Wichita has a diverse mix of museums, all with impressive collections and an ever-changing schedule of exhibitions. From showcasing new acquisitions or curating themed exhibits from their own collections to hosting special exhibitions traveling the country, there’s always something new to see at museums in the Heart of the Country.
Here’s a look at the latest exhibitions among museums in Wichita.
The Kansas African American Museum
Through April 2025: “Defining Black Wichita: Expanding Horizons, 1970s - Today” – This exhibit is the third part of the Defining Black Wichita series and focuses on African Americans in Wichita from the 1970s to today. Empowerment from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s created space for African Americans to fill in government, business, education, arts and culture and athletics. As a result of this, the 1970s became a time of transition and opportunity. African Americans crossed the color-line at Hillside Street that once restricted where people of color could live and moved into neighborhoods that were previously closed to them, beginning a period of exploration of new spaces and new horizons.
Exploration Place
Exploration Place is open daily.
Feb. 7-May 4: “Sharks” – Coming in 2025, “Sharks” will delve into the diversity of sharks, an ancient and fascinating group of fishes. The exhibit will include augmented reality experiences such as getting up close to a whale shark and coming face to face with a Great White shark. There will also be real, touchable shark specimens and life-size shark models ranging from 18-inch epaulette shark to the 26-foot whale shark.
May 23-Sept. 14: “Barbie You Can Be Anything: The Experience” – Barbie is the ultimate career guide, having had more than 200 jobs over the last 60 years. Through this exhibit, you can explore a variety of careers and learn the story of real-life women who broke barriers in their industry. Take part in five themed areas to try out activities associated with a wide variety of roles and careers. Each area will highlight a particular role type: Leader, Problem Solver, Creator, Nurturer or Adventurer. As you explore, you will see displays celebrating real life role models that fill these roles at their jobs every day as well as Barbie dolls that represent various career options. Try on 15 different careers through role play and hands-on and digital interactives.
Ongoing: “Kansas: An Immersive Dome Experience” – Don’t miss this 25-minute dome movie produced by the Exploration Place team in partnership with local drone videographers. Filmed completely by drone, consider this a love letter to Kansas showcasing the beauty and wonder of the Sunflower State in a way never seen before. It shows daily in the Digital Dome Theater, along with “The Dark Side of the Moon - Official Planetarium Show,” “The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness,” “Sea Monsters” and “Beautifica.”
Ongoing: “T.Rex - Dome Theater Movie” – This Digital Dome Theater movie provides a journey back millions of years to the badlands of Hell Creek and beyond to explore the ancient world of Tyrannosaurus rex, from its early days to its reign as a formidable predator. Created with top scientists and visual effects artists, this film reimagines our understanding of the T-rex. Featuring famous specimens, landmark discoveries and cinematic magic, “T.REX” blends evidence and speculation to offer a dazzling and scientifically accurate portrayal of this legendary dinosaur.
Check the center’s website for screening times and tickets; attending a dome show does not require a museum admission ticket.
Wichita-Sedgwick Co. Historical Museum
The Wichita-Sedgwick Co. Historical Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and offers free general admission from 1 to 5 p.m. every Sunday in 2024.
Ongoing
“Being Modern” – This exhibition follows (and is directly patterned after) the museum’s previous exhibit, “Art Deco on the Plains.” It takes the timeline forward to explore modern design experienced locally in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a feature of the Lois Kay Walls Local Visual Art History Series.
Re-opening Feb. 25: “Thrift Finds: Thrifted Treasures from the Museum’s Collection” – Museums acquire objects in many ways, including purchases from thrift stores. Thrift stores sell donated used or second-hand items to the public at moderate prices, often as a way to support charitable organizations or causes. By promoting green practices, encouraging the re-use of items, and providing funds and services to underserved audiences, thrift stores support the community in important ways – and you never know what you’ll find at a thrift store!
March 7-December 2025: “Portraits from the Museum’s Collection” – The urge to create or possess a visual representation of a specific person – a portrait - is present throughout history. Portraits are created for many reasons: from sentimental to celebratory, for public or private viewing, as memorials and as icons. Until the introduction of photography 1840s, portraits were rendered by artists in both two and three-dimensional mediums such as paintings and sculptures. The Museum’s collection includes a variety of portraits, most of which depict local people. In this exhibition we learn of portraiture and the people portrayed.
