When I hear about the art galleries in the Crossroads neighborhood, I almost immediately think of the monthly art walks on First Fridays. But for some of the larger, more established galleries and art spaces like the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, visiting during a regular weekend day often provides a better opportunity to take in these galleries’ high-quality exhibits.

Cast mask of James “Little Milton” Campbell Jr. by Sharon McConnell-Dickerson

“Falconer I” by Hung Liu, Mixed Media, 2009

At the Mid-America Arts Alliance (2018 Baltimore Ave.) visitors will find themselves face-to-face with some of the great Mississippi blues artists of the 20th century in sculptor Sharon McConnell-Dickerson’s “A Cast of Blues” series.

McConnell-Dickerson made resin-cast masks of musicians like Bobby “Blue” Bland and Honeyboy Edwards, creating lifelike sculptures that guests are encouraged to touch. A series of photographs of juke joints by Ken Murphy adds context to her work. “A Cast of Blues” runs through Oct. 24 and can be visited between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

Next door at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, several works of art by Chinese artists are on display for the International Friendship Art Exhibition for Edgar Snow Symposium, including the paintings of Tang Mingsong and sculptor Nie Chengxing.

Also on Baltimore Avenue at the Sherry Leedy Contemporary are a remarkable series of large-scale paintings by Hung Liu. The series, “Tilling the Soil,” will be on display through Oct. 25, while a separate exhibit of Hung Liu’s work “Summoning Ghosts” will be viewable at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (4420 Warwick Blvd.) through Jan. 11.

The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center is open Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m., and the Sherry Leedy Contemporary is open from Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Kemper is open every day but Mondays. Admission is free to all galleries.

For more information about the Edgar Snow symposium, which will honor Kansas City’s (and one of America’s) most important diplomats to China with a series of events and lectures next weekend, visit Edgarsnowfoundation.org.

Concerts

The Harriman-Jewell series is presenting the Kronos Quartet’s Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Kauffman Center. The concert, featuring works by a wide range of fin-de-siecle (end of the century) composers, includes a multimedia component that invites the audience to reflect on the events surrounding the first World War. Tickets are $25 and up at hjseries.org.

For those in a more psychedelic frame of mind, check out English rock group Temples at the Riot Room on Tuesday, which will be a big-time show in a smaller setting. Tickets are $18 for this 21-and-over event, available at theriotroom.com.

The Uptown Theater will be bustling this week, with New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem stopping through on Tuesday, singer David Gray performing on Wednesday night, and a resurgent Ryan Adams visiting on Oct. 20. Tickets for all shows are available at uptowntheater.com.

Whiskey Tour, zoo brew

The Kansas City Whiskey Tour will bring over 60 varieties of bourbons and whiskeys to the Power and Light District between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday.

Admission is free, but tokens will need to be purchased in order to sample the good stuff.

If you’d rather put a few back amid a more colorful variety of species, drop by the Kansas City Zoo’s annual Brew at the Zoo and Wine Too from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are $35 to the event, which includes two drink tickets, food samples and live music from the band SomeKindaWonderful. Register at kansascityzoo.org/brew.

— Lucas Wetzel is a writer and editor from Kansas City, Mo. Know of an upcoming event in Kansas City you’d like to see featured in Kansas City Connection? Email us about it at kcconnection@ljworld.com.