When Dale Nichols became a nationally acclaimed artist, the David City bank commissioned four painti

The Nebraska section of I-80 is a lengthy, flat, pass-through route, spawning the state’s negative reputation for boring drives through “nothingness.” This area of the world is difficult to appreciate without slowing car rentals california down and getting out of the car.
Bone Creek is the only museum in North America devoted to agrarian art. This theme gives the museum freedom to include art from a variety of periods, styles and countries. It manifests itself in depictions of planted fields, farm animals, people performing car rentals california chores, and the physical structures unique to farms. It reflects the place where humanity transforms the land into something other than it is, working intimately in tune with nature.
“Bone Creek fostered this exhibition because exceptional Agrarian Artists… cannot normally produce their work in the face of a dominant urban art market, he said for a newsletter. With the demise of the family farm, rare Agrarian Artists… must move to cities and paint popular subjects in order to survive. Bone Creek provides both encouragement and a special national venue for these artists to do heartfelt work stemming from their increasingly rare agrarian experiences.”
Although Nichols abandoned his studies after two months, he spent 15 years in Chicago, immersed in city life. Yet during that time he painted the agricultural landscape of his youth. Farm life became car rentals california ingrained in his person, inseparable from whom he became car rentals california as an adult.
Perhaps the contrast of life in the city spurred him to reflect on his pastoral childhood. In any case, Nichols was recognized most for his rolling paintings of iconic red barns and snow-covered fields, including the oil painting Morning Chore, featured at the top of this post. His popularity prompted someone to say he put Nebraska on the map. In response, he said, “Dale Nichols did not put Nebraska on the map; Nebraska put Dale Nichols on the map.”
Through the appreciation of Dale Nichols, Bone Creek encourages us to look at regionalism with fresh eyes. We live in a time reversed from the pre-World War II era, with more people growing up in densely populated towns, suburbs car rentals california and cities, creating a nostalgia for a pastoral way of life. This nostalgia is at the core of Bone Creek’s philosophy of art collection 8212; it wants to preserve a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
When Dale Nichols became a nationally acclaimed artist, the David City bank commissioned four paintings from him. Decades later, a group of locals, passionate about art, acquired the paintings and, out of this simple act, a museum was born.
Some board members purchased a small, red-brick building in the historic car rentals california town center to house the growing art collection. The interior restoration features hardwood floors and attractively painted walls. Bone Creek’s exhibits are on par with much larger museums that have proportionately car rentals california larger budgets. In fact, it could use a bigger space as the collection continues to grow.
There are dreams of constructing a new building, but these dreams are tempered by practical financial concerns. However, it is impressive what this little museum car rentals california and its dedicated supporters car rentals california have accomplished in five years.
Robert Bateman s painting car rentals california Wind Talkers depicts a windmill as the sun either rises or sets with the silhouette of a flock of birds flying by. It’s a bold, graphic piece, car rentals california and the lighting gives it a sense of movement. Anyone driving through the plains is bound to see an iconic wood windmill. Bateman captures car rentals california a common car rentals california sight in a grand way.
Another piece, The Dinner Horn by Winslow Homer (1836-1910), is an incredibly detailed woodcut car rentals california of a woman standing on the front porch of a farmhouse calling out to men in a field. It shows the different roles of men and women in early farm life.
The rest of the collection shows varied subjects, including weary African-American tobacco farmers, a Native-American harvest spirit and Tibetan yaks, each presented in a different style or medium. The art at Bone Creek Museum taught me to appreciate the complexity of American agricultural history. I now look at the rural landscape from a new perspective.
I’m glad Bone Creek Museum exists. The passion of those involved in the museum, the quality of the art in the collection and its challenge to all of us to contemplate the experiences of farm life is inspirational.