October 18

Activity

2PM – 3PM
LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 707 VERMONT ST

Learn about the strange and wonderful world of bugs with biologist Stephen Baca from the University of Kansas Natural History Museum! Create symmetrical butterfly art with the Spencer Museum of Art.

Sponsored By: Lawrence Public Library

October 18

Talk

4PM – 5:30PM
THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL, 1340 JAYHAWK BLVD

Red Hot Research brings together scholars from different disciplines to deliver six-minute flash presentations about current research. Audience members are encouraged to connect with the speakers and one another during breaks.

Sponsored By: The Commons

October 19

Activity

1PM – 3:30PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, DOLPH SIMONS FAMILY GALLERY, 316

The Art Cart is a drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view. Experience the wonder of work by artist Danielle Roney in the exhibition knowledges and create your own freestanding light sculpture.

October 20

Talk

2PM – 3PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, PERKINS CENTRAL COURT, SIMONS GALLERY, LONG ELLIS GALLERY

Delve into the exhibition knowledges with Spencer Curator Joey Orr and discover how works by four featured artists challenge and expand ideas about knowledge creation. Up Close gallery talks reveal the personal stories behind exhibitions.

October 23

Activity

6PM – 9PM
ABE AND JAKE’S LANDING, 8 E 6TH ST, LAWRENCE, KS 66044

This unexpected humanities fair brings art, literature, history, classics, theater, and more out of the shadows and into downtown Lawrence for a night of haunting fun for all ages. Stop by the Spencer Museum station to take part in an ancient samurai ritual and test of courage—if you dare. Our version of the ghost story game Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai or “Gathering of 100 Supernatural Tales” starts with 100 candles. One by one, the flames disappear as you share a haunting haiku inspired by images of Japanese prints on view. Throw down your last spooky syllable to extinguish one candle. When the last candle goes dark, will the spirits appear?

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities

October 24

Talk

10:15AM – 11:15AM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, LARRY AND BARBARA MARSHALL FAMILY BALCONY, 404

PhD candidate in art history and former Spencer intern Pinyan Zhu discusses Foundling, a series of 100 portraits of children adopted from overseas created by artist Megan Rye, and related works of art from the Museum’s collection. The exhibition prompts questions about the meanings of home and immigrants’ civil rights. Senior Sessions are designed for senior citizens but open to everyone.

October 27

Talk

2PM – 3PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, JOHN AND LINDA STEWART GALLERY, 406

Slow down at the Spencer on the last Sunday of each month 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 October, get to know “Homecoming” by Bunky Echo-Hawk.

October 28

Talk

5PM – 6PM
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANAS MEDICAL CENTER, HEALTH EDUCATION BUILDING, ROOM G109; 2146 W 39TH AVE, KANSAS CITY, KS 66103

Lundy Braun (Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Africana Studies, Brown University) will discuss the role that science and medicine have played in producing racial hierarchies in the United States and South Africa. Her research adopts an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the epistemological dimensions of structural racism, colonization, and the naturalization of human difference in medicine and public health. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: https://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas African Studies Center, Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine—University of Kansas Medical Center

November 05

Talk

3:30PM – 5PM
HALL CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES CONFERENCE HALL, 900 SUNNYSIDE AVE

Museums have long reduced Africa to a seemingly static, dark, and dusty prehistory. Through the pernicious lens of early race science, many African people were bestialized in the Western imagination, and this stigmatization has left persistent residues in museums as well as in popular culture and national politics. This talk rethinks the representation of race in museums and our national monuments to combat anti-Black racism, reimagining new possibilities for people of the African Diaspora. Registration for the colloquium is free: https://deptsec.ku.edu/~spencerart/forms/form/22

November 06

Talk

9AM – 10:30AM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, AUDITORIUM, 309

Sarah Hunt is professor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies and the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She will be giving the inaugural lecture for the IARI knowledges colloquium. Registration for the colloquium is free: https://deptsec.ku.edu/~spencerart/forms/form/22

November 06

Talk

11AM – 12:30PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART

Exhibiting artists in knowledges will be in conversation with researchers working in the same field to discuss how different methods reveal different opportunities and challenges. Registration for the colloquium is free: https://deptsec.ku.edu/~spencerart/forms/form/22

November 06

Talk

2PM – 3:30PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART

Exhibiting artists in knowledges will be in conversation with researchers working in the same field to discuss how different methods reveal different opportunities and challenges. Registration for the colloquium is free: https://deptsec.ku.edu/~spencerart/forms/form/22

November 06

Talk

4PM – 5:30PM
THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL, 1340 JAYHAWK BLVD

Artist and designer Ron Morrison discusses mapping strategies. Registration for the colloquium is free: https://deptsec.ku.edu/~spencerart/forms/form/22

November 07

Talk

10AM – 11:30AM
KANSAS UNION, WOODRUFF AUDITORIUM

This keynote by visual culture scholar Nicholas Mirzoeff investigates whether art spaces can serve as sites to decenter whiteness and stimulate social justice. In the context of highly visible social symbols, such as colonial monuments and border walls, Mirzoeff prompts us to consider how we can understand and engage with issues of race, hierarchy, and political power. He urges white people to recognize their complicity within current power structures, and asks: What can white people and predominantly white institutions do to foster mutual and productive exchange?

November 14

Talk

10:15AM – 11:15AM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, JACK AND LAVON BROSSEAU CENTER FOR LEARNING, 318

Join Associate Conservator Jacinta Johnson for a discussion about the treatment of the iconic Japanese woodblock print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai. Johnson will share how Japanese paper is made and discuss its important role in the field of art conservation. Senior Sessions are designed for senior citizens but open to everyone.

