The University of Nebraska-Lincoln incorporates itself in to the life of the outer community in a variety of ways, from Mueller Planetarium to public lectures to Husker football.
But one campus institution that eagerly strives to involve students and Lincoln residents alike doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves: the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden.
Bingham Gallery is by far the smallest with only one gallery and, currently, no budget. CU Art Museum, on the other hand, has vacated its gallery space as construction begins on a brand-new visual arts complex. The Sheldon has the largest permanent collection and is home to several exhibit spaces.
Bingham Gallery
Gallery Director Jo Stealey, a professor in Missouri’s art department, laughed when asked about Bingham’s permanent collection, explaining that the one-room gallery doesn’t have one.
“Up until the point that I came on as director of the gallery (last fall), we did not officially have a budget,” she said wryly. “I’m in the process of putting that into place, the bare bones of what we need to operate.”
Bingham hosts “a broad spectrum” of work, including two to three regional and national exhibits per year alongside local, faculty and student shows. Recently, they participated in a community-wide event for which they projected new media students’ short videos onto the outside wall of the building.
Although Bingham Gallery is connected to the visual arts and theatre departments, Stealey is eager to keep the community involved.
“Obviously the gallery provides an educational venue for art students and the campus community at large, but it also is a venue for the entire community,” she said.
As for the future, Stealey is focusing on expanding space and finances.
“It would be fabulous if we had more space,” she said. “We’re starting to do some fundraising to try and add to the kind of venues we are currently able to exhibit in our space.”
She’s also working on developing a visual arts committee to help coordinate campus efforts.
“We hope to be able to increase the number of people who are coming to view our exhibitions,” she said.
CU Art Museum
“We’re not a gallery, we’re a museum,” Lisa Tamiris Becker said curtly. The director of the CU Art Museum, she explained that the museum has not just one but several exhibit spaces and so cannot accurately be designated a “gallery.”
CU’s permanent collection contains more than 5,000 works.
“We have developed a very strong regional, national and international reputation for the innovation of our exhibition programs,” Becker said, which she described as “techno sublime,” or art and technology in the sublime.
“We recently did the first major museum exhibition of contemporary Tibetan artists, both in Tibet and in exilic communities around the world,” she said.
The museum is integrated with the campus in numerous ways: classes often visit exhibits and the permanent collection; the museum hosts a variety of lectures and major symposia; and it exhibits the work of masters and bachelors of fine arts students.
While the museum in some form has existed for more than 40 years, it wasn’t until now that CU Art Museum has gotten a new look.
“The new complex … will take us a lot further on the facilities side,” Becker said. “The design is nearly finished – we actually had to move out of our old facilities.”
The complex should be completed in 2010.
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
The Sheldon actually started as an art club.
It was housed in Architecture Hall and Morill Hall before the Sheldon was built in 1960 and opened in 1963.
The permanent collection contains more than 20,000 pieces.
“We specialize in modern American art,” Kennedy said, “and we’re also collecting contemporary art.”
While the gallery collects art in every medium, Kennedy said its specialization has been a huge asset.
“The fact that we’re a focused collection is really helpful to us,” she said. “We don’t have to be all things to everybody.”
The Sheldon enjoys a good reputation nationally, Kennedy said. It might not be that large, compared to some, but people in the art world know the name.
“I think we’re well-known, especially for … the size of the city, the collection, our fiscal budget,” she said. “We do very well.”
The Sheldon staff try hard to involve the university.
“We bring exhibitions that engage faculty and staff and sometimes involve them,” she said. “We incorporate environmental concerns and science, and have even written curriculum for workshops that we give to teachers in communities where the exhibits travel to.”
They have hosted exhibits that involve the English department, social sciences, music and performing arts, to name a few.
“We’re always thinking of ways we can engage the rest of the university,” she said.
As for the future, Kennedy said the immediate goal is to hire a new director.
“We need a strong, visionary person,” she said. “We hope to have the position filled in the next year. It takes time.
“Then we can really focus on long-term plans.”