CityArts
Admission is free at CityArts. Upcoming exhibitions will be announced soon.
Envision Arts Gallery and Community Engagement Center
Admission is free at the Envision Arts Gallery and Community Engagement Center.
Jan. 3-Feb. 28: “Winter Walking | Inclusions” – "Winter Walking" is an audio piece accessible to the public through QR codes found on signs that will be located throughout Chisholm Creek Park at Great Plains Nature Center, Oak Park, Pawnee Prairie Park and Swanson Park, as well as the Envision Arts Gallery. The gallery will be transformed into a space for introspective listening and reflection, bringing the sights and sounds of “Winter Walking” to downtown Wichita. This exhibit will be located in the main gallery and created by Rachel Epp Buller, a multimedia artist, art historian, and professor of Visual Arts and Design at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. As an artist, Rachel participates in exhibitions and residencies around the world. It is curated by Ksenya Gurshtein, in partnership with Great Plains Nature Center.
“Inclusions” by artist Laura Rae will be in the window gallery. It is a series of abstract paintings inspired by a variety of gemstones and gemstone phenomenon.
March 7-May 30: “The Future is Fashion: The First Annual Fashionable Art and Runway Show” – Explore the world of fashion through the lens of individuals who navigate the art of design with a dizzying array of tactile, mixed media materials. From 2D collage designs to the creation of unique, hand-embellished wearables, experience the sights, sounds and the smells of what it means to be fashionable through all of our senses. The show features models from Envision’s PRIDE program, youth and teens and Envision Arts Adult program in both Wichita and Dallas.
March 7-May 28: “Blooming in Darkness” – Created by Christina and Madison Kester, “Blooming in Darkness” is a unique art exhibit that explores the profound journey of experiencing vision loss, yet continuing to create breathtaking art. This exhibit delves into human resilience and ingenuity, demonstrating that creativity knows no bounds and can thrive even amidst challenges.
April 4-25: “Heartspring” – This exhibition features work by participants from Heartspring, which serves children and young adults with multiple intellectual and developmental needs, such as: living with autism; challenges with speech, language, or communication; challenges with mobility and other motor functions; a limited ability to regulate emotions during times of stress; and other pediatric healthcare complexities.
Mid-America All-Indian Museum
Mid-America All-Indian Museum (MAAIM) is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Ongoing
“Jerome Tiger” – This exhibition features artwork created by Jerome Richard Tiger (1941-1967), an accomplished Muscogee Creek/Seminole artist from Oklahoma. He left behind a remarkable legacy through his prolific paintings. MAAIM takes great pride in showcasing his delicate, one-of-a-kind style of artwork.
"From the Vault” – Did you know MAAIM has more than 3,000 objects in its collection? Enjoy this curated exhibit consisting of original works of art from the musuem's unique collection and see two newly acquired works donated by the Michaelis family.
"We are the Spirit” – Kachinas are messengers between the human and spirit world. Human impersonators dance in kachina ceremonies from winter solstice through mid-July. The dolls are made by Hopi people to teach children about spiritual beings. Come explore kachinas through their ceremonies and physical representations. Learn about the kachina season while viewing our unique collection on display.
Wichita Art Museum
The Wichita Art Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday. Admission to WAM is free all year to everyone. Only special exhibitions will have a ticket price and those will be noted here.
Ongoing:
Through March 23, 2025: “Coming of Age: Women Growing Older in American Art” – Presenting a sensitive and expansive vision of womanhood in the United States, the works in this exhibition demonstrate the ways that ageism both targets and overlooks women while celebrating the intersectionality of aging – a natural, inevitable part of life – in American art.
Through March 23, 2025: “ARTISTS A PLUS B: TWINVERSE Exhibition” – This exhibition features the collaborative work of twin artists [A+B], who explore the multifaceted dimensions of twinship through TWIN-SIZED diptychs. Inspired by the structure of the sonnet, the artists employ a grid system to arrange pairs of colors, shapes and symbols that reflect the interconnected parallels and patterns of their shared experiences. Drawn from everyday interactions, memories and cultural folklore, the duo reframes perceptions of twin identity, navigating the spaces between sameness and difference, individuality and interdependence, as they embrace and celebrate the twin bond as a catalyst for creativity and connection.
