The Omaha Children's Museum is a nonprofit learning and exploration space for young people located at 500 South 20th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The museum has received a national award from the Association of Science and Technology Museums. [1]
Operated as a private nonprofit organization the mission of Omaha