Past Conference 2009
Midwest Art History Society
Annual Conference 2009
Kansas City, Missouri, April 2–4, 2009
The Midwest Art History Society's 36th annual meeting was held on April 2–4, 2009, in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference was co–hosted by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Conference sessions and activities took place primarily at The Nelson–Atkins Museum.
Also participating in the MAHS conference were the H&R Bloch Art Space, the Spencer Museum of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.
At The Nelson–Atkins Museum, the conference took place both in the original 1933 William Rockhill Nelson Building and the new, award–winning Bloch Building designed by Steven Holl. In addition to 16 conference sessions, roundtable discussions and museum tours (in the galleries and behind the scenes) were scheduled. Also planned was a panel discussion In the Street: Photographers Look at America, 1945-1968, offered in connection with the photography exhibition, Homer Page: The Guggenheim Year. Thursday evening a gala reception was held in Rozzelle Court at the Nelson-Atkins. On Friday the member luncheon took place in Kirkwood Hall, and at the end of the day, the H&R Block Art Space hosted a special reception for MAHS participants. Friday evening, shuttle service was provided to the Cross Roads art district with its lively gallery scene.
The Nelson–Atkins Museum is across the street from the Kansas City Art Institute and in close proximity to both the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the H&R Block Art Space, the UMKC campus, and the Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology. Other Kansas City venues, a short distance away, are the Liberty Memorial (a fabulous Art Deco structure and the only WWI memorial and museum in the country), the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and the American Jazz Museum.
The conference hotel was the Raphael Hotel - a charming, historic, European-style hotel on the Country Club Plaza, located just a 15 minute walk from The Nelson-Atkins Museum. One of Kansas City’s most popular destinations, the Plaza offers a wide selection of restaurants and shopping, as well as several venues featuring Kansas City jazz.
The conference overlapped with First Fridays, a festive evening on the first Friday of each month when the galleries in the Cross Roads art district open their doors and the streets fill with crowds of art enthusiasts. The Cross Roads is adjacent to the historic Union Station, Crown Center, and all of the activity that takes place in downtown Kansas City and the new Power and Light District.
On the afternoon of Saturday, April 4, an optional trip was planned to Lawrence, Kansas, to view the extensive collections of the Spencer Art Museum (University of Kansas) and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Johnson County Community College) in south Kansas City.
