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.

March 20

Talk

JACOB LAWRENCE AND THE LEGEND OF JOHN BROWN

12PM – 1PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 404 Marshall Balcony

Join Curator Kate Meyer and graduate intern Claire Cox as they discuss the history and continued relevance of Jacob Lawrence's prints depicting the life and death of abolitionist John Brown.

March 22

Talk

ON HOW PORTUGUESE FOOTHOLDS ALONG THE COASTAL LINE OF MOROCCO BECAME SITES OF IMPERIAL POWER

12PM – 1PM
Online

Harbor cities usually display the amalgamation of two, though entwined, urban systems: an open public space for the exchange of traded goods – usually a market or piazza located next to, or at, the port – and a protected and defensive architectural set of buildings attuned to the contemporary technologies of war. It is the collision of two vectors: one which promotes the freedom of movement and of social mingling and the other which stages the presence of control, surveillance and the power to protect through display of fortified and armored architecture. In this short paper I would like to discuss several Portuguese footholds along the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in which the Moroccan harbor cities were transformed into military strongholds for securing maritime trade. I argue that these cities went through a sudden transition of turning harbor cities into military strongholds. I also suggest that this specific change involves the reverse of the gaze, in which the guarding ‘eyes’ of the harbor city was set over the open sea. Thus, the Imperial Portuguese project of building strongholds along the African coast caused a rupture in the architectural urban history of the Moroccan port cities and situated these spaces as part of the global display of Portuguese power along the expanded empire’s frontiers. This talk will be Live Streamed via YouTube, @KUArtHistory.

March 28

Talk

SENIOR SESSION THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACE FROM HAND-MADE TO MACHINE-MADE

10:15AM – 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 318 Brosseau Learning Center

During the 19th century, making lace transitioned from a hand process to a machine process as part of the Industrial Revolution. Retired textile professor Tess van Groll discusses this shift using examples from the Spencer's collection. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.

April 11

Talk

INTRO TO ART LAW/HOLOCAUST ART RESTITUTION WITH RAYMOND DOWD

4:30PM – 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center

Join the Federal Bar Association Chapter for the districts of Kansas & Western Missouri for Intro to Art Law/Holocaust Art Restitution, featuring attorney Raymond Dowd. The program begins with an “Introduction to Art Law” panel discussion, followed by a presentation from Dowd on related litigation and topics of interest. The evening concludes with a reception in the Museum. This event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is required. To RSVP and learn more, please visit: fedbarkanmo.org/ajde-events/art-litigation-panel

April 25

Talk

SENIOR SESSION THE INSPIRING STORY OF A VANDALIZED SIGN

10:15AM – 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Perkins Central Court

Learn the true story of a sign that was stolen, throw in a river, replaced, shot, replaced again, and shot again. Follow the sign as it travels from rural Mississippi to the Smithsonian to the White House to Lawrence with KU Professor Dave Tell, author of the 2019 book "Remembering Emmett Till." Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.

May 01

Talk

ARTIVISM AND AFROFUTURISM

11AM – 12:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art

B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence members Alex Kimball Williams and Anthony Boynton share their research and its relationship to art displayed in the exhibition “One History, Two Versions.” Williams will speak about police brutality and protest art and Boynton will discuss Afrofuturism.

May 23

Talk

SENIOR SESSION A GOTHIC MARVEL

10:15AM – 11AM
409 Lee Study Center, Spencer Museum of Art

Experience the splendor of the Spencer's iconic "Tympanum with the Lamentation (Pieta)." Graduate intern and art history doctoral candidate 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. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.

June 13

Talk

SENIOR SESSION JACOB LAWRENCE AND JOHN BROWN

10:15AM – 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Marshall Balcony, 404

Curator Kate Meyer leads a tour of the exhibition "Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown," discussing the artist and his series of prints as well as John Brown and his ties to Kansas. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.