November 15

Talk

4PM – 5:30PM
THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL, 1340 JAYHAWK BLVD

Red Hot Research brings together scholars from different disciplines to deliver six-minute flash presentations about current research. Audience members are encouraged to connect with the speakers and one another during breaks.

Sponsored By: The Commons

November 16

Talk

2PM – 3PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, LARRY AND BARBARA MARSHALL FAMILY BALCONY, 404

Experience the exhibition Foundling through the eyes of PhD candidate in art history and former Spencer intern Pinyan Zhu. Foundling features 100 portraits of children adopted by American parents by artist Megan Rye and explores ideas about home and immigrants’ rights. Up Close gallery talks reveal the personal stories behind exhibitions.

November 18

Talk

6AM – 7:30AM
LAWRENCE, PUBLIC LIBRARY, AUDITORIUM; 707 VERMONT STREET, LAWRENCE, KS 66044

NedRa Bonds, a celebrated Kansas City-based quilt, educator, and activist, will discuss her prolific body of work, including projects that center the healing power of art. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: http://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art, Hall Center for the Humanities, Kansas African Studies Center

November 21

Performance

6PM – 7:30PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, SAM AND CONNIE PERKINS CENTRAL COURT, 317

Inspired by NASA’s Voyager mission and recordings of music on the Golden Record, a time capsule placed onboard in the event the spacecraft are discovered in the future, this concert-length work for percussion octet invites new encounters with art and music and ways of understanding our cosmic neighborhood. Explore the Museum as members of the KU Percussion Group perform this piece by Ben Justis, 2019 doctoral graduate in music composition.

November 22

Talk

4PM – 5:30PM
THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL, 1340 JAYHAWK BLVD

Red Hot Graduate Research brings together student scholars from different disciplines to deliver six-minute flash presentations about current research. Audience members are encouraged to connect with the speakers and one other during breaks.

Sponsored By: The Commons

November 23

Activity

1PM – 3:30PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, LARRY AND BARBARA MARSHALL FAMILY BALCONY, 404

The Art Cart is a drop-in activity station where children and grown-ups enjoy hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original works of art on view. Create a mixed-media “home-holder” by using materials to visualize what home means to you.

November 24

Talk

2PM – 3PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART

Slow down at the Spencer on the last Sunday of each month 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.

December 03

Talk

5PM – 6PM
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE-SALINA, WEST LOBBY 101; 138 N SANTA FE AVENUE, SALINA, KS 67401

Dr. Paul Mkandawire studies the intersections of global and public health, social justice, and human rights. He will be sharing his research on HIV/AIDS and Ebola in Africa and the ways that state and non-state institutions mobilize responses to epidemics of global proportions. Dr. Mkwandawire serves as the Co-Director of the Human Rights and Social Justice Program and Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: http://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities, Kansas African Studies Center, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina

December 06

Talk

4PM – 5:30PM
THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL, 1340 JAYHAWK BLVD

Red Hot Research brings together scholars from different disciplines to deliver six-minute flash presentations about current research. Audience members are encouraged to connect with the speakers and one another during breaks.

Sponsored By: The Commons

December 07

Activity

9AM – 12PM
WATKINS MUSEUM OF HISTORY, 1047 MASSACHUSETTS ST

Visit the Watkins Museum to create and celebrate holiday traditions with your family at this free annual event. The Spencer Museum will be on hand to lead a special art activity.

Sponsored By: Watkins Museum of History

December 29

Talk

1PM – 4PM
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART, SAM AND CONNIE PERKINS CENTRAL COURT, 317

Every year, Spencer Museum Director Saralyn Reece Hardy spends an afternoon in the galleries welcoming visitors and leading informal tours to celebrate the holiday season. Tours are offered at 1:00PM and 2:30PM. Join us and make this Spencer Museum tradition your own.

February 05

Talk

5:30PM – 6:30PM
THE HALL CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES, CONFERENCE HALL; 900 SUNNYSIDE AVENUE, LAWRENCE, KS 66045

Dr. Moya Bailey (Assistant Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Northeastern University) is a scholar of critical race, feminist, and disability studies. Her work focuses on Black women’s use of digital media to promote social justice as acts of self-affirmation and health promotion and is particularly interested in how race, gender, and sexuality are represented in media and medicine. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: http://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities, Kansas African Studies Center, Spencer Museum of Art

February 19

Talk

5:30PM – 6:30PM
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE—WICHITA, ROBERTS AMPHITHEATER; 1010 NORTH KANSAS STREET, WICHITA, KS 67214

Dr. Ama de-Graft Aikins (British Academy Global Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London) will discuss her research on “chronicity”—the complexity of addressing disease conditions that progress slowly, are of long duration, and cause debility—among Ghanaian communities living in London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. She will demonstrate the ways that place, migration history, and generational status intersect with chronic illness in these communities and the implications they bear for long-term care. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: http://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities, Kansas African Studies Center, Spencer Museum of Art

March 04

Talk

5:30PM – 6:30PM
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEMORIAL UNION, MALOTT ROOM (LEVEL 6); 1301 JAYHAWK BOULEVARD, LAWRENCE, KS 66045

Charly Evon Simpson is a playwright and teacher. Her plays include Jump, Behind the Sheet, form of a girl unknown, it’s not a trip it’s a journey, and more. Charly will be sharing the ways that her work has centered black women's bodies and the ways that Black bodies have been viewed and treated differently, including in medicine. Charly was recently named the co-recipient of the Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award, was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award, and had two of her plays on the 2019 Kilroys List. Her play Jump is the first recipient of the David Goldman Fund for New Plays. This lecture is part of KU’s Sawyer Seminar; to learn more, visit: http://chronicconditions.ku.edu.

Sponsored By: Hall Center for the Humanities, Kansas African Studies Center, Spencer Museum of Art