We had such a pleasure seeing Linda Lighton’s marvelous retrospective at the Nerman Museum. Congratulations to Lighton on such a profound and enduring body of work, and kudos to JoAnne Northrup and Linda’s daughter Rose for pulling together such a powerful exhibition.
Linda Lighton: Love & War is the first major museum survey of the Kansas City–based artist’s fifty-year career. Working in ceramics, Lighton uses wit, seduction, and material intelligence to explore desire, power, and politics, addressing gender inequality, gun violence, and environmental concerns while insisting on pleasure, resistance, and the joy of living.
You won’t want to miss this show, now on view at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art through May 2026.
Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025 is opening this week, and with it, comes two opportunities to hear from the artist!
Education Preview Day • Linda Lighton: Love & War
Thursday, December 11 • 4-6 PM • Free – Space is limited; RSVP required
Hear directly from Lighton herself, and learn more about creating curricular tie-ins for this exhibition. We’ll also discuss updates to what’s on view, both in our permanent collection and temporary exhibition spaces, Nerman Museum resources available to educators, and other types of educational opportunities that can be created for your students right here at the Nerman Museum! This preview is one hour long, and educators will be able to select their timeslot – either 4-5 PM or 5-6 PM – upon registration.
Linda Lighton Artist Talk and Opening Reception
Friday, December 12 • Artist talk: 6-7 PM • Reception: 7-9 PM
FREE and Open to the Public • Artist talk livestream available
Join us for an artist talk with Linda Lighton at our Hudson Auditorium, celebrating the opening of the Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025. A reception in the Museum’s atrium will follow the talk. The artist talk will be available via livestream. RSVP to receive the livestream link.
For fifty years, American artist Linda Lighton (b. 1948) has created a powerful body of subversive ceramic sculptures that explore desire in all its complex forms. Her work uses wit and seduction as conceptual weaponry to mine the relationships between sex, power, and politics.
Learn more about these events in link in bio!
📷: Artist Linda Lighton
Works by Linda Lighton:
📷: The First Lady, 1986/2023, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 13 1/4 x 14 x 13 in. Courtesy the Artist
📷: Dame Edna with Diva Marilyn, 2000, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 17 x 11 x 7 in. and 16 x 6 x 5 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Gift of Norman and Elaine Polsky, Leawood, KS. Photo: EG Schempf
📷: Bullet Belt, 1985, glazed earthenware with china paint, luster and wood, 4 x 15 x 15 in. Collection Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Join us for a book signing and reception with the artist on September 17, 2025, 5-8 p.m., celebrating the launch of Linda Lighton: Love & War, A Fifty-Year Survey, 1975-2025, a 208-page book, published and internationally distributed by Hirmer. Attendees will be able to purchase their own copy of the book, priced at $50. This richly illustrated monograph gives a comprehensive overview of her pioneering body of work, which pushes the boundaries of ceramic sculpture. The book signing event is free and open to the public.
This monograph accompanies an exhibition by the same name. Linda Lighton: Love & War will be on view from December 13, 2025 through May 3, 2026, in the Oppenheimer, Thompson, and Anonymous Galleries on the first floor of the Nerman Museum. Learn more in the link in our bio.
Book sponsors:
📖 Jeffrey D. Byrne
📖 Scott Francis, Francis Family Foundation
📖 Dennis and Carol Hudson Family Foundation
📖 R.C. Kemper, Jr. Charitable Trust and Foundation
Left: Linda Lighton, Nude Descending a Staircase, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 18 x 11 ½ x 5 ½ in. Collection Shook, Hardy, & Bacon L.L.P.
Right: Linda Lighton, Tinkerbelle, 2007, glazed earthenware with china paint and luster, 14 ½ x 13 x 12 in. Courtesy the Artist
