n In December, visitors contemplated Hand Print Press • 15 Years, a collective of regional printmakers. Hand Print Press has been a force for promoting printmaking in the Kansas City area for the past 15 years. Each of the nine portfolios the press has produced demonstrates the diversity of artistic expression of member artists as well as the broad range of processes used by printmakers working today. n In February 2010, the museum offered Faraway Nearby • Addressing Suburbia, featuring 50 works by artists Chris Ballantyne, Sheila Pree Bright, Don Lambert, Paho Mann, Matthew Moore, Amy Stein, Greg Stimac, Brian Tolle and Michael Vahrenwald. Their works examine the origins, preconceptions, sustainability and social implications of the suburban landscape. n Habitations • Jessica Kincaid and Worldscapes • Mary Wessel opened in May and ran through July. Habitations offered seven major beaded works depicting architectural spaces based upon artist Kincaid’s dreams. Worldscapes showed photographer Wessel’s largescale abstract works created by using a cameraless process known as the photogram.
n In June, Nari Ward • RePresence featured Ward’s dramatic sculptures made from discarded materials found in urban neighborhoods that comment on issues related to consumer culture, poverty, race and support for those with physical and mental illnesses. This major exhibit was Ward’s first one-person exhibition in an American museum.
The collection Since July 2009, the Nerman Museum added 81 artworks to the permanent collection. Recent acquisitions included ceramics, paintings, works on paper, glass, textiles, sculpture and photography. During the year, 13 donors gifted 31 works to the museum/college. The donors were Don and Daisy Brown, Mary D. Cohen – Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Charitable Trust, Bruce Hartman, Sari Haenisch, Douglas Drake and Elisabeth Kirsch, Diane Kappen, Fred Krebs, Gwen and Peter Norton, Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation, Matt Rowland, Dean E. Thompson, Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson, and Robert Xidis. Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation helped acquire 15 new pieces for the museum’s permanent collection.
In addition, several works from the permanent collection were loaned to major museums and institutions in the United States and abroad. Arlene Shechet’s ceramic work What I Heard, 2007, traveled to the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for a solo exhibition titled Arlene Shechet: Blow By Blow, Sept. 1, 2009-Feb. 15, 2010. Keltie Ferris’ painting, Man Eaters, 2009, was loaned to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 23, 2009-Feb. 10, 2010, for a solo exhibition titled Keltie Ferris – Man Eaters. Nicola Lopez’s work on paper titled Eye of the Storm, 2006, was on view in a solo traveling exhibition titled Nicola Lopez: Urban Transformations at the Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wis., from Oct. 17, 2009-Jan. 2, 2010. The artwork later traveled to the Mesaros Gallery at West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.V., from Jan. 21-March 5, 2010. Angel Otero’s painting 10 Karat Still Life, 2009, was loaned to the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs for his solo exhibition Angel Otero: Painting from Jan. 23-March 28, 2010.
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