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

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.

July 2025 Events at the Nerman Museum

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Colorful pop art collage

There is a lot going on in July here at the Nerman Museum!

We still have some spots available in the last few summer camps we’re hosting this month.

  • July 8-11 – Game Design Week for ages 5-7 and 8-11
  • July 15-18 – Pop Art Week for ages 8-11
  • July 22-25 – Textiles Week for ages 5-7 and 8-11
  • July 29-Aug. 1 – 3-D Art Week for ages 5-7 and 8-11

 

Living room setting with various people within it

Amy Kligman’s Salon will also be hosting more events this month!

June Events in The Salon for Possible Futures

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People within a living room

Amy Kligman’s Salon

Amy Kligman’s Salon will be hosting a variety of events through the end of December, reinforcing its purpose as a gathering space, a portal for a better collective future, and the fostering of relationships and community.

In the month of June, Nerman Museum docents, educators, and the community are invited to participate in the following activities in The Salon:

  • Wednesday, June 4, 5:30-7 PM – ‘Miss You’ Cards with Kansas Poet Laureate emeritus Huascar Medina
  • Friday, June 13, 7-10 PM – Utopia/Dystopia Night with artist, curator, and educator Caitlin Horsmon
  • Saturday, June 28, 1-3 PM – Game Day with Brass Monkey, a local tabletop games company

These events are all free and open to the public, but due to limited capacity, RSVPs are required. Learn more about these events and register to participate.

Exhibition open! Amy Kligman’s Salon is a huge hit!

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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!)