John Robert Weaver: American Artist – A retrospective
September 9, 2005 – January 22, 2006

This long-awaited retrospective of the work of John Robert Weaver is the artist’s first major exhibition in over 10 years, and concurrently celebrates his 70th birthday on September 9. On view at both MONA (Kearney) and Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden (Lincoln), the show provides an opportunity to recognize an artist who has spent nearly a lifetime devoting his daily existence to art.

The exhibition explores the artistic evolution of Weaver’s work. It features, for the first time together, a survey of paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture on loan from collections and individuals across the United States and spanning over 40 years of artistic production. Beginning with the artist’s earliest examples of illustration and moving through his exploration of abstraction and expressionism, the exhibition settles on his current realist manner. Weaver’s reputation today is defined by his most noted works – expressionistic figurative portraits in a modern vernacular style and straightforward depictions of familiar mechanical objects, animals, and figures on canvas and print forms. Working within the Realist tradition, he produces both large-scale paintings and small intimate works on paper depicting subjects from across the cultural spectrum.

John Robert Weaver was born in Stilwell, Kansas on September 9, 1935 and spent his formative years in this rural setting. He was essentially an all-American farm boy and much of his work still reflects upon and is inspired by his childhood. He began serious study in art at the Kansas City Art Institute completing a BFA in 1965. His MFA is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied with the late James Eisentrager. He has received several academic awards including the William Vreeland Award from UNL in 1967. He has also participated in numerous group shows and has had one-man exhibitions throughout his career. In 2001 he was distinguished by L. Kent Wolgamott, art critic of the Lincoln Journal Star, as "one of Nebraska’s most accomplished artists." Robert Starck, a long-time friend of the artist, has made a documentary film of the artist’s life and work. Weaver currently lives and works in Palmyra, Nebraska, near Lincoln.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Major support has also been provided by Robert and Karen Duncan, Marc and Cathy Lebaron, among others.

Elizabeth Kronfield: Sculpture
August 20, 2005 ­ March 26, 2006

Forced relationships are at the center of the sculpture created by University of Nebraska Kearney Assistant Professor of Art, Elizabeth Kronfield. In this solo exhibition in MONA’s Hillegass Sculpture Garden, a first for the artist and Museum, Kronfield juxtaposes natural elements with man-made materials such as marble, steel, and iron to create five large-scale works that are all at once graceful and delicate but also formidable and monolithic.

In the sculpture titled Given (5’ x 5’ x 4’), the artist utilizes marble, cast iron, and cast bronze to create a work that is strong and substantial in form but graceful as well as a bit precarious. The sculpture is composed of four marble components that hold round forms of cast iron and cast bronze. Three of the marble forms are blocks that make up the base of the sculpture. Atop the blocks is an arm-like marble piece that lays (almost balances) on the blocks. On one end of the “arm,” a shallow hollow has been carved where the cast iron and cast bronze circular forms have been placed. The hollow that holds the circular forms brings to mind a quiet place of rest that is either an allusion to a womb-like “covering,” a hand holding out found objects to be investigated, or recesses within the earth that we sometimes come upon and discover small groups of stones, discarded glass, or a bird’s nest. These probabilities are what the artist strives for, as she says, “My sculptures deal with questions rather than statements, answers or facts. They are indicative of a process of investigation.”

In 1999, Elizabeth Kronfield received a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Georgia in Athens. Prior to that, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. She has received numerous awards as well as exhibited extensively in venues such as Kansas State University’s invitational Hitched, Manhattan, Kansas; West by Southwest in Burris Hall Gallery at New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico; and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska. Professional experience includes an Artist in Residence at the Keen Foundry Invitational Symposium, Houston, Texas; Visiting Artist/Workshop Instructor at the Crucible Fine Arts Center, Oakland, California; and a Visiting Artist at the Fizer Art Glass Studio, Nelsonville, Ohio.

Spirit 2006
March 21 – April 1, 2006

Excitement is building and planning has begun for Spirit: A Celebration of Art in the Heartland 2006.

