Events Calendar
Events are free and take place in a variety of locations and formats. The Museum is committed to accessibility for all visitors. Our efforts are ongoing. To request an accommodation for an upcoming event, please contact the Museum in advance at spencerart@ku.edu or 785.864.4710.
February 09
Activity
STUDENT NIGHT AT THE SPENCER
7PM
– 9PM
Spencer Museum of Art
KU and Haskell students are invited to explore our newly reinstalled galleries and enjoy music, activities, refreshments, and good times with friends. The event is free and open to all university students.
Sponsored By: Presented by the Spencer Student Advisory Board
February 10
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
February 13
Talk
GABRIELLE CIVIL: THE DÉJÀ VU
6PM
– 7PM
The Forum, Marvin Hall, 1465 Jayhawk Blvd
Gabrielle Civil is a Black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer whose work aims to open up space. Originally from Detroit, she currently teaches at the California Institute of the Arts. Civil has premiered 50 performance artworks around the world and her memoirs include the déjà vu, Swallow the Fish, Experiments in Joy, (ghost gestures), and in and out of place.
Sponsored By: Sponsored by The Commons, the KU Departments of English, African and African-American Studies, Women Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Visual Art, History of Black Writing , the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the J. Wayne & Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction
February 16
Talk
KENNETH A. SPENCER LECTURE AN EVENING WITH ROSS GAY
7PM
– 8:30PM
Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St
Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry including Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His latest collection of essays, Inciting Joy, was released in October 2022. Free tickets are available at https://www.universe.com/RossGay. The Raven Book Store will be on site to sell books for a signing following the lecture.
Sponsored By: The Commons
February 17
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
February 18
Activity
ART CART STORY ZINES
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 401 Loo Gallery
Learn the tale of the Japanese wolves that inspired Konoike Tomoko’s "Donning Animal Skins and Braided Grass", then create your own story on a folded paper zine. Our friends from the Natural History Mususem will join us with some specimens from their collection. The Art Cart is a free drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
February 19
Talk
SLOW ART SUNDAY NIGHT & DAY, DAY & NIGHT
2PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 407 Kress Gallery
Slow down at the Spencer and spend time getting to know one great work of art. Slow Art Sunday features one work for visitors to contemplate and converse about with Museum staff. In February, get to know the Raqs Media clock, Night & Day, Day & Night.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
February 21
Activity
BLACK ART: THEN AND NOW AT THE SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART
1PM
– 2PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 404 Marshall Balcony
Celebrate Black History Month at the Spencer with this tour highlighting art from the Black diaspora in our new collection galleries and the exhibition Pictures of US by Accra Shepp. Graduate intern Maggie Brown-Peoples will lead a discussion of Black artistic expression across the globe and provide resources for further engagement with selected artworks
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
February 23
Activity
ARTISTS UNITE!
4PM
– 5PM
Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont Street
Join Spencer staff for an hour of fun and creativity with our friends at the Lawrence Public Library! For ages 8–11. Registration required. For more information, visit the Library’s website at lplks.org.
Sponsored By: Lawrence Public Library
February 23
Activity
SPRING GRADUATE RECEPTION4PM – 6PM
Gather with graduate students from across campus to connect and learn about wellness resources and opportunities at KU. Participate in short tours of new exhibitions led by Spencer Museum graduate interns and enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine, and punch, plus free prizes and swag. Students can also meet Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies Jennifer Roberts, Graduate Student Body President Hollie Hall, and representatives from Student Senate and the Graduate Student Advisory Board to the Provost.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, KU Graduate Studies, The Commons, Office of Multicultural Affairs
February 24
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 01
Activity
SPOTLIGHT ON CARE LIBERATE YOUR RESEARCH & TEACHING A WORKSHOP SERIES WITH NADINE NABER, PH.D.
12PM
– 1PM
Zoom Registration: bit.ly/SpotlightYourResearch
Asserting Individual Values: This session will re-center us in our personal value-systems by articulating our individual theories, methods, and interventions. This workshop is presented as a three-part series for scholars interested in reclaiming their relationship to their research
Sponsored By: The Commons, the IPSR Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, the Spencer Museum of Art, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, and the Environmental Studies Program, with additional funding support from the Office of Faculty Affairs, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, and the Office of Graduate Studies
March 02
Activity
ZINE NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
6PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
Whether you’re an experienced zinester or want to experiment with your first zine, you’re invited to create in community and contribute a page to a collaborative zine exploring disability, ableism, gender, and feminism. Take inspiration from the KU Common Work of Art by Harry Bertoia and the KU Common Book “Disability Visibility” or work on your own project. The first 10 people will receive a free zine making kit. What’s a zine? Check out https://emilytaylorcenter.ku.edu/making-zines-doing-feminism.
