Did you know that admission to the Ulrich Museum of Art on the WSU campus is always free? That makes it a great place to explore any time you’re out looking for awesome things to do.
The museum’s galleries are open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on weekends from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
They also have a free app to help you explore the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, which is always open and makes for a great place to walk when you want to get out and get some exercise.
But the Ulrich Museum also offers many special events throughout the year. These are extra educational and interesting. Here’s what we know of that’s coming up!
Sculpture Dedication: Randy Regier The Celestial Mechanic
Date: April 2, 2019
Times:
3:30 p.m. Reveal and Remarks
4:00 p.m. Reception – North lawn of Ahlberg Hall
5:30 p.m. Artist Talk – Ulrich Museum of Art
Description: Randy Regier proposed to create a public sculpture entitled The Celestial Mechanic “that is resonant with the culture and aesthetic of sky and flight and dreams of space – yet rooted and connected to the earth and to community history and the passage of time. These are very Kansas things to me, and a large part of why I choose to live and work here.” Regier has a BFA in sculpture from Kansas State University and an MFA in studio arts from Maine College of Art. He is represented in numerous museums and private collections nationwide including the Emprise Bank Collection, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, and the Spencer Museum of Art. Public commissions include Salina Arts Commission, the Wichita Public Library Foundation and most recently Open Spaces, an international sculpture biennial installed in parks and urban spaces throughout Kansas City, Missouri.
Writing Now/Reading Now: Jericho Brown
Date: April 9, 2019
Times:
5:30 p.m. Reception
6:00 p.m. Poetry Reading
Description: One of the most gifted and lyrical poets of his generation, Jericho Brown is the author of Please, The New Testament, and The Tradition, which will be newly released at this reading. His poems brim over with a transformative power rooted in both sensuality and the spirit. Claudia Rankine says “To read Jericho Brown’s poems is to encounter devastating genius.” Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award and has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. He directs the Creative Writing Program at Emory University, and he is WSU’s 2019 Distinguished Visiting Poet. Writing Now/Reading Now is cosponsored by the WSU Department of English, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Watermark Books & Cafe?, and the Ulrich Museum of Art.
Kevin Mullins: Fire in the Paint Locker
Date: April 12, 2019
Time: 5:00-8:00 p.m. Reception
Description:The Ulrich invites you to participate in the opening celebration of a 30 year retrospective of Kevin Mullins’ work. We encourage WSU students, faculty and staff to join members of the community in shared discovery, exchange and delight. Receptions feature art, music, refreshments and fun.
Kevin Mullins was known for producing compelling, complex, luminous, lyrical surfaces. He was at the height of his career when he passed away suddenly in March of 2018. A celebration of his work and life seems most fitting as his artistic career included 15 years at the Ulrich Museum as Exhibitions Curator.
The Ulrich Museum of Art is proud to organize a retrospective of Kevin’s work, opening Friday, April 12. The exhibit, co-curated by Ann Resnick and Dan Rouser, will celebrate 30 years of Kevin’s work drawn from private and public collections including the Ulrich’s recent acquisition, God Blind Me, 2017. In addition, the Ulrich is pleased to produce a limited-edition catalogue to accompany the exhibit, featuring essays by David Butler, Elizabeth Dunbar, Bill North, Mike Odom and David Reed
Lecture: David Butler – Thoughts on a Painting by Kevin Mullins
Date: April 14, 2019
Time: 2:00 p.m. Program, Reception Following
Description: Please join David Butler for a personal reflection on a work by Kevin that he has owned and enjoyed for many years. He was a friend and colleague of Kevin’s, as former director of the Ulrich Museum of Art. David is currently the executive director of the Knoxville Museum of Art in Tennessee.
Senior Wednesday: Gallery Walk – Kevin Mullins: Fire in the Paint Locker
Date: April 17, 2019
Times:
10:00 a.m. Refreshments
10:30 a.m. Program
Description: Please join guest curator Dan Rouser in an intimate discussion and reflections on the work of Wichita artist and former Ulrich exhibition curator, Kevin Mullins.
Sculpture Dedication: Elyn Zimmerman Font
Date: April 23, 2019
Times:
3:30 p.m. Reveal and Remarks
4:00 p.m. Reception – Shocker Hall Plaza
5:30 p.m. Artist Talk – Ulrich Museum of Art
Description: Font was inspired by an ancient Egyptian altar that featured a round stone sunk into a table. In this interpretation, the round stone of the original altar is replaced by a polished black granite disk. Elyn Zimmerman holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Fine Art from UCLA. Born in Philadelphia, PA, she has lived in New York City since 1977. Since the late 1970s Zimmerman has executed numerous temporary site-specific outdoor sculptural installations for major museums all over the world. Her permanent outdoor sculpture installations are marked by their use of stone and water, as well as their reference to the natural landscape. Zimmerman’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art as well as several corporate collections.
