Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

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Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

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Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts facilitates the creation, presentation, and understanding of contemporary art through an international residency program, exhibitions, and educational programs.

06/02/2026

🌞 COMING SOON TO LOW END: Experimental composer, producer and performer Celia Hollander kicks off the 2026 summer season!

Combining acoustic and digital elements, Hollander’s work focuses on themes such as shaping time through composition, surrendering to improvisation, and music as a natural phenomenon of dynamic systems.

She has composed original music for feature films including 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 (Sundance 2026), 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘯𝘦 (Sundance 2024), and 𝘋𝘢𝘥 & 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱-𝘋𝘢𝘥 (2023), as well as for short films, television, theater, dance, art installations, and VR projects.

🎫 Admission is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

05/29/2026

NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT: Two compelling new exhibitions open @ Bemis. Be among the first to experience them!

🎉 Complimentary drinks
🎉 Light bites
🎉 Music mix by Kobrakyle
🎉 Exhibiting artists in attendance
🎉 Free admission

6–7 PM: Bemis Member Preview and Meet + Greet
7–9 PM: Public Reception
All are welcome. RSVPs are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS:
𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙆𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙯𝙞: 𝘼𝙣 𝘼𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜
Kenyan-Liberian-American artist, writer, and educator Miatta Kawinzi presents this expansive, multisensory exploration of cultural lineage, ecological interconnection, and the embodied practices through which individuals and communities persist and adapt.

𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀: 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚
Bringing together photographers Rachel Cox and Rose Marie Cromwell, this exhibition examines themes of tenderness, care, and motherhood. Through distinct yet overlapping visual practices, the artists explore the complexities of closeness—emotional, physical, and spatial—revealing vulnerabilities surrounding familial and personal relationships and public and private life.

Learn more > bemiscenter.org/exhibitions

📸: Ben Semisch

05/28/2026

STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE: Join the exhibiting artists as they each discuss their work in Bemis Center’s newly opened summer exhibitions!

Miatta Kawinzi will reflect on her exploration of intimacy, memory, and the African diaspora through layered photographic and sculptural forms, while Rachel Cox and Rose Marie Cromwell will discuss their nuanced portraits that foreground tenderness, vulnerability, and the quiet complexities of close relationships.

🌀 Miatta Kawinzi is a multidisciplinary artist, experimental filmmaker, writer, and educator. Her research-informed practice explores cultural hybridity, memory, freedom dreaming, and ecologies of possibility within inner and outer landscapes.

🌱 Rachel Cox is a contemporary artist exploring themes of reproduction, mothering, and personal autonomy through photography, printmaking, and historical analog processes.

🩶 Rose Marie Cromwell is a photographer and artist, whose work explores the effects of globalization on the local and the tenuous space between the political and the spiritual.

Admission is free; RSVPs encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

Images:
1. Left to right, top to bottom: Miatta Kawinzi, 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 (𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩), 2026. Photographic print on fabric. Courtesy of the artist; Rachel Cox, 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩, 2026. Photogravure. Courtesy of the artist; Rose Marie Cromwell, 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 2025. Archival inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.
2. Photo by Golden for the Queer|Art Community Portrait Project.
4. Photo by Lidewij Mulder.

05/22/2026

📷 ON VIEW THIS SUMMER: 𝘔𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌: 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦

📷 This exhibition brings together photographers Rachel Cox and Rose Marie Cromwell, whose distinct yet overlapping practices explore the complexities of closeness—emotional, physical, and spatial. Together, their works create a dialogue about existing within the varied landscapes of the United States, what it means to witness and to be witnessed, and unveiling intimacy not as a fixed state but as a shifting terrain of connection, memory, and care.

Curated by Rachel Adams, Chief Curator + Director of Programs

🩶 Be among the first to experience this deeply thoughtful exhibition at the Opening Reception:
Friday, June 5
6–7 PM Member Preview
7–9 PM Public Reception
RSVP > bemiscenter.org/events

🌱 Hours starting June 6: Wed–Sun 11 AM–5 PM + until 9 PM on Thurs

Images:
1 (left to right): Rachel Cox, 𝘝 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘌𝘨𝘨, 2026. Silver gelatin prints; Rose Marie Cromwell, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦, 2025. Archival inkjet print.
2: Rachel Cox, The Seventh Nest I Found, 2026. Silver gelatin print.
3: Rachel Cox, select prints from 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 (𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2025 - 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2026), 2026. Gum dichromate prints with custom pigment derived from artists' placenta.
4: Rose Marie Cromwell, 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 2025. Archival inkjet print.
5: Rose Marie Cromwell, 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵, 2023. Archival inkjet print.

