As temperatures drop this winter in Kansas, many are looking for safe, indoor activities as an alternative to outdoor adventures. Luckily, Wichita has a variety of great and affordable museums to explore – many of which have new exhibitions open for visiting this winter. Wichita museums allow for space to social distance while visiting and may provide masks for your safety, but it is recommended to bring your own.

Exploration Place

Beginning Jan. 21 through April 24, Exploration Place will be offering a new traveling exhibition, “Survival: The Exhibition.” This exhibit will be a great intersection between science, adventure and fun. From the rainforest to the high mountains, from the extreme cold to the temperate forest, the exhibit combines STEM concepts with hands-on challenges to empower you with the skills, know-how and confidence to survive any scenario—all within an interactive, informative and safe space.

Laura Roddy, director of marketing at Exploration Place says It will transport guests of all ages to the world’s most beautiful scenery. “Survival: The Exhibition is the world’s first and only traveling exhibition that provides practical, real-world, and science-based techniques to prepare visitors of all ages for survival situations they may actually face in their lifetimes,” said Roddy.

Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Now through July, “Turn It Up to 90! – the 90th anniversary of the Electric Guitar and its World Debut from Wichita,” will be on display at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. In this exhibit you can explore Wichita’s tie to one of the most popular musical instruments, the electric guitar. The electric guitar was created in Los Angeles by Adolph Rickenbacker in 1931, but the first performance known on the electric guitar took place in Wichita at the Shadowland Dance Club in 1932.

Mid-American All-Indian Museum

Now through June 5, 2022, the exhibit “Bring the Bosins Home: The Journey Continues” will be showing. This exhibit will give visitors an understanding of Blackbear Bosin’s artwork and the way he sought to share his culture with Wichita and the world. Bosin designed the iconic Keeper of the Plains.

Wichita Art Museum

The Wichita Art Museum has some very exciting exhibitions coming up that will feature art exhibits that delve into the world of Art Deco from the 1920s and 1930s. Dr. Patricia McDonnell, the director of the Wichita Art Museum said, “If you are a trend-watcher, you know that designers today love Art Deco and continue to riff off this glamorous historical style. Wichita Art Museum will have a gallery display to match the luster and allure of the exquisite paintings, sculptures, photographs, and design objects in this exhibition.”

 Exhibits at Wichita Art Museum will include:

  • “Putting on the Glitz: Art Deco Fashion” (Jan. 8 – May 8): This exhibit celebrates the 1920 and 1930s era fashion while tracing the developments in fashion design during this period. It will feature costumes from those eras with prints and paintings of fashionable people during the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression.
  • “American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939” (Feb. 12 – May 29): The Wichita Art Museum will present over 140-plus iconic artworks that show the materials used in the influence of design through skyscrapers and automobiles.
  • “The International Block Print Renaissance Then and Now: A Centennial Celebration of Block Prints in Wichita, Kansas, 1922-2022” (Feb. 26 – Aug. 7): The international Block Print Renaissance began in the last decades of the 19th century in Europe and Wichita played a major role in expanding this renaissance throughout America. This exhibition will include more than 140 prints.

 

Kansas Aviation Museum

Be on the lookout for an announcement mid-Spring because the museum will be unveiling its new Women of Aviation Exhibition.

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About Visit Wichita
Visit Wichita markets the greater Wichita area as a major convention and tourism destination, thereby enhancing the economic development of the city, county, region and state. Visit Wichita is led by president and CEO Susie Santo, and in 2019 travel and tourism contributed more than $1.1 billion in economic impact to the greater Wichita area.