Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery

05/27/2026

Watch our new museum staffers as they give their first weekly report!

05/26/2026

The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery is pleased to announce that Karrie Steely, from Hendley, Nebraska, will be its Artist in Residence from June 10 through June 24, 2026. Her work will be on display at the museum with many available for purchase.

Steely is a freelance artist and writer who works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, ceramics and sculpture, multimedia with found materials, and murals. She is also an instructor of individuals, classes, and workshops at art centers and privately in studio.

Steely is a community leader and visionary on collaborative projects with artists and creatives. Finally, she is a writer and wordsmith at large; writing homesteading articles, freelance newspaper articles, blogging, editing and manages social media sites, channels and groups.

Karrie will be offering two art classes in the museum’s gallery on Saturday June 13th 1-3:30pm and Saturday June 20th 1-3:30 pm. There will be a $40.00 fee for the class which will include all the supplies necessary for the lessons. Students will be able to take their artwork with them after the class concludes. For those who are interested in taking the class they must be 18 years old. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the museum at 308-784-4343. There will be a class limit of eight participants.

Her artist statement follows:

At the core of my artistic practice are three guiding principles: Connection, Creativity, and Community.

Connection: Art is the great connector—between people, between ideas, between the self and the world. I use my creative practice to deepen my relationship with the world, inviting others to see the beauty and complexity within it. I grow connections, bridging divides and nurturing empathy and understanding.

Creativity: Creativity is not just a skill to be cultivated, but a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human. I am committed to nurturing creativity in myself and others. I approach each project with curiosity and experimentation, embracing the unknown and celebrating the ways we can learn together.

Community: I believe in the power of collaboration and collective action to make positive change in the world. Whether through community art projects, workshops, or creative mentoring, I am dedicated to creating spaces where everyone's voice is valued and celebrated.

The museum’s artist programs are sponsored by the membership of the museum and were established in 1988 to encourage understanding and appreciation of the arts in central Nebraska and to promote the legacy of Robert Henri, one of America’s greatest art instructors. He taught more than one thousand students over his long career including well-known artists such as Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, George Bellows, Marjorie Ryerson, Minerva Teichert, and Elizabeth Grandin.

Artists can apply for entry into the program by going to the museum’s web page, printing off the application and submitting it by email. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2027 program.

The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery is a national treasure that is the result of the work of many volunteers, board members, and professional staff who have toiled for forty years. The site is now listed on the United States Department of Interior’s National Register of Historic Places and has more Henri paintings and sketches on display than any other institution in the world and currently has Painter, Teacher and Pioneer: The Life and Times of Robert Henri, a major new exhibition on display.

The museum and gallery complex is located at 207 East 9th Street in Cozad and is open from May 1 to November 1, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The complex includes a museum, the boyhood home of Henri, a library and archives, and a new five-thousand-square foot gallery. For more information call 308-784-4343, visit the museum’s web page at www.roberthenrimuseum.org, or its page at www.facebook.com/roberthenrimuseum.

TOWN WATCHMAN
Courtesy Karrie Steely

05/25/2026

We had a busy week this week as Ally Goad and Brianna Barton began working as museum staffers at our new gallery. Their internships and field experience program this summer are being funded by a generous donation from the late William Lord and Sydney Green, both members and great supporters of the museum. They will be here until early August.

We put them right to work as Brianna was shadowing our guides so that she can begin giving her own tours later this coming week. Ally and Brianna also created a new pop up art show of the work of John Groesser. John is on the museum's board and donated six paintings for the museum to sell during the upcoming Cattlemen's Ball that will be taking place next week.

We also were host to a wedding photography session on Saturday, the first to ever be done in our new gallery. Ally and Brianna were quick to move benches, barriers and to help the bride and her family prepare the proper backgrounds for the photographer.

They also began the educational part of the program that Bill and Sydney were so happy to fund. For the first session they were asked:

Do you want to make a lot of money in your career? (If so it is going to be tough to do in the museum, art gallery or history business.)

Do you want to own a BMV? (If so it is going to be tough to do in the museum or history business.)

