Saturday, February 17, 2007

KC-Area meet

As long-time readers know, close to the end of my Intro to Humanities class we have an optional field trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. This is, for many of my students, the highlight of the class: many of them have never been in an art museum before, and they come away amazed and moved by the experience. This semester, some of us (accompanied, her schedule permitting, by the lovely Mrs. Meridian) will be there on Saturday, March 3. We will collectively gawk at beautiful things and I will attempt to dredge up something to say that is more substantive than, say, "Hoo, doggie! Them Dutch painters sure did paint good."

I'm babbling on about this because I'd like to invite those of you in the vicinity to meet me/us, after I've wrapped things up at the museum, for coffee and conversation at the Barnes & Noble in the Plaza at 3:30. Many of you have been long-time readers and friends of this blog, and I would consider it a pleasure and honor to meet and thank you in person. And hey: the bookstore will be interesting if we end up boring each other.

I hope to see some of you there.

13 comments:

FletcherDodge said...

This sounds fun. Of course, March is much too far into the future for me to plan, but I'd like to meet you if possible. BTW, I'm sure you'll remember to show your students the Caravaggio. It's one of my favs at the museum.

John B. said...

emawkc,
I'd like to meet you if possible as well; I hope to see you there. As for the Caravaggio, it's one of the chief reasons we go: aside from just being a great painting, it's one of the very few Caravaggios in this country and so is special for that reason, too.

Gwynne said...

Sounds like a wonderful field trip! As does a cup of coffee at B&N. Hmmm, I'm contemplating lurking at the museum. ;-) I love that Caravaggio painting...and Rembrandt's Portrait of a Young Man. Did you get up to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute a couple of years ago? Over 200 of his works and boy, howdie, that guy sure could paint good. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun day. If I was within a couple hour drive, would definitely meet you at B&N. Alas...

Try things like "Hot dang, Bobby Sue, check out the strokes and textures on this one." See how sofistikadid that sounds? You just need to learn a few high-falutin' soundin' words and work them in...

John B. said...

Gwynne, What a pleasant surprise it would be to meet you. I'm not quite sure where you live, and so I didn't know if KC would be too far away for you. As for lurking at the museum, I almost put something to that effect in the post, but I didn't want people to feel obligated to listen to my blather and THEN feel like they had to have coffee with me after that. And the Rembrandt exhibit? Nope, alas. But, living "this close" to the Art Institute, it's a long-range goal to get back there and spend more than the six hours I spent there the first time I want.

Winston, it's funny: as I was writing this post, I was thinking, If Winston lived closer, I bet he'd show up at something like this. "Brush strokes," eh? As Huck Finn would say, That's too many for me.

Anonymous said...

I'm sitting at the office with my calendar open. March 3 if free for me, but I hope the OD doesn't have Saturday soccer practice. If not, the EMBLOS and I might make an appearance.

Cheers.

John B. said...

Randall, your (and the EMBLOS's) appearance in KC was such a fantastic notion to me that it didn't even occur to me to think it a possibility. But I will allow myself to be cautiously optimistic.

What a gathering of luminaries from the blogospheric cosmos promises to be there assembled! The patrons of the B&N won't be able to look at us with the naked eye.

Carmen said...

Wish I could join you, sounds like fun!

Gwynne said...

...didn't know if KC would be too far away

It's where I call home...I drive by the museum every day on my way to work. ;-)

BruceA said...

I don't know what my schedule will be like that weekend, but if I can, I'll try to be there.

John B. said...

Camille, you're more than welcome to be here in spirit.

Gwynne, sometimes the mind plays tricks on me as I read text. In my mind I've had you living just about everywhere but KC. No matter where you live, though--I hope you'll be able to join us.

Bruce, it would be a pleasure to have you join us. I hope your schedule works out in our favor.

Gwynne said...

...living just about everywhere but KC.

Well, my actual home is in the country 25 miles outside of the city, so I get the best of both worlds. ;-)

AJ said...

I'll tentatively put March 3 on the calendar. Tentatively, because all plans tend to go down that way when Aidan is part of the equation. I enjoyed the art and the chance to get acquainted last time you made this invitation.