All images courtesy of the artists.

05/21/2026

🌀 OPENING SOON: 𝘔𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘻𝘪: 𝘈𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨

🌀 A multi-gallery solo exhibition from Kawinzi that explores hybridity, memory, and sustenance through mixed-media works, sculpture, video, and text. With a fusion of new and recent work, 𝘈𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 is an expansive, multisensory exploration of cultural lineage, ecological interconnection, and the embodied practices through which individuals and communities persist and adapt.

Curated by Rachel Adams, Chief Curator + Director of Programs

LET’S CELEBRATE: Join us for the Opening Reception! 🌀
Friday, June 5
6–7 PM Member Preview
7–9 PM Public Reception
Free admission
RSVP > bemiscenter.org/events

🌀 Hours starting June 6: Wed–Sun 11 AM–5 PM + until 9 PM on Thurs

Images:
1+3: 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 (𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺), 2026. Photographic print on fabric.
2: 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (process detail), 2026. Copper wire hand-wrapped in yarn.
4: 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 (𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩) ), 2026. Photographic print on fabric.
5: 𝘓𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦/𝘥 𝘐: 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵 (film stills). HD Color Video, 16mm Color Film Transferred to Video. Two-Channel Audio: Thumb Piano, Original Song, Analog & Digital Synthesizer.

All images courtesy of Miatta Kawinzi.

05/20/2026

NEW RESIDENTS JUST DROPPED: Please give a warm welcome to our Summer 2026 Artists-In-Residence 💜

> Sholeh Asgary
> Tanya Brodsky
> Peggy Chiang
> Mae Howard
> Kei Ito
> SR Lejeune
> Stephanie Mercedes
> Parsons & Charlesworth
> Warren Realrider
> Johanna Winters

LEARN MORE about the artists >
bemiscenter.org/residency

MEET THE RESIDENTS >

Residency Meet + Eat
Thursday, June 18, 6–8 PM

Open House / Open Studios
Saturday, July 18, 1–5 PM

05/19/2026

𝘙𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯: 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 recently opened at Ballroom Marfa! ★

The first major traveling exhibition for the artist, featuring new and recent works made over the last five years, was organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. For this iteration, Ballroom Marfa commissioned the artist to develop site-responsive additions to the exhibition that will offer a fresh perspective on Halfmoon’s exploration of memory, ancestry, and form. Halfmoon’s practice spans torso-scaled and colossal-sized glazed stoneware sculptures, with their enormous scale and visual power opposing existing stereotypes and biases to create new monuments that honor the artist’s Caddo Nation ancestors and their traditions, including her elders from whom she learned about ceramics as a teenager.

Congratulations to Raven Halfmoon and team! We love that this powerful exhibition continues to travel to new audiences.

☆ Co-Curated by Rachel Adams, Chief Curator + Director of Programs, Bemis Center and Amy Smith-Stewart, Chief Curator, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

☆ On view through October 11, 2026

📸: Photos 1–3 by Sarah M. Vasquez, 4–6 by Makenzie Goodman, courtesy of Ballroom Marfa

05/16/2026

LIVE @ LOW END later this month is songwriter + multi-instrumentalist from Kingsport, Tennessee: Zoh Amba 🎶

With a formidable reputation as a saxophonist and ensemble leader, Amba's acclaimed recordings, compositions, and improvisations blend avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns. In 2025, Amba made the striking decision to switch their musical attention to songwriting, acoustic guitar, and folk music.

We’re so excited to finally welcome Amba to the LOW END stage. Don’t miss it!

🎫 Admission is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

05/15/2026

OPEN CALL for the 2026 Benefit Art Auction is live!

💜 Submit artwork for consideration by June 15 to be part of this celebrated annual exhibition + auction. There is no fee to submit.
> Visit bemiscenter.org/benefit to learn more.

💜 ACCEPTED ARTWORK ENTITLES YOU TO:
• The choice to donate between 100% and 50% of the proceeds of the sale of your work to Bemis Center. The remaining sales percentage is yours to keep!
• Two complimentary tickets to the 2026 Benefit Art Auction on October 30
• One-year Bemis Center Membership at the $500 Core level
• Free shipping for your donated artwork
• Free framing for Benefit Art Auction Exhibition (if applicable to submission)
• Bemis Alumni Status

Help keep Bemis Center free + accessible for everyone, year-round!

Address

724 S 12th Street
Omaha, NE
68102

Telephone

+14023417130

Website

http://www.bemiscenter.org/

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