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Wednesday 11am - 5pm Thursday 11am - 9pm Friday 11am - 5pm Saturday 11am - 5pm Sunday 11am - 5pm

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

Defiant Bodies: a review of "Flags of Our Mothers" at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art - Sixty Inches From Center A visit to the exhibition "Flags of Our Mothers" by Caddo artist Raven Halfmoon prompts a reflection on the artist's powerful depictions of women, Indigenous artistic traditions and kinship, and defiance of settler colonial erasure.

Joslyn Art Museum In Omaha Does More Than Open New Building

09/11/2024

Many congratulations to our friends at Joslyn Art Museum on their grand reopening! This is truly an exciting time for the arts in Omaha.

Don't miss 2020 Ree Kaneko Alumni Award Winner Dyani White Hawk's work on view in the contemporary galleries (pictured below, right)

Joslyn Art Museum In Omaha Does More Than Open New Building The Joslyn‘s spectacular new Snøhetta designed building will receive all the headlines as the museum reopens following a two year closure, but what's contained inside makes a bigger statement.

Photos from Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts's post

09/10/2024

ACT NOW 🎉
Discounted tickets to the 2024 Benefit Art Auction are available only through tonight, September 10.

This beloved community event is a party that you don't want to miss!

Along with the Benefit Art Auction Exhibition inside Bemis's galleries, the event features an indoor/outdoor tented block party in front of Bemis on 12th Street, food + beverages, mobile bidding, and music.

Purchase discounted tickets now!
> bemiscenter.org/benefit

09/06/2024

ON SALE NOW: Get your ticket to Omaha's grooviest celebration of the visual arts happening Friday, October 25!
Discounted tickets available now through September 10.

✨ Grab your ticket before the discount ends at bemiscenter.org/benefit

The Benefit Art Auction features 300 works of art by more than 200 local, regional, and national artists. Proceeds ensure Bemis Center’s year-round exhibitions, Open House / Open Studios, LOW END performances, and public programs remain free.

The indoor/outdoor celebration includes a tented block party in front of Bemis on 12th Street, with open bars, small bites, music, and mobile bidding. Bidding begins at 70% of retail price.

09/05/2024

🔊 FRESH VINYL @ BEMIS 🔊
In stock and ready for your ears soon!

5 Years @ LOW END, a double album reflecting on the pioneering artists that have participated in Bemis's Sound Program or performed on LOW END’s stage over the last five years, is available starting September 7.
Pressed on deep purple vinyl at Smashed Plastic

Featuring:
Laura Ortman
Ana Paula Santana
Juanjosé Rivas
Pamela Z
Jamie Branch & Fly or Die
Marcus Fischer
Evicshen
Dereck Higgins
Glow in the Dark
Moor Mother featuring Mental Jewelry
Endlings featuring Micaela Tobin
Talsounds
Tarta Relena

🎶 TWO WAYS TO GET THIS LIMITED-PRESSING VINYL
Become a Member > bemiscenter.org/join
Bemis Members at the Axial Level and above receive a complimentary copy—in addition to other valuable perks. Join or renew online or on-site!

Visit LOW END this season > bemiscenter.org/low-end
Album on sale at performances starting September 7.

Bemis Center’s Sound Art + Experimental Music Program and LOW END performances are made possible by The Mellon Foundation. Support for the retrospective double album, 5 Years @ LOW END, provided by Mammel Family Foundation and New Music USA’s Organization Fund for 2023–24.

Photo by Marco Delgado

Artist to Watch: Raven Halfmoon Honors Caddo Ancestry with Empowering Sculptures

09/04/2024

ICYMI: "Trailblazing artist" Raven Halfmoon is named an Artist to Watch in Galerie Magazine! Don't miss Flags of Our Mothers—on display at Bemis Center through September 15—before Halfmoon's next exhibitions in New York and Austin.

Artist to Watch: Raven Halfmoon Honors Caddo Ancestry with Empowering Sculptures Galerie Magazine

09/04/2024

Join the First Thursday Art Walk this Thursday evening and see our current exhibitions before they close!

