PACE | New Masters
2024-06-22 08:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-23 08:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-24 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Pottawamie Arts, Culture and Entertainment (PACE), 1001 S 6th Street, Council Bluffs, IA, 51503, United States
We welcome you to the 2024 PACE New Masters.
Feel free to tour all the featured 40+ local professional photographers depicting realistic landscapes, figures, and portraits.
Join us on Opening Night, Friday, May 24 to see who is named this years’ “PACE New Master!”
Exhibit runs through May 24 – Sep 28, 2024
FREE to the public on Fridays from 6-9PM & Saturdays from 12-4PM.

Plant Folk by Anne Newman
2024-06-22 09:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-23 09:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-24 09:00 - 17:00 | Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft Street, Omaha, NE, 68108, United States
May 30 through July 9 – 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through SundayOn the gallery walls in the visitor and education centerIncluded with paid admission or garden membership. $15 + tax, $9 + tax for ages 3-12, free for ages 2 and under.This exhibit features a series of plant portraits. They are anthropomorphized depictions of plants in expressive motion. This series was sparked by the folkloric history of Mandrakes and continued on as an exploration of other plant species gaining consciousness and freedom of movement.About the ArtistAnne Newman is a painter and illustrator working in Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a BFA in Studio Art.In her home studio, she uses watercolor, pen, ink, and oil paint to create naturalistic, but darkly whimsical work. Her style is highly detailed and polished with richly saturated colors in oils or thickly cross-hatched over watercolor on paper. Outside of the studio, Newman is a sign maker and muralist.

Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers
2024-06-22 11:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-23 11:00 - 17:00 | Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 724 S. 12th Street, Omaha, NE, 68102, United States
Raven Halfmoon’s practice spans torso-scaled and colossal-sized stoneware sculptures, with some soaring up to nine feet and weighing over eight hundred pounds. With inspirations that orbit centuries from ancient Indigenous pottery to Moai statues to Land Art, Halfmoon interrogates the intersection of tradition, history, gender, and personal experience.
Born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, she learned about ceramics as a teenager from a Caddo elder. Working mainly in portraiture, Halfmoon hand builds each work using a coil method. Her surfaces are expressive and show deep finger impressions and dramatic dripping glazes—a physicality that presences her as both maker and matter. She fuses Caddo pottery traditions (a history of making mostly done by women) with populist gestures—often tagging her work (a reference to Caddo tattooing).
Her palette is specific and matches both the clay bodies she selects and the glazes she fires with—reds (after the Oklahoma soil and the blood of murdered Indigenous women), blacks (referencing the natural clay native to the Red River), and creams. Sometimes she stacks and repeats imagery, creating totemic forms that represent herself and her maternal ancestry while also reinforcing the multiplicities that exist inside all of us. Her works reference stories of the Caddo Nation, specifically her feminist lineage and the power of its complexities.
This exhibition will include a combination of new and borrowed works that vary in size and content from over the last five years. Halfmoon will also be creating some of her largest works to date commissioned by The Aldrich and Bemis Center. The artist’s first museum catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
Raven Halfmoon is curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, Chief Curator at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and Rachel Adams, Chief Curator and Director of Programming at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.
Raven Halfmoon. E-a’-titi (sister), 2021. Stoneware, glaze. 30 x 26 x 58 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Alan Koppel.
Learn more about Raven Halfmoon’s work here.
About Flags of Our Mothers
The Caddo Origin Story

About the Artist
Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation) is from Norman, Oklahoma. She attended the University of Arkansas where she earned double bachelor’s degrees in ceramics and cultural anthropology. She has garnered an impressive series of awards and accolades, including being named the 2018 Fund the Change recipient from the Activist and Social Justice Arts Organization in Oklahoma, a Burke Prize finalist at the Museum of Arts and Design, in New York, NY, the American Craft Council Emerging Voices Award, and Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist—all in 2019. She just concluded a two-year residency at Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts in Montana.

Paul Stephen Benjamin: Black of Night
2024-06-22 11:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-23 11:00 - 17:00 | Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 724 S. 12th Street, Omaha, NE, 68102, United States
Paul Stephen Benjamin’s practice is an ongoing investigation of blackness through concept, thought, and perception. From wordplay with the actual letters that comprise “BLACK,” to utilizing the expanse of shades of black house paint—including as Nightfall, Soot, Ebony Field, and Black Beauty—to posing the question, “If the color black had a sound, what would it be?,” Benjamin calls attention to the color’s deep historical and social resonance. In addition, across his practice, the artist’s work references integral moments in Black history as well as art history.
In Black of Night, Benjamin presents new and recent video installations, paintings, text-based work, and sculpture as conceptual entry points for dialogue around identity, race, and patriotism. By continually “documenting” the color black through his multifaceted practice, he is also deconstructing its meaning—breaking it down to its simplest form and allowing for it to operate as a medium for interpretation and introspection. Focusing on the connotations of the color black in society, culture and language, Benjamin incorporates history, text, imagery and sound from popular culture, in turn discussing the absence and presence of color.

