The American Jazz Museum is pleased to announce the lineup of events for its annual celebration of the legendary Charlie Parker's birthday on Thursday, August 29, 2024.

We begin our celebration at 8 a.m. with a Musical Salute at Parker's statue and then run a full day of  free events, concluding with a free outdoor concert featuring Harold O'Neal at Jay McShann Pavilion on Thursday evening. Charlie Parker's Birthday Celebration is always a memorable and nostalgic day for jazz enthusiasts, musicians, and the community, honoring the life and legacy of one of jazz's greatest innovators.

RSVP  to view and register for the day's events, including an artist talk with Willie Cole. 

Reserve a Willie Cole KC JazzBird sculpture!

The American Jazz Museum is thrilled to announce the launch of the Miniature JazzBirds, exquisite miniatures inspired by Willie Cole's renowned ORNITHOLOGY installation at Kansas City’s newly renovated International Airport.

These beautifully crafted pieces celebrate the innovative and creative spirit of Kansas City, paying tribute to the city's rich musical heritage and its legendary native son, jazz legend Charlie Parker.

The Miniature JazzBirds are a testament to Kansas City's vibrant cultural landscape, embodying the essence of creativity and artistic expression. Each piece reflects the unique blend of art and music that defines our city, making them a perfect addition for collectors and enthusiasts alike.

The JazzBirds serve not only as beautiful artworks but also as symbols of the enduring influence of Kansas City's cultural contributions.

National Academicians Sanford Biggers, Willie Cole, and Mel Kendrick will participate in a moderated discussion about formal innovation through the use and reuse of materials, hybridity, and the melding of different traditions of making. The discussion is presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Rail, and moderated by William Corwin.

National Academicians Sanford Biggers, Willie Cole, and Mel Kendrick will participate in a moderated discussion about formal innovation through the use and reuse of materials, hybridity, and the melding of different traditions of making. The discussion is presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Rail, and moderated by William Corwin. In ancient Greek, the term synkrētismos meant a “union of communities,” specifically to oppose a common enemy. Only in the seventeenth century was the word Anglicized to mean “the union of different religious beliefs.” This term now filled an emerging descriptive need for a process of cultural diffusion and hybridity that emerged through colonization. The artists will discuss how syncretism, with its fraught history, relates to their sculptural practices, and how looking back to move forward informs their work.

RESERVATIONS: Admission is free, but reservations are required. To make a reservation for this program, click HERE. The program will begin at 6:30 PM EST

To mark the opening of his Haley Gallery exhibition, Lyrical Reconstructions, American sculptor and printmaker Willie Cole will discuss his artwork, which blends familiar consumer objects with references to appropriated African and African American images, often incorporating steam irons and their scorch marks, ironing boards, and high-heeled shoes. His most recent works—such as Ornithology, his 2022 commission for the Kansas City International Airport—repurpose discarded water bottles or musical instruments. Lyrical Reconstructions includes new works created for the exhibition using musical instruments, along with past pieces that highlight Cole’s use of art and found objects to address social injustices throughout his thirty-plus-year career. Anne Collins Smith, director of the Xavier University of Louisiana Art Gallery, will moderate the discussion. She is a 2021 Center for Curatorial Leadership fellow and serves on the boards of the Association of Art Museum Curators and the New Orleans African American Museum.

Reserve your tickets here.

Artist Talk: Willie Cole

Registration opens October 21.
This event takes place from 6 to 7PM CST on November 18.

Contemporary American sculptor, printmaker, and conceptual artist Willie Cole will discuss how he mixes visual metaphors and subliminal memory triggers in his work to address issues ranging from the African diaspora to the environment to personal family history, as revealed in his most recent collaboration with Highpoint Editions.

Ticketing Information

To attend this program: RSVP by calling (612) 870-6323 or register online and receive an email with the Zoom link for the program. If you have never used Zoom before, you will be prompted to download the Zoom app or join from your browser. Zoom works best on the Google Chrome browser. If you are having any trouble, contact our visitor experience team at visit@artsmia.org

Give back: This program is free. Mia relies on your support to present its programs and exhibitions. Please consider making a contribution.

