My husband surprised me with this lovely bouquet for our 42nd wedding anniversary! He went in…read morerather impromptu and saw a bouquet he liked that was already sold. They made this one right up for him on the spot and he said it looked even better than the one he had tried to buy! Love the English roses, zinnias, hydrangeas in the lovely color palette!

Bramble & Stem is the cutest local flower shop found in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City. If…read moreyou are looking for floral arrangements for celebrations or parties, Bramble & Stem should be the first place you check out! I went to this shop for the first time during the Annual Waldo Sip & Stroll and I now know exactly where to go when I need some flowers for an event or to simply spruce up my home. Did you know this spot offers hands-on floral workshops designed to help inspire and educate? This is a great idea for a family outing or celebration. Make sure to check out Bramble & Stem asap!

If you are looking for a spot to get friends or family a gift in the Kansas City area, then you…read moreneed to check out Ampersand in the Waldo neighborhood! Ampersand has home goods and decorations, pillows and rugs, hats, keychains, stickers, art, coasters, candles, shirts and hoodies and more. They have some of the cutest Chiefs gear and wall art in the Kansas City area! Make sure to check out their monthly Ampersand Art Club! Add Ampersand to your Kansas City shopping bucket list asap!

From the owner: Together, Carrie & Morgan, create with paint, pen and ink, cut paper and anything else they can get…read moretheir hands on! Ampersand is known for combining graphic and handmade marks to create bold patterns in refreshing color palettes. Ampersand Design Studio's art can be found on textiles, stationery, home décor, fashion and children's products.

Went to a RAKU Firing event in October. What a cool experience! The street was closed off, 2 food…read moretrucks, an awesome live musician and multiple kilns set up. We chose our piece, labeled it, glazed it and hung out while they fired it. Looks like the guild offers classes and studio space for artists. You can even buy pieces from a little shop in the lobby! A very interesting hidden gem! Can't wait to take a class.

We joined KC Clay Guild as adults wanting to start a new hobby, and I couldn't imagine a more…read morewelcoming place than KCCG. Staff is kind, helpful, and always available to teach you something new. The other potters are probably some of the coolest people you'll meet in the city. We bought yearly memberships at $60, and the hourly rate for studio use is $4. They're our one-stop shop for everything ceramics!

I'm an attorney by day, but I balance out my analytical side by engaging my artist side. But I need…read morea little help, so I take a lot of classes. When I received the email to do a Valentine's Day printmaking class at Strang Hall with a mimosa, I was in! It was an hour and a half long. Just long enough for me to enjoy some art and a mimosa, but I wasn't away from my toddler for too long on a Saturday. The class was organized and Amanda was an excellent teacher. Makes sense because she is a seasoned elementary teacher! I'll be signing up for more classes with Studio Art Club in the future.

I'm not going to be very happy here. I signed up for a class and could not make it due to an…read moreunexpected illness. Instead of trying to make it right I was told I was out of luck due to policy on a refund. With the economic downturn and my being on a limited budget I was disappointed to hear that I was not able to get my money back. Couldn't they have offered me an alternative to the situation like rescheduling my class or SOMETHING? This is really disappointing because I truly wanted to do this class. They were nice but without any empathy at all for those like me on a limited income. This is very very disappointing and I'm not happy about it. So if you are thinking about taking their certification class be wary

I took an introductory quilt class here with Klonda, and absolutely loved it! I have already signed…read moreup for my next class! Her instruction was great, and I appreciated that KC Maker Studio had the option to either buy the pattern individually and pick your own fabrics, or to buy a premade kit with everything included. KC Maker Studio regularly has a great selection of fabrics, and the staff is very knowledgeable and helpful when checking out!

Impressive exhibits! Well worth the time to meander through. Wide variety of works on display.read more

