The Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, located at 12th and Q streets, houses pieces of work from artists that live in the Great Plains.
The museum recently received five new works of art from the two-year exhibition, “Contemporary Indigeneity: Spiritual Borderlands.” The exhibition features works by artists with Native American heritage.
“Artists were asked to submit artworks that incorporated their spirituality and cultural identity,” said Melynda Seaton, curator and museum administrator of the Great Plains Art Museum.
“The art helps fill some of the gaps that we were missing,” said Curatorial Assistant Naomi Szpot.
The new pieces are “The Caddo Story of Night and Day” (2015) and “Underwater Animals” (2015), both by Chase Kahwinhut Earles; “K(no)w Exit” (2015) by Henry Payer; “Say...My Friend and I Borrowed Some of Your Ponies” (2015) by Monte Yellow Bird Sr.; and “Wildfires Up North” (2015) by Gwen Westerman.
“Since the five new pieces have become part of our permanent collection, that way we can pull them out and make them part of an exhibition,” Seaton said.
Although none of the new pieces have been put on display yet, there are currently three other exhibitions open to the public: “Glimpses of the Southwest,” “Bridges: Sharing Our Past to Enrich the Future” and “Paul Johnsgard: Hand-Tinted Prints from the Permanent Collection.”
“Glimpses of the Southwest” features objects loaned from the University of Nebraska State Museum, along with objects on loan from the university. The exhibition features paintings from artistic collaboration Artist Hopid.
“When the museum has an artist-in-residence, any pieces they create become part of the museum’s permanent collection,” Seaton said.
“Bridges: Sharing Our Past to Enrich the Future” will feature photos from all 93 counties in Nebraska as part of the 150th Sesquicentennial.
“We asked people to take pictures of their counties and submit them,” Seaton said. “Then they were judged, and the best pictures from each county became part of the exhibition.”
The exhibition will be on display until March 25 and will then be separated and sent to three other museums. At the end of the year, it will reconvene at the Great Plains Museum.
“Paul Johnsgard: Hand-Tinted Prints from the Permanent Collection” features prints of drawings of plants and animals by UNL professor emeritus Paul Johnsgard, and will be on display until March 25.
