Great Plains Art Museum acquires five new works

The Great Plains Art Museum has acquired five new works from the recent biennial exhibition “Contemporary Indigeneity: Spiritual Borderlands,” which featured works by artists with Native heritage that explored interpretations of sovereignty, spiritual connections to the land, and cultural identity within the boundaries of the Great Plains region.

The works are:

• “The Caddo Story of Night and Day” (2015) and “Underwater Animals” (2015) by Chase Earles, hand-coiled ceramic;

• “K(no)w Exit” (2015) by Henry Payer, mixed media on canvas;

• “Say … My Friend and I Borrowed Some of Your Ponies” (2015) by Monte Yellow Bird Sr. (Black Pinto Horse), colored pencil on Milford, Connecticut, ledger (circa 1875); and

• “Wildfires Up North” (2015) by Gwen Westerman, hand-dyed cotton.

The museum was able to acquire the works and produce an exhibition catalog, available in the museum’s store, through a grant from Woods Charitable Fund.

The museum received several other notable gifts in 2016, including:

• “Cow Pony Mutiny” by Herb Mignery and “Rest” by Tom Palmerton, bronzes, donated by Bill and Bobby Spilker;

• “Range Ponies” and “Water Ahead” by Olaf Wieghorst, lithographs, donated by Michael J. and Marvona S. Tavlin;

• “Flat Places and Interesting People” (2007) by Nebraska photographer George Tuck, negatives, donated by Tuck; and

• “Brabant” (2003) by Libby Ritter, Raku-fired equine sculpture, and “Drifts” (2004) by Marilyn Bower, painting, both donated by Mark and Carol Moseman.

The museum also purchased “Aggrandizement 1” (2016), an acrylic-and-toner print on birch panel by Kendall McMinimy from the artist’s exhibition “Cropping to Circles”; five photographs from the “This Grass Earth” exhibition featuring images from Robin Walter and Sebastian Tsocanos, with grant funds from the Nebraska Arts Council; and “Flat Land, Flat Water” (2016) by B.C. Gilbert, with funds from the Elizabeth Rubendall Artist-in-Residence program.