About the Artist
Paul Stephen Benjamin was born in Chicago, IL, and lives and works in Atlanta, GA. He earned his BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his MFA from Georgia State University in 2013. Recently Benjamin has exhibited at Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA (2023), Blackness at the Montresso Art Foundation, Marrakesh, Morocco, (2023), The Thoma Foundation Art Vault, Santa Fe, NM (2022–2023), and a solo exhibition at the Van Every-Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, NC (2022).
He has been included in solo and group exhibitions at a variety of institutions and art spaces, including Prospect.5 New Orleans, LA (2021–2022). Gavlak, Los Angeles, CA (2021), The Dirty South at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond VA (2021), David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN (2021), Crystal Bridges Museum and the Momentary, Bentonville, AR (2020), The MAC, Belfast, UK (2019), VC Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, VA (2019), The Havana Biennial in Matanzas, Cuba (2019), Marianne Boesky Gallery, NY, NY (2019), Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA (2018), Telfair Museum Jepson Center, Savannah, GA (2018), The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2017), Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA (2017), High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (2016), among others.
He has received a range of awards and fellowships, including The Hudgens Prize (2019), Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2019), Hambidge Distinguished Fellowship (2019), The Southern Art Prize (2018), The State Fellow of Georgia (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (WAP) Fellow (2017), Artadia Award (2014), Winnie B. Chandler Fellowship, and the Forward Arts Emerging Artists Award.

UnionMade: An Artist Market
2024-06-22 12:00 - 17:00 | The Union for Contemporary Art, 2423 North 24th Street, Omaha, NE, 68110, United States
The UnionMade Artist Market showcases the handmade artwork of Union Co-Op Studios Passholders, Teaching Artists, and Fellows.

Emerging Artist Series
2024-06-22 13:00 - 15:00 | Samuel Bak Museum, 2289 S 67th St, Omaha, NE, 68106, United States
Emerging Artists Series is a free workshop led by regional emerging artists that takes place at Samuel Bak Museum: the Learning Center. The workshop, which runs from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., will begin with a tour of the current exhibition by Assistant Gallery Manager, Roxana Corral, followed by an art-making session.
Hugo Zamorano is a muralist and teacher who focuses on intersecting histories, and how ideas and one’s environment build alternative narratives. His practice is always collaborative. He introduces participants to spray paint as well as the history of graffiti writing and street art.
Zamorano will lead a workshop on spray paint and graffiti which will culminate with a collective act of creation that will tell the story of who the participants are. Through discussion of identity and exchange of memories, the group will choose a word that related their experience of the shared moment. (10 participants max) RSVP required.

PACE | Youth Ceramics
2024-06-22 13:00 - 2024-06-23 15:30 | Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 South 6th Street, Council Bluffs, IA, United States
Does your child dream of turning a lump of clay into a magical mug or a funky figurine? In this our youth ceramics classes, your imagination will take center stage as you explore the wonderful world of clay!
What They Will Learn:

The clay basics: Kneading, pinching, coiling, and sculpting – master these techniques to transform clay into anything you can dream up.
Hand-building magic: Create bowls, animals, monsters, or whatever your heart desires using hand-building techniques.
Spin it to win it: Get a taste of the potter’s wheel and learn how to center, throw, and shape clay on this exciting spinning machine.
Glazing galore: Choose from a rainbow of glazes to add color, shine, and personality to your creations.

More Than Just Clay:

Develop your creativity and problem-solving skills as you bring your ideas to life.
Learn about different ceramics styles and techniques from around the world.
Discover the joy of working with your hands and creating something special from scratch.
Make new friends and share your artistic journey with other clay enthusiasts.

Take home:

Your very own ceramic creations, proudly made by you!
A newfound appreciation for the art of ceramics and the magic of clay.
Memories of a fun and rewarding learning experience.