Thursday, November 4, 2021

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

In person

Included with Museum Admission

Ironing Boards, hair dryers, plastic bottles, and shoes play starring roles in the sculpture of Willie Cole. In his bronze sculpture The Sole Sitter at the McNay, high heels bend and blend to form a lone pensive figure. Cole joins Poet Jenny Browne to discuss church ladies, fatherhood, activism, and artmaking.

Registration required; space is limited. This conversation takes place in person. 

Free for McNay members, recipients of WIC/ SNAP/ MAP courtesy of Museum for All 

Fee (includes Museum admission): not-yet members $10; teens $5  

This lecture is a program of the Louis A. and Frances B. Wagner Lecture Series. 

In this month's Open Air, curator for the Gantt Center Dexter Wimberly speaks with multidisciplinary artist Willie Cole, whose work is featured in one of our current exhibits, Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works From The Bank Of America Collection.

Submit your questions here: https://pollev.com/discourses/Sl5SXMfCctxNCBApMcLW3/respond

Register here: https://www.ganttcenter.org/calendar/open-air-a-conversation-with-dexter-wimberly-and-willie-cole/

This free virtual program will be streamed on the Gantt Center's official YouTube channel.

Meet Artist Willie Cole and Kickstart his Favorite Brand: Black Art Matters

Willie Cole will discuss his work from 2:30-2:45.

Willie Cole & Popcorn are teaming up to advocate for Black artists bringing Black art upfront and for sale in museum stores around the world.

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE

Willie Cole will take part in the newly launched MAM Conversations series on July 9th via Zoom Webinars. The series gives viewers the unique opportunity to virtually engage with contemporary artists, see their studio spaces, and learn more about their work through a Q&A session.

Free for MAM members ($10 for non-members).

The museum is currently offering memberships on a two years for the price of one basis.

Join us in conversation with artists Willie Cole and Nette Forné Thomas, as part of our ongoing Montclair Library Discussion Forum. This event is free and open to the public.

The Montclair Public Library is honored to welcome acclaimed sculptor and assemblage artist Willie Cole back to Montclair for a discussion of his life and work as a key event of MPL’s African American History Month slate of activities.

Cole, who was raised in Newark, will share the stage with artist and educator Nette Forné Thomas to discuss his unique inspirations and creative processes for recycling discarded materials including steam irons, high-heeled shoes and plastic water bottles to craft spellbinding masks, prints and other works that reference African royalty, slavery, domestic labor, religion and the rich legacy of African American women like his mother and grandmother.

Nari Ward is known for transforming everyday objects, often gathered from the environment around his studio, to produce his site-specific installations. Ward’s selection of objects or materials—baby strollers, fire hoses, baseball bats, cooking trays, bottles, and shopping carts—is rooted in their connections to individual lives and shared stories. “I am excited about an object’s transformation,” says Ward. “What it means, its historical resonance in a contemporary art dialogue, its significance within the community . . . it is a type of alchemy.”

This panel discussion takes its cues from Ward’s use of found objects, as seen in his New Museum survey “We the People.” Featuring an intergenerational group of artists, including Willie Cole, Abigail DeVille, and Shinique Smith, the conversation will touch on the uses of found and repurposed objects, clothing, sound, photography, and other materials. Together with moderator Andrianna Campbell, the artists will consider how these materials speak to themes of culture, identity, and history within African-American contemporary art.

Sculptor, printer, and Conceptual artist Willie Cole is inspired by everyday objects as well as African and African American imagery. He has employed the steam iron in his work for three decades, using heat as a kind of ink and an iron as a stamping device to create elaborate compositions out of repeated printed forms. In celebration of the exhibition Studio Visit: Selected Gifts from Agnes Gund, the artist will join us to talk about his work.