The highly anticipated Kansas Focus Gallery at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art will open on Feb. 4, 2016. The new first-floor gallery was spearheaded by Leawood, Kansas art collector and major museum donor Mary Davidson, who generously offered to fund the creation of a gallery devoted to artists associated with Kansas. In addition to Davidson’s gift of almost 200 works of art from her and her late husband’s personal collection, the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Charitable Trust worked to renovate and financially equip the Nerman Museum to acquire works by Kansas-associated artists for the museum’s permanent collection. The first exhibition in the new Kansas Focus Gallery will feature six large-scale photographs by artist Lori Nix, complemented by Kansas-associated artist exhibitions in the Museum’s McCaffree Gallery and mezzanine.

“Thanks to museum architect Kyu Sung Woo and patron Mary Davidson, this gallery has emerged as one of the most extraordinary and beautiful spaces in the Museum.” Bruce Hartman, Nerman Museum Executive Director