Category Archives: 2025-2026 – Amy Kligman: The Salon for Possible Futures

March News and Events

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March is a busy month at the Nerman Museum!

Earlier this week, we hosted Olathe Leadership Lowrider Bike Club students  for a mini-pop up and awards to support them in the next steps of their educational and artistic careers.

High school students and JCCC leadership standing next to a lowrider bike

Photo: Susan McSpadden, JCCC Photographer

Students holding scholarship certificates, alongside two teachers

Photo: Susan McSpadden, JCCC Photographer

Here is what else is coming up this month. We hope to see you at one or more of these events and special installations!

Angeline Rivas, Charm and Strange (detail), 2024, acrylic, gouache, and graphite on panel, 60 x 48 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, Acquired with funds provided by the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Art Acquisition Endowment at the JCCC Foundation. Photo: Chris Sharp Gallery

Angeline Rivas Artist Talk and Reception
Wednesday, March 11 • 6-8 PM
Hudson Auditorium • Livestream option available
FREE – RSVP Requested

Artist Michael Brantley

Michael Brantley Artist Talk and Reception
Sunday, March 22 • 3-5 PM
Hudson Auditorium • Livestream option available
FREE – RSVP Requested

Band weaving loom and bandBand Weaving Workshop with Rebecca Vaughan at The Salon 
Wednesday, March 25 • 5:30-6:30 PM
FREE – Space is limited • RSVP required

Small cabin in an outdoor setting

Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors, 2025 installation view. Photo: Deanna Johnson

Special Installation: Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors
On view March 24 through May 22, 2026
Regnier Center South Lawn

Co-directed by the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and Monumenta, in collaboration with lead artists Omakyehstih Collective, Trespassers Beware! Fort Conley and Wyandot Women Warriors is a mobile monument that illuminates the story of the Wyandot Conley sisters who occupied their family’s cemetery to save it from urban development. The monument reimagines Fort Conley, the small dwelling the sisters built inside the Wyandot National Burying Ground and inhabited for years to defend their family’s graves. Their decades-long activism and legal arguments protected this sacred land, impacting preservation and tribal sovereignty movements.

This multimedia installation is based on a replica of the historic fort and incorporates video, music, writing, interpretation, oral histories, an original performance, and more to share the story.

Trespassers Beware! is generously funded by the National Endowment for the Arts/ArtsHERE, in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Mellon Foundation, Humanities Kansas, Kansas Studies Institute, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College, the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, the Kansas Arts Commission and individual donors.

February News and Events

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Aside from our talk with artist Julie Buffalohead earlier this month, we are also hosting another event at The Salon for Possible Futures, as well as marking the start of Spring 2026 Youth Art Classes!Wooden cabinet with plants on top and board and card game boxes within itJoin us on Feb. 22, 1-3 PM, for a FREE Game Day at The Salon!

Young children participating in art activities

Students creating art projects in a Nerman Museum Youth Art Class

Our Youth Art Classes occur on Saturdays, 2-4 PM, during the Spring session, with sessions available for children in grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-9. Learn more about these classes.

Upcoming events and exhibition (re)openings

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UPCOMING EVENTS

A living room setting with different patterned couches, a blue coffee table, and a flower printed wallpaper.

Amy Kligman: The Salon for Possible Futures

Collective Imagining Circle: 2026 Intention Setting – The Salon for Possible Futures has been extended into 2026! Stop by the Museum on Jan. 31, 1-2 PM, to set intentions for this space for the months to come. This event is free, but space is limited and RSVP  is required.

Brunette woman standing behind a counter full of painting supplies and in front of red paintings

Artist Julie Buffalohead

Join artist Julie Buffalohead on Feb. 5, 6-7 PM, for an artist talk for her latest exhibition, Stories of Becoming, alongside Kendra R. Greendeer, PhD. Opening reception to follow. Free and open to the public. No RSVP required for in-person attendance; RSVP for livestream link.