FUN: Future Now at the Ulrich
Date: April 26, 2019
Time: 4–5 p.m. Presentations, Reception Following
Description: FUN is designed to provide faculty and students on campus a place to show off the research they’ve been working on in a short, engaging presentation. These PechaKucha-style presentations will be held on three Fridays, four presentations each, and each only seven minutes long. This program is an extension of the Museum’s Solving for X project.
For more information contact Jana Durfee at jana.durfee@wichita. edu.
Art History Awards – Randall Griffey
Date: May 10, 2019
Times:
5:30 p.m. Reception
6:00 p.m. Award Presentation
6:30 p.m. Guest Speaker Randall Griffey, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Description: 2019 marks the inaugural installment of the annual art history awards. These awards celebrate outstanding achievements by art history students in a number of categories, including outstanding individual research project, performance in art history courses, and growth as an art historian. The art history awards also feature a special recognition for teaching excellence among studio graduate students.
Sculpture Dedication: Tom Otterness Shockers
Date: May 12
Times:
3:30 p.m. Reveal and Remarks
4:00 p.m. Reception – South Lawn Duerksen Fine Arts Center
Description: The proposed work Shockers is influenced by the large-scale outdoor sculpture Makin’ Hay which resided at Wichita State University for two years. Similarly this new work depicts day laborers yet in this instance there are only two. Depicted in an embrace during a break in their work, the installation celebrates both camaraderie and the history of the “shockers,” the nickname given to the students who used to earn money for their studies by harvesting wheat during the early days of WSU. Shockers was commissioned by Adam Beren and sisters Amy Bressman and Julie Platt in honor of their mother, Joan S. Beren, one of WSU’s strongest fine arts supporters. Joan Beren received a Master of Arts degree from the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, at WSU in 1983 and was an ardent champion of the University and, in particular, the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection for which she established a conservation fund in 2016. Tom Otterness is widely known as one of the most popular public sculptors in North America. His works in bronze, which adorn many plazas and outdoor spaces throughout the world, are recognized for their playful, cartoon-like appearance and accessible nature although they often touch on serious topics such as issues of class, race, and gender.
Senior Wednesday: 2019 ADCI MFA Graduates
Date: May 15
Times:
10:00 a.m. Refreshments
10:30 a.m. Program
Description: Please join us for a celebration of the 2019 MFA Graduates from the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries with presentations by candidates in Painting, Drawing and Sculpture.
Catalogue Launch – Kevin Mullins: Fire in the Paint Locker
Date: June 22
Time: 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Description: Mark your calendar to celebrate the release of the limited edition exhibition catalog, Kevin Mullins: Fire in the Paint Locker. The catalog captures 30 years of Kevin’s work and features essays by David Butler, Elizabeth Dunbar, Bill North, Mike Odom, and David Reed, with an introduction by Dan Rouser. Co-curators Ann Resnick and Dan Rouser will be on hand to sign copies.
A SculpTour Affair
Date: June 30
Time: 4:00-7:00 p.m.
Cost: $100+
Description: A SculpTour Affair celebrates the renowned Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, considered to be one of the top ten collections on university campus’ across the U.S. This year’s gala event will feature three new acquisitions by nationally and internationally recognized artists: The Celestial Mechanic by Randy Regier; Font by Elyn Zimmerman; and Shockers by Tom Otterness.
In May of 2015 the Ulrich Alliance hosted its first gala, A SculpTour Affair, as a biennial fundraising event to support the Ulrich Museum of Art’s exhibitions and critical public programs, such as lectures by visiting artists, scholars, and in-gallery learning opportunities for more than 4,000 students each academic year. Your generous support of this event allows the Ulrich to fund its programs and remain free and open to everyone.
Please join us for a late afternoon stroll with friends and art lovers, cocktails, delicious food, music, and a bit of the unexpected at our next SculpTour Affair this June.
To purchase tickets, inquire about sponsorship, make a donation, or for additional information contact Carolyn Copple at Carolyn.Copple@wichita.edu or call (316) 978-6646. Tickets can be purchased online at wichita.edu/sculptour.