I attended KCAI between 1965 and 1966 and was planning to major in Industrial Design. Having taken…read more4 year of art classes in high school in Shreveport Louisiana I had been lucky enough to have gotten a good foundation in art early with dedicated teachers. While in Louisiana I had some newspaper articles written about my art while there. When I first arrived at the Art Institute in 1965, I move into the then new dormitory with a excellent cafeteria and dinning area that impressed me. However, dorm life was a disappointment since I had to share the room with a roommate that had no intentions of finishing the semester and I had one these guys for my first two semesters. Both boys (they never grew up) were always having friends over (who also were quitting) so they were drinking and partying in the room at all hours of the night. I was forced to go downstairs and study in the dinning area to get my work done. I was disappointed in the Art Institute, first in my Foundation Training in that from what art work I saw that my instructors had done reminded me of my first year in high school art. However, I had never liked English or History in high School but I love attending both of these classes taught by Roy Culver (English) and John Burke (History) . My second year I started my major Industrial Design thinking about being a car designer or at least product designer. Again, I was disappointed in the teaching and had a strong feeling that my teacher who was also the Dean John Lotus really had no experience teaching Industrial Design. I also noticed that there were many manufacturing companies in Kansas City at the time that were probably using Industrial Designers but we were never exposed to these companies and those companies more than likely never knew there was a Industrial Design department at the Art Institute. The final straw and the reason I dropped out of the Art Institute was a story told to our Industrial Design class mid term of my second semester. I was already wondering what I was doing at the Art Institute when one morning Dean Lotus came into the classroom with a big smile on his face and told us that he had received a phone call from one of his best students that had graduated the year before and that the student had gotten a great job. After a long story about how great the student had been while a student at the Art Institute our Dean told us that this student had gotten a job in Minnesota with a big manufacture called Church they manufactured toilet seats. I said nothing and finished the class then walked to the Resistor Office and resigned. I was drafted into the Army 90 days later and later sent to Vietnam. I did get the job as an Technical Illustrator and stationed in Saigon where I not only helped put out a magazine there (GRUNT Magazine) that turned out to be quit popular and even today issues are for sale on the internet and even some colleges have it in their archives. I was assigned to a photo unit and we sometimes made ID photos for American construction contractors and after talking to them I decided to change employment directions. When I left Vietnam I when back to LSU in Louisiana and got a degree in Engineering and 4 months after graduation I got a job with a oil company working in New Guinea, I never stopped from that point working in Thailand, Sumatra, Vietnam, Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Nigeria. Frist I will say that my early art education taught me to think outside the box that had been an asset in my professional life enabling to solve engineering problems that were though impossible before. I went on to being a Project Manager on my last $6billion project in Nigeria before retiring in Thailand where I am writing this review at 76.

This was such a great experience! The owner made our time there so much fun! We will definitely…read morebe going back.

This place is so much fun and unique and the owner and staff are so friendly. I enjoyed hanging…read morewith friends and being creative. We brought a bottle of wine and enjoyed our time there. Definitely check it out with the family this summer!

The Nelson-Atkins is synonymous with Kansas City and an absolute must-visit for visitors and locals…read morealike. Where to even start? This encyclopedic museum was built in the 1930s in a traditional beaux arts style. The original 1930s building is just as stunning today as it was 90 years ago. The original courtyard has been modified and transformed into a restaurant, but aside from that it remains largely untouched. In the 2000s the museum expanded with the Bloch building - an architectural marvel all it's own. Drive by at night to see each lens lit up. Currently they are working on another expansion, that will bring the museum into the modern era. I've spent so much time here it's ridiculous. From exploring as a child with my grandmother, to my time as a student, to exploring now as an adult there is really something here for just about anyone. Being an encyclopedic museum it features art from across the world and spanning the timeline of humanity. You can use the Nelson as a launching pad for discussing nearly any moment in time through the lens of art, which is really an impressive feat for a midsize city like KC. Some of my favorite pieces include a relic with the "finger bone" of st. John the Baptist (it's likely a chicken bone), "Woman IV" by Willem de Kooning, "Boulevard des Capucines" by Claude Monet, and "Persephone" by Thomas Hart Benton. This is the place I take all of my guests, and the place I come to when I need to reset or recharge myself. It's always beautiful, always therapeutic, and always FREE. I'm not sure folks really understand the incredible gift we have as a community to have access to this incredible place. My top KC treasure, and I hope every person gets a chance to visit someday.

My visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was extremely disappointing. While the museum itself…read morewas beautiful the behavior of several staff members completely ruined the experience. Throughout our visit we were repeatedly followed and monitored. At one point, as we were leaving through a doorway a staff member who was entering saw us exiting and immediately turned around after looking directly at us. Another staff member approached us in a very confrontational manner under the guise of "guiding" us and even laughed after I responded with "yikes." The micro-aggressions were impossible to ignore. They didn't even seem "micro." The behavior from staff was excessive, unwelcoming, and deeply uncomfortable. It's unfortunate that such a culturally significant and visually appealing place is staffed by people who ruin the experience. I genuinely hope the museum addresses and provides better training on how staff members interact with guests.