Events

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.

The Kansas City Public Library invites children and parents to be part of monthly interactive story times presented by the Coterie Theatre. Theatre artists read from their favorite children's books while audience members enjoy an opportunity to "jump into the story" on stage.

Historian Brooks Blevins examines a brutal 1929 murder and rape in the Arkansas Ozarks and demonstrates how press coverage of the ensuing trial has resulted in unfair generalizations about life in that corner of the Midwest.

A native of the Arkansas Ozarks, Blevins is the Noel Boyd Professor of Ozarks Studies at Missouri State University. His other books include Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol’ Boys Defined a State and Hill Folks: A History of Arkansas Ozarkers and Their Image.

Former Kansas City Star columnist Bill Tammeus discusses his anger over the loss of his nephew in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 - and how he came to terms with it.

The event also serves as the regular monthly meeting of Anger Alternatives (www.anger.org), a local group that teaches the tools and skills to manage anger and promote healing. The group's current series is Making Peace with Anger.