We are so excited to have Basil Kincaid’s exhibition on view at the museum!
Positive Obsession: Drawings by Basil Kincaid | Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
In addition to drawings and textile works, Basil has designed games. Check out his website for more information about these other projects: Basil Kincaid’s website
It took a minute but we finally have the video of Katherine and Jeremy from the exhibition opening available online!
Enjoy!
It has been amazing to see how fast folks have taken to using The Salon for Possible Futures to meet and hang out! I have seen so many students, families and community members using the space, playing games, writing in the notebooks, having meetings.
A reminder that this exhibition is activated through extensive programming, and you are invited to attend any of the programs that will be hosted each month through December. We hope to see you at a movie or karaoke night or a workshop in the weeks and months ahead!
There are a couple programs on the calendar coming up (one is tomorrow!)
Diego Romero, Dancing Coyotes, 2007, earthenware, 6 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Photo: EG Schempf
The Regnier Center 2nd floor focus area artworks that were temporarily de-installed for their safety during recarpeting of those hallways are back on view!
We are so happy to have almost all of the works in the American Indian Art and Latino Art focus areas back up to use in tours and to enjoy each day. There were a couple of works that did not go back on view – please note that the Linda Haukaas Commodification of Indian Art drawing remains off-view to give it time to rest (reduce UV exposure). Marilou Shultz’s Untitled (computer chip weaving) also remains off-view as it continues to be on loan for other exhibitions.
Linda Haukaas, Commodification of Indian Art, 2009, graphite on paper bag, 16 x 16 x 5 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Photo: EG Schempf
And another update! The Polly Apfelbaum work that was on the 2nd floor (near the Jeffrey Gibson American Girl (punching bag work)) has been removed and replaced with the work by Zachari Logan.
Zachari Logan, Pride Blooms Ditch Flowers, from Eunuch Tapestries, 2020, pastel on black paper, 59 x 65 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Photo: EG Schempf
Attendance is up, people are spreading the word about the exhibition and bringing their friends! As we welcome more people to the museum, we are adding more resources and options for engagement.
Just this last 2 weeks we’ve hosted groups from local middle and high schools, homeschoolers, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, numerous JCCC classes and the JCCC student sustainability committee to name only the folks who attended guided tours (and in spite of the snow days!)
Middle school student fashion design, inspired by tour
We’re looking forward to announcing more activities and resources soon.
As was announced at the talk on Feb 6, there was a review in Vogue magazine here
And mark your calendar, if you are a fan of fashion and wish to support JCCC Fashion students, there is the annual student fashion show coming up Friday, April 18
It’s been a hive of activity at the museum since we re-opened Jan 2. There have been hundreds of pedestals being built, floating shelves installed, giant paintings hung, mannequins assembled and dressed, and so much more (including a wall being moved from inside the gallery to out in the lobby). It is impossible to express in words just how packed with creativity this show is going to be! On our exhibition page
Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the opening talk Feb 6th: Katherine Bernhardt x Jeremy Scott Artists Talk | Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
Perhaps, like me, you hadn’t heard of Jeremy Scott or Katherine Bernhardt before. Here is a brief bio page for them both to get started:
A documentary about Jeremy: Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer – Wikipedia 
Jeremy Scott and Katie Perry at MET Gala (NY Times)
About the chandelier dress: Katie Perry Chandelier Dress (Vogue)
A recap (with images) of some of the most exciting designs Jeremy made during his tenure at Moschino: Jeremy Scott’s designs 2013-2023 (Business Insider)
Katherine’s gallery:
Katherine Bernhardt at David Zwirner Gallery
An interesting article about her home: Katherine Bernhardt’s amazing home (T-magazine)
A video of her discussing her work and process: Katherine Bernhardt (Apartmento Magazine)
Interview with Katherine in St. Louis Magazine: Both written and audio interview
More info and images to come!
Our temporary exhibitions may all be closed, but there continues to be a flurry of activity every day preparing for 2025! A reminder that we’ll be closed to the public after tomorrow until the new year, Dec 21-Jan 1, open again on Jan 2!
We’ve updated the “On View at the Museum” to reflect the many changes to what is on view inside the museum now. Whenever a huge exhibition is being prepared, there is a game of Tetris that is played with moving other art objects to make room, both in the galleries and in storage. It is all very exciting and we’re looking forward to sharing more details and photos in 2025!
