USkKC September 2025 Sketch Out

Name: USkKC September 2025 Sketch Out
Start: 2025-09-06T10:00:00-05:00
Location: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Schedule

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025 at 10:00 am

UTC-05:00

Location

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art | Kansas City, KS

Please join us from 10am-noon for a sketch out on Saturday, morning September 6, 2025 at the beautiful Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art — Missouri’s first and largest contemporary museum. Admission, parking, special exhibitions, and programming are free for everyone, and there’s a lovely gift shop and new restaurant on site — Oil and Linen. Some of us may want to stay for brunch afterwards!
We’ll meet in the central atrium at 10am and then in the meeting room by the west entrance at noon for our throw down and photos. Thanks to Events Services at the Kemper for hosting our group!
What we can bring into the atrium and galleries — sketchbooks, graphite pencils, colored pencils, and crayons only. Drinks in atrium (and meeting room) only.
What we can bring into the meeting room — markers, ink pens, and watercolor. Drinks only allowed.
No food or drinks allowed in galleries.
Folding stools will be provided and can be used in the atrium and taken into the galleries — no easels or tables allowed in galleries, but we can use small drawing boards. There will be tables set up in the meeting room, and drinks are allowed there (but no food). You can grab a to go cappuccino, coffee, tea, or soft drink in Oil and Linen Restaurant (to be enjoyed in the atrium and meeting room only).
This will be a fabulous morning — looking forward to meeting you all there!
Kemper Museum’s 23,200-square-foot concrete, steel, and glass building, constructed in1994 at a cost of $6.6 million, was designed by architect Gunnar Birkerts. Known for innovative work with technology and surface materials, as well as his effective use of indirect daylight, Birkerts wished to let the design of his buildings unfold with “intuitive imagination,” the way music unfolds as you hear it. The structure has a large central atrium under an articulated skylight. Two wings extend from either side of the atrium. The main gallery hosts three major exhibitions each year. Side galleries present works from the permanent collection in rotation. Works of art are always on view in the atrium and the corridors of each wing.
This is a lovely museum — please be careful, responsible, and respectful of the art, the museum building, and the beautiful environs. We can sketch inside and out, depending on the weather. It’s a lovely area — the Kansas City Art Institute is nearby and there are interesting buildings, houses, and statuary all around. The museum features several notable outdoor sculptures — Spider by Louise Bourgeois and Crying Giant by Tom Otterness. The museum's sculpture garden also houses works by Auguste Rodin, Alexander Calder, Dan Peterman, and Dan Graham.
Learn more about the architecture of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art —
https://www.kemperart.org/architecture
Take a look at Oil on Linen’s Everyday Brunch Menu —
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/671915806ab719277f6fbe8d/t/6882634d7fa49a1abfc90f6f/1753375566484/BRUNCH+MENU+7.23.25.pdf
Learn more about Spider by Louise Bourgeois —�The works that have come to define the late artist’s career are her sculptures of spiders, some of which tower 30 feet into the air and menacingly loom over viewers’ heads. These psychologically fraught sculptures are meant to envision states of isolation.
https://cityoffountains.org/spider/
Learn more about Crying Giant by Tom Otternes —
This version of The Crying Giant is actually one of three. The other two are in Delaware and The Netherlands and Otterness’ memorial to the victims of September 11.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-crying-giant-wilmington-delaware