Art exhibitions and dedicated gallery space are helping enhance creative energies at Nebraska Innovation Campus.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln research campus, which is focused on developing partnerships between the university and private sector businesses, recently opened the Cooper Foundation Makers Gallery in its Nebraska Innovation Studio maker space. The current exhibition in the gallery is “Member Made” and showcases projects built by maker space members.
Innovation Campus is also featuring an exhibition of student artwork, images of quilts on display at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum, and a water droplet sculpture by Kansas City artist Matthew Dehaemers.
Kate Engel, director of communication and culture at NIC, said the art offerings are an extension of the mission of Nebraska Innovation Campus.
“This is a place that brings a diverse group of people together, allowing them to make what they want while encouraging them to interact with each other,” Engel said. “Offering these new exhibition spaces does on a small scale what we hope the whole campus does — encouraging diverse backgrounds, skill sets and people to interact and have conversations. They also help create a campus where talent wants to be.”
The “Member Made” exhibition shows through July 23. The gallery is open to the public from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday; noon to 6 p.m. Thursday; and noon to 4 Friday. A closing reception is 4 to 7 p.m. July 23 in the gallery.
“This new exhibition space is a great way to showcase what our makers are interested in and allows people to come together and celebrate different styles of making,” said Liana Owad, director of Nebraska Innovation Studio.
For more information on Nebraska Innovation Studio, including membership options, click here.
“Impetus” includes artworks made by students in a Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts course led by Stacy Asher and Aaron Sutherlen, both assistant professors of art. The designs each examine water, food and fuel (three areas of focus in NIC partnerships) in the changing environment.
“We hope that the installation, the first of its kind at Nebraska Innovation Campus, will serve as a model for future exhibitions of student work,” Asher said. “It is an opportunity for UNL’s student talent to reach a broader audience than critiques held during their classes. It also gives students the experience of designing and preparing a public exhibition held over an extended period of time.”
“Impetus” is on display weekdays in Innovation Commons, the building that houses the NIC conference center and maker space.
The color-perfect quilt photographs feature three items on display at UNL’s International Quilt Study Center and Museum. One is a quilt made by Michael James, professor and chair of textiles, merchandising and fashion design in UNL’s College of Education and Human Sciences.
The water droplet sculpture is also in Innovation Commons. Dehaemers’ sculpture was part of a larger commissioned piece for “Water,” an exhibition that showed at the Kaneko gallery in Omaha.
For more information on NIC, including upcoming events, click here.
