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Tuesday 10am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 8pm Friday 10am - 5pm Saturday 12pm - 5pm Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Spencer Museum of Art

Name: Spencer Museum of Art
Address: 1301 Mississippi Street, Lawrence, KS, 66045, US
Telephone: +17858644710
Rating: 4.4

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Spencer Museum of Art

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The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas stewards a collection of 48,000+ works that represent different types of art from around the world.
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Admission is always free.

10/20/2026

We are excited to announce a very special exhibition opening this spring!📣
“Gateway to Himalayan Art” features objects from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in New York. The exhibition will introduce the forms, concepts, meanings, and religious traditions of Indian, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Tibetan cultures. ☸️

Wheel of Life, 19th century
Tibet or Mongolia
Pigments on cloth
45 1/2 x 30 5/8 in.
Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin
C2006.66.131 (HAR 78)

10/19/2026

Drop by the Brosseau Learning Center to experience our new installation featuring global Indigenous art and Pop Art from the Spencer’s collection, on view through November 8! 👔

Claes Oldenburg
“Store Window: Box, Hats, Hearts, Shirt $.29,” 1973
color lithograph
Museum purchase, 1973.0149

10/18/2026

Explore the intersection of maps and art from the Spencer’s collection with intern Maggie Vaughn this Thursday (10/22) from 10:15–11AM. This talk will focus on how artists use cartography and map-based imagery to represent our world and grapple with issues of gender and place. 🗺️

“A Map of Leicestershire... sampler,” 1800–1850
England, United Kingdom
silk thread, chenille thread, wool, embroidering, petit point, cross-stitching
William Bridges Thayer Memorial, 1928.6826

10/17/2026

A new art exhibition at the KU Medical Center explores healthy aging through the lens of nature. "Asclepias in the Garden," named for the Greek god associated with physicians, healing, and medicinal herbs, is created by artist and professor Marguerite Perret. 🌿🦋

Perret is the first recipient of the Kansas 4M/KU Spencer Museum of Art Arts Research Integration Fellowship, which embeds Kansas artists within the Kansas 4M Geriatrics Workforce Education Program.

Learn more about this exhibition, including how to visit, online 🔗
https://spencerart.ku.edu/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/asclepias-garden

Marguerite Perret
“Flutter,” 2026
Courtesy of the artist

10/16/2026

Just two more weeks until Halloween! 🎃
Today, we’re sharing this “witch marionette” gifted by famed puppeteer and KU alum Hazelle H. Rollins. Can you imagine her creepy cackle and footsteps as she shuffles her feet? 🔮

Pelham Puppets
“witch marionette,” mid 1900s–1979
plastic, cloth, synthetic hair, paint, wood, string, metal, molding
Gift of Hazelle H. Rollins, 2007.7316

10/15/2026

Congratulations to Rachel Straughn-Navarro, the Spencer’s school and educator engagement coordinator, who was selected as the 2026 Outstanding Museum Art Educator of the Year by the Kansas Art Education Association!🏅

She is in the center of this photo along with two other award-winning educators who are also participants in our Partners in Education Across Kansas program!🌻

10/14/2026

Today the Spencer welcomed a delegation from Lawrence’s Sister City, Hiratsuka, Japan! 🫶🏻🗾
The group toured our galleries and learned about our vast collection of Asian art, as well as our “Street Nihonga” exhibition, which will soon be displayed at the Mitaka City Gallery of Art, just 40 miles away from Hiratsuka.

10/13/2026

We had a blast at the Backyard Bash this past Sunday with 200+ visitors of all ages! 🌈🌳🦸‍♀️
Huge thanks to all our KU and community partners who offered a variety of free and fun activities. If you went to the Backyard Bash comment below with your photos or your favorite activity! 📷

10/12/2026

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Here are two events to celebrate the resilience, history, and beauty of Native American and Indigenous cultures. 🧡

TODAY (10/12): Enjoy a virtual poetry reading and conversation from 5:30–7PM with Maya Kaqchikel Ajtz'ib' (artists) Negma Coy and Noé Roquel. Link in the comments! 💻

TOMORROW (10/13): Hear contributors read from the recently published “Shokhí: A Kanza Relative, a Monument, and Rematriation” from 6–8PM at Haskell Indian Nations University. 📖

Chris Pappan
“The Sacred in Motion,” 2024
pencil, graphite, gouache, inkjet print, collage, ledger paper
Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund, 2024.0137

10/10/2026

Hear from Barkandji photographer Nici Cumpston this Tuesday (10/13) from 3:30–4:30PM in our Lee Study for a presentation connecting with themes in our exhibition “Christian Thompson: Future Ancestor.” 📷

Cumpston, who is also the director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia, will discuss her art and curation practices within the context of working with Indigenous collections and communities.

Nici Cumpston
“Great-grandmother Barka”
pigment inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper, hand colored with PanPastels, crayons and pencils
Image courtesy the artist and Michael Reid Gallery

Address

1301 Mississippi Street
Lawrence, KS
66045

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 8pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	12pm - 5pm
Sunday	12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+17858644710

Website

http://spencerart.ku.edu/

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