Great Plains Art Museum

08/28/2026

Did you know less than 5% of the Great Plains Art Museum collection is on display at any given time? 🎨🖼️

The Museum's Collections Manager, Casey Seger-Franklin, joined us for this month's Lunchbox Lecture to share a selection of these "hidden gems" and the fascinating, often unseen work that goes into preserving and caring for art.

You can now watch his presentation on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/NcL3Jha0P7s.

08/25/2026

"Elsewhere/ The Prairie Was Ours" opens at the Great Plains Art Museum Aug. 25, 2026. This exhibition brings together the work of three artists—Elizabeth Burden, Willa Ahlschwede, and Marci Sue Black—descendants of formerly enslaved Black American, immigrant European American, and Indigenous communities shaped by prairie life. Their works use image, sound, artifact, and gesture to trace and unsettle memory.
Burden is the 2026 Elizabeth Rubendall Artist in Residence. During her residency, Sept. 1-12, Burden will create an artwork that will become part of the museum’s permanent collection. Visitors are encouraged to see the artist in action in the lower-level Elizabeth Rubendall Artist-in-Residence Studio & Education Lab during the museum’s public hours.
The exhibition is open through Dec. 19.

08/20/2026

Thanks to everyone who attended last night's opening reception for "Like a Moth to the Flame" at the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Angus creates site-specific, immersive art installations that utilize dead and dried insect specimens to create environments that are often described as otherworldly, magical, and sometimes uncomfortable.
This exhibition is on view through Dec. 19 and admission is always free.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
This exhibition is supported by the Nebraska Arts Council on the Nebraska Cultural Endowment in collaboration with the Community for Arthropod Research, Education, and Materials Innovation. 🪲

08/14/2026

Go behind the scenes of the Great Plains Art Museum next Tuesday at noon with the Collections Manager, Casey Seger-Franklin, as he highlights a selection of the museum's “hidden gems” and pulls back the curtain on the often-unseen work of caring for art.

Admission is free thanks to the support of the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation. https://bit.ly/4fpCE3N.

08/11/2026

Chuck Guildner made an enormous impact on the Great Plains Art Museum through his generous contributions and collaborative spirit. We are honored to be the repository for his work and thankful to have so many examples of his important photographs that document the landscapes and rural life of the Great Plains.

View Dr. Charles W Guildner, II's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

08/03/2026

Join our team! The Great Plains Art Museum is looking for part-time Visitor Services Associates to share the diverse art of the Great Plains with our visitors in a welcoming and engaging environment. This position is open to all UNL students, and we’re accepting applications through August 10. To learn more, email [email protected] or check out Handshake at UNL and search for job #11239159.

07/27/2026

Great Plains Art Museum to open immersive exhibition focused on insect world

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Great Plains Art Museum will open “Jennifer Angus: Like a Moth to the Flame,” an immersive art installation designed specifically for the museum, on Aug. 7. The exhibition runs through Dec. 19.Angus creates installations that use dead and dried insect spe...

07/22/2026

Installation is underway for "Jennifer Angus: Like a Moth to the Flame" at the Great Plains Art Museum. This immersive art installation utilizes dead and dried insect specimens to create environments that are often described as otherworldly, magical, and sometimes uncomfortable. Angus' artwork explores the Great Plains region, an ecosystem home to Sandhill cranes, American bison, foxes, and countless other animals. Less visible, though no less essential, are the nearly 30,000 insect species that inhabit this landscape. This exhibition invites visitors into that hidden world, asking them to imagine themselves insect-sized, dwarfed by The sculptural works around them.
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Opens: Aug. 7
Reception with artist: Aug. 19, 6-8pm
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This exhibition is supported by the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. It is presented in collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Community for Arthropod Research, Education and Materials Innovation (CAREMI).

07/15/2026

July 18 is the last day to see three exhibitions at the Great Plains Art Museum:

➡️ "Collection Connections: Art in Conversation"
➡️ "'All the Beauty You Can See': Dwight Kirsch in Nature"
➡️ "Indigenous Ceramics from the Collection"

Artwork: Robert F. Gilder, "Autumn on the Missouri," date unknown, oil on panel, 18 5/8 x 22 ¾ inches (framed),
gift of Dr. John and Elizabeth Christlieb, 1980.0226.

07/14/2026

On Saturday we hosted a cyanotype making workshop with Sheldon Museum of Art where participants learned about photography and created their own cyanotypes with our Outreach and Education Associate Dominique Ellis.