Established 1981 Website bemiscenter.org Founded 1981 | Headquarters Nebraska, United States | |
Type Art museumArtist cooperative Similar El Museo Latino, Vermont Studio Center, Omaha Children's Museum, Blue Barn Theatre, Millay Colony for the Arts Profiles | ||
Whoop dee doo 2008 at the bemis center for contemporary arts short
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the Old Market Historic District of downtown Omaha, Nebraska, at the corner of 12th Street and Leavenworth Street. In addition to art gallery spaces that feature ongoing exhibitions, the Bemis offers an Artist-in-Residence program and runs a Community Arts program.
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History
The Bemis was founded by artists Jun Kaneko, Tony Hepburn, Lorne Falke and Ree Schonlau in 1981. In 1984, Ree Schonlau established a consortium consisting of the City of Omaha, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, private and corporate foundations and the Mercer family, who owned the vacant 170,000-square-foot (16,000 m2) Bemis Bag Building. The structure had originally been built as a branch of the Nave & McCord Mercantile Company.
The Bemis Center presents over 20 exhibitions annually in the Bemis Center's main galleries.
The Bemis also holds an annual art auction.
Locations
The Bemis was formerly located at the Omaha Bemis Bag Company building, 614 South 11th Street, which was severely damaged in a fire in 1999.
Today, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the old McCord, Brady, & Co. building on 12th and Leavenworth.
The Bemis also operated a space called Bemis Underground, an experimental art space.