Many of us are old enough to remember the excitement—and for some, skepticism—around the design and installation of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Shuttlecocks that are scattered on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art like abandoned children’s toys. The sculptures have become iconic, a shorthand for something uniquely Kansas City.
If you don’t see the Shuttlecocks often, as this author has the pleasure of doing, you can invite one of these cheeky birds into your home via these mugs available at the Nelson-Atkins Museum Store. Kansas City ceramic artist Irma Starr designed the Shuttlecock Mug, which can hold coffee—or a premium silver tequila. I don’t think the artist would judge.