The exhibition features the work of 25-30 Nebraska artists working in a variety of media and styles and culminates in a gala art auction and sale on Saturday, April 1, 2006.
We’re happy to announce that Kearney’s Mayor Galen Hadley and his wife, Dean of the College of Education, University of Nebraska Kearney, Marilyn Hadley, President of the University of Nebraska J. B. Milliken, and his wife, Nana Smith, will co-chair the event. Together, these very distinguished couples and their committee will be arranging a memorable weekend next April the proceeds from which will provide vital funds to support MONA’s exhibitions and programs that serve the entire state.

Spirit 2004 attracted over 400 art buyers from all around the state and resulted in nearly $95,000 in net proceeds for MONA. Mark your calendars and plan to visit MONA or view the artwork and participate in the sale on-line by April 1, 2006.

The Prairie Suite: A Study of Place
August 6 – October 16, 2005


Comprising 12 prints, The Prairie Suite: A Study of Place, is an exhibition with resonating impact and significance when speaking of the heartland. Organized by the Center for Prairie Studies at Grinnell College in Iowa, this group of commissioned prints strives to further advance the Center’s goal: to make all of us think about our relationship to the land and to a place. Thus, all works chosen for this exhibition focus not only on the prairie that remains around us but how we perceive it as an “environment, a setting, and a place.”
In the mid-nineteenth century, artists such as George Catlin and Karl Bodmer re-created their impressions of the prairie just about the time that it began to disappear. In 1837, the self-scouring steel mold-board plow was invented by John Deere and began to turn the prairie into cropland or cattle were grazed on it and slowly the native tall grasses were replaced by bluegrass, oats, and alfalfa. Presently, great transformation has occurred throughout the landscape of the Midwest and, while the world has greatly benefited by the agricultural and livestock advances that have been made, the prairie has nonetheless disappeared. Specif-ically, in Iowa today less than one-tenth of one per-cent of the original prairie remains.

The mission statement of the Center for Prairie Studies it to increase the awareness, appreciation, and understanding of all aspects of the North American prairie. The Prairie Suite is a beautiful attempt to do just that. In the summer of 2000, the Center announced its intention to commission a suite of original prints from artists interested in examining some aspect of prairie or place. Artists were invited to submit proposals for a new work in a traditional print medium. Numerous responses came from the Midwest and a committee appointed by the Center selected only a dozen for inclusion in The Prairie Suite: A Study of Place.

The result is a group of prints that are representational and non-representational, colorful yet serene, and minimal as well as highly textural and descriptive. Some, as in the relief print Untitled by Sara Grace Tabbert, abstractly represent a landscape with a barely-there rolling hill below and a large blue sky with Cezannesque white clouds above. Others, such as Timothy Frerichs Reconstructed Prairie, simply focus on a single nearly dying flower slowly reaching up to the sun with minimal text in the background. All prints included depict “not so much the prairie region itself as ways of seeing it and thinking about it. ”

Nebraska Now: Sandra Williams
July 16 – October 9, 2005


Sandra Williams, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, investigates irony in everyday life and personal nostalgia through the use of low-relief, mixed-media works. Characters, symbols, and icons are the visual core of this exhibition. Included are her well-known playful pieces created within the last five years as well as more recent works that contain slightly darker underlying observations of our culture.
Williams’ art consistently has a slick and near animation-like appearance. The small and large-scale pieces are created by carving relief imagery into wood panels. The recessed areas in the wood are then often filled with brightly colored resin to create planes and form within the “painting.” In this exhibition, Williams still utilizes her well-known dynamic color but introduces natural tones such as brown and amber that, upon inspection, may have cockroaches or teeth floating within.

The artist’s reliance on irony in her work begins with the collecting of stories about irony. She says “…irony relies on a reversal at the point where expectation becomes experience, it occurs on a personal level. Irony is universal for this very reason – it is accessed at the location of the individual and exists in narrative form. My task is to collect these stories and uncover a physical, visual manifestation for these narratives.”
Sandra Williams received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio in 1994. She then pursued graduate studies at The Ohio State University in Columbus receiving her Master of Fine Art in 1999. She has exhibited at the Center for Contemporary Art in St. Louis, Missouri; University of New Hampshire, Durham; and Sioux City Art Center, Iowa. Her work is included in such collections as the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Portland, Oregon and the Margaret Fetzer Memorial Library at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.


