First Floor, Main & South Galleries
Collection Connections: Art in Conversation
January 20–July 25, 2026
In 2026, the Center for Great Plains Studies and its Great Plains Art Museum celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Center and the 45th anniversary of the museum’s opening. To commemorate these milestones, this exhibition highlights artworks from the collection that span the museum’s history, from the founding donation to recent acquisitions. Rather than presenting these selections in a chronological arrangement, artworks are paired or grouped to focus on formal and thematic connections and emphasize the diverse perspectives that tell the multifaceted stories of the Great Plains.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Charles W. Guildner Great Plains Art Museum Excellence Fund.
Above: Fremont Ellis, Autumn Aspens (or Taos Woodland Scene), 1929, oil on canvas, 29 x 37 inches (framed), gift of Dr. John and Elizabeth Christlieb, 1982.0032.
Banner: Steve C. LaRance (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians), Drive-In Church, 2022, oil on canvas, 23 1/8 x 31 inches (framed), Museum purchase through the generosity of Union Bank & Trust, 2024.0014.0001. ©Steve C. LaRance.
First Floor, West Gallery
“All the Beauty You Can See”: Dwight Kirsch in Nature
January 20–July 25, 2026
A native Nebraskan and prolific artist, Dwight Kirsch (1899–1981) was an important figure in the Lincoln arts community in the early-to-mid twentieth century, serving as chair of the University of Nebraska Art Department and playing an integral role in the Nebraska Art Association. The Great Plains Art Museum’s extensive collection of Kirsch’s work spans his time teaching in Nebraska through his last years at the Colorado State Veterans Nursing Home. This exhibition presents a small sampling of those holdings, each selected to demonstrate Kirsch’s deep and lifelong fascination with conveying the nuances and beauty of the natural world through art.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Above: Dwight Kirsch, Big Sandhill near Burwell, Nebraska, with Melting Snow at Sunset, 1940s, gouache on bogus paper, 18 3/4 x 23 7/8 inches, gift of JoAnn Kelly Alexander, 2008.0003.0074.
Mezzanine Gallery
Indigenous Ceramics from the Collection
January 20–July 25, 2026
This permanent collection spotlight exhibition in the museum’s Mezzanine Gallery features diverse ceramic works by Indigenous artists of the Great Plains and nearby Southwest region.
Above: Chase Kahwinhut Earles (Caddo Nation), The Caddo Story of Night and Day, 2016, low-fire clay; hand-coiled, burnished, kiln-fired, and pit fire smudged, 10 x 8 (diam) inches, purchased through the generosity of the Woods Charitable Fund, 2016.0008.0001. © Chase Kahwinhut Earles.
LOWER-LEVEL GALLERY
With a Little Help from Our Friends: New Perspectives on the Collection
March 6–August 8, 2026
Organized in honor of the Center for Great Plains Studies’ 50th anniversary in 2026, this exhibition highlights the important interdisciplinary focus of the Center and its core intellectual community, the Great Plains Fellows. The Fellows as a group are scholars and community members who are concerned with the past, present, and future of the Great Plains, and they support the Center and its mission in myriad ways.
For this exhibition, 20 Fellows representing diverse disciplines and all four University of Nebraska campuses were invited to select an artwork from the Great Plains Art Museum’s permanent collection and respond to it in any way they chose, whether that’s examining the work through their scholarly lens or through their own lived experiences. This project provides a new avenue for Fellows to engage with the Center and Museum while also sharing fresh and varied perspectives on works in its collection.
Artwork: Sarah Rowe (Lakota/Ponca Tribe of Nebraska), For My Fleabitten Diamond, 2022, oil, acrylic, and ink on canvas, 48 x 72 inches, commissioned for the Elizabeth Rubendall Artist-in-Residence Collection, 2022.0004.0001. © Sarah Rowe. Used by permission.
Download the catalog
Fellows participating in With a Little Help from Our Friends
- Charles J. Bicak, Professor Emeritus, Biology, UNK
- Christina E. Dando, Peter Kiewit Professor of Geography, UNO
- Cristián Doña-Reveco, Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, Director, Office of Latino/Latin American Studies, UNO
- Sheri Fritz, George Holmes University Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, UNL
- Thomas Gannon, Associate Professor, English & Ethnic Studies, UNL
- Angel M. Hinzo, Assistant Professor, History and Ethnic Studies, UNL
- Andrew Husa, Lecturer, School of Global Integrative Studies, UNL
- Regina Idoate, Associate Professor & Director of Spirituality, Culture and Health, Department of Health Promotion, UNMC
- Darby Kurtz, Assistant Professor; Special Collections Curator, McGoogan Health Sciences Library, UNMC
- Salvador Lindquist, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, UNL
- Peter Longo, Professor, Political Science, UNK
- Louise Lynch-O’Brien, Associate Professor of Insect Biology, Entomology, UNL
- Gwendŵr Meredith, Assistant Professor, Natural Resources, UNL
- Larkin Powell, Professor, Natural Resources, UNL
- Athena Ramos, Associate Professor, College of Public Health and Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, UNMC
- Todd Richardson, James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics; Professor, Goodrich Scholarship Program, UNO
- Beth Ritter, Associate Professor, Anthropology & Native American Studies, UNO
- Liahnna Stanley, Assistant Professor of Indigeneity, Native Studies, and Communication, University of Utah (formerly Assistant Professor, Communication Studies and Ethnic Studies, UNL)
- William Stoutamire, Associate Professor, History, UNK
- Laurinda Weisse, Associate Professor; University Archivist and Digital Repository Manager, Calvin T. Ryan Library, UNK
