I had a show opening in Kansas City last weekend, so some friends and I made a road trip of it. Because with cooler weather, changing of the leaves, and the approaching holidays, fall feels like art season in America and a road trip to Kansas City is the perfect weekend getaway.
After checking into a hotel on the Plaza, we lit out for the show at Leedy-Voulkos in the Crossroads District. Folks were out enjoying art on this cool Friday night at the many galleries in the area. Buskers performed on the streets and the smells drifting from great restaurants hung in the air.
Our day started Saturday morning with a great breakfast in the plaza and coffee to go. We spent the next 3 hours taking in the great collection at the Nelson Atkins Museum topped off with lunch at the museum. From there we drove downtown to the KC Convention Center to see the huge Jun Kaneko ceramic works outside on the terrace. Our group was in agreement that Wichita should purchase a collection of these. What followed was a stop at the wonderful gallery at Belger Cartage where we saw a *remarkable* exhibit of work by Terry Winters. We ended the trip off with a stop at HAW Contemporary down in the KC Bottoms area, where I bought a painting with money I’d made from selling a painting the night before.
Our drive back to Wichita included a rich discussion of the art we had seen, punctuated by some great laughs. We were back in Wichita by 4 and had Sunday to recover.
So celebrate art this fall. Pick a weekend, pick some friends, and take an art trip somewhere. It’s so great to get out and shake it up.
