Museum of Nebraska Art

Current Exhibitions

2013 MONA Exhibitions

(Exhibitions and dates are subject to change)
Last updated May 13, 2013

Rural Schools of Nebraska: Photographs by Charles Guildner
: March 19 – June 16, 2013; Photographer Charles Guildner visited over 40 one room schoolhouses during a 10-year span to memorialize an education system that is rapidly dwindling. Entitled Rural Schools of Nebraska, the series is exhibited in conjunction with the “School Consolidation in the Great Plains Symposium” taking place April 5 and 6, 2013, at the University of Nebraska Kearney.

Art Speaks: Just Imagine
: April 12 – July 7, 2013; Have you ever looked at a beautiful landscape and pictured yourself there or wondered what life was like at that moment in time? Just Imagine pairs a portrait with a landscape painting so you can create your own story.

Nebraska Now: John Spence, Photographs
: April 13 – July 7, 2013; Working in the tradition of Plains landscape photography, Lincoln artist John Spence brings to MONA panoramic visions of the prairie. Within his sweeping yet sublime photographs, Spence offers glimpses of the breathless beauty of nature as well as the evidence of human impact on the visual landscape.

Prairiescapes
: April 16 – July 7, 2013; Selected from the over 6,000 works that comprise the Museum of Nebraska Art collection, Prairiescapes spotlights the profound and unique beauty of the plains and the diverse manner that artists have chosen to capture it. Created over the last 100 years, the works include paintings, prints, and photography.

Junior Curator Show: Momentum, Art in Motion
: May 10 – July 7, 2013; A select group of advanced high school students works with the Museum of Nebraska Art staff to conceptualize, choose, and install an exhibition of artworks drawn from MONA’s collection. The experiential learning also includes developing educational resources and marketing materials. Through this accredited course, the students expand their knowledge of art, museums, and careers.

Spotlight On: Kady Faulkner
: May 21 – August 11, 2013; The Spotlight On exhibition series showcases the work of an important artist represented in MONA’s collection. Katherine “Kady” Burnap Faulkner (1901-1977) was a noted artist and educator who taught at UNL for 22 years. She explored different styles and media while teaching, working with watercolor, oil, and prints.

West of Last Chance: Photographs by Peter Brown, Text by Kent Haruf
: May 31 – October 20, 2013; From their book of the same title, the exhibition West of Last Chance is a collaborative work between photographer Peter Brown and writer Kent Haruf that expresses the quiet, beautiful, and sometimes hauntingly difficult life on the plains. Brown has photographed the American Plains for over 25 years. Haruf is an award-winning author.
Reception: Saturday, August 24 • 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Artists’ Remarks • 6:30 p.m.

Lincoln Highway Centennial: Wright Morris and America
: June 25 – September 8, 2013; In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Highway, MONA highlights a selection of Wright Morris photographs created between 1941 and 1954. These images, taken by America’s revered writer/photographer, are glimpses of American life from Washington, D.C. through Nebraska and on to California – depicting locations along or near the famous highway.

Art Speaks: Viewers Respond
: July 12 – October 13, 2013; Artist Grant Reynard did a series of works of people looking at art in museum galleries. Sometimes the subjects are perplexed and sometimes they seem amused – it is all in the perspective of how we look at art. In these works, “What do you think the subjects are saying about the art?”

Sculpture Garden Series: Liz Vercruysse, Ceramic Forms: July 13 – October 6, 2013; The second artist in the Sculpture Garden Series is Liz Vercruysse who creates an installation of her ceramic forms in the Museum of Nebraska Art’s Cliff Hillegass Sculpture Garden.

Eulabee Dix: The Woman in the Portrait
: July 16 – November 3, 2013; Robert Henri’s wedding portrait of Eulabee Dix suggests that the subject has her own story to tell. Dix was an interesting and complicated woman, who even her own family has struggled to understand. This exhibition, drawing works from family collections, gives a glimpse into the personal life of this complex artist.
Reception: Saturday, September 7 • 6:00-8:00 p.m. Remarks • 6:30 p.m.

Days Gone By
: July 23 – April 20, 2014; Childhood and its memories recall thoughts and feelings that young and old alike all have. Games and fun remind everyone of childhood. Days Gone By includes selections from the Museum of Nebraska Art’s collection that take you back to these days gone by.

Spotlight On: Peter Hill
: August 20 – November 10, 2013; Omaha-based artist and retired art professor Peter Hill is known for his hard-edge, acrylic paintings. A selection of his larger works are juxtaposed with smaller ones in a dynamic display of his abstract paintings.

Chinese Calligraphy: Zhang Zhenzhong: September 17 – December 1, 2013; With a history dating back to 4,000 B.C.E. in China, calligraphy is the artful writing of language symbols or characters. Chinese professor and artist Zhang Zhenzhong’s calligraphy is described as graceful, light-hearted, powerful, and steady with characters that are free, wild-stroked, and unaffected.

Nebraska Now: Ben Darling, Painting: October 12, 2013 – January 5, 2014; Longtime Sydney, Nebraska resident Ben Darling captures the essence of the central Great Plains from its subtleties to its drama in his small- to large-scale oil paintings. Darling primarily paints in plein air, a method that allows him to retain a sense of immediacy while evoking a feeling of quiet contemplation throughout his realistic works.

Art Speaks: Head to Head: October 18, 2013 – January 12, 2014; The finale exhibition in the year-long Art Speaks series invites the viewer to study an artwork, then ask the “object” a question. Of course there is no reason to wait for an answer. The viewer can be creative and respond the way the “object” might answer. Journals are available to record these “conversations” between viewer and artwork.

UNO Print Workshop: November 5, 2013 – March 2, 2014; Founded in 1976, the UNO Print Workshop was established in conjunction with the Visiting Artist Program at the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. An artist is invited to create a print or a series, assisted by art students. Over the years, a large and diverse group of prints has been created by artists from every region of the United States and various countries.

November 12, 2013 – March 2, 2014

In 1999, Karen Kunc, printmaker and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cather Professor of Art, started the Under Pressure Print Club to educate, promote, support, and produce awareness of printmaking. A community-based group, the Club sponsors an annual visiting artist to create a print or an edition in collaboration with Kunc and student assistants. The 12 prints made to date are showcased at the Museum of Nebraska Art as a special exhibition.

Contemporary Influences in Nebraska Printmaking: November 12, 2013 – March 2, 2014; As a complement to the UNO Print Workshop and UNL Under Pressure Print Club exhibitions, Contemporary Influences highlights the leading academic printers currently working and teaching in Nebraska: Gary Day, Victoria Goro-Rapoport, Karen Kunc, Turner McGehee, Bonnie O’Connell, and Francisco Souto. With a concentration on various printmaking processes and drawings related to printmaking, the works display the diversity within the medium as well as highlight the quality of these artist-educators.

Grant Reynard: Divine Art: November 19, 2013 – February 9, 2014; Grant Reynard’s religious-inspired Christmas themed artworks showcase Christian images of the holiday season. The artist’s almost Christmas card-style paintings evoke the true meaning of Christmas and the season.

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Current Exhibitions

2013 MONA Exhibitions