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Family Day and the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival

Join Sheldon Museum of Art and the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival for a fun filled day of art and music. Guests will create original musical instruments with renowned musician Oscar Rios Pohirieth while exploring the art at Sheldon. 

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged. Click here to be taken to the registration page for this event. 

To find out more about the 2026 Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival please follow this link.

Yoga in Sheldon's Great Hall

Campus Recreation is partnering with Sheldon to offer hour-long yoga classes appropriate for all levels. The class is free and open to everyone, but space is limited. Please bring your own mat, towel, or blanket. 

Registration opens one week prior to class.

Register Here
 

First Friday

Join us for August's First Friday as Sheldon stays open until 7 p.m. for a guided tour of the outdoor sculptures located around the museum and throughout the UNL campus. 

This tour begins at 6 p.m. in Sheldon's Great Hall. This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

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Drop-in Tour: Dog Walking the Outdoor Sculptures

An event for the dog lovers in our community. Join a Sheldon educator for a special dog walking tour of the sculptures around Sheldon and the broader UNL campus. Dogs are must wear a leash for the entirety of their time on the campus.

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

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Sheldon Contemporaries Floral Design Workshop

Join us for an afternoon of hands-on floral design at the Sheldon Museum of Art! In this workshop you'll learn the basics of selecting and preparing flowers, then build your own foam-free bouquet using sustainable floral design techniques. 
We'll provide a beautiful mix of seasonal and staple blooms, but feel free to bring your own home-grown or store-bought flowers if you have a specific bloom in mind. A complimentary lemonade bar and charcuterie cups will keep you refreshed as you create your floral masterpiece. 

$40 per Member
$55 per Nonmember
Deadline to register is August 5th.

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"Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention" Exhibition Member Preview Party

Sheldon Members are invited to celebrate the opening of the fall exhibitions. Join Susan Longhenry, Sheldon Director, for a 6 PM walk-through of the major touring exhibition Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention. Enjoy food, drinks and friends, as well as a first look at Gender, Genre, Generation: Women Painting Abstraction, Remembering Modern Art: Collection of the Museum of American Art, Berlin, and the Collection Galleries.

If you are not yet a member, contact Caroline White at cwhite23@unl.edu to become a member and RSVP for the member preview party.

'Remembering Modern Art' Curator Tour

Join Sheldon's chief curator and associate director for curatorial affairs, Magdalena Moskalewicz, for a special tour of "Remembering Modern Art." This exhibition explores the forces-museums, exhibitions, artists, and cultural diplomacy-that shaped the story of American modern art in the twentieth century. The guided tours offer insights into MoAA's collection as well as Sheldon's place within the history of modern art.

"Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention" - with curator Jared Ledesma

Exhibition curator Jared Ledesma discusses Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention, with a special welcome and poetry reading by JC Andrews. Drawing from his work organizing the exhibition, Ledesma will offer insight into Hartigan's practice and the creative exchange between her work and the influential New York poets who shaped her artistic world, including Frank O'Hara, Barbara Guest, and James Schuyler while forging one of the most distinctive voices in postwar American art.

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

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"Remembering Modern Art" Tour

Join a Museum of American Art (MoAA) assistant for a special tour of Remembering Modern Art. This exhibition explores the forces–museums, exhibitions, artists, and cultural diplomacy–that shaped the story of American modern art in twenties century. The guided tours offer insights into MoAA's collection as well as Sheldon's place within the history of modern art. 

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged. 

Register Now

"Remembering Modern Art" Tour

Join a Museum of American Art (MoAA) assistant for a special tour of Remembering Modern Art. This exhibition explores the forces–museums, exhibitions, artists, and cultural diplomacy–that shaped the story of American modern art in twenties century. The guided tours offer insights into MoAA's collection as well as Sheldon's place within the history of modern art. 

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

Register Now

Workshop at Sheldon Museum of Art

Join Sheldon educator Sydney DeRoin in our upcoming exhibition, "Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention," to explore how Grace Hartigan created her large abstract paintings. Following a brief gallery talk, participants will then create their own abstract watercolor painting outside referencing the nearby nature and architecture of campus.

This workshop is recommended for ages 16 and older, and requires paid registration ($15 for nonmembers, $12 for members).

"Join or Die" Screening and Conversation

Lincoln Community Foundation and Sheldon present a screening of "Join or Die," a documentary based on Harvard professor and social scientist Robert Putnam's research around rejuvenating civic life through community connections. The film asks: What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in crisis? And, what can we do about it? After the screening stay for a reception and conversation in Sheldon's Great Hall.

