Visual arts

Kansas City's crown-jewel museum launched in October a global competition to find an architectural firm for a $160 million expansion that would transform its Midtown campus. This week, museum visitors had a chance to hear from the finalists.

Lindsborg, Kansas, artist Lester Raymer is best known for paintings of round-faced circus clowns, acrobats and jaunty roosters. But in the Red Barn Studio where he once worked, handcrafted toys for his wife are the star of Christmastime.

Arts programs are among the first to be trimmed by Missouri school districts, especially after the COVID pandemic. But arts educators are trying to turn the tide in arts education disinvestment.

Illustration students from the Kansas City Art Institute are inviting artists of all ages to help them complete colorful murals that are turning a neglected alleyway into a communal space for neighbors to gather.

The Kansas City art museum issued a challenge to architecture firms to design “a museum for all.” With its third evolution, museum leaders hope to respond to growing community needs and increasingly diverse visitors. They estimate a construction budget of $160 million to $170 million, to be funded by private donations.

The Kansas City artist co-founded the Kansas City Artists Coalition in the mid-1970s and was known for her known for her large-scale colorful, abstract paintings and prints. She died on Wednesday.

Jeff Jacobsen spent decades as a photojournalist and as a photographer for University of Kansas athletics. Since he retired in 2020, he's been working on a project to capture images of sports in all 105 counties in Kansas — and he's almost done.

Got an old instrument collecting dust in your basement? One Kansas City fundraiser enlists regional artists to turn them into reclaimed works of art.

The KC Fringe Festival, which labels itself as the largest celebration of arts and culture in the Kansas City metro, will begin its 17 days of festivities on Friday, July 12.

If you're looking to escape the brutal Kansas City summer heat, there's no better escape than these innovative and exciting exhibitions spanning the local art scene.

Megan Karson is heading out on the open road this summer. She’ll spend the next three months making dreamy tintype images of the people she meets at pop up events in Montana and the Pacific Northwest.

Metalsmiths in Colorado are remaking Jackie Robinson in bronze after the theft of a beloved statue of the civil rights baseball icon from a park in Wichita, Kansas, set off a national outpouring of donations.