both its causes and impacts. As always, it will be important to think about the spatial aspects, processes, and connections represented and suggested in these works of art. This is your task for this assignment.
Year: 2024
Audience: Undergraduate

Senior Sessions: Representing History in the Fifteenth Century (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Senior Sessions: Representing History in the Fifteenth Century
Abstract: Professor Anne D. Hedeman delves into representations of history using one sacred Northern European example, the Master of Frankfurt’s “Descent from the Cross with Scenes from the Passion,” and one secular Italian example, the Master of the Apollini Sacrum’s “Assassination of Julius Caesar.” The discussion will focus on the storytelling practices represented in these paintings and consider the experiences of their makers and viewers.
Author: Professor Anne D. Hedeman
Date: 07/13/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Senior Sessions: Rhythm and Brushstrokes: Music and Art (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Senior Sessions: Rhythm and Brushstrokes: Music and Art
Abstract: Spencer intern and PhD candidate in musicology Sara McClure explores the intersections between visual art and music. We'll examine several music-related works on display and hear musicians perform a piece inspired by art.
Author: Sara McClure
Date: 12/14/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Senior Sessions: A Gothic Marvel (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Senior Sessions: A Gothic Marvel
Abstract: Experience the splendor of the Spencer's iconic "Tympanum with the Lamentation (Pieta)." Graduate intern and recent art history PhD Sarah Dyer explores the history, original location, function, and style of this impressive portal sculpture once placed over the entrance of a Late Gothic Spanish church.
Author: Sarah Dyer
Date: 5/23/24
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Gallery Talk: Creole Connection: Marie Laveau (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Gallery Talk: Creole Connection: Marie Laveau
Abstract: “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” Celebrate Mardi Gras and learn about one of New Orleans’s most enchanting figures, Creole Vodou practitioner Marie Laveau (1801–1881). Spencer graduate intern Connor Joseph will give a short talk on Ulrick Jean-Pierre’s painting of Laveau in the “Empowerment” exhibition.
Author: Connor Joseph
Date: 02/13/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

“Displacement” and Identity: The Faces of Odysseus (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “Displacement” and Identity: The Faces of Odysseus
Abstract: Who is Odysseus, also known as Ulysses? The most fascinating Greek hero is also the most difficult to know. Go on a journey through the Spencer's galleries to understand this character, enhanced by readings and performances by students and faculty representing classics, theatre and dance, and music.
Author: Cecilia Cozzi
Date: 02/29/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Art Cart – Creating with Clay (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Art Cart – Creating with Clay
Abstract: Multigenerational activity that focused on the ceramic installation in the “Intersections” gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 04/27/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Art Cart – Abstract Sculpture (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Art Cart – Abstract Sculpture
Abstract: Multigenerational activity focused on the Louise Nevelson sculpture in the “Empowerment” gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 06/15/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Director’s Winter Solstice Tour (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Director’s Winter Solstice Tour
Abstract: Holiday tour focused on themes of light and dark in our collection galleries, particularly the “Illumination” gallery.
Author: Saralyn Reece Hardy
Date: 12/21/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Art Cart - “Wrapped Words” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Art Cart - “Wrapped Words”
Abstract: Art Cart session that focused on the Wendu Gu fiber work to explore power of words in art in the “Displacement” gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 11/04/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Art Cart - “Painted Fans” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Art Cart - “Painted Fans”
Abstract: Cool off at the Spencer and create a design for a folding fan. This art cart took inspiration from works of art on view in the Empowerment gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 07/22/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Art Cart - “Celebrate Kansas” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Art Cart - “Celebrate Kansas”
Abstract: Art Cart for Kansas Day to design your own capitol building art as we learn about the history of our state and abolitionist John Brown. Focused on the John Steuart Curry sketch for “Tragic Prelude” mural in the Displacement gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 01/27/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Slow Art Sunday: The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Slow Art Sunday: The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley
Abstract: Public program focused on "The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley" by Thomas Hart Benton in the Empowerment Gallery.
Author: Riley Taylor
Date: 11/19/2023
Location: Spencer Museum of Art

Slow Art Sunday: Diaspora (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Slow Art Sunday: Diaspora
Abstract: Public program focused on Tom Knechtel's painting “Diaspora” in the Empowerment Gallery.
Author: Kristina Walker
Date: 04/07/2024
Location: Spencer Museum of Art