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Calder Returns to Kansas City Sculpture Park

Alexander Calder, Tom's Cubicle, 1967.
photo: Laura Spencer/KCUR
Alexander Calder, Tom's Cubicle, 1967.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – Workers at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Tuesday reinstalled Alexander Calder's sculpture called Tom's Cubicle on the east side of the Bloch Building, the new Steven Holl-designed addition. The stationary abstract sculpture is made of black painted steel, and it's the largest and only outdoor sculpture by Calder in the museum's collection. Joe Rogers works in the conservation department, and says a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services helped pay for treating the sculpture before reinstallation.

Joe Rogers: Removing the paint, repainting...having Belger come to install it, came out to about 18 thousand...IMLS funded 9 thousand of that, then the Nelson funded the other half, the other 9 thousand.

Sculpture reinstallation, extensive landscaping, and added amenities like picnic tables, are some of the changes taking place on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, known as the Kansas City Sculpture Park. It officially reopens to the public with a community celebration at the end of September.

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