Do you want to own a second home on the Jersey Shore? (The director is from New Jersey and owning a home on the Jersery Shore along the Atlantic Ocean is the dream of many. For our staffers he suggested that they might be more knowledgable about Jackson Hole.)

Do you want to love what you do or feel passionate about working in a museum or gallery? (If so then you will be going into the right profession.)

Before anyone comments and says that owning a BMW or having a house on the Jersey Shore, is not a bad thing, we agree. But for most folks who work in the museum, history or art field the money is not too lucrative. Our director has always said that he was a historian by the grace of Janis, his late wife and editor of a newspaper in Port Jervis, New York.

Photo of Brianna and Ally courtesy of Chuck Birgen

05/08/2026

We have had a busy week as our visitations begin to rise. We also had a Cozad Community School middle school art class here this week and our director gave them a lesson about portraits and then discussed Robert Henri's own techniques in painting portraits. After that the students were told to create their own portraits or landscapes. In all it was a successful day as Sierra Maginnis, the art teacher, promised to bring back more classes in the future. The director was assisted in the program by Marlene Geiger and Chuck Birgen.

Yesterday we interviewed the second of our interns for our field experience program this summer. Brianna Barton will be here along with Ally Goad who is returning after having spent two other summers with us. Our director has a number of projects for them to complete, the most important being the organization of our archive in the former gallery building. Both Ally and Brianna are excited to be coming on board to not only assist us but also to expand their own knowledge of the museum field. Marlene and Chuck also participated in the interview.

The field experience program has been made possible by generous donations from the late William Lord and Sydney Green.

Photographs by Chuck Birgen

05/02/2026

Our first Artist of the Month is Jenifer Sauter has arrived and has installed her show. She is an amazing painter and some incredible work is on display. Her landscapes are wonderful. She will be here for the month of May so come to our new gallery to see her work.

Photographs and installation assistance by Chuck Birgen

04/29/2026

Our volunteer orientation is tomorrow (Thursday) evening here at the gallery at 7:00 pm. If you would like to volunteer at the gallery and museum this is your moment. Our crew of volunteers always feel the experience is a fulfilling one and look forward to welcoming visitors from all over the country to the museum. We have our new volunteers shadow a more experienced volunteer until they feel comfortable hosting our visitors. So come to the new gallery on 9th Street tomorrow night and partake of totally new experience.

04/25/2026

Our Thursday evening program was a successful one as our director discussed paintings from our collection and how Robert Henri's book The Art Spirit related to them. Our next program will be in June when Andrew Cozad presents his findings on the recently digitized notebooks that Henri used to document his painting legacy.

For those of you who missed our program we believe that we have found a solution to having our programs recorded. A teacher from the Cozad school system has volunteered to record future programs and set up a You Tube page for us. We are also planning on buying recording equipment and when All Goad, our museum staffer arrives the week after next we are going to try and record the first three presentations that our director has given so far.

Don't forget, if you want to volunteer at the museum we will be holding our annual volunteer meeting on Thursday evening at the museum so that docents can learn the ins and outs of our museum and gallery and see what new features we will be offering this year. The meeting will be held at the the new gallery building.

Finally, we officially open for the season on Friday, May 1. The museum and gallery will be open from 10-5, Tuesday-Saturday. If visiting come to the gallery on East Ninth Street first.

04/22/2026

We are getting ready for our program tomorrow night (Thursday) in our gallery on Robert Henri's book The Art Spirit as it relates to some of the paintings in our collection. Our director, Peter Osborne, will be talking about twelve of our paintings and reading excerpts from the Art Spirit as it relates to those paintings. There will also be a handout for participants. The lecture will be about an hour long and will require everyone to move from painting to painting.

This program will continue our series of programs that provide greater insights into Robert Henri, his philosophy about art, the history of his family here in Nebraska and the shooting of Alf Pierson. These lectures are all part of the museum's new outreach programs to teach people about Robert Henri and his remarkable legacy.

