First Friday in the Kansas City Crossroads

Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Culture Lab is open on First Friday in Kansas City, Missouri, and will feature a preview of the ExhibitsUSA nationally touring exhibition Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiché through Illustration and a live musical performance by Amado Espinoza.

The event is open to the public on Friday, June 7, 2024, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Other viewing times are available by appointment and are subject to staff availability, please call 816-800-0926 to make arrangements. The exhibition will be on view from June 7 to August 3, 2024.

About Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiché through Illustration

Around 1000 CE, in the present-day country of Guatemala, a highland Mayan people called the Quiché created a pictographic creation myth of the universe known as the Popol Vuh, or the Book of the Community, in which a pair of Hero Twins must descend into the Underworld to save the next and final generation of Humanity. It is the earliest body of literature in the Americas and, in terms of its breadth of imagination and storytelling, is comparable to that of Homer’s Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiché through Illustration is an exhibit that features a series of illustrations by artist Jaime Arredondo, with the artist’s hope to restore the former glory of the Popol Vuh and its authors to its deserved place in human history. In turn, this will lead to a greater interest and defense of it, and the art and culture of Native and Indigenous peoples.

About Amado Espinoza

Amado Espinoza is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, instrument builder, and teaching artist. His music is rooted in the spiritual traditions of the Andes mountains, while drawing inspiration from genres and musical instruments belonging to this earth’s magnificent ethno-sphere. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, and Cochabamba, Bolivia, Amado performs solo and with Ensemble Ibérica, Ayllu, and the Amado Espinoza Quartet. He collaborates with many international artists, including his most recent meditation album, Warmest Wave, with Turkish cellist, Ezgi Karakus. His custom-made instruments can be found at his Etsy store, AE Instruments.

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ExhibitsUSA, the national touring exhibition program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, sends more than 25 exhibitions on tour to over 100 small- and mid-sized communities every year. These exhibitions create access to an array of arts and humanities experiences, nurture the understanding of diverse cultures and art forms, and expand the depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities, rural and urban.

Header Photography: Jaime Arredondo, First There Were the Small Animals, 2010; printed reproduction of
marker on paper, 14 x 14 inches (exact reproduction dimensions TBD); Courtesy of the artist. Featured in the ExhibitsUSA exhibition, Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiché through Illustration.