December Events, Important Dates, and Openings

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Left: Linda Lighton, Nude Descending a Staircase, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 18 x 11 ½ x 5 ½ in. Collection Shook, Hardy, & Bacon L.L.P. Right: Linda Lighton, Tinkerbelle, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 14 ½ x 13 x 12 in. Courtesy the Artist

Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025 brings with it two opportunities!

  • Education Preview Day • Linda Lighton: Love & War
    Thursday, December 11 • 4-6 PM • Free – Space is limited; RSVP required

We’ll also discuss updates to what’s on view, both in our permanent collection and temporary exhibition spaces, Nerman Museum resources available to educators, and other types of educational opportunities that can be created for your students right here at the Nerman Museum! This preview is one hour long, and educators will be able to select their timeslot – either 4-5 PM or 5-6 PM – upon registration.

  • Linda Lighton Artist Talk and Opening Reception
    Friday, December 12 • Artist talk: 6-7 PM • Reception: 7-9 PM
    FREE and Open to the Public • Artist talk livestream available

Join us for an artist talk with Linda Lighton at our Hudson Auditorium, celebrating the opening of the Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025. A reception in the Museum’s atrium will follow the talk. The artist talk will be available via livestream. RSVP to receive the livestream link.

A living room setting with different patterned couches, a blue coffee table, and a flower printed wallpaper.

Amy Kligman: The Salon for Possible Futures

The Salon‘s calendar of events continues with a Collective Imagining Circle: 2026 on Saturday, December 13 from 1-2:30 PM. This event is free, but space is limited and RSVP  is required.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Angeline Rivas, Charm and Strange (detail), 2024, acrylic, gouache, and graphite on panel, 60 x 48 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, Acquired with funds provided by the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Art Acquisition Endowment at the JCCC Foundation. Photo: Chris Sharp Gallery

Angeline Rivas: I Had a Dark Night of the Soul and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
On view December 13, 2025 through May 3, 2026
Kansas Focus Gallery, First Floor

The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to host Angeline Rivas’s first institutional solo exhibition. Painted with airbrush on wood panel and canvas, the works of Angeline Rivas are vast, yet compact crucibles of a unique form of western Americana. Unlike typical airbrush paintings, Rivas’s works have a way of disclosing, as opposed to effacing, facture via imperfections, pieces of tape, and small moments of graffiti, making it such that the work has carved out a singular space for itself both on a formal and a conceptual level. Rivas (b. 1981) was born and raised in Kansas City, MO and is now based in Los Angeles, CA. Rivas earned her MFA in 2022 from the ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA and her BFA in 2005 from Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA.

Michael Brantley, The First Lady of Song, c. 2012, oil on canvas, 50 x 52 x 2 in. Courtesy the Artist

Visionary: The Work of Michael Brantley
On view December 13, 2025 through May 3, 2026
McCaffree Gallery, Second Floor

Guest curated by artist Harold Smith, Visionary, Brantley’s first institutional solo exhibition, will feature the elegant and sophisticated work of painter Michael Brantley, a master painter whose stunning work and practice compellingly encapsulates the love, fears, hopes, and dreams within the Black experience. Michael Brantley (b. 1970) is a multi-disciplinary figurative artist living and working in Kansas City, Missouri. Using oil paint as his preferred medium, his work reflects and celebrates the lifestyle, heritage, and culture of American Africans. Brantley’s art inspires, informs, and provokes dialogue. His large-scale monochromatic paintings in the jazz aesthetic have been spotlighted by the NFL and exhibited at the American Jazz Museum and at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

UPCOMING CLOSURES

Special closures: Café Tempo will be closed Dec. 10 for a special event and Dec. 13, 2025-Jan. 19, 2026 for JCCC’s Winter Break. The Nerman Museum will be closed Dec. 24, 2025-Jan. 5, 2026 for JCCC’s Winter Break.

November Events and Important Dates

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Living room setting with various people within it

The Nerman Museum continues its The Salon for Possible Futures programming in November with a Nov. 20 Storytelling Night from 6-8 PM with poet Glenn North.