The next program will take place on June 3, 2026 at 6:30 pm here at the gallery and will be cosponsored with the Wilson Public Library. It will be given by museum board member Andrew Cozad, a descendant of the greater Cozad family. His program will be about the notebooks Henri used to keep track of his more than 4,000 paintings. He will provide insights into what he has discovered and also some new and surprising findings. This will be the first time that a presentation has ever been made about the notebooks.

Following that Peter Osborne will be making two additional presentations later this year at the gallery. The first will be Nebraska Sign-posts: Robert Henri's Years on the Great Plains and the second is entitled The Blast that Changed the World: The Shooting of Alf Pierson.

Come and join us. We will try to have them all recorded if possible for those who cannot physically be here.

04/18/2026

On Thursday, April 23, 2026, at 6:30 pm, the museum will be hosting a program called The Art Spirit and Our Collection. It will be given by our director Peter Osborne and will explore Robert Henri's book The Art Spirt as it relates to some of the paintings in our collection.

Many of the museum's paintings reflect the views that Henri had about painting portraits and landscapes and demonstrate what he taught his students. It will also include a segment on the newest painting that has been loaned to the museum entitled Mrs. George Emerson Brewer (Ann Corning). The loan is a result of Larry Paulsen's generosity.

The painting, completed in 1925, at the end of Henri's career,
is an amazing portrait. Commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. George Brewer, Jr., Henri turned it over to the Brewers and possession of the painting was taken by private owner after Ann Corning Brewer died in 2000.

Our collection is filled with paintings that have such interesting back stories.

There is no charge although donations are accepted. It will be an interesting evening to be sure. We are also looking for someone who is tech savvy who could record the event and post it on You Tube for people who cannot be here to participate.

See you on Thursday!

04/08/2026

We are pleased to announce that we will begin its regular summer season hours on Friday, May 1, 2026. To kick off the season, the museum and gallery will be hosting its annual program for artists until November 1. The artists, who are coming from all over the country, and will be exhibiting, are:

Jenifer Sauter
Artist of the Month – May 1 - May 30, 2026

Karrie Steely
Artist in Residence – June 10 - June 24, 2026

Impact Nebraska Artists – Waters of Life
Artist of the Month – July 1 - July 31, 2026

Beth Jasnoch and Jeri Schultheiss
Artist of the Month – August 1 - August 29, 2026

Jude Valentine
Artist in Residence – September 15 to September 30

Leslie McAllister
Artist of the Month – October 1 - October 31, 2026

The museum’s first artist this summer will be Jenifer Berge Sauter. She is a Nebraska based artist known for her contemporary paintings in acrylic, pastel and oil. Berge Sauter’s early years began on a hog farm in Lisco, Nebraska where she learned how much she loved animals and being outside in the trees and drawing.

She followed her pattern of working outdoors in gardens and nurseries as an adult which influenced the color, movement and rhythm in her paintings of her rural home. Berge Sauter is disciplined and worked with artist Lanny Fiegenschuh early on and continues to make connections and take in knowledge to refine her work practice. Her work is in business and private collections across the country and her paintings have been included in group
and solo shows including Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Wisconsin.

Jenifer has also continued her participation with the Panhandle Humane Society ofScottsbluff with a pet portrait fundraiser that she started in 1999. She has completed over 1000 portraits and has continuously donated fifty percent of proceeds to this worthy cause.

Berge Sauter works at her home studio in Gering and enjoys spending time with family, friends, pets, gardening and plein air painting. Sauter’s artist statement is as follows:

Working with my hands has always been a thing for me. Painting and working with plants and the repetition of both seem to be essential to my life and art. Living in a rural place most of my life has shaped my work where the animals, plants, people and experiences that form in this strange landscape become
paintings that are my friends. Temperature might be most important to me as it's the key to the mood of a piece. Controlling temperature with glazes just might be my favorite right now. There are so many things I need to paint, I will never be done and this makes me happy.

The museum’s Artist Program, now in its twenty-fourth year, was established to encourage understanding and appreciation of the arts in central Nebraska and to promote the legacy of Robert Henri, one of America’s greatest art instructors. He taught hundreds of students over his long career including Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Marjorie Ryerson and Elizabeth Grandin.

