Soundings: Making Culture at Sea

For peoples in cultures around the world, the sea is a source of nourishment, spiritual belief, and connection. While we tend to locate human culture on the land we inhabit, the seas we imagine and cross are also a place where culture is created. 

A sounding is a measurement of ocean depth made using a weighted rope or sonar to map the topography of the sea floor. This exhibition makes a “sounding” of the Spencer Museum’s deep collection and brings to the surface works of art that reveal the enduring and vibrant relationship between humans and the sea. 

Throughout history the ocean has been a space of travel, exploration, and exploitation. In the 15th century, the world’s oceans became the vortex for colonial violence as European empires sought to master the sea in order to claim the peoples and resources of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and beyond. 

In the present day, the ocean is a space that is as ecologically fragile as it is powerful. Human-made climate change has transformed the world’s oceans from melting glaciers to rising sea levels. Artists and makers from diverse cultural backgrounds illuminate the currents connecting people to their environment. In the past and present, artistic representations of the sea shape how people around the world navigate their relationships to one another and to the earth. 

This virtual exhibition builds on an in-gallery exhibition presented at the Spencer Museum of Art, August 12–December 14, 2025. Through additional contributions the virtual exhibition extends insights from curatorial, academic, and student collaboration to a wider audience. An interactive map allows viewers to visually connect objects and themes. 

Both the in-gallery and virtual exhibitions of Soundings are structured in four sections that explore cultural and environmental dimensions of the human experience of the ocean: Living with the Ocean, Mapping, Global Exchange, and Rising Seas. These themes also connect to topics in the KU art history course “Art and the Sea.”  

Students enrolled in "Art and the Sea" during the fall 2025 semester conducted research on the exhibited artworks, which they shared through in-gallery public presentations. As part of their coursework, they also wrote labels as another way to engage with and respond to ideas and themes within the exhibition. Some of their written contributions are included in this virtual exhibition, adding a new layer of interpretation to the artworks. While student-written labels sometimes overlap with the labels written by the curators, they each bring a distinct perspective that enriches the viewer's overall understanding of an artwork. 

A virtual discussion on October 28, 2026, will further explore exhibition themes with art historians Kailani Polzak, Bart Pushaw, and Vidhita Raina. A recording of the event will be available on this page, as well as through the Spencer Museum’s YouTube channel. 

Both the in-gallery and virtual presentations of Soundings: Making Culture at Sea are co-curated by Emily C. Casey, Hall Assistant Professor of American Art and Culture, Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, and Celka Straughn, Deputy Director for Public Practice and Curatorial, and Director of Academic Programs, Spencer Museum of Art. The Soundings series launched in 2018 with an exhibition curated by Charles Eldredge, Hall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of American Art and Culture. 

This virtual exhibition and related programs are supported by the KU Office of Research, the Kress Foundation Department of Art History, and the Spencer Museum of Art.