Beginning July 19, the Great Plains Art Museum will host “Hills Snyder: Altered States,” an exhibition of drawings based on the artist’s travels to Great Plains locales including Nowhere, Oklahoma; Happy, Texas; Lost Springs, Wyoming; Keystone, South Dakota; Recluse, Wyoming; Opportunity, Montana; Funk, Nebraska, and points in between.
The exhibition is part five in a series of connected exhibitions that started in San Antonio, Texas, in 2016. The Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln will display 120 of Snyder’s colored pencil drawings in its lower-level gallery through Oct. 19. A series of travelogues about the series is published in the online arts magazine Glasstire.
Snyder doesn’t select his destinations because they have unusual names, but rather “because they are evocative — emotional states, hoped-for ideals, downers and reckonings …” he said. In each location — and in points along the way — he photographs anything that catches his eye, often focusing on less-than-noteworthy scenes and discarded objects. These photographs serve as the basis for drawings that are both recognizable and abstract.
The opening reception for the show is 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 2. Snyder will participate in a short Q&A with curator Ashley Hussman at 6 p.m.
Snyder is an artist, musician, writer, educator and curator. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, and currently resides in Magdalena, New Mexico. Part six of the “Altered States” exhibition will travel to Wrong Store in Marfa, Texas, later this year.
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.
