Art Course at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
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Teaming with the Nelson-Atkins, we were thrilled to pay homage to the Negro League
and Radcliffe Bailey by merging baseball and miniature golf for a memorable experience at the museum’s revered Sculpture Park.
Tucker Trotter, CEO, Dimensional Innovations
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is a cornerstone of the Kansas City community, welcoming visitors of all ages and backgrounds to partake in art, history, photography and design. In 2019, they introduced Art Course, an art-themed miniature golf course where each of the holes is designed around a work of art from inside the museum. So when the Nelson-Atkins wanted to feature a brand new golf hole for this year’s iteration, they came to Dimensional Innovations to help bring it to life.
The museum’s team wanted to pay homage to Radcliffe Bailey’s Mound Magician, a massive contemporary art piece that pays tribute to Negro League baseball and highlights our hometown Kansas City Monarchs and Satchel Paige. We worked through the ideation, design and fabrication of the hole to ensure we not only did the artwork justice but also commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Monarchs and recognized our hometown Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
The end result was “Eyy Putter Putter,” a baseball-stadium-themed hole that merges baseball and miniature golf. One player “pitches” to another who’s “batting” at home plate, resulting in the ball landing in a random location on the putting green. Regardless of strokes (or swings in this case), the golf hole has been a hit. More importantly, it has helped drive attendance and membership to the museum and we consider that a home run.
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Carole Hollman
Practice Director - Cultural
With over 13 years of experience in the museum design/build world, Carole has successfully led and facilitated large-scale exhibit and interpretive projects of national importance around the country for over a decade. Carole’s passion... more about Carole Hollman