North Platte, Neb., Prairie Arts Center – October 1st– “A Day’s Work,” an exhibition of artworks related to labor from the collection of Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, opens September 30, 2023 at the Prairie arts Center in North Platte, NE, sponsored by Nebraskaland Bank.
The exhibition is open free to the public Tuesday – Saturday from 11-4 pm. Presenting depictions of work by eighteen artists, the exhibition encourages viewers to consider labor’s mental, physical, social, political, and economic effects. Although the artworks in this exhibition vary in medium, year of completion, and message, together they illuminate an expanded understanding of what it means—and what it looks like—to labor.
“A Day’s Work” includes photographs from well-known 20th-century advocates Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange, who raised awareness about child and agricultural labor. Contemporary artists Christina Fernandez and Jay Lynn Gomez are represented by prints based on present issues of workers’ rights and visibility. The exhibition is part of Sheldon Statewide, an annual program through which works from the museum’s collection travel to venues throughout Nebraska.
Since its inception in 1987, the program has taken exhibitions to 25 communities, reaching more than 365,000 people. “A Day’s Work” will be presented in Chadron, North Platte, McCook, Grand Island, York, Beatrice, Fremont, and Falls City during the 2023–24 academic year. This year’s exhibition labels and educational resources are bilingual in English and Spanish. Educators are also encouraged to contact Holly Carlini, [email protected]or Saraphina Masters, assistant curator of engagement at Sheldon, for subject area–specific lesson plans and other educational resources.
The Sheldon Statewide series receives funding support from Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Nebraska, Rhonda Seacrest, and Sheldon Art Association. Prairie Arts Center, North Platte: September 30 – October 26