Day 5: Kansas
City, April 10
Pics: Fountain near Raphael Hotel, new wing of the
Nelson-Atkins museum (in the rain), DeMaria pool over parking lot, long shot
inside museum of new wing, art in Nelson, Jack Stack BBQ, Kauffman Performing Art
Center (plus another group photo, just not of our group), who was mound
magician number 25?
Weather:
Cold and raining, all day long (phew, not a
baseball day)
FitCtr, cereal, coffee, included. Today
was supposed to start with a walk through the Nelson-Atkins sculpture garden,
cancelled due to weather (it’s raining). After museum opens, the director gives
us a tour of the new wing designed by Steven Holl. If you haven’t seen it, he
also designed the chapel on grounds of Seattle University, a must-see also.
This wing is a spectacular addition, mostly cascading underground to the side
of the original building and the massive lawn, showing contemporary work
semi-sorted by decade. The last room is the best THB has ever seen Noguchi’s
sculpture displayed: magnificent inside/outside feel, connecting the new wing
to a view up the hill of the original building.
It’s still raining. Lunch at Jack Stack
BBQ, THB and DB share combos to taste the burnt ends, ribs, chicken and brisket
with fries and salad, and iced teas, included.
It’s still raining, so the group skips
the gallery walk and a few go to the WWI museum and the rest head back to the
Nelson to complete seeing the rest of the museum
It’s not actually raining when we bus
to dinner at local collectors, the Hoffmans, who live in an urban loft in a
former industrial part of town (same-same). Great collection, dinner of fried chicken (no
knives, gotta eat with your hands), mashed potatoes (PLEASE use your fork),
biscuits, and peach cobbler with ice cream and local Boulevard Pale Ale.
It’s back to raining again on the ride
back and we go by the Nelson-Atkins and the Holl wing buildings are all lit up:
spectacular! A nice way to end another great art day.
Day 6: Kansas City, April 11
Pics: Chris Brown at JCCC (Junior College Community
Center) Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JCCC (Johnson County Community
College) Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JCCC (Johnson Community College
Center) Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, elder Nerman’s front yard sculpture, NACWAA in
downtown KC (Kansas City), plug for The Clock,Michael Smith's
Weather:
COLD! And no rain
Hey, today they let us sleep in, bus
doesn’t leave until 10. That’s good, because after the FitCtr, THB and DB head
downstairs to breakfast where our waiter manages to not bring DB’s decaf and takes 20 minutes to bring us frosted mini-wheats
and 2% milk. OOOPS! After that much time he brings us frosted flakes and skim
milk. Back to the kitchen he goes, and 10 minutes later he re-arrives with an
apology that the mini-wheats were hidden (the waitress yesterday took the same
order and came back in 5 minutes with the right cereal and correct milk). This means
that on breakfast on days 1 and 3 our orders were screwed up. Tomorrow we leave
at 8am, so we will be going to breakfast at 5am to make sure we get to bus on
time. Oh no! They don’t open for breakfast until 6:30; do we eat and miss the
bus or steal energy bars from the FitCtr and make it to the bus on time? Wait,
it is an even day, the service will be fine. Cancel the energy bars.
In truth, the hotel has been great:
well appointed, excellent FitCtr, room very large and functional, staff
friendly.
Our first stop is the local community college,
where over 45,000 students are registered. JCCC is the home of the Nerman
Museum of Contemporary Art, and after a weak docent tour and a great exhibit of
Christine McHorse’s pottery (the art guild visited her in Santa Fe last year,
DB went while THB was slaving away in London at the Olympics), we meet the
director, Bruce, who gives us an overview of the history of the building and collection,
followed by lunch of chicken panini, salad, cookie, iced tea at the museum café
and another quick tour of the contemporary art.
Bruce is the connection to seeing the
Nermans’ (elderly parents and only son and daughter-in-law) collections, in
houses nearby in Overland Park (Kansas) and within a few blocks of each other.
Both houses are contemporary and loaded with great art. The elders live in a
house that was clearly designed to house their collection, and it glows in
their home. There are over a 100 pieces, all well placed and lit. Most spectacular: a huge Stella assembly on
the largest wall in the house (almost two stories high); numerous Jasper Johns,
a large Kaneko dongo, an early Butterfield mud horse, and a lot of
Rauschenbergs. A treat!
After a visit of about 1 hour, we’re off
to the younger generation’s house: they live in a larger house, also full of
great art. An EL Anatsui (he’s having a giant show at Brooklyn Museum El Antsui in Brooklyn)
that looks better in their house than the one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, a
Yayoi Kusuma Pumpkin (DB’s fave!), a Kiefer and lots of other work by German
artists. Unlike the elder two, these Nermans are still active collecting and
thus there are more newer pieces to see.
More on El Anatsui can be found on the Artsy web-site,
More on El Anatsui can be found on the Artsy web-site,
Since it is not raining, we visit the
gallery district and do some minor recreational shopping. Back to the hotel to
partially pack and rest up before dinner, at Michael Smith’s restaurant.
THB and DB share
- mixed greens with roasted kabocha
squash, lady apples and pepitas salad
- baby kale salad with watermelon
radish, carrot and roasted cauliflower
- eight hour roasted pork with green onion
risotto, and jaliscan pico de gallo
- house cured pancetta and brioche
stuffed duck leg with forbidden rice, spiced sun chokes, chanterelles and kumquat
chutney
- pistachio pavlova with
campari-grapefruit sorbet and lemon curd
- honey marshmallow S’mores with frozen
chocolate mousse and house made graham crackers
- Amima Chardonnay from Romania and
Domaine L’Olivette Cotes Du Rhone from France
Included! All agreed this was the best
meal of the trip so far…tomorrow off to Bentonville
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