Visual arts

Tattoo studios here in Kansas City are colorful environments, offering a sincere connection through unique art. Each one is stacked with several artists offering their own take on the form.

Kansas City Art Institute opens their campus every year for ARTPOP, an end-of-semester party with student installations, performances and music. Visitors can see the work of more than 100 artists and get first peek at a weekend-long exhibition and sale.

Die-hard "Star Wars" fans celebrate the fourth day of May this weekend, while the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures highlights action figures from the famous movies. For one super-fan, it's a chance to show off the 5,000-square-foot private museum of memorabilia next to his Northland home.

After a global competition, and a monthslong selection process, museum officials announced the New York City firm Weiss/Manfredi will design their ambitious new expansion project. It's estimated to be the largest investment in Kansas City arts in recent years.

More than 100 years ago, Swedish-born artist Birger Sandzén helped shape the way Americans picture the Kansas landscape. Today, the largest collection of his paintings, prints, and drawings is in the small central Kansas town where he immigrated, lived and worked.

The Swedish painter shaped how the rest of the world viewed the hills and streams of Kansas, and the mountains of Colorado. The largest collection of his paintings, prints, and drawings is in the small central Kansas town where he immigrated, lived and worked.

Jim Richardson had a distinguished career making images for National Geographic Magazine stories on cultural, environmental and scientific issues. His work on the Flint Hills introduced the uniquely American landscape to an international audience.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art recently selected six finalists to design new expansion plans, down from 180 submissions from around the world. Nelson President and CEO Julian Zugazagoitia and Board Chair Evelyn Belger discuss what they hope to see in a makeover of the Kansas City institution.

Start your spring with a visit to these six refreshing art exhibitions happening in Kansas City, featuring the works of award-winning artists from around the region.

The six architecture firms competing to reimagine Kansas City’s premier museum had three months to dream up plans that will remake its Midtown campus. A new exhibit unveils the designs and will give the public a chance to share their thoughts.

Musicians and Fat Tuesday marchers have made their way through 18th & Vine, the Crossroads, and the Westside neighborhood for decades — rain, sleet or snow. The colorfully-dressed revelers, known as krewes, celebrate Mardi Gras, the final day of Carnival, before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

The exhibit includes 135 handmade antique dolls — some that were made by enslaved people — and about 60 period photographs showing dolls, children and adults posing for the camera. But not everyone involved in the Kansas City showing is completely comfortable with it.