ART BLOCKS art history classes, from cave drawings through contemporary art, are designed to enrich the lives of adult students through exploration, discovery and lively conversation.
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ART BLOCKS is the culmination of a lifelong passion: creating, exploring, embracing, engaging and finally sharing a love of art.
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ART BLOCKS goal is to engage and energize through the JOY of ART!
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About ART BLOCKS
About You:
ART BLOCKS Students
ART BLOCKS students vary from emerging artists, retired professionals, collectors, world travelers, arm chair travelers, to curious life-learners without a trace of art history background. The common thread tends to be a lust for life, learning and traveling.
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Thanks to ZOOM, we now claim students from Palm Desert, Martha's Vineyard, St Louis, Vancouver, Toronto, Houston, Traverse City, Los Angeles as well as many from our Kansas City area.
About Us:
ART BLOCKS Instructor
Donna Houtteman
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The Kansas City Art Institute sought out Donna Houtteman to develop an art history program to engage adult students to enter into the world of art. Donna’s twenty-three years’ experience as a docent at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was a perfect fit for approaching art history from an everyman’s perspective.
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With contagious enthusiasm, Donna developed ART BLOCKS, and has taken her classes on the road to empower new audiences, including Junior Leagues, art galleries, retirement homes, churches, country clubs, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Palm Desert, Powell Gardens, Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytone Beach, International Master Gardeners Convention, an ART and BIBLE tour in Italy, and the guest speaker on Marian Art at the 2025 International SERRA Convention.
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Donna's life work includes:​
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2023-present: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City MO, Docent
2013-present: The Kansas City Art Institute, Instructor & creator, Art Sofa, Conversational Art History, Pre-Collage Art Lab​
1999-2022: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City MO, Docent, 23 years’ experience​ and scholarship
2020’s
ART BLOCKS Special Presentations:​
2025 International SERRA Convention, Kansas City MO
2023 Museum Of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach FL
2023 International Master Gardeners Convention, Overland Park KS
Powell Gardens, Kingsville MO - Artful Gardens, festivals enrichment
St. Luke's Bishop Spencer Place, Kansas City MO
St. Anthony's Senior Living, Kansas City MO
Claridge Court Retirement Community, Prairie Village KS
Cure of Ars Catholic Church, Leawood, KS
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church, Kansas City MO
St Paul Catholic Church, Leawood, KS
Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Shawnee KS
Holy Family Catholic Church, Hilton Head SC
St Thomas by the Sea Catholic Church, Orange Beach AL
North Cross United Methodist Church, Kansas City MO
Numerous Christian Art Tours @ The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
2010’s
ART BLOCKS Special Presentations:
OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at Cal State San Bernardino
Junior League of Kansas City, MO
Bishop Spencer House, Kansas City MO
Milburn Country Club, Overland Park KS
Open Spaces 2018, (KCMO 9 weeks arts festival)
Eva Reynolds Fine Arts, Leawood KS
Country Club Christian Church, Kansas City MO
The Art Museum of Texas Tech, Lubbock, TX
The Warwick Society, KCAI
The Vanguard Club, KCMO
1990’s
Just a Little Something, Toronto, Ontario: children’s wear designer
Heart’s Design, Lenexa KS: children’s wear designer
1980’s
The Canadian Craft Council, Toronto, Ontario, guest presenter
1980’s (until my last daughter was married in 2017,) Creative Options Design: Custom Bridal gowns and couturière
1979 Graduated from The Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC, Fashion Design
1977-1981 My Coming of Age in Manhattan, New York, New York
1970’s
Student at Shawnee Mission South and the University of Kansas
Helping hand for 5 years at Ranchview Floral & Interiors, Leawood, KS
1970’s Learned to sew (and did so every day for the next several decades)
1960’s
Self-proclaimed artist and future fashion designer