A new semester

Somehow, the busyness at the start of the new semester always takes me by surprise. There are syllabi to plan, readings to get organized, appointments and field trips to set, and people to catch up with. Having been overseas for a year, I think that it really took me by surprise this year. Plus, it's only been about three weeks that I've been back in the U.S., so I'm still trying to settle in to life and do things like find certain pairs of shoes or find the time to go purchase a new work bag (ah, the things that were tossed in the great luggage purge). After a week back, everything is starting to settle into a routine- I know the quirks of all the projectors in my classrooms, I've got that copy machine code down, and I'm even starting to learn some of my students names. It's hard to believe that summer is just about done, but I'm very much looking forward to my favorite season and all the joys of autumn.

Magnolia

 

The most conspicuous sign of the arrival of early spring in Kansas City is decidedly the magnolia trees. Huge blooms, slight fragrance, and a tree full of blossoms. In the Midtown area there seems to be a few trees on every block, such as the two gorgeous trees in front of KCAI's Jannes Library. So lovely!

 

April First Friday

 

This weekend brought fantastic weather to the KC area. We took the opportunity to do some gallery hopping on Friday evening in the Crossroads.

Sprout was interested in the graffiti, or as he referred to it, "the painted walls." He informed us that he would like to paint the walls when he gets big...... hmmmm.....

  

 One of our first stops was Simlandscape 5 at Vulpes Bastille, an exhibition of Derek Dobbins' work (one of my former students).

 

Lots of galleries in the East Crossroads were full, and the weather perfect. Food trucks were out, people were using lots to play disk golf, and we even saw a pop up outdoor restaurant.

 

 

Another show that we enjoyed was Beneath the Respirator, showing photography work seen below.

 

Longmen Grottoes

 

Today in my Buddhist Art course we discussed the Longmen Grottoes.  This group of carved Buddhist figures dates from between the fourth and tenth centuries; we focused on the Binyang cave of the early 6th century (522-23) and the Vairocana of the 670s (below from my visit in 2006). The best part of teaching this type of art history at KCAI is the proximity to the Nelson-Atkins. After talking about the Binyang Cave, we took a quick walk across the street to the museum to see part of the carvings that are on display at the museum. Seeing the large stone reliefs of the Empress procession (which is a small section of one of the walls of carvings) is such a great experience for the students- it gives a sense of scale that is impossible to convey through photographs, and allows us to really examine the style and technique of the work. It also led to some interesting conversations about how the reliefs were removed from the cave, and about the ethics of cultural objects being removed from their original context.