In taking down the Actions for the Earth exhibition we had one time-sensitive task to handle, which was removing the live plants in such a way that they could be transplanted and transported to the greenhouse. When we went to start this process, we realized just how happy some of those plants have been – they may not have all gotten tall since August, but their root systems are amazing!
With the help of our exhibition tech team, we were able to get them safely stowed for winter and will be looking forward to planting them on the JCCC campus in spring!
Rashawn Griffin’s work has been placed in the Regnier Center on the 2nd floor, just outside the room that is affectionately called “the cube” (a glass walled meeting room). It takes the place of the Roberto Lugo ceramic Kobe Urn, which is on loan to SFMOMA for their Get in the Game exhibition all about sports: Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture · SFMOMA.
Prior to Lugo’s work being in this location, Wendy Red Star’s Untitled (silver) [Jingle Dress] was in this spot, and that work is also on loan (along with many other works from our collection), to the Spencer Museum in Lawrence for their Native Fashion exhibition: Native Fashion | Spencer Museum of Art. Check that one out before it closes Jan 5!
Here is the label info for Rashawn’s work:
Rashawn Griffin (b. 1980)
Apparatus 15 (Internal Fixation)
Clay, glaze
Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, 2024.026, Acquired with funds provided by the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Art Acquisition Endowment at the JCCC Foundation
For the exhibition Sun Drinks White at the Nerman Museum in 2023, Rashawn Griffin created immersive environments that were simultaneously spaces, sculptures, and paintings. This included a room-like structure The Interior Fixation with a mirrored inside, which was filled with ephemera as well as ceramic sculptures, such as Apparatus 15 (Internal Fixation), seen here in isolation. With twisting, attenuated forms that recall limbs or organs, the organic nature of the clay sculptures calls to mind the possible dual meanings of ‘interior’ – the inside of a room but also of a body or a mind.
Rashawn Griffin earned an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT, and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
We love using storybooks to discuss art!
Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest is a great picture book to use when discussing Preston Singletary’s Raven Steals the Moon:
Preston Singletary (b. 1963)
Raven Steals the Moon, 2007
Glass, blown and sand carved
Ish is a lovely book to use to introduce the idea that art doesn’t have to be perfect or representational, and that we all see art in our own way. We often read it near the Elizabeth Murray painting Landing: Ish picture book read aloud
Elizabeth Murray (1940 – 2007), Landing, 1999, Oil on four canvases
The Pot that Juan Built is all about Juan Quezada Celado and his process, check in out!: The Pot that Juan Built read aloud (this one looks long, but the 2nd half is reading the afterward about the artist, which we don’t do on tours, but is worth watching for your own knowledge)
Juan Quezada Celado (b. 1940)
Red on Black Jar, 1999
Polychrome clay, 12 x 11.75″
These are just a few of the books we use regularly on our tours for children, especially groups that are K-2nd grade.
We are often able to find picture books that relate to special installations and temporary exhibitions as well. Right now in Actions for the Earth we have several picture books in the exhibition space itself, so families can read while they visit:
A sculpture that is sometimes overlooked on campus because of its location tucked between the Library and the Classroom and Lab Building, Judith Shea’s Between Thought and Feeling offers a quiet moment of reflection for those who stop to look.
Judith Shea (b. 1948)
Between Thought and Feeling, 1988
Bronze and cast stone
The artists website here: Judith Shea
An essay on the piece by KU Art History Professor David Cateforis: Judith Shea essay by David Cateforis
An article here in artforum that discusses her work and also specifically addresses this sculpture: JUDITH SHEA’S CONTEMPORARY KOREA (artforum.com)
A quote from the article linked above: “In Between Thought and Feeling, 1988, the same bronze sheath form—more clearly than ever identified with the artist—again sits Madonna-like on a large cube, holding an antique head of Alexander the Great that springs up like a phallus from her lap. This once-powerful male ruler is decapitated, however, reduced here to an item of display subordinate to the maternal figure. Here it is the artist/mother who has both mastered and assimilated the past, which can now be offered lovingly but somewhat poignantly as a kind of trophy.”