2010 Year in Review, "Nelson-Atkins Provides Big News," by Alice Thorson in the Kansas City Star, 26 December 2010


The big visual arts news of 2010 was the arrival of Julian Zugazagoitia as the director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Zugazagoitia took the helm in September. In May, the opening of the Egyptian galleries — starring the spectacular painted coffins of a 2,300-year-old noblewoman named Meretites — capped a series of highly successful gallery renovations spearheaded by Zugazagoitia's predecessor, Marc Wilson.

The museum's spring 75th anniversary show highlighting recent gifts was a bit of a bomb. In general, however, the Nelson seems to be trending toward concept-driven shows that anchor art within a critical framework of issues, ideas and values. The ongoing "Through African Eyes" and Alfred Jacob Miller exhibitions fit that bill, as does the Clare Twomey ceramics show, with its emphasis on the responsibilities of art ownership.

But as evocative images and thoughtful presentations go, it didn't get better than the small "Exploring Egypt" exhibit of 19th century photographs curated by the photography department's Jane Aspinwall, who deftly illuminated the colonialist perspective lurking within these images of temples and tombs. On the acquisitions front, Marion and Henry Bloch made it official that they will be giving their Impressionist collection to the Nelson. And thanks to the Hall Family Foundation, the museum has commissioned a 60-foot-tall stainless-steel tree from New York sculptor Roxy Paine for the sculpture park.

Jazz Museum show among highlights

The American Jazz Museum presented one of the year's most revelatory exhibits, teaming with the Mexican Consulate to present "Atlantic Diaspora," chronicling the little-known, but major, African contribution to Mexican culture. At Grand Arts, "Ecstatic Resistance," an international group show envisioning a world ruled by love, pleasure and generosity, started the year on an inspirational note.

Over the summer, the Kemper Museum tugged the heartstrings and pricked the conscience with David Bates' "Katrina Paintings" depicting the victims and devastation of the 2005 hurricane. The museum's ongoing Gao Brothers exhibit, highlighted by a huge mirrored head of Lenin on the museum's lawn, is an entertaining but heavy-handed critique of China's past and present leaders and the country's current path.

At the Nerman, director Bruce Hartman realized a long-held dream with the exhibit "Nari Ward: Re-Presence," a big summer show of the Jamaican-born New York artist's poetic sculptures created from urban detritus.

Hartman also produced a string of solid showings of Kansas City artists, beginning with a spring pairing of works by photographer Mary Wessel and bead artist Jessica Kincaid. In the fall, he followed up with "Museum Interrupted," featuring ambitious installation works by Rachel Hayes, Miles Neidinger and Anne Lindberg, whose transcendent "Raume Yellow" created from 24 miles of Egyptian cotton thread elicited raves from visitors.

KU's Spencer Museum scored a winner this fall with a huge wall drawing by Dan Perjovschi. Using a cartoony style to tackle topics from war and homophobia to consumerism and KU's priorities, the Romanian-born artist lived up to his considerable reputation for incisive social commentary. The Kansas City Jewish Museum's Epsten Gallery pulled off a coup with its August show of Curtis Mann's chemically altered photographs of global hot spots, nabbing them on the heels of their appearance in the 2010 Whitney Biennial in New York. The Belger Arts Center ends the year with a beguiling exhibit of contemporary ceramics in Israel.

KCAI anniversary a shared event

The Kansas City Art Institute celebrated its 125th anniversary with an extravagant performance by high-profile alum Nick Cave. Museums and galleries around the city joined the festivities by mounting exhibits of works by students, faculty and alums.

Lindberg's piece at the Nerman was one standout of these anniversary shows, as were photographs by the late Joe Deal in the Nelson's "Thinking Photography" exhibit. Another unforgettable work was Ke-Sook Lee's "Green Hammock"— created from a Vietnam-era army nurse's uniform — in a show of KCAI alums at Penn Valley Community College's Carter Art Center. George Timock's dramatic carved porcelain vessels inspired by Eastern European architecture and a residency at the International Ceramic Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, mark a breakthrough for this veteran artist. The new works were a highlight of an exhibit of KCAI ceramics faculty at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art. Other Kansas City artists who made big strides this year include Ari Fish, who came up with a riveting multimedia installation incorporating footage of individuals performing moves from the Chinese martial art of Qigong for this year's Charlotte Street Awards exhibition.

Peregrine Honig's second-place finish on the Bravo channel's "Next Great Artist" reality show generated a lot of buzz. Yet Honig's crowning accomplishment for the year was the February release of a glossy faux fashion magazine, "Widow." Published in a limited edition by Landfall Press, the project offers a lush visual summation of Honig's ideas about celebrity culture, fashion and consumerism and their impact on the self-image of women and girls.

Imaginative projects by Kansas City artists also benefited in 2010 from a new Rocket Grants program. Funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the program awarded $40,000 to a dozen proposals involving 28 artists for performances, installations and other projects designed to reach audiences outside museums and galleries. The grants are being administered by Kansas City's Charlotte Street Foundation and the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence.

We said goodbye to irrepressible arts activist Richard Nadeau and technically brilliant photographer Richard Loftis. The art scene will not be the same without Jan Weiner, who decided to close her gallery after nearly three decades. In June, Wilson retired after 27 years as director of the Nelson-Atkins, leaving behind a much expanded and improved museum, well-positioned to meet the challenges of the next quarter-century.

2010 Review - Thorson, pdf