As part of its ongoing lecture series the museum will be hosting a program called Our Paintings and Robert Henri’s Art Spirit. The program will take place on Thursday, April 23, 2026
at 6:30 p.m. in the museum. The lecture will be given by the museum’s director, Peter Osborne, and will explore the lessons given in Henri’s seminal book with the museum’s collection of
paintings now on display. The program is open to the public and is free of charge.

The museum will also have five exhibits to see including From Cozad to the State Prison: The Colorful Character of Miles Maryott, Robert Henri: From the 100th Meridian to International
Fame, Painters of A New Century, and Passing on the Art Spirit. Three of the exhibits look at the life and career of Robert Henri including his time in Nebraska.

The fifth, and newly opened show, Painter, Teacher and Pioneer: A Journey Through the Life of Robert Henri is the most extensive show to interpret the artist’s life since the Sheldon Museum of Art undertook a major show in the 1990s. There are 45 sketches that are attributed to Henri or believed to be by him. There are 31 paintings and prints that Henri completed. In addition, there are seven works by his wives and several of by his students.

The Museum has embarked on a new chapter in its long and storied history. A newly built gallery (2025) takes the institution to an even higher level and makes it a national center
for preserving and promoting the art and legacy of Robert Henri. The new gallery’s display space is five thousand square feet and will allow the museum to expand its collection. The building includes state of the art climate control, fire protection, and security systems along with educational and exhibition space. It includes an outdoor patio area, gift shop, office and a serving kitchen. The former gallery was converted into a new library and archive building and is climate controlled with a sophisticated security system.

The $3.5 million expansion has been paid for by grants, contributions and a very generous donation and matching commitment from patrons Larry and Tammy Paulsen of $2
million. Larry and Tammy have made the display of much of the artwork and exhibitions in our gallery possible through donations and loans. Larry’s mother, Shirley Paulsen, was one of the founders of our museum in the early 1980s.

Donations can be made to the new gallery project by going to the museum’s website or mailing them to the museum directly. They are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. We provide regular updates about the gallery and our programs on our page.

The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery is a national treasure that is the result of the work of many volunteers, board members and professional staff who have toiled for more than forty years. The effort to preserve Robert Henri’s legacy in Cozad started with a small group of people who saw the opportunity to bring recognition to the town that was once home to the acclaimed artist and native son, Robert Henri (Robert Henry Cozad). This group, led by Shirley Paulsen, bought and restored the former Hendee Hotel, Henri’s boyhood home. It officially opened to the public in 1986.

With local support and generous donations from Cozad and Henri family members, and donors from across the United States, the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery’s collection continues to grow. The first Henri painting donated to the museum in 1988 was
Portrait of Queen Mariana. In addition, there are works by several of his students including Marjorie Organ, Margery Ryerson, Ernest Fiene and his best friend John Sloan.

The museum is located at 218 East 8th Street in Cozad, and the gallery sits directly behind it at 207 East 9th Street. (Visitors are required to come to the gallery first.) The complex will
be open from May 1, 2026, to November 1, 2026, Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about the its programs call 308-784-4343 or visit the museum’s web page at www.roberthenrimuseum.org.

Robert Henri (formerly Robert Henry Cozad) was one of America's greatest artists and one of its most important art instructors. Here in central Nebraska we are embarking on a new chapter in the museum's history as we have finished constructing and opening a new five thousand square foot gallery. Our...

04/03/2026

We are preparing to open for our first full year with the new gallery finished and operational. This will be the first time in three years that we have not had the gallery in a planning phase or the construction underway. We are going to have our annual volunteer meeting on Thursday evening, April 30, 2026 at 7:00 at the gallery.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in volunteering at the gallery and museum please give us a call or come to the meeing. We are on this great journey and want to share it with all of our visitors. You do not need to be an art expert or historian to be a volunteer and we do offer training so you will feel comfortable guiding visitors around.