Great Plains Art Museum exhibition to feature endangered flighted species

The Great Plains Art Museum is opening an art exhibition featuring original gouache and ink artwork by Sarah Kaizar from the book “Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies and Bees.” The exhibition runs Jan. 23 through May 4.

Authored by Philadelphia-based illustrator and designer Kaizar, and featuring writings by A. Scott Meiser, “Rare Air” focuses on diminishing flighted species and citizen science. The family friendly exhibition, which shares the book’s stories and research, features striking visuals and interactive elements that connect visitors of all ages to the diversity of Earth’s ecosystems and the extraordinary creatures that populate them. Kaizar’s work enables audiences to recognize and appreciate the winged species that share this world and offers strategies — big and small — to slow or reverse the threats that face them.

Kaizar will attend an opening reception during First Friday, 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 2. The first 50 people who attend will receive a free artist print. Kaizar will also lead a nature walk with center educator Brady Karg Feb. 3 at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. Guests will join the artist to look for birds, tracks and more while discussing art, conservation and appreciation for winged creatures. The nature walk is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

“We are thrilled to share Sarah Kaizar’s beautiful drawings with our campus and local community,” said Ashley Wilkinson, museum director and curator. “We hope this engaging exhibition inspires our visitors to actively seek out ways they can help endangered species in the Great Plains and beyond.”

Kaizar’s work has been seen in regional galleries and museums, including the Woodmere Art Museum and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, both in Philadelphia, and The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington. She was a recipient of the 2021 Wind Fellowship by InLiquid and the Dina Wind Foundation, and she completed a residency at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Cedar Point Biological Station in summer 2021. Kaizar is also the author of “Hiker Trash: Notes, Sketches and Other Detritus on the Appalachian Trail,” an illustrated work based on her experience hiking the trail.

The exhibition is supported by the Puffin Foundation, Center for Biological Diversity, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Wild Birds Unlimited (Buckingham, Pennsylvania), Joseph Robert Foundation and UNL’s School of Natural Resources.

The Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., is open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, click here.