THANKSGIVING BREAK:

The Nerman Museum will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 26, through Sunday, Nov. 30 for JCCC’s Thanksgiving break. Café Tempo will be closed for that same time frame, as well as Tuesday, Nov. 25.

Save the dates! Oct. 25 and 26 is a full weekend + Other October Events!

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Save the date!

October is going to be another month full of activities here at the Nerman Museum, including an extra special weekend with big events on Oct. 25 and 26.

You can learn more about all events, and RSVP for the events that require registration, on our calendar page.

Four silhouettes look around a blue landscape with lanterns in their hands as they search for something

Diedrick Brackens, shadows spell my name, 2024, cotton and acrylic yarn, 102 x 134 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, Gift of Sue and Lewis Nerman, Leawood, KS.

Our major events this month include the Jerome Nerman Lecture Series, featuring Diedrick Brackens, on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 4-5 PM, at the Museum’s Hudson Auditorium, with a reception to follow.

Brackens will discuss his large-scale weavings that incorporate myth and storytelling to highlight Black and Queer histories and bodies. Brackens is best known for his tapestries that explore allegory and narrative through autobiography, along with broader themes in American history.

Brackens employs techniques from West African weaving, European tapestry-making, and quilting from the American South to create both abstract and figurative artworks. Often depicting moments of male tenderness, Brackens draws inspiration from African and African American literature, poetry and folklore.

Man and woman holding a boom box between them, standing in front of a large pink panther painting.

Jeremy Scott and Katherine Bernhardt. Photo: Wil Driscoll

On Sunday, Oct. 26, 2-5 PM, we’ll celebrate the end of A Match Made in Heaven: Katherine Bernhardt x Jeremy Scott with a Closing Countdown alongside the artists.

Teenagers looking at prints and using a printing press

Young Artists Retreat 2024. Photo: Susan McSpadden, JCCC Photographer

Earlier that same week, on Friday, Oct. 24, 8 AM-2 PM, we’ll also be hosting the 2025 Young Artists Retreat. While nominations for the in-person portion of the event is already closed, teachers and students can still register for the livestream option through October 22.

Living room setting with various people within it

The Salon for Possible Futures

Our Salon events continue, with:

  • Thursday, Oct. 2, 5:30-7 PM – Make Your Own (MYO) Pocket Charms with Amy Kligman
  • Friday, Oct. 17, 7-10 PM – Utopia/Dystopia Movie Night with Caitlin Horsmon
  • Saturday, Oct. 25, 2-3 PM – Book Swap & Share: Scare Stories
Young children participating in art activities

Students creating art projects in a Nerman Museum Youth Art Class

Lastly, our Youth Art Classes are back for the fall semester, with an all-new line up of topics and art projects. We’ll be kicking off the season with the following classes:

  • Thursday, Oct. 9, 4-7 PM – Street Fashion – Gr. 6-9
  • Saturday, Oct. 11, 2-4 PM – Accessories 3 Ways! – Gr. 3-5
  • Saturday, Oct. 18, 2-4 PM – Artful Fashion Design – Gr. K-2

September 2025 Events at the Nerman Museum

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Another eventful month coming up at the Nerman Museum!

You can learn more about all events, and RSVP for the events that require registration, on our calendar page.

Living room setting with various people within it

Visitors enjoying their time in The Salon for Possible Futures

Our The Salon for Possible Futures events continue, with the September programming being as follows (please note, all Salon events are free, but due to limited capacity, RSVP is requested):

  • Saturday, Sep. 6, 1-3 PM: All Ages Drawing Party, hosted by the Kligman family
  • Saturday, Sep. 13, 1-3 PM: Letterlocking Workshop with Laura Pensar
  • Thursday, Sep. 25 – 5:30-7:30 PM: Mending Workshop with Hadley Clark
Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025 - Book Launch: Sep. 17, 2025, 5-8 PM - Free and open to the public. Exhibition: Dec. 13, 2025-May 3, 2026

Left: Linda Lighton, Nude Descending a Staircase, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 18 x 11 ½ x 5 ½ in. Collection Shook, Hardy, & Bacon L.L.P. Right: Linda Lighton, Tinkerbelle, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 14 ½ x 13 x 12 in. Courtesy the Artist