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"Taking Flight: The Eighth Wonder of the World" with the Bel Canto Duo

We're proud to host the Bel Canto Duo as they provide a live film score of their award-winning documentary "Taking Flight: The Eighth Wonder of the World." This documentary explores the annual Crane migration that take place in North Platte every year. After the performance, the Bel Canto Duo will also share about their extensive work in the field of NueroArts and how they center community and wellness in their art practice.

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

Register Now

Yoga in Sheldon's Great Hall

Campus Recreation is partnering with Sheldon to offer hour-long yoga classes appropriate for all levels. The class is free and open to everyone, but space is limited. Please bring you own mat, towel, or blanket. 

Registration opens one week prior to class.

Register Here

Curated Chapters Book Club

Join Sheldon Museum of Art for an engaging discussion that brings literature and visual art together. Curated Chapters invites readers and art lovers to explore how literature can create connections with works of art. This program begins with a 60-minute discussion in Sheldon's boardroom where readers will reflect on the book's theme, characters and ideas. A 30-minute guided tour will follow, highlighting select works that connect with the book, offering new ways to see the work of art. 

The book for August will be "The Blazing World" by Siri Hustvedt 

This event is free, but space is limited and registration is required.

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Hixson Lied Artist Talk: Hannah Webb

Hannah Webb, also known as "The Obanoth" on social media, is a Los Angeles-based studio artist and muralist whose work is based on hard-edged painting and dynamic abstracted realism. Although her signature art style is graphic, the work is rooted in a fine arts background, and she begins all pieces with a brush regardless of the size of the project. 

This lecture is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged. 

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September First Friday

Start your weekend and celebrate the start of the school year at Sheldon Museum of Art. This month the museum is open until 8 p.m. Admission is always free and everyone is welcome. 

Explore the new fall exhibitions. Sketch in the galleries. Join a tour: Remembering Modern Art tour at 5:30 p.m.; drop-in tour at 6 p.m. Complete an art scavenger hunt to be entered to win a prize. 

From 6 to 8 p.m., Sheldon is partnering with UNL's Campus Nightlife to offer activities on the museum's west lawn, including tie-dye, painting a small canvas, building a flower bouquet, and making jewelry. These activities are free for UNL students with EventPass. Supplies will be provided on a first come, first served basis until they are gone.

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Artist Talk with Liz Burden

Great Plains Art Museum's 2026 Elizabeth Rubendall Artist in Residence Elizabeth Burden will deliver a talk about her practice which engages in artistic archive and blends multidisciplinary studio work with social practice to reflect on the past/present/future. She was born and raised in Lincoln; as the great-granddaughter of the first Black homesteaders (Henry and Mary Burden), she is a third-generation Nebraskan, now living in the Southwest. 

This talk is presented in partnership with the Great Plains Art Museum and Center for Great Plains Studies.

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Dr. Zanna Gilbert Lecture

Gilbert, senior research specialist at theGetty Research Institutein Los Angeles, presents on her exhibition"How to Be a Guerrilla Girl" and explores how archival and curatorial research illuminates the histories of feminist, conceptual and activist art practices.

About Dr. Zanna Gilbert

A World History of the American Revolution: A Conversation with Sarah M.S. Pearsall

Join Sheldon Museum of Art, the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues, and the Department of History for an evening with Sarah M.S. Pearsall, Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University discussing her new book, Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution (Knopf Doubleday, 2026). Most international histories have considered the effects of the American Revolution on the world; Pearsall instead focuses on the effects of the world on the American Revolution. She uncovers the insurgents in the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America who shaped the foundations of the United States. Dr. Margaret Jacobs, Charles Mach Professor of History, will moderate. Reception and book signing to follow. 

Registration is encouraged.

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Join Sheldon Museum of Art for Family Weekend

Join a Museum of American Art (MoAA) assistant for a special tour of "Remembering Modern Art." This exhibition explores the forces-museums, exhibitions, artists, and cultural diplomacy-that shaped the story of American modern art in twenties century. The guided tours offer insights into MoAA's collection as well as Sheldon's place within the history of modern art.

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

Join Sheldon Museum of Art for Family Weekend

Join a Museum of American Art (MoAA) assistant for a special tour of "Remembering Modern Art." This exhibition explores the forces-museums, exhibitions, artists, and cultural diplomacy-that shaped the story of American modern art in twenties century. The guided tours offer insights into MoAA's collection as well as Sheldon's place within the history of modern art.

This event is free and open to everyone. Registration is encouraged.

Sips at Sheldon

Sips at Sheldon looks at works of art from new and thought-provoking perspectives. September's program will feature Valerie K. Jones, interim associate dean for research and faculty affairs; Fred A. & Gladys Seaton professor of advertising and public relations.

Conversation begin in the galleries and continue in the boardroom and the Great Hall with sips and charcuterie. 

Free for members, $10 for nonmembers. Registration is required. 

Register Now