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2024-06-22 14:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-23 14:00 - 17:00 | The Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St, Omaha, NE, 68102, United States
Book by David Greig
Music by Marc Shaiman
Lyrics by Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman

Based on the novel by ROALD DAHL
Songs from the Motion Picture by LESLIE BRICUSSE and ANTHONY NEWLEYCHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com.
The world-famous Willy Wonka is opening the gates to his mysterious candy factory…but only to a lucky few. Young Charlie Bucket and four other winners will embark on a life-changing journey through Wonka’s world of chocolate waterfalls, nutty squirrels and incredible television technology, all to be revealed by Wonka’s army of curious Oompa-Loompas.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is your golden ticket to a sweet performance of “Pure Imagination.”

PACE | Youth Painting
2024-06-22 14:30 - 16:00 | Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 South 6th Street, Council Bluffs, IA, United States
Calling all budding Picassos and Monets! Dive into a world of vibrant colors and endless possibilities in our youth painting classes designed specifically for young artists.
What They’ll Explore:

Mastering the brush: Learn different brushstrokes and techniques to create textures, patterns, and stunning effects on your canvas.
Color magic: Discover the joy of mixing colors and creating their own unique palettes.
From abstract to realistic: Explore different painting styles, from abstract expressionism to still life realism, and find their own artistic voice.
Acrylic adventures: Experiment with acrylic paints, a versatile medium perfect for beginners and experienced artists alike.

More Than Just Painting:

Develop your creativity and imagination as you translate your ideas and emotions onto canvas.
Learn about famous artists and their techniques, and draw inspiration from their masterpieces.
Discover the power of color and how it can evoke different moods and feelings.
Make new friends and share your artistic journey with other young painters.

Take home:

Your own beautiful paintings, each a unique expression of your creativity.
A newfound confidence in your artistic abilities and a love for painting.
Memories of a fun and inspiring learning experience.

Midtown Mix
2024-06-22 16:00 - 20:00 | Turner Park, 3110 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE, 68131, United States
Participating Midtown Crossing establishments
Join us for the debut of Midtown Crossing’s Midtown Mix – your new favorite summer tradition! Calling all music lovers and supporters of talented local musicians – neighborhood retailers are teaming up to bring you a vibrant evening filled with live music, great vibes, and fantastic food.
Immerse yourself in the sounds of summer as you stroll through the neighborhood, popping into each location to enjoy a cool beverage and delicious nibbles. With drink specials, eclectic performers, and a warm summer ambiance, it’s the perfect way to kick back and savor the weekend with friends and family.

PACE | Youth Tech Art
2024-06-22 16:00 - 2024-06-23 17:00 | Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 South 6th Street, Council Bluffs, IA, United States
Calling all curious minds and creative problem-solvers! Get ready to unleash your inner inventor in Maker’s Lab, a unique program where art and science collide in a whirlwind of exciting challenges and hands-on activities.
What You’ll Do:

Become a mini-MacGyver: Use everyday materials and your ingenuity to build robots, design circuits, and create amazing inventions that solve real-world problems.
Code your way to creativity: Learn the basics of coding and program your creations to move, light up, and even make sounds!
Think like an engineer: Explore principles of mechanics, electricity, and magnetism through fun and engaging projects.
Get artsy with science: Design bridges that stand tall, build rockets that soar, and create art installations that blend technology and imagination.

More Than Just STEM:

Develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills as you tackle different challenges.
Learn to collaborate and work in a team to achieve your goals.
Discover the connections between art and science, and see how creativity can fuel innovation.
Make new friends and share your inventions and discoveries with other curious minds.

Omaha Symphonic Chorus Gala Dinner and Auction
2024-06-22 18:00 - 21:00 | Sons of Italy Hall, 1238 South 10th St, Omaha, NE, 68108, United States
Join us for an authentic Italian sit-down dinner, complimentary table wine, silent auction, wine pull and entertainment by the Chorus. Purchase tickets by June 14. Advance tickets only, not sold at the door.

Art Exhibition
2024-06-22 19:00 - 22:00 | Caffeinated Catarpillar, 15505 Ruggles St Suite 107, Omaha, Nebraska
Art Exhibition. All ages artist exhibition.

Hello, Dolly!
2024-06-22 19:30, 2024-06-23 14:00 | Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass Street, Omaha, NE, 68132
Winner of 15 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Revival, Hello, Dolly! is classic musical theatre at its finest. Hello, Dolly! is bursting with showmanship, glamour, romance, dance, humor and some of the greatest songs in musical theatre history. Whether you’re new to Dolly! or you’ve seen her 100 times, this colossal production is bound to be historic.

