PROGRAMMING SAMPLER

photos: © The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Digital Production and Preservation: Dana Anderson, Tiffany Matson, Kenny Johnson; Spencer Museum of Art Creative Services: Ryan Waggoner, Brandon Jessip; and my own.

Night/Shift at the Nelson-Atkins

A quarterly free-form evening of creative encounters—live art, live acts, mixing labs, and gallery side quests—with local artists and 5,000 years of creative culture. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024-present.

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | DJ and music futurist Jon Sabillón taps into the bioelectricity of live plants to generate music evoking the sights, sounds, and sensations of Mesoamerican jungles.

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Guests create paper-cut figures for artist Andrea Cira's Community Tree of Life rooted in Aztec and Spanish colonial traditions.

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Community Tree of Life by Andrea Cira (pictured at left)

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Creation Codex Mixing Lab hosted by M.A.S.A. (Migrating Assembly for Stories and Art) | Guests exchange stories about the lore, legends, and traditions in their lives as M.A.S.A. artists record them live into a codex.

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Creation Codex Mixing Lab | drawings by M.A.S.A. artist collective members of guest origin stories

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Creation Codex Mixing Lab hosted by M.A.S.A. (Migrating Assembly for Stories and Art)

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Greatest Hits Mixing Lab | Guest memories and wishes about important milestones are added to a piñata-in-progress.

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Pequeño Piñatas | Guests explore the Mesoamerican origins of piñatas while making personal piñata ornaments

  • Night/Shift: UltraVivid | Gallery Side Quest

Resonant Vessels

A commissioned seven-site progressive performance. Forrest Pierce, composer. Spencer Museum of Art, 2016.

  • Resonant Vessels

  • I. Grand Staircase

  • I. Grand Staircase

  • I. Grand Staircase

  • Procession

  • II. Spiral

  • II. Spiral

  • Procession

  • III. Cavern

  • III. Cavern

  • III. Cavern

  • IIII. Cavern

  • III. Cavern

  • III. Cavern

  • Procession

  • Procession

  • IV. Corridor

  • IV. Corridor

  • IV. Corridor

  • V. Minaret

  • V. Minaret

  • V. Minaret

  • VI. Colonnade

  • VI. Colonnade

  • VI. Colonnade

  • VII. Gallery

  • VII. Gallery

  • VII. Gallery

  • VII. Gallery

View the Video

Land(un)locked

An interrogation of place with artist Steve Rowell. Spencer Museum of Art, 2016.

  • Participant meet-up in the Mini-Cinema

  • Artist and Guide Steve Rowell

  • Decommissioned missile silo, DeSoto, Kansas

  • Decommissioned missile silo, DeSoto, Kansas

  • The Caves, Meritex Executive Park, Lenexa, Kansas

  • Atop the Caves, Meritex Executive Park, Lenexa, Kansas

  • Mini-Cinema featuring short films by Steve Rowell

Amorphous Collective

A monthly gathering of and open invitation to improvisors across disciplines. Spencer Museum of Art, 2022.

Pass Me the Mic: A Black History / Black Futures Storytelling Experience.

B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence and Naomi Madu, MC. Spencer Museum of Art, 2022.

Video excerpt featuring Barry Barnes

Sew & Tell Visible Mending Workshops.

Co-organized with Anne Rogers. Spencer Museum of Art, 2022.

  • Writing, drawing, and reflection prompts, and visible mending resources

  • Demo by Anne Rogers

  • Breath- and body-mending

  • Visible mending examples in the collection from across time, place, and cultural traditions, and in contemporary practice

Backyard Bash

Spencer Museum of Art, 2015-2019.

  • Get Inked! walnut ink and vegetable printmaking with walnut ink harvested from the grove's historic walnut trees, in collaboration with KU Field Ecology and Visual Art faculty and students

  • Inuksuit, composition for 9 to 99 percussionists by John Luther Adams, performed by KU Percussion Studio, director: Michael Compitello

  • Putt-Putt Pop-up of repurposed materials by artist Charlie Mylie

  • WaterWorks game with Douglas County Resource and Conservation Services

  • Backyard Smash: pinatas by artist Juniper Tangpuz

  • NuPenny's Last Stand lands at Backyard Bash..."It’s unclear how many NuPenny Toy Stores were in existence, or if there were ever more than one. Whatever the facts, one remains. Conceived in actuality more as a stand than a store, this model of portable toy display and sales endeavor is nomadic....Throughout history there have been documented sightings of a NuPenny Toy Store in Maine, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Arkansas." - artist Randy Regier

  • Gyotaku, Japanese fish prints with KU Natural History Museum

  • Gyotaku, Japanese fish prints with KU Natural History Museum

  • A la Poupee and the Chine Colles sing the printmaking blues

  • Tree Stories with Dr. Robert Hagen and KU Field Ecology Students

  • Henna: Nature's Jewelry

  • Four Freedoms sign-making activity

  • Karen Lisondra and Amado Espinoza

  • Giant Mancala created in collaboration with KU sculpture students, carved from a fallen tree

  • Block Party! with KU Print Club

  • ADEKU African Drum Ensemble of KU

Zine Club & Zine Release and Reflection

Disability Justice is a Feminist Issue, in collaboration with the KU Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, 2023.

  • Disability Justice is a Feminist Issue collaborative zine

  • Collaborative zine contributors discuss their work and stories

  • Gallery discussion on art and disability justice

  • Zine Club meet-up at the museum

  • Disability Justice is a Feminist Issue collaborative zine

  • Zine Club meet-up at the museum

  • 2023 KU Common Work of Art: Harry Bertoia, Sounding Sculpture

  • Zine Club meet-up at the museum

  • 2023 KU Common Book: Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong

  • Zine Club meet-up at the museum

Soundwall

Premiere of Little Structures for Wall Drawing 519 by Sol LeWitt. Kip Haaheim, composer. KU Percussion Studio, Ji Hye Jung, director. Spencer Museum of Art, 2014.

  • Kip Haaheim research visit

  • Kip Haaheim composing Little Structures in the gallery

  • KU Percussion Studio performs Little Structures

Read my essay "Little Structures" about this composition and performance
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Interpretation