Art in KC

For those of you who are new to Kansas City (and perhaps some of you who aren't), we have a fantastic art scene. We are fortunate to have access to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the KC Art Institute, the Mattie Rhodes Art Center (a bilingual and bicultural non-profit center), the Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art, and various others. We also have concentrations of artists and galleries in places like the Crossroads District downtown. Among the myriad accomplished indivdual artists, we at Rockhurst are exceedingly proud to have our own artistic treasure, Anne Austin Pearce, Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication and Fine Arts. Anne's teaching, her creations and her spirit are all phenomenal and we are so lucky to have her.

On a related note, Aric and I and some friends were lucky enough last week to discover another local artist, known only to us as "Big John," who fashioned the above creature. After we admired his creations for a short while, this 6'10" mysterious craftsman unexpectedly gave this creature (which our friend named "Brinks") to us. Brinks now sits in our front of our house, serving as both a sentinel and as a reminder of why people like Anne and Big John become artists: to share their creations and passions with others.

Montreal

Last week my research student, Rebecca Benjamin, and I returned from Montreal, Quebec. We were there presenting a poster about our rattlesnake research at an international meeting (JMIH - Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists). We had a blast listening to presentations all day and attending the meeting-sponsored socials at night. We met some of the most fascinating people and were able to share our research with a very receptive crowd. Rebecca did an outstanding job, and I am so proud of the way in which she represented Rockhurst internationally!