In anticipation of one of our Fall/Winter exhibitions, Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025, the Nerman Museum is excited to announce the publication of its accompanying publication, a 208-page book of the same name, published and internationally distributed by Hirmer. Attendees will be able to purchase their own copy of the book, priced at $50. This richly illustrated monograph gives a comprehensive overview of Lighton’s pioneering body of work, which pushes the boundaries of ceramic sculpture. We’ll be celebration this book on Sep. 17, from 5-8 PM, with a book signing event with the artist.

Young children participating in art activities

Students creating art projects in a Nerman Museum Youth Art Class

Lastly, our Youth Art Classes are back for the fall semester, with an all-new line up of topics and art projects. We’ll be kicking off the season with the following classes:

  • Sep. 20, 2-4 PM: Pop Art Clay Accessories – Grades K-2
  • Sep. 27, 2-4 PM – Sew into Art – Grades 3-5

August 2025 Events at the Nerman Museum

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Another month full of interesting activities here at the Nerman Museum!

composite image of 3 bands

The Elders, Beth Watts Nelson & Kelly Hunt, and Back Alley Brass Band

Light Up the Lawn, a collaboration between the Midwest Trust Center, bringing free concerts to the Nerman Museum lawn is back again! Join us on the following Fridays, starting at 8:30 PM to enjoy the bands below:

  • Aug. 15 – The Elders
  • Aug. 22 – Beth Watts Nelson & Kelly Hunt
  • Aug. 29 – Back Alley Brass Band

The Salon for Possible Futures is also hosting a couple more events (these events are also free, but due to limited space, RSVP is required):

  • Saturday, Aug. 16, 1-3 PM – Mending Workshop with Hadley Clark
  • Thursday, Aug. 28, 6-8 PM – Storytelling Night: Bad Ideas, hosted by Glenn North

Learn more and RSVP at our calendar.

Welcoming our youngest visitors to the museum

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It’s summertime and we’re seeing a lot of families visiting the museum. The littlest visitors have been really enjoying the exhibitions, especially The Salon for Possible Futures!

We welcome visitors of all ages, and for our preschool visitors, here are some things we provide to enrich their visits:

Games! The Salon has games already in it, and the one pictured here is a game that was made custom for the exhibition by Sally Paul. The large wooden blocks with simple shapes on each side are perfect for open-ended play.

Tip: keep in mind that kids 3 and under often are still in the parallel play stage of development and not yet ready to play interactively, which means they’ll each want their own blocks and won’t want to build something together. With this group, I had one child who was in parallel play mode and other children who played interactively. It works fine as long as you remind everyone that we need to share the blocks, even if we don’t want to build something together.

We have touchable objects that relate to specific works (note how the children are seated in the galleries) such as dog tags, jingle beads, beaded canvas and examples of different paint textures. Kids LOVE having these opportunities to touch materials.

Storybooks are a great way to get kids engaged and focused on the art! Stopping at several works and having everyone seated on the floor listening to a storybook can help the group calm down in an exciting environment (being at the museum is exciting!)

Mouse Paint is fun for kids 3-5years old to talk about colors and color mixing. We also have color-mixing tubes which the kids love shaking up to see what colors are created. It’s important that everyone gets a turn.

Note how the reader in this video is supplementing the text by asking questions and encouraging interaction. It helps to practice reading the book several times, and to remember that the kids all want to see the pictures, so taking time to show every illustration to everyone is essential!

We can also be color investigators, using colored lenses to see how artworks look different through different colors and overlapping them.

And at the end of the tour, when everyone has had plenty of time to look and play, we can spend some time making art! We have finger crayons and crayons that can be used with a palm grip, and coloring pages and stickers featuring works by Dyani White Hawk and others.

Finally we have some goodies visitors can take home at the end, including postcards and bookmarks featuring artworks from the exhibitions, as well as zines and some of the other fun things in the cabinet drawers of The Salon.