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All times are local to the venue · America/Chicago
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Kay WalkingStick’s two-panel landscape joins a conversation with Samantha Harvey’s space-station novel in the museum’s Michaelis Gallery.
All times are local to the venue · America/Chicago
A painting of an Ithaca gorge and a novel set aboard a spacecraft might seem an unlikely pair. At the Spencer Museum of Art, Kay WalkingStick’s Winter Flight is the 2026–2027 KU Common Work of Art, selected to extend the conversation around Samantha Harvey’s Orbital.
Winter Flight is an oil-on-canvas diptych, made in 1988–1989. Its right panel evokes water moving through a gorge near Cornell University, where WalkingStick taught; the left is more abstract, built from heavily textured bands of black and blue. The Spencer identifies WalkingStick’s cultural affiliation as Cherokee.
The museum notes that WalkingStick made the painting after the sudden death of her first husband. Rather than treating the canvases as separate pictures, consider how the recognizable gorge and the darker, less literal panel work together: the landscape has both a particular location and room for meanings that are harder to pin down.
Further reading: KU Common Work of Art 2026-27 | Spencer Museum of Art ↗
Harvey’s novel follows six astronauts from five nations through a day aboard a space station. Its short chapters move through successive orbits, offering repeated views of Earth as daylight and darkness pass below.
The Spencer’s pairing draws attention to the contrast in scale: relatively small canvases and a confined spacecraft each suggest a much larger world. The museum also connects WalkingStick’s painting, made in a period of grief, with the novel’s attention to loss and the vulnerability of life. You need not have read Orbital to look closely at the painting, though the book gives the comparison another dimension.
Further reading: KU Common Work of Art 2026-27 | Spencer Museum of Art ↗
Winter Flight is part of the ongoing Empowerment exhibition in the Michaelis Gallery. That broader display asks how artists, artworks and museums express power, with themes including storytelling and people’s relationships with Earth.
The book-and-art pairing is an annual KU Reads practice: the university selects a Common Book, and the Spencer chooses an artwork to expand its themes. For a self-guided visit, try comparing what WalkingStick’s two panels communicate together with what either might suggest on its own.
Further reading: KU Common Work of Art 2026-27 | Spencer Museum of Art ↗ · Common Work of Art - The University of KansasUniversity of Kansas logo ↗ · Empowerment | Spencer Museum of Art ↗
The museum is closed Mondays and stays open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Holiday closures apply; check current hours before setting out.
Groups of 10 or more, including children, are asked to notify the museum at least three weeks ahead. Self-guided and staff-guided group visits are free.
Free lockers are available for backpacks, large bags and coats. Personal photography is allowed without flash or selfie sticks; food and drink are not allowed in the galleries.
The Spencer Museum of Art is at 1301 Mississippi Street in Lawrence; Winter Flight is in the Michaelis Gallery. Lawrence Transit serves the museum, and the map links can calculate directions from your starting point.
During museum hours, designated first-level spaces in the Mississippi Street Garage are free for eligible visitors who validate their license plate at the Welcome Desk. KU-affiliated faculty, staff, students and affiliate staff are not eligible for that validation. Lot 91 behind the museum is free on weekends and weekdays after 5 p.m.; check current parking conditions before traveling.
Common Work of Art - The University of KansasUniversity of Kansas logo ↗ · Plan Your Visit | Spencer Museum of Art ↗
The museum says it is accessible to wheelchair users and has an elevator between the third and fourth floors. A limited number of wheelchairs can be borrowed at the Welcome Desk. Two accessible parking spaces are in front of the museum for visitors with ADA placards; bring your plate number inside for validation.
No. Admission to the Spencer is free, and tickets are not required.
It is in the Michaelis Gallery as part of the ongoing Empowerment exhibition.
No. The museum’s regular gallery hours list Mondays as closed.
The Spencer offers a free digital guide with maps and wayfinding through Bloomberg Connects, available in an app or web browser.
1301 Mississippi Street, Lawrence, KS 66045
Map search by venue and address. Check the organiser’s entrance details before travelling.
Images from the linked sources. Each caption identifies the context of the image.
Event, planning and background information checked 2026-10-29 against the linked sources.