✨ In just 2 days, the First Thursday Downtown Omaha Art Walk is back! 🎨 From 5pm to 9pm, explore the heart of our city and discover incredible art in our local galleries. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this vibrant evening of creativity and culture. Mark your calendars and get ready for an inspiring night out!

Participating galleries: Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, KANEKO, The Passageway Gallery, Artists' Cooperative Gallery, & Old Market Artists Co-Op

Next month we will have a new addition to the gallery list so stay tuned!

08/29/2024

👀 Sneak Peek...
Thank you Dereck Higgins for the kind words and excitement in this new unboxing video!!

Wednesday August 28, 2024 Music shown:Various artists - 5 Years @ Low End Mark Charig - Pipedream Bertoia - Clear Sounds / Perfetta Claudio Rocchi - Suoni di Frontiera Wendy & Bonnie...

08/26/2024

Kick off LOW END’s 5 Year Anniversary season with Moor Mother on Saturday, September 7th!

Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) is a national and international touring musician, poet, visual artist, and Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music. Her work speaks to many genres from electronic to free jazz and classical music. Camae’s work has been featured at the Guggenheim Museum, The Met, Carnegie Mellon and Carnegie Hall, Documenta 15, the Berlin Jazz Festival, and the Glastonbury Festival.

Through the lens and practice of Black Quantum Futurism the art she makes is a statement for the future, as well as a way to honor the present and its historic connections to a multitude of past realities and future outcomes. She specializes in practical concepts, but works in speculation and historical concepts.

🎟️ Grab a free ticket: https://www.bemiscenter.org/events/moor-mother

08/22/2024

Exhibiting artist Raven Halfmoon is featured in Galerie Magazine's Artists To Watch! Do not miss Raven's exhibition at Bemis before it closes September 15th!

READ HERE: https://bit.ly/artists-to-watch-raven-halfmoon

08/13/2024

DON'T FORGET! Fall Internship applications are due this Thursday, August 15th!

Learn More + APPLY: https://www.bemiscenter.org/internships

The Artist-in-Residence internship is designed to provide students and recent graduates in the arts, humanities, and cultural studies the opportunity to learn valuable studio practices + art production skills working alongside artists from around the world.

08/09/2024

SAVE THE DATE- Omaha's grooviest celebration of the visual arts is Friday, October 25th!

🎉 2024 Benefit Art Auction Timeline of Events

September 6 | Tickets On Sale
Discounted tickets available for a limited time.
Members enjoy the discount all season long—or receive
complimentary tickets!

October 1 | Artwork Available Online
Artwork is available at "Buy it Now" prices.

October 10 | Benefit Art Auction Exhibition Opening, 6–8 PM
The public is invited to celebrate the opening of the Benefit Art Auction Exhibition.

October 19 | Open House / Open Studios, 12–4 PM
Meet current artists-in-residence and tour their studios. Free admission, thanks to supporters like you!

October 10-25 | Benefit Art Auction Exhibition
Wed–Sun 11 AM–5 PM, Until 9 PM on Thurs. Free admission, thanks to our Benefit Sponsors.

October 25 | Benefit Art Auction
This indoor/outdoor celebration includes a tented block party in front of Bemis on 12th Street, with open bars, small bites, music, and mobile bidding. Bidding begins at 70% of retail price.

A Self-Propelled Creative Rocket—UNO Artist Kennedy Wallman

08/08/2024

Shout-out to our former intern Kennedy Wallman for her fantastic feature in Omaha Magazine!

