Niki de Saint Phalle: Rebellion and Joy at the Nelson
Through July 21, a new exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art showcases the surreal world of Niki de Saint Phalle, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and author of hand-illustrated books.
Presented in conjunction with the Musée d’Art Moderne et de Contemporain and the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, the exhibition features nearly 100 paintings, sculptures, prints, and films and marks the French-American artist’s first U.S. museum retrospective of her entire career.
In addition to viewing this exhibit, guests can further explore their own ideas in a hands-on creativity station, with free art activities and interactive elements.
On May 5 through Tivoli at the museum, a documentary film Niki de Saint Phalle, Who Is the Monster. . .You or Me? screens in conjunction with the exhibit.
Click here for more information and tickets to the special exhibit.
The Little War at the WWI Museum
Continuing through February 9, 2025, a new and first-of-its-kind exhibit at The National WWI Museum and Memorial explores an unusual topic—children and the Great War.
The exhibit was prompted by a new acquisition of a collection of World War I postcards involving all the combatants in the conflict, says Natalie Lovgren, specialist curator. Allied countries included Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States. The Axis powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
Lovgren especially noticed postcards that depicted or were meant to engage children. “What does a world war look like to a child?” Lovgren wondered.
A trove of artifacts from the museum, including toys, sheet music, games, paper dolls, dress-up clothing, and books, show how children were mobilized to support the war, no matter which side they were on.
You get a child’s-eye view as soon as you walk into this exhibit via a period sitting room, complete with wingback chairs, dominoes on the table, and a puzzle on the floor.
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Sunday Pottery Classes at KC Clay Guild
The NFL season is long over. So how are you going to spend your Sunday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m.?
Why not learn how to throw a pot on a potter’s wheel at KC Clay Guild.
These classes introduce newbies into the wonderful world of clay and shaping that clay on a potter’s wheel. No experience necessary, just a willingness to learn.
You’ll be one of eight people in the class (and sign up soon as these classes fill up quickly). Member prices are $50 per class, non-members $70.
Once your piece has been made, you choose a glaze. The staff will glaze and then fire your masterpiece, which you can pick up in a few weeks.
While you’re looking at the KC Clay Guild site, you might also be interested in other Sunday classes, such as Birdhouse Handbuilding. Maybe your backyard birds could use new digs.
Visit the KC Clay Guild website for more information and to sign up.
Colm Tóibín at Rainy Day Books
On May 20 at 7 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza, bestselling Irish novelist Colm Tóibín comes to Kansas City. He has written movingly about characters with their feet on American soil, but their hearts still in Ireland, about longings for home and a quest for where—and with whom—they truly belong. His novel Brooklyn was made into the film starring Saoirse Ronan, who played the role of a young woman emigrating from Enniscorthy, Ireland, to New York.
His new novel, Long Island, picks up on this theme, following Irish emigrant Ellis Lacey, a married mother of two in an extended Irish-Italian family. Although she hasn’t been back to Ireland in many years, she doesn’t fit in where she now lives, either. She feels alone in her marriage and longs for connection. And then comes the turning point. What will she do about her husband’s unborn child with another woman? Will she stay or will she go?
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.