When you visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, there are a few things that catch your eye immediately. They are bright, looming and perched directly in front of the museum. They are the shuttlecocks.

And although they are now considered an integral part of the Nelson-Atkins, that wasn’t always the case. The sculptures — four total, each 18 feet tall and weighing 5,500 pounds — created somewhat of a controversy when they were installed in 1994, with the museum receiving many complaints.

“The shuttlecocks didn’t fit conventional notions of what art was at that time, and people of course felt that this is a museum with tried and true art... and they felt that the shuttlecocks did not qualify as works of art,” says Jan Schall, Sanders Sosland curator of modern and contemporary art.

Opinions have changed over the years, however, and the shuttlecocks are now iconic symbols of the museum and Kansas City. In celebration of the 15th anniversary of their installation, the museum presents “Inventing the Shuttlecocks.”

The exhibit looks at the creative process of husband-and-wife sculptors Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen, how they came up with the concept and the actual design and building of the shuttlecocks. The exhibit includes Oldenberg’s and van Bruggen’s initial sketches, drawings, collages and models of the sculptures.

Oldenberg and van Bruggen took inspiration from several Midwest images, including an American Indian feathered headdress, windmills and the likeness of jazz great and Kansas City native Charlie “Bird” Parker.

“It’s a site-specific piece, so the shuttlecocks had to respond to the landscape of the Nelson-Atkins, and they also had to speak to Kansas City, and the Midwest,” Schall says.

Though the shuttlecocks still have a few detractors, Schall says they gave the museum a new, welcoming image.

“It made the museum feel more accessible,” she says. “Sometimes people were afraid that they didn’t know enough to go into the museum, that it wasn’t really for them, but it is for them. It’s for all of us.”

“Inventing the Shuttlecocks” is open through Aug. 16 in the Project Space of the Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.nelson-atkins.org.

– Lacey Storer | Stjoelive staff