Arts Archives

KCUR's Susan Wilson stopped by El Patron Cocina, on Southwest Blvd and chatted with owner Arturo Cabral, who is trying to start a local chapter of the Mexican Restaurant Association.

By Susan B. Wilson

There are old theaters in Kansas City - some on the National Register of Historic Places - that cannot be toyed with, regardless of any shift in audiences' tastes or the need for modern conveniences. There are newer spaces, though, where theater directors can assess all the plusses and minuses of a venue, and do something about it. Quality Hill Playhouse is one such space.

By Steve Walker

Brooklyn-based artist Keltie Ferris has been described as a post-digital painter. Ferris uses the soft contours of spray paint to apply patterns of dots, or a palette knife for jagged, irregular edges.

By Laura Spencer

Note: This interview aired in March 2009. From a pool of 34 nominated artists, three were selected as this year's Charlotte Street Foundation visual artist award fellows. They'll receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds, as well as an exhibition in November 2009.

By Laura Spencer

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is serious about its collection of American Indian art, and has proven it by elevating that art in a way perhaps no other comprehensive museum in the world has. With the opening of the new American Indian art galleries, space for the work has mushroomed four fold, but that's not what the director of the British Museum finds remarkable.

By Laura Spencer

What happens when countries or cultures demand the return of artifacts taken in the past? Some museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have given them back. Others, like the British Museum, have not.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – For more than 30 years, Greece has been seeking the return of the Elgin Marbles, sections of sculptures from the Parthenon. They were removed in the 19th century by Lord Elgin, a British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Though most people know Tom Stoppard from his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Shakespeare in Love," he's more prolific writing for the stage. And to date, four of his works have won Tony Awards for Best Play.

By Steve Walker

On November 11th, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opens its new galleries dedicated to American Indian art, right next to the museum's newly reinstalled American art galleries. At 6,100 square feet, the galleries are among the largest devoted to American Indian art in any comprehensive art museum.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City has lost a cornerstone of its indy music scene. Anne Winter, who ran record stores around which much of the local Do It Yourself music world revolved, took her own life Thursday, October 22.

By Frank Morris

Kansas City, MO – Winter's death has triggered an outpouring of sadness, both on her Facebook page and at the building where she once ran her store.

A gathering was planned Friday, October 23, 7:30 pm at the Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced a gift today of one of the nation's finest private collections of American Indian art. The 34 Northwest Coast masterworks in the Sosland Collection were donated by two longtime patrons.

By Laura Spencer

Gloria Baker Feinstein originally traveled to East Africa in 2006 to photograph children whose parents had died of AIDS. During the three week project, she says she encountered children who radiated hope, even in desperate circumstances. So when she returned home, Feinstein began a different kind of project.

As long as artists have been painting and sculpting, there has been a debate about how to define art. A new play debuts this week at the H&R Block Artspace that offers over twenty scenarios on the topic.

By Steve Walker

Since the early days of photography in the 1830s, children have been popular subjects for photographers. And over time, as childhood has changed, the images have changed, too.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – A new photography exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art focuses on the complexities of childhood from the early 19th century to the present.

Kansas City's Charlotte Street Foundation and the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence are collaborating on a new program called Rocket Grants. With help from a two-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, direct support will be provided each year for innovative and experimental arts projects.

By Laura Spencer

Wolfgang Laib's "Without Place-Without Time-Without Body" is a new installation at the Bloch Building. Hundreds of mounds of rice are laid out in a grid. There are five mounds of yellow pollen at the center. Here, curator Leesa Fanning talks about the work "as a metaphor for transcendence."

By Laura Spencer