Through May 18, 2025: “Pop!” – Combining bold colors and familiar subjects—taken from everyday life and mass-produced goods—with carefully chosen materials, textures and compositions, pop artists challenged traditional definitions of fine art. Whether humorous, celebratory or scathing, pop art immortalizes a key moment in American history. This exhibition features loans from New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art with one additional work from WAM’s collection.
Through June 8, 2025: “David Plowden: By the Wayside” – Photographer David Plowden, now 92, has spent his long career traversing the United States to find subjects for his black-and-white photographs. At age 11, he received a Brownie reflex, his first camera, and began taking pictures of the steam trains that crisscrossed his home state of Vermont. As steam trains were replaced by newer technology and Plowden documented their last days, his career photographing vanishing people and places took shape. By the Wayside surveys major subjects in Plowden’s work, including trains, ships, bridges, farms and fields, steel mills and the people who lived and worked across the country. Each image is a detailed, melancholy tribute to the recent past, picturing industries and places that are quickly disappearing.
Through Dec. 20, 2025: “(im)permanent collection” – Visit again and again to experience this ever-changing exhibition. It features the museum’s prized collection (more than 10,000 artworks the museum owns) – which is anything but permanent.
Through Oct. 23, 2027: “Confluence” – The museum installed a new, site-specific commission by sculptor John Douglas Powers. “Confluence” brings the magic of the tallgrass prairie to the WAM galleries. Comprised of 700 vertical rods swaying rhythmically like prairie grasses in the wind, the exhibit is a mesmerizing kinetic sculpture. Video projections of awe-inspiring Flint Hills skyscapes complete the installation.
Mark Arts
Mark Arts galleries are open and free to explore Tuesday through Saturday.
Jan. 10-March 15, 2025: “Á La Mode: The Language of Fashion in Art” – Juror Shana Levenson has chosen 84 unique pieces for this innovative exhibition that explores and celebrates fashion in fine art.
Coming to the Youth Gallery
Jan. 3-25: “An Explosion of Color and Pattern: Wichita Public Schools Elementary Showcase” – Enjoy selected works by student artists in the Youth Gallery.
Coming to the School of Creativity Gallery
Jan. 3-25: “Wichita Women Artists 75th Anniversary Exhibition” – Wichita Women Artists will celebrate this milestone anniversary with an exhibition of more than 80 works on display in the School of Creativity Gallery.
Ulrich Museum
The galleries at the Ulrich Museum of Art offer free admission.
Jan. 23-May 31: “Jim Riswold’s American Death Part 1” – This exhibition explores the fascinating history of death masks, which were created to create an imprint of a deceased’s features.
Jan. 23-June 12: “The Ulrich Co-Lab: Homegrown” – The Ulrich Co-Lab is a visitor-centered curatorial experiment where Ulrich encourages visitors to share their thoughts, feelings and responses to our permanent collection. The third phase of the Ulrich Co-Lab is titled “Homegrown.” In collaboration with Harvester Arts, Ulrich will select ten local artists to create artworks inspired by pieces in our permanent collection, which will be showcased alongside beloved pieces from Ulrich’s collection, creating a dynamic dialogue between past and present.
Jan. 23-June 14: “Devan Shimoyama: Rituals” – Contemporary American artist Devan Shimoyama’s work playfully and poignantly dismantles social conventions by representing the complexities of race, gender and sexuality with compelling, intimate images. Shimoyama pictures the Black American experience and the queer experience as fantastical and ornate, using rich textures, pop-culture references and decorative materials (an homage to both drag performance and churchgoers of his childhood), while interpreting at great depths ideas of vulnerability and transformation.
Jan. 23-July 12: “Listening Devices: The Photographer and New Perspectives” – The exhibition not only explores communication, but it primarily reflects on the role of the camera as a "listening device," a powerful tool for capturing identity, challenging stereotypes and reshaping representation, especially among historically marginalized groups. “Listening Devices” invites the visitor to notice not only the photographs displayed but the individuals behind the camera.
Visit these pages to discover more about Wichita area museums and galleries. If you’re looking for other things to do in Wichita, check out our calendar of events and download the latest visitor guide for more inspiration.
