Events Calendar
Events are free and take place in a variety of locations and formats. The Museum is committed to accessibility for all visitors. Our efforts are ongoing. To request an accommodation for an upcoming event, please contact the Museum in advance at spencerart@ku.edu or 785.864.4710.
March 28
Talk
SENIOR SESSION THE TRANSFORMATION OF LACE FROM HAND-MADE TO MACHINE-MADE
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 318 Brosseau Learning Center
During the 19th century, making lace transitioned from a hand process to a machine process as part of the Industrial Revolution. Retired textile professor Tess van Groll discusses this shift using examples from the Spencer's collection. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
March 28
Activity
ARTISTS UNITE!
4PM
– 5PM
Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St
Join Spencer staff for an hour of fun and creativity celebrating Women’s History Month with our friends at the Lawrence Public Library. Learn about artists Louise Nevelson, Clementine Hunter, and Elizabeth Layton. For ages 8–11. Registration required. For more information, visit the Library’s website at lplks.org.
Sponsored By: Lawrence Public Library
March 29
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 04
Activity
STUDENT TRIVIA NIGHT
5:30PM
– 7PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Put your knowledge to the test with Trivia Night at the Spencer! Gather your friends, form a team, and join us for an evening of fun and friendly competition hosted by the Spencer Student Advisory Board. Prizes are available for the winning team.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art , Student Advisory Board
April 05
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 06
Activity
PLANTING CEREMONY: FRUIT TREE COMMUNITY CHOIR
12PM
– 3PM
Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St
Join us as we plant an orchard of fruit trees around Lawrence Public Library! As part of reimagining this public space together, we will be led in song by community singer Lyndsey Scott as the young trees enter the ground. If you have questions or would like to sign up to help plant the trees, please send an email to fruittreecommunitychoir@gmail.com. In case of rain, the event will be held on April 7 from 11AM–2PM. The Fruit Tree Community Choir is a 2023 Rocket Grant recipient through a partnership of Charlotte Street and the Spencer Museum of Art with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
April 09
Activity
TEXTILE TUESDAYS
1PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Drop by the Lee Study Center on the second Tuesday of the month to experience different textiles from our collection. In April, enjoy textile works by Kansas quilter Carrie Hall and KU alumna Bhakti Ziek. Come back to see different rotations each month.
April 10
Performance
OPENING UP
4PM
– 5:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 317 Perkins Central Court, Reece Memorial Plaza
Join artist, abolitionist, and writer Patrisse Cullors for a performance that draws on Yoruba prayers and offerings to honor and remember the lives and experiences of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. Through the sacred act of calling upon our ancestors, this work seeks to bridge the past with the present, inviting those who have gone before us to bear witness to a narrative that has shaped the fabric of our collective memory. This event begins outdoors in front of the Museum and then moves inside to our current exhibitions that share Emmett and Mamie’s story.
April 11
Talk
INTRO TO ART LAW/HOLOCAUST ART RESTITUTION WITH RAYMOND DOWD
4:30PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Join the Federal Bar Association Chapter for the districts of Kansas & Western Missouri for Intro to Art Law/Holocaust Art Restitution, featuring attorney Raymond Dowd. The program begins with an “Introduction to Art Law” panel discussion, followed by a presentation from Dowd on related litigation and topics of interest. The evening concludes with a reception in the Museum. This event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is required. To RSVP and learn more, please visit: fedbarkanmo.org/ajde-events/art-litigation-panel
April 11
Talk
OUR COLLECTIVE IMAGINATION WILL SET US FREE7PM – 8PM
Patrisse Cullors is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, artist, and abolitionist from Los Angeles. In her remarks Patrisse will discuss the complexity of acknowledging the suffering that pervades our personal and collective human experiences. She will then shift towards explaining the boundless possibilities that imagination unfolds for creating a future anchored in care, empathy, and mutual support.
