NewNow · Building the Museum Collection

NewNow showcases recent acquisitions to the Museum/College Permanent Collection, and it encompasses a wide array of media, including painting, photography, sculpture, clay, works on paper, textiles and glass. International, national and regional artists are featured in the exhibition, including nine Kansas City-affiliated artists. It is the first acquisitions exhibition to be featured in the Nerman Museum’s first floor galleries, and as such, it addresses the Museum’s ongoing efforts to build its significant collection.

Featuring 42 works by 40 artists, the exhibition also highlights the major role of Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation in creating the museum’s collection.  Following the announcement of the museum’s construction in 2003, the Oppenheimer’s devoted their efforts and financial support to forming the museum’s collection, which is exhibited on a rotating basis in three of the museum’s second floor galleries. Works on view range from the lushly painted Skipping Skeletons by Los Angeles based artist Allison Schulnik to New York artist Arlene Shechet’s disquieting clay sculpture What I Heard and Navajo artist Marilou Schultz’s vibrant weaving inspired by a computer chip.  Jerald Ieans’ monumental painting Untitled Purple Landscape – a work featured in the Studio Museum of Harlem’s landmark exhibition Freestyle is a recent gift from St. Louis based collectors Joan and Mitch Markow.  And longtime museum patron Dean Thompson gifted L.A. artist Adrian Saxe’s ceramic sculpture Come On Baby! Light My Fire Hydrant within the first weeks of 2009!

Artists included:

Polly Apfelbaum (American, b. 1955)
Anthony Baab (American, b. 1981)
Corrie Baldauf (American, b. 1981)
Chris Ballantyne (American, b. 1972)
Tanya Batura (American, b. 1974)
Eric Beltz (American b. 1975)
Benjamin Degen (American, b. 1976)
Joe Feddersen (American, b. 1953)
Ken Ferguson (American, b. 1928 – d. 2004)
Teresita Fernandez (American, b. 1968)
David Ford (American, b. 1964)
Kirk Hayes (American, b. 1958)
Anton Henning (German, b. 1964)
Jerald Ieans (American, b. 1970)
Warren Isensee (American, b. 1956)
Kris Knight (Canadian, b. 1980)
Tom LaDuke (American, b. 1963)
Annie Lapin (American, b. 1978)
Michael Lucero (American, b. 1953)
Chris Martin (American, b. 1954)
Martin & Muñoz (American, b. 1953, Spanish American, b. 1965)
Douglas Miles (American Indian, San Carlos Apache, b. 1963)
Art Miller (American, b. 1961)
Jackie Nickerson (American, b. 1960)
Anne Austin Pearce (American, 1968)
Travis Pratt (American, b. 1985)
Diego Romero (American Indian, Cochiti Pueblo, b. 1964)
Ruth Root (American, b. 1967)
Eduardo Sarabia (American, b. 1976)
Adrian Saxe (American, b. 1943)
Allison Schulnik (American, b. 1978)
Marilou Schultz (American Indian, Navajo, b. 1954)
Arlene Shechet (American, b. 1951)
Octavio “Tavo” Silveira (Mexican, b. 1977)
Malcolm Mobutu Smith (American, b. 1969)
John Sonsini (American, b. 1950)
Toshiko Takaezu (American, b. 1922 – d. 2011)
Thomas Trosch (American, b. 1955)
Lynus Young (American, b. 1978)
Zia (American, b. 1965)