Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the Old Market Historic District of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Omaha,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, at the corner of 12th Street and Leavenworth Street. In addition to an international artist-in-residence program, Bemis Center hosts temporary exhibitions and commissions and public programs which are free and open to the public.

History

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts was founded by artists

Jun Kaneko is a Japanese-born American ceramic artist known for creating large scale ceramic sculpture. Based out of a studio warehouse in Omaha, Nebraska, Kaneko primarily works in clay to explore the effects of repeated abstract surface motifs by using ...

, Tony Hepburn, Lorne Falke and

Ree Schonlau Ree Kaneko (née Schonlau) (born February 1, 1946) is an American artist, arts administrator, and arts consultant from Omaha, Nebraska. Early life Kaneko, born in Omaha, Nebraska, grew up in a working-class neighborhood near the Old Market in ...

in 1981."Mission and History"
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Retrieved 20 December 2007 In 1984,

established a consortium consisting of the

City of Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, the

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...

, private and corporate foundations and the Mercer family, who owned the vacant Bemis Bag Building. The structure had originally been built as a branch of the

Nave & McCord Mercantile Company The Nave & McCord Mercantile Company was a major pioneer mercantile chain of stores in the Midwest from the mid-19th century through the early 1930s. The company's primary founders were brothers-in-law, Abram Nave and James McCord. Early histor ...

Locations

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts was formerly located at the

Bemis Omaha Bag Company Building The Bemis Bag Company Building is a historic building located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1887 in a commercial style, the building was designed by the prolific Omaha architecture firm of Mendelssohn and Lawrie. It was designated an Om ...

, 614 South 11th Street, which was severely damaged in a fire in 1999. Today, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the old McCord-Brady & Co. building on 12th and Leavenworth.

References

External links

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
{{authority control Museums in Omaha, Nebraska American artist groups and collectives History of Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Arts organizations established in 1981 Art museums and galleries in Nebraska Art galleries established in 1981 1981 establishments in Nebraska Arts centers in Nebraska Artist residencies

History

Locations

See also

References

External links