Events

Story times feature books written by Latinas from the Pura Belpré Award list.

The Girls’ Night Out Teen Book Club features Graffiti Girl by Kelly Parra on May 11, from 5 - 8 p.m.

MANA de Kansas City hosts a meet and greet with Linda Rodriguez to celebrate her novel Every Last Secret on Thursday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m.

During the Civil War Missouri was a state divided, suffering from a fractured identity and caught up in a struggle of no quarter between its battling factions. That violent period of near-anarchy is examined in the traveling exhibit A State Divided: The Civil War in Missouri, a joint effort of the Missouri Humanities Council and the Missouri History Museum.

This colorful and informative exhibit follows the “bushwhackers” and “Jayhawkers” whose bitter enmity continues to color the relations between Missourians and Kansans.

Fred Geary (1894-1955) attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as a commercial artist for the Fred Harvey Company in Union Station. Geary became caught up in the wood engraving movement that became popular in the U.S. in the 1930s and in his spare time produced exquisite depictions of small-town life and Missouri landscapes and landmarks.

Easily and cheaply reproduced, woodcuts put art into the hands of working-class Americans.

A new exhibit based on the Kansas City Star Magazine series and book by Steve Paul. It features 22-by-28-inch reproductions of pages from the book, which celebrates Kansas City’s architectural scene one letter at a time.

This exhibit is on display in the Fifth Floor Exhibit Space.

The newest exhibition of the Orval Hixon Gallery, New Compositions: The Dance Portraiture of Orval Hixon, is on display from June 11, 2011 through 2013 at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. The exhibit features a rich selection of Hixon’s portraits, including images of some of the best-known dancers of his time.

To most local landscape architects, Hare & Hare is a household name. The firm has left an indelible mark on some of the most iconic and often-visited areas of Kansas City—the Country Club Plaza, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Loose Park, Ward Parkway, and Mission Hills among them.

Learn the basic functions of your computer such as using the mouse and keyboard. This class also offers insights into hardware and software components. Registration is required. Call 701-3488 to register.

Special events and activities every week.

This bi-weekly class at Sugar Creek offers many options for all levels of quilters. Bring a project, start a project, or come to learn something new. Class is every other Saturday at the Sugar Creek Branch Library. Call Nancy at 816-252-3344 for more information.

The purpose of cinema, said director Vincente Minnelli, is to provide “a little magic.”

For nearly two decades Minnelli (one-time husband of Judy Garland) did just that in lavish Technicolor musicals and intimate black-and-white dramas. Join us in the Film Vault in May for music, magic, and emotions.

Ina P. Montgomery tells the stories of unknown “sheroes,” African American women who toiled in obscurity and rarely made headlines, but who have been a potent force in the creation of the America we know today.

Montgomery is a specialist in innovative training projects for business and the former owner of the CODA company.

She is past president of the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus and has taught information technology and management at Metropolitan Community College.

House of Secrets
by Tracie Peterson

When her father orchestrates a surprise trip to the summer house of her childhood, Bailee Cooper is unprepared for what follows. What is intended to be a happy reunion for Bailee and her sisters, Geena and Piper, quickly becomes shrouded by memories from the past.

Together again, the three sisters sift through their recollections of fifteen years ago...of an ill mother, and of their father making a desperate choice. They vowed, as children, to be silent--but one sister believes the truth must now be revealed. Yet can they trust their memories?

Please join us on May 12th at 2:00 p.m. on the second floor of Westport Library as we enjoy the wit and wisdom of Joe Montanari, president of MONTANARI FINE ART JEWELERS, as he speaks on the Study of Old Maps. Mr. Montanari has a collection of pre-Civil War maps which he will display and discuss. Among other points, he will explain interesting historical details learned by studying old maps.