Events
Senior Wednesday: Growing Up in America: How Images of Children across American History Reflect Societal Anxieties and Ideals
February 4, 2026 | 10:00am
(im)permanent collection, Featured Event, Exhibitions, Senior Wednesday
Cost:
$2 general public | FREE for WAM Members
Location:
Wichita Art Museum
Nathan Osborn
Nov 5, 2025 | 10 AM – 12 PM
$2 general public | FREE for WAM Members
◆ 10 AM | Complimentary coffee and bagels (2nd floor)
◆ 10:30 AM | Program Begins (Wooden Lecture Hall, 1st floor)
About the talk: Nathan will examine the relationship between children, their toys and games, and the arts throughout American history. The cultural and societal perception of children has frequently changed since colonial times, from children as economic assets, to vulnerable and innocent romantic figures, and even to symbols of delinquency and the degeneration of American ideals. As the perception of children has changed, so too have images and portraits of them in American art. Centered on the images of children in the Wichita Art Museum, Nathan will explore these varying depictions of children and how they reflect the anxieties of their parents and communities.
Nathan Osborn is the 2025–2026 Curatorial Fellow for the Wichita Art Museum. Graduating with a master’s degree in art history from the University of Kansas in 2025, his research interests lie in the various intersections of American art, sports and leisure, and environmentalism. He is currently contributing to the upcoming exhibition Are the Kids All Right?, an exploration of race, class, and gender in American art representing children and their toys. Previously, Nathan has worked in various roles throughout the museum world: exhibition installation and museum protection at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, curatorial research at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, education programming at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and in the Study Center at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.