Permanent Collection
Teliza V. Rodriguez, Curator


The reinstallation of MONA’s permanent collection gets underway starting with MONA’s fine collection of art from the Artist-Explorers and Early Nebrask-ans eras in the Brick Gallery opening September 6. The new instalation will include quotes from each artist, comments on their work, or other interesting tidbits pertaining to each specific era that will be displayed alongside the paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures on view.
After the exhibition John Robert Weaver: American Artist closes in January, 2006, MONA’s 20th century works will be reinstalled in the South Galleries adjacent to the East Gallery. The new configuration allows MONA’s permanent collection galleries to be accessible at all times, unperturbed by the changing of exhibitions in nearby galleries.
Wright Morris, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Falter are always much sought after by our MONA visitors. We are therefore making a point to have a selection of these cornerstones of our collection on display in a permanent manner.

Continuing exhibitions

Nebraska Now: Monte Kruse
Through July 10, 2005
Omaha-based artist Monte Kruse attempts to reinterpret agrarian life on the Plains to create a modern Midwestern ideal of beauty. To do so, Kruse primarily focuses on the most classic of artistic subjects: the nude figure. Through the use of black and white photography, Kruse composes theatrical-like scenes of male and female figures working and living on a farm. The question of what each of us perceives to be an ideal beauty is evident in Kruse’s work and has been asked throughout the ages. His photographs fuse a contemporary artist’s approach to interpret today’s culture, by use of a modern medium, with direct influences of classical art and literature – the foundations of our current creative world.

Falter Illustrated
Through July 31, 2005
Born in Plattsmouth and raised in Falls City, Nebraska, John Falter gained recognition for his illustrations that were featured in the leading magazines of the mid 20th century. The exhibition features his renderings for these magazines and the resulting original covers, original illustrations for books, posters designed for the United States government, plus additional selections showing his prolific career.

Chic Chick: Sculpture and Drawings
Through August 7, 2005
What do a telephone pole, a hurricane lamp, and an old tire have in common? Each item is rehabilitated into an art element in the exhibition Chic Chick: Sculpture and Drawings. Bold and reactionary, Justin Chick’s work is insightful and sometimes humorous. In this multimedia show, sculptures are created using every-day relics. Expect to see familiar objects used in new and innovative ways – the exhibition is full of eye-popping combinations. In his pairing of unrelated articles, Chick imparts new meanings to familiar objects. Accompanying the sculptures is a collection of 25 drawings executed in pencil, pen, and yellow highlighter. Less is more to Chick, who is currently experimenting with minimalism and using only the most common materials to create his artwork.

Artist Talk:
Saturday, August 6 • 1:30 p.m.

Art as Story
Through August 21, 2005
This exhibition focuses on education, and features a selection of artworks that embody narrative qualities connecting the viewers with their own personal stories as well as those suggested by the artist. Realistic and abstract subject matter created in many different media techniques is included.

Neil Waldman: Story Illustrations – The Plains and More
Through August 21, 2005
As a supplement to the Art as Story exhibition, renderings and illustrations by award-winning book illustrator Neil Waldman are on display in the Hitchock Education Gallery Corridor. Presented in conjunction with the Nebraska State Reading Association.

Diane Marsh & Eddie Dominguez: Parallel Perceptions of
Land, Form, and the Natural Condition
Through August 28, 2005
Landscape, human tragedy, triumph, and form are all explored and successfully navigated in this exhibition featuring the work of Diane Marsh and Eddie Dominguez. The first for this husband and wife, the show allows viewers to contrast and compare how separate artists approach not only that which is around them – the serenity and vibrancy of nature, culture, and society, but also that which is within them – struggle, heartache, hope, and delight and how the two intertwine. An exhibition catalogue accompanies the show.

Dwight Kirsch: “My Life in Art”
Through September 4, 2005
Dwight Kirsch (1899-1981), born in Pawnee County, was a Nebraska artist, educator, and art administrator. This exhibition, consisting of 50 works, presents an image of Kirsch the artist. His relationship with the New York avant-garde certainly had to be an influence on his art. When he would select art for exhibitions, he would meet with the artists and visit their studios. People like Marin and Hopper had to have inspired him to follow in their footsteps and paint his own surroundings. The works in this exhibition show the versatility of this artist. An exhibition catalogue accompanies the show.

ARTreach Schedule
June 18 - July 28, 2005

Women Artists from the MONA Collection
Morton-James Public Library, Nebraska City

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