Exhibition of paintings by Robert Blunk ('50 painting)

Nov. 1-30

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Alumni Gallery in Vanderslice Hall

"Current Perspectives" lecture with Kristen Dettoni ('91 fiber)

7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4

Epperson Auditorium, Vanderslice Hall

Dettoni is the senior director of design for True Textiles Inc., where she has worked for more than nine years.

The Artspace, in partnership with Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, will host The Noon Thing (TNT) on Friday, Nov. 5 that will feature an artist talk by Cuban photographer Lissette Solorzano.

Cara and Cabezas Contemporary, in conjunction with Dead Sea Artworks, will present, "Atmosferas liminal en tiempo real," a retrospective of works by Solorzano at Dead Sea Artworks, 1714 Holmes St., from Nov. 2 to Dec. 4. This is Solorzano's first show in Kansas City. The exhibition will include several new works from the artist's recent residency at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary.

Solorzano's career spans 20 years and several continents. Fittingly, time and travel are two frequent themes in her work. The recent photoessays "Ferro-carrill" (2002) and "Made in Cuba" (1990-2008) present complex narratives, expertly rendered in black and white. We find traces of humans: legs peek out from behind door frames, empty shoes evoke former or future wearers, the artist's shadow casts over the scene before her. There is always something beyond the frame and behind the camera. Some unfinished story that keeps us, and Solorzano, looking. Just as the image presents a fragment of a person, each photograph presents only a fragment of the artist's Cuba. It is in finding those connections between the works that we begin to piece together a larger narrative.

Solorzano is the president of the Photography Department of Cuba's National Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC). Her works are included in permanent collections worldwide, including Cuba's Casa de las Américas, Harvard University, Museo de las Américas in Denver, and the Center for Cuban Studies in New York. In 1995, she was awarded Cuba's Tina Modotti prize for her work as a photojournalist. She has shown extensively in Cuba, Europe, Canada and the United States.

The exhibition is co-sponsored by Metropolitan Community College, the Carter Art Center Gallery and the Kansas City Art Institute.

The gallery is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 816-759-4ART (4278) or visit mcckc.edu/pvart.

Contact Anne Canfield, 816-802-3426 or acanfield@kcai.edu

The Kansas City chamber music ensemble, Quadrivium and the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance team up for an encore performance of their highly acclaimed collaboration featuring local musicians, composers and artists. Quadrivium members Jonathan Borja (flute), Kari Johnson (piano), Cheryl Melfi (clarinet), and Sascha Groschang (cello) will perform works by Chris Biggs, Jason Bolte, Andrew Seager Cole, Daniel Eichenbaum, Mara Gibson, and William Lackey with videos by Chris Biggs, Andrew Seager Cole, Rebecca Dolan, Jamie Gray and Robb Smigielski.

"Current Perspectives" lecture with Thrive: Terrance Clark (’05 graphic design) and Will Staley (’04 graphic design)

7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11

Epperson Auditorium, Vanderslice Hall

Thrive, a nonprofit design firm located in Helena, Ark., that offers creative and strategic support to assist economically-impoverished rural communities in the United States, is co-directed by Clark  and Will Staley.

Robert Blunk ('50 painting) will be in Vanderslice Hall from 4 to 5 p.m. today in conjunction with an exhibition of his work in the Alumni Gallery (Vanderslice stairwell). 

This event is not a formal reception but rather an opportunity for friends of the family and others to meet the artist and view his work.

The work will remain on view through Nov. 30, except during the Thanksgiving holiday (Nov. 24-28). Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Blunk was born in 1923 in Salyards, Kan. After serving in the United States Marine Corps in World War II, Blunk attended KCAI on the G.I. Bill. After graduating from KCAI, he embarked on a 40-year teaching and arts organizing career in Chanute, Kan., and Pittsburg, Kan. He continued his education at Pittsburg State University, earning a master’s degree in 1962, at which time he joined the faculty at Pittsburg State. He has served on the Kansas Arts Commission and has been honored with residencies from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the International Executive Service Corps of Lusaka, Zambia.

(Image: "Melange," 1971, by Robert Blunk.

"Current Perspectives" lecture with Archie Scott Gobber ('88 painting)

7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18

Epperson Auditorium, Vanderslice Hall

Gobber currently is a Review Studios artist resident and just completed a large-scale public artwork for Missouri Bank and Trust entitled “Dream.”

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, classes will not be held from Nov. 24-28. Administrative offices will be open until noon on Wednesday, Nov. 24, and then closed through Sunday, Nov. 28.