April 12
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 13
FIRST NATIONS STUDENT ASSOCIATION POWWOW AND KU INDIGENOUS CULTURES FESTIVAL
10AM
– 8PM
Lied Center of Kansas, 1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS 66045
This family-friendly, free public event celebrates and honors diverse Native American cultures with Indigenous traditions, dance, song, activities, food, and art. For more information please visit https://fnsapowwow.ku.edu
Sponsored By: First Nations Student Association, Lied Center of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, Office of the Provost, Native Faculty-Staff Council, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity & Equity, CLAS Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Spencer Museum of Art, KU Film and Media Studies, KU Indigenous Studies Program
April 17
INTERNATIONAL JAYHAWK FESTIVAL
3PM
– 5PM
The Burge Union, 1601 Irving Hill Rd, Lawrence, KS 66045
The 8th annual International Jayhawk Festival invites all students. Enjoy the study abroad and international resource fair, international games and performances, as well as food and tee-shirts while supplies last.
April 19
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
April 25
Talk
SENIOR SESSION THE INSPIRING STORY OF A VANDALIZED SIGN
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Perkins Central Court
Learn the true story of a sign that was stolen, throw in a river, replaced, shot, replaced again, and shot again. Follow the sign as it travels from rural Mississippi to the Smithsonian to the White House to Lawrence with KU Professor Dave Tell, author of the 2019 book "Remembering Emmett Till." Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
April 26
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 01
Talk
ARTIVISM AND AFROFUTURISM
11AM
– 12:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
B.L.A.C.K. Lawrence members Alex Kimball Williams and Anthony Boynton share their research and its relationship to art displayed in the exhibition “One History, Two Versions.” Williams will speak about police brutality and protest art and Boynton will discuss Afrofuturism.
May 03
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 09
Performance
Q&A WITH JOHN BROWN
6:30PM
– 7:30PM
Spencer Museum of Art
Local John Brown impersonator Kerry Altenbernd visits the Spencer Museum on John Brown’s birthday to answer questions about the abolitionist’s time in Kansas, including events featured in the exhibition “Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown.”
May 10
Activity
OPEN FRIDAYS
10AM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 305 Goddard Study Center
Your art wish is our command. Visit the Goddard Study Center on Fridays to request works of art on paper not currently on view or share your interests and let our staff select works for you. You can also drop in to enjoy works requested by other visitors. The Goddard Study Center is open to all during gallery hours with a break from 12-1PM.
Sponsored By: Spencer Museum of Art
May 14
Activity
TEXTILE TUESDAYS
1PM
– 3PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Drop by the Lee Study Center on the second Tuesday of the month to experience different textiles from our collection. In May, celebrate spring flowers with 17th- and 18th-century French textiles. Come back to see different rotations each month.
May 18
Activity
ART CART JACOB LAWRENCE IN SHAPES AND COLORS
1PM
– 4PM
Spencer Museum of Art, 317 Perkins Central Court
Celebrate International Museum Day with the Spencer! Take inspiration from works of Jacob Lawrence and create your own collage. This drop-in activity station rolls into the galleries each month for children and grown-ups to create hands-on art projects together, taking inspiration from original art on view.
May 23
Talk
SENIOR SESSION A GOTHIC MARVEL
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, 409 Lee Study Center
Experience the splendor of the Spencer's iconic "Tympanum with the Lamentation (Pieta)." Graduate intern and art history doctoral candidate Sarah Dyer explores the history, original location, function, and style of this impressive portal sculpture once placed over the entrance of a Late Gothic Spanish church. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
June 13
Talk
SENIOR SESSION JACOB LAWRENCE AND JOHN BROWN
10:15AM
– 11AM
Spencer Museum of Art, Marshall Balcony, 404
Curator Kate Meyer leads a tour of the exhibition "Jacob Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown," discussing the artist and his series of prints as well as John Brown and his ties to Kansas. Senior Sessions are designed with accommodations for older adults but open to all.
July 09
SUMMER INSTITUTE DAY 112AM – 12AM
July 10
SUMMER INSTITUTE DAY 212AM – 12AM