Soundings: Making Culture at Sea
Exhibition
Exhibition Overview
Soundings: Making Culture at Sea
Celka Straughn, curator
Emily C. Casey, curator
Emily C. Casey, curator
August 12, 2025–December 14, 2025
Galleries 315 and 316, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Featuring works of art and material culture made in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, this exhibition shows how in the past and present the world’s oceans are a space for cross-cultural reflections on the relationship between humans and the earth.
Exhibition images
Works of art
unrecorded Hausa-Fulani artist
palampore (bedcover),
1800s
Calixte Henry (1933–2010, active 1955–2010)
three fishing boats and two fishermen on open water,
circa 1955–1985
tea caddy,
late 1700s–early 1800s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Andrea Chung (born 1978)
Untitled,
2022 - 2022
James Craig Nicoll
Benjamin Martin (1704–1782)
octant,
mid 1700s
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
tureen and cover,
circa 1840, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Winslow Homer
West India Divers,
1899
sweetmeat tray,
date unknown
saucer with landscape,
1750s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Terry Evans
Icebergs, Disko Bay,
June 27, 2008, around midnight
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
Utagawa Yoshitora
Yokohama Hatoba Keshiki (View of Yokohama Harbor),
1861, 2nd month, Edo period (1600–1868)
Norman Akers (born 1958)
Landing,
2019
Lewis Lindsay Dyche (1857–1915)
icebergs off the coast of Greenland,
1894–1895
Terry Evans
Icefjord that leads to the mouth of the Jakobshavn Glacier,
June 27, 2008, morning
William Hogarth
Mad House,
circa 1735
Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Hieronymus Cock; Frans Huys
Three Men of War in a Tempest,
1561–1565
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
Cara Romero (born 1977)
Eufaula Girls,
2015
Terry Evans
Pierre-Jacques Volaire
Seacoast with Ships,
mid-late 1700s
vase with lid,
circa 1700s
Lewis Lindsay Dyche (1857–1915)
Inuit man in a kayak,
1894–1895
Winslow Homer
Cloud Shadows,
1890
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
Isaac Julien; Bick Productions; New Museum of Contemporary Art
Bernard Séjourné (1947–1994)
Erzuline,
1974
Lewis Lindsay Dyche (1857–1915)
icebergs and coastline in Greenland,
1894–1895
Mark Dion (born 1961)
Marine Algae,
2007–2011
Willie Cole
Calpurnia,
2012
pair of screens,
1700s–1800s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983); Buckminster Fuller Institute; Shoji Sadao (1927–2019)
Willie Cole
Lula Bell,
2012
Willie Cole
Bertha Mae,
2012
Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013)
Rabbit Eating Seaweed II,
1999
unrecorded Kalaallit (Greenland Inuit) artist
miniature kayak,
mid 1800s–1895
Eelaela (born 1933)
seal figure,
mid–late 1900s
Martha Tunnuq Kutsiuttikko
seal figure,
mid–late 1900s
boat model,
late 1800s–1979
plate with foreign figures
,
1700s–mid 1800s, Edo period (1600–1868)
unrecorded Chimú artist
Mermaid,
mid 1800s
Laurie & Whittle (1794–1858)
Enrique Chagoya
Events
September 17, 2025
Talk
5:30–6:45PM
November 6, 2025
Talk
6:00–7:00PM
November 9, 2025
Performance
3:00–4:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art