For more than forty years, art association member Nellie May Vance was an advocate for the University of Nebraska as well as for the arts.
One day in 1935, on her way to a meeting in Morrill Hall—which then housed the university's art collection—Vance overheard a young girl ask her father if they could visit the second floor. His immediate "no" was followed by "pictures, there's nothing but pictures up there." That same afternoon, Vance met with Chancellor Edgar A. Burnett to initiate an outreach program that would circulate art exhibitions throughout the state.
Vance's work on behalf of our collection and the University of Nebraska received grant funding from the Carnegie Foundation and became a model for similar national and international art education programs. The outreach Vance set in motion continues today as Sheldon Statewide, an exhibition and outreach program through which original artworks from the museum’s collection travel to communities across the state.
Schoolchildren look at art reproductions during a 1930s educational program created by Nellie May Vance.More info
In creating Priceless #1, visual artist and social activist Hank Willis Thomas began with a photograph he made at the funeral of his cousin Songha Willis, who was murdered during a violent robbery in 2000.
“No picture could express what I was feeling at the moment,” Thomas told the New York Times about the final work. “It’s when I stopped being a photographer and became an artist.”
Thomas visited Sheldon in 2015 to present "After Identity, What?"—a lecture on his socially engaged artistic practice, which encourages viewers to move beyond misconceptions and singular views of individuals and histories.
Image at top: Hank Willis Thomas born Plainfield, NJ 1976 Priceless #1 Lambda photograph, 2004 32 x 40 inches Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust, H-3120.2015More info
In tribute to the twenty-first birthday of Arnold Pyle, his studio assistant, Grant Wood painted this river-of-life portrait. Here, Wood depicts Pyle standing resolutely between symbols of youth and manhood, spring and autumn. He also includes a butterfly on the verge of alighting on Pyle's sleeve to further suggest the younger man's ongoing metamorphosis.
Grant Wood Anamosa, IA 1891–Iowa City, IA 1942 Arnold Comes of Age (Portrait of Arnold Pyle) Oil on pressed board, 1930 26 3/4 x 23 1/8 inches Nebraska Art Association Collection, N-38.1931More info
For months in 1989 and 1990, with a single light source suspended over the kitchen table in her apartment and herself as a representative stand-in, Carrie Mae Weems made photographs to capture the ebb and flow of women’s lives. In the process, Weems found her voice, artistic style, and opportunities to advocate for a level playing field.
Carrie Mae Weems born Portland, OR 1953 Untitled, from The Kitchen Table Series Platinum print, 1990, printed 2003 14 13/16 × 14 3/4 inches Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Olga N. Sheldon Acquisition Trust, U-5592.20.2010More info
Combining a range of cultural and experiential influences—including her mother’s skill of upcycling found materials into home décor and her own education in industrial design—Xenobia Bailey has become well known for her large-scale crocheted mandalas. In these works, she embraces the aesthetic of funk and its associations with the social movements of the 1970s.
Bailey earned a BFA in industrial design from Pratt Institute, after which she began to make and sell colorful crocheted hats that have been featured in fashion magazines and films including Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. Her large-scale mandalas, such as Trilogy, draw on skills she learned from Bernadette Sonona, a needle arts teacher at Greenpoint Cultural Society, as well as on her interests in ethnomusicology and African, Native American, and Eastern philosophies.
Xenobia Bailey born Seattle, WA 1958 Trilogy Cotton and acrylic yarn crochet with plastic beads, 2000 84 × 60 inches Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Robert E. Schweser and Fern Beardsley Schweser Acquisition Fund, through the University of Nebraska Foundation, U-6398.2013More info