Kennedy credits her internships with Bemis and with Benson First Friday as "major influences on her growth." We're cheering Kennedy on as she heads into her senior year University of Nebraska at Omaha

https://www.omahamagazine.com/artsculture/a-self-propelled-creative-rocket-uno-artist-kennedy-wallman/

To learn more about our internship program + APPLY for a Fall internship go to bemiscenter.org / internships

A Self-Propelled Creative Rocket—UNO Artist Kennedy Wallman Kennedy Wallman has already made an indelible mark on Omaha as both a multidisciplinary artist and a visionary curator. Currently

08/06/2024

🎼 Thursday, August 15th at 8 PM: Julius Eastman / Seth Parker Woods: The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc (1981)
For ten cellos
Transcribed by Clarice Jensen, multi-tracked version by Seth Parker Woods

In conjunction with Paul Stephen Benjamin’s exhibition Black of Night, join GRAMMY-nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods playing his new version of Eastman’s piece The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc for cello and electronics.

RSVP for a ticket: https://www.bemiscenter.org/events/julius-eastman-seth-parker-woods-the-holy-presence-of-joan-darc-1981

Photo by Dahlia Katz

08/02/2024

🙌 During Saturday's Open House / Open Studios, Join Omaha-based artist David Manzanares and try your hand at the fascinating art of clay mold making. This art making activity will emulate Raven Halfmoon’s hand-pressed style - starting with a mold of a head and adding your own clay details.

Your creation will be fired on-site at Bemis’s ceramics facility and available for pickup one week later.

👉 RSVP for Open House / Open Studios: https://www.bemiscenter.org/events/open-house-open-studios-summer-2024

08/02/2024

Join us during TOMORROWS’ Open House / Open Studios for Passepartout Duo’s LOW END performance at 4 PM!

As Passepartout Duo, pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito continually develop a specialized and evolving ecosystem of handmade musical instruments, ranging from analog electronic circuits and conventional percussion to room-size textile installations and found objects.

Passepartout Duo is the Summer 2024 Sound Artist-in-Residence at Bemis Center

🌟 RSVP via link in bio!

08/01/2024

TONIGHT! We’re so excited for Mary Lattimore’s LOW END performance at 8 PM

Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore has played on recordings by dozens of indie rock and experimental musicians, in addition to soundtrack work and her own solo releases. She typically augments her graceful harp improvisations with electronic effects, emphasizing the instrument’s ethereal qualities while conjuring up fascinating new sonic vistas.

🔗Grab your free ticket now via the link in bio!

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Our Story

In 1981, founders Jun Kaneko, Tony Hepburn, Lorne Falk, and Ree Schonlau established the organization as an Artist-in-Industry program called Alternative Worksite which placed artists at industrial sites. It soon became clear that the gift of time, space, and support fulfilled a vital need for artists at the leading edge of their disciplines.

With the help of public and private partners, renovation began on the vacant Bemis Bag Warehouse in Omaha’s historic Old Market. In honor of its new home, the organization was renamed The Bemis Foundation. The startup Artist-in-Residence program served as a laboratory for artists to research, experiment, and take creative risks free from expectation. In 1995, the organization moved into its current headquarters, the 100,000 sq. ft. McCord-Brady wholesale grocery warehouse, and became the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Quickly gaining a reputation as an international leader in the field of artist communities, the Bemis Center began expanding programming to further support artists. The organization created an ambitious Exhibitions Program, developing projects with international artists that focus on site-specific, immersive and socially engaged work. Public Programs are designed to ignite civic engagement through the development of professional development for artists, education initiatives, and community collaborations. These additions have supported artists' process and catalyzed their work to engage and challenge the public.

In 2009 the Bemis Center launched the Building | Bemis capital campaign. This $2.6 million expansion included the addition of five new live/work studios, a 2,000 sq. ft. multipurpose space, and a loading dock. Construction was completed in October 2011 with the renovation of the 9,000 sq. ft. Okada Sculpture & Ceramics Facility.

Nearly 900 artists-in-residence have called the Bemis Center home, participating in global conversations at the forefront of contemporary culture. Today, the Bemis Center remains an artist-centered organization whose sole mission is to support contemporary artists of exceptional talent. That fundamental value is why we perpetually strive to give the institution to artists, empowering them to become vibrant social, cultural, and economic transformers.