KVNO at the Aksarben Farmers Market
2024-06-23 09:00 - 13:00 | Aksarben Village, Omaha, Nebraska
Just like you, KVNO loves a good farmer’s market, and we’ll be at the Aksarben Farmer’s Market, this Sunday (June 23rd) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stop by the KVNO tent to unwind, relax and be uplifted. Enjoy a performance from the Bel Canto Duo and meet your favorite KVNO on-air personality at the Aksarben Farmer’s Market on June 23rd.

Origami Flowers with Linda Stephen
2024-06-23 13:00 - 14:00 | Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft Street, Omaha, NE, 68108, United States
Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, a tradition of more than 1,000 years. Join origami artist, author and illustrator Linda Stephen to explore origami and the possibilities of paper. This make-it-take-it program is designed for adults. In this hands-on class, we will work step by step to fold 2D and 3D origami flowers, starting with tulips and irises. All materials are provided, but participants may bring their favorite papers for use and experimentation.
Pre-registration is required. $30, $20 for garden members.

Omaha Chamber Music Society Summer Concert Series- Concert 3
2024-06-23 15:00 - 16:30 | Omaha Conservatory of Music, 7023 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68132, Omaha, NE, 68132, United States
Beethoven, Dvořák & Beach
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
Amy Beach: Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 150
Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 90, “Dumky”
That Beethoven was a piano virtuoso is certainly evident in his Opus 12 Sonata, which gives the instrument extra prominence; but the violin gets its due, too, especially in the expressive Adagio. Dvořák’s beloved “Dumky” Trio was completed shortly before he left his native Bohemia for the “New World.” “Dumky” refers to folksongs that appear in the work’s six movements, each with its own musical personality. The Trio was wildly successful, and the composer and two colleagues took it on a 40-stop concert tour! Amy Beach, the first successful American female composer, was the pianist at the premiere of her own late-Romantic composition, a mix of more traditional “European” and folk-like American

Live on the Lawn with Bel Canto Duo
2024-06-23 19:00 - 20:00 | St. Paul Benson, 5410 Corby St, Omaha, NE, 68104, United States
Bel Canto Duo members Darci Gamerl and David Downing return to St. Paul Benson for the first of four Live on the Lawn performances.
The performance features audience favorites & BCD’s original music recently featured on the documentary, Willa Cather: Breaking The Mold.
Concerts are by donation. Bring a chair! Bring a friend!
The chapel on Corby Street will be used due to inclement weather or excessive heat.

University of Nebraska at Omaha Summer Keyboard Institute
2024-06-24 10:00 - 2024-06-28 14:00 | Strauss Performing Arts Center, 6001 Dodge St, Omaha, NE 68182, NE, 68102, United States
Thrilled to announce UNO’s first Summer Keyboard Institute! This week-long summer program will focus on concepts used in jazz, gospel, and contemporary keyboard playing, as well as have a large music technology component. Faculty include Stacie E. Haneline, Justin Payne, Thomas L. Wilson and Christopher Leach. We are looking for students of all ages and skill levels who would like to learn so please spread the word if you’re in the Omaha/Lincoln area! This is a great opportunity for pianists to create community among ourselves and learn some new topics! Help us grow the music scene in Nebraska!

Forest Immersion
2024-06-24 18:00 - 19:00 | Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft Street, Omaha, NE, 68108, United States
Also known as “forest bathing” or shinrin-yoku, this is a type of nature therapy that immerses your senses, slows down your mind and body, and helps you feel connected with the forest life around you. This hour-long guided session in the woodland trail will allow you to unplug from technology and bring you into the present moment. Take this time to unwind from your work week and feel refreshed and relaxed by deepening your relationship with nature. Pre-registration is required. $20, $10 for members.
Guide: Jenelle Emory, Energy Healing Omaha.

Tai Chi and Qingong
2024-06-25 08:00 - 09:00 | Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft Street, Omaha, NE, 68108, United States
Take time for yourself. Take care of yourself. Breathe…
Join Michelle Cooper for the mindful movements of Tai Chi and Qigong- focusing on decreasing tension, improving flexibility/strength, better balance/body awareness, mental focus, and calming the nervous system. This class takes place in standing, with no floor work, and no mat is required. This class is appropriate for all levels. No previous experience is required.
$15, $10 for garden members. Pre-registration is required.
Michelle is a certified Tai Chi and Qigong Instructor and teaches all levels, from beginner to advanced. She incorporates her passion for Tai Chi and Qigong with her 25 years of experience as a licensed Physical Therapist, and her teaching background to ensure her classes are fun, progressive, and easy to follow (with modifications given for all levels).