Sponsored By: Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, The Commons, Spencer Museum of Art, Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, and Faculty Staff Council on Disability Inclusion
March 03
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 04
Social
LEVEL UP! AN ART PARTY FOR ALL
12PM
– 5PM
Spencer Museum of Art
We’re throwing a party and you’re invited! We recently updated our collection galleries upstairs to increase accessibility and put more diverse artwork on display. Join us to celebrate art and community in these new spaces. This event offers experiences for everyone. Explore historic and contemporary art from all over the world, take part in creative challenges and activities, and enjoy performances and refreshments.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 06
Talk
STEPHANIE DINKINS ARTIST TALK
10AM
– 11AM
Kansas Union, Mallott Room, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd
Artist Stephanie Dinkins (Stony Brook University) shares about her work, including a two-year collaboration with artist Simon Denny commissioned by the Spencer’s Arts Research Integration program and KU’s Institute of Information Sciences. Dinkins is known for creating art about artificial intelligence as it intersects with race, gender, and history. Her recent major solo exhibition “On Love and Data” was organized by the Stamps Gallery (University of Michigan) and traveled to the Queens Museum in New York.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, Department of Visual Art, Institute for Information Sciences, Franklin D. Murphy Lecture Fund of the Kress Foundation Department of Art History, Museum Studies Program, Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Kansas Blockchain Institute
March 06
Talk
SIMON DENNY ARTIST TALK
11:30AM
– 12:30PM
Kansas Union, Mallott Room, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd
New Zealand artist Simon Denny (HFBK Hamburg) shares about his work, including a two-year collaboration with artist Stephanie Dinkins commissioned by the Spencer’s Arts Research Integration program and KU’s Institute of Information Sciences. Based in Berlin, Denny makes exhibitions and projects that unpack the stories technologists tell us about the world using a variety of media, including installation, sculpture, print, painting, video, and NFTs. He represented New Zealand at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, Institute for Information Sciences, Department of Visual Art, Franklin D. Murphy Lecture Fund of the Kress Foundation, Department of Art History, Museum Studies Program, Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Kansas Blockchain Institute
March 07
Talk
INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY FORUM PART 2
4PM
– 6PM
Haskell Indian Nations University, Tommaney Library, 2450 Creek Avenue
This is a follow-up to the Indigenous community forum held in September 2022. We invite members of the Indigenous community to drop in for any portion of the two-hour event to learn about the Spencer’s current initiatives and projects inspired by the last forum, receive updates on repatriation efforts, discuss contemporary museum issues, express concerns, and provide input through various activities
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, KU Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
March 08
Activity
SPOTLIGHT ON CARE LIBERATE YOUR RESEARCH & TEACHING A WORKSHOP SERIES WITH NADINE NABER, PH.D.
12PM
– 1PM
Zoom Registration: bit.ly/SpotlightYourResearch
Applying What We’ve Learned: This session will bring us into centered focus around our work so that each of us is better equipped to achieve our unique research, writing, and teaching goals. This workshop is presented as a three-part series for scholars interested in reclaiming their relationship to their research.
Sponsored By: The Commons, the IPSR Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, the Spencer Museum of Art, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, and the Environmental Studies Program, with additional funding support from the Office of Faculty Affairs, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, and the Office of Graduate Studies
March 10
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 23
Talk
SENIOR SESSION A KANSAS ORIGINAL: QUILTS BY ROSE KRETSINGER
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
The extraordinary quilts by Emporia native Rose Kretsinger are frequently requested by visitors but have not been shown in more than 10 years. Join Curator Susan Earle for a special viewing of these quilts in the new Lee Study Center to learn about Kretsinger’s brilliant designs and techniques. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults, but open to all.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 24
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 25
Activity
ART CART CLOTHING CLUES
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, Michaelis Gallery
Explore how clothing, adornment, and hairstyles can give clues about people in works of art. Look closely at several portraits, then create decorative figures of your own using the materials provided. The Art Cart is a free drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
March 29
Talk
CLIMATE JUSTICE ACROSS DOMAINS: LOCAL TO GLOBAL
5PM
– 9PM
Maceli’s Banquet Hall, 1031 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, KS 66044 and via Zoom
For the second year in a row, KU will participate in the Worldwide Climate Justice Teach-In, organized by researchers at Bard College. This interdisciplinary event is an opportunity for local researchers, community leaders, practitioners, students, and creative scholars, among others, to share their unique contributions to the work of addressing climate change. Register for this hybrid event at https://thecommons.ku.edu/climate-teach-in.
Sponsored By: The Commons, the Department of Geography & Atmospheric Science, the IPSR Center for Compassionate and Sustainable Communities, the KU Libraries, and the Environmental Studies Program
March 30
Talk
FRANKLIN D. MURPHY LECTURE SERIES HAKUIN EKAKU (1685-1768) AND ZENGA IN THE EDO PERIOD
11AM
– 12:15PM
Spencer Museum of Art, Art and Architecture Library, Room 103 and on Zoom. To join via Zoom, please contact Maya Stiller at mstiller@ku.edu for the access code.
Explore the Zen paintings and calligraphies of Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768), the most famous Zen monk-artist of Japan’s Edo period with Yukio Lippit (Harvard University). Lippit examines Hakuin’s incorporation of different voices from Edo popular culture to communicate religious meaning, and considers Zenga’s construction as a category in the modern era.
Sponsored By: Kress Foundation Department of Art History, Spencer Museum of Art
March 31
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 07
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
April 08
FIRST NATIONS STUDENT ASSOCIATION POWWOW AND KU INDIGENOUS CULTURES FESTIVAL
12PM
– 9PM
Lied Center of Kansas, 1600 Stewart Dr
Join us for KU’s Annual First Nations Student Association Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival at the Lied Center and newly designated powwow arena nearby. This free community event features a daylong powwow and activities such as Indigenous films, educational workshops, and children’s activities focused on Indigenous cultures. Indigenous artists and craftspeople will have items for sale, and Indigenous food will be available for purchase throughout the day
Sponsored By: Sponsored by KU First Nations Student Association, Lied Center of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, Spencer Museum of Art, Native Faculty-Staff Council, KU Indigenous Studies Program, and University Academic Support Centers
April 13
Talk
SENIOR SESSION THREE AMERICAN MODERNISTS: ELAINE DE KOONING, LOUISE NEVELSON, AND ELIZABETH MURRAY
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 405 Michaelis Gallery
Join KU Professor and Chair of Art History David Cateforis in exploring three major works in the Spencer collection: Elaine de Kooning’s "Arena" (1959), Louise Nevelson’s "Seventh Decade Garden IX-X" (1971), and Elizabeth Murray’s "Chaotic Lip" (1986). The discussion focuses on the artists’ distinctive uses of abstraction – a key feature of much modernist art – both as a vehicle of personal expression and to invite the viewer’s creative engagement with the artwork. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults, but open to all.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 13
Talk
ZINE RELEASE AND REFLECTION: DISABILITY JUSTICE IS A FEMINIST ISSUE
6PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
Celebrate the release of a free collaborative zine exploring disability, ableism, gender, and feminism inspired by the KU Common Work of Art by Harry Bertoia and the KU Common Book “Disability Visibility.” Contributors reflect on their pages followed by time for questions and discussion. The first 10 people will receive a free zine making kit. What’s a zine? Check out https://emilytaylorcenter.ku.edu/making-zines-doing-feminism.
Sponsored By: Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, The Commons, Spencer Museum of Art, Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and Faculty Staff Council on Disability Inclusion
April 14
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 21
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 22
Activity
ART CART EARTH WITHOUT ART IS “EH
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 405 Michaelis Gallery
Join in a citywide celebration of Earth Day! Learn how to create a colorful woven food covering from plastic bags and wire. The Art Cart is a free drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 28
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 30
Activity
SLOW ART SUNDAY LE PARTAGE DU GATEAU (DIVIDING THE CAKE)
2PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 401 Loo Gallery
Slow down at the Spencer and spend time getting to know one great work of art. Slow Art Sunday features one work for visitors to contemplate and converse about with Museum staff. In April, get to know Sam-Ilus's "Le partage du gateau (Dividing the Cake)".
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 05
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 06
Activity
KITE FESTIVAL
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, Reece Memorial Plaza
This community event commemorates the Hamamatsu Kite Festival that occurs each May in Japan. People of all ages are invited to learn about the history and culture of kite making.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, Center for East Asian Studies
May 11
Talk
SENIOR SESSION JAPANESE CRAFT AND THE ART OF TEA
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 406 Stewart Gallery, 409 Lee Study Center
Learn how objects in the Spencer Museum’s collection intersect with the Japanese tradition of tea. Dale Slusser, who has studied and taught the Urasenke tradition of tea for nearly 40 years, provides an introduction to tea practice and shares how aesthetics, craft, and tea have interacted over time. Senior sessions are designed for older adults, but open to all. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults, but open to all.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 11
Social
GET TO KNOW THE SPENCER MUSEUM
4PM
– 6PM
Spencer Museum of Art
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.
May 12
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
1PM
– 4PM
305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 20
Activity
ART CART CUPS AND SAUCERS
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 406 Stewart Gallery
Take inspiration from the many teacups and ceramics on display in the Intersections gallery and create your own from mixed media. The Art Cart is a free drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art