Haw Contemporary

Haw Contemporary, at 1600 Liberty Street in Kansas City’s West Bottoms Stockyards District, is a photography-forward contemporary gallery founded in 2013 by Bill Haw Jr. — a KC-raised son of West Bottoms institution Bill Haw Sr. — who returned from a career at Amazon Japan to build one of the metro’s premier commercial gallery programs.

Description

Haw Contemporary is a full-spectrum contemporary art gallery operating in the historic Stockyards District of the West Bottoms. The gallery was built around the Dolphin Gallery’s former home and community — when John O’Brien announced the Dolphin’s closure in 2013, Bill Haw Jr. purchased the building and launched Haw Contemporary, preserving the address and honoring the community O’Brien had built over decades.

The gallery represents a roster of emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in photography, painting, sculpture, installation, and new media. Its photography program is among the most serious in the region: Haw Contemporary is a member of AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers), a select trade association whose membership requires commitment to museum-quality standards in photography dealing. The gallery has celebrated its 10-year milestone with major survey exhibitions and has become one of the top-regarded commercial galleries in the Kansas City metro.

In 2018 the gallery expanded into the Crossroads Arts District at 19th and Baltimore — the same building where O’Brien’s Dolphin had previously operated — an event described at the time as “a full circle for a lot of people.” The West Bottoms flagship at 1600 Liberty remains the primary address.

Ownership and history

Bill Haw Jr. grew up in Kansas City, son of Bill Haw Sr. — the rancher and developer who bought the Livestock Exchange Building in 1991 and spent decades revitalizing the West Bottoms. After graduating from the University of Kansas (and later earning a master’s in Japanese studies from KU), Haw Jr. built a translation and interpretation career in Japan, eventually serving as a director at Amazon Japan in Tokyo.

He returned to Kansas City in 2010, began collecting contemporary art, and became a fixture in the gallery community around figures like Dolphin Gallery’s John O’Brien and Kemper Museum director Julián Zugazagoitia. When O’Brien announced the Dolphin’s closure, Haw’s father suggested he consider purchasing the building. Haw debuted Haw Contemporary in 2013, taking over the Dolphin’s space and community while building a distinct curatorial identity.

Haw Jr.’s connection to Kansas City is generational: his father’s ownership of the Livestock Exchange and West Bottoms properties is a defining part of the neighborhood’s post-industrial revival, and Bill Jr.’s return from Tokyo to build a gallery in the same district represents a genuine homecoming. The gallery has been operating for 13 years as of 2026.

Links

• Official site: https://hawcontemporary.com/

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.