Apertures and Optics

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak, 816-751-1278) observes the 125th anniversary of the Kansas City Art Institute with an exhibition of photography by prominent KCAI graduates, among them James Hajicek (class of 1970), an emeritus professor who heads the 19th-century photo-processes program at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute; landscape photographer Lawrence McFarland (class of 1973), a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, whose documentary projects include a study of the lives and traditions of the Navajo people; and Nicole Cawlfield (class of 1997), who has exhibited mixed-media works and reinterpretations of the classic American pinup that challenge idealized commercial images. Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute encompasses these and many other artists whose visions were cultivated here in Kansas City. The exhibit runs through January 2.

Wednesdays-Saturdays. Starts: July 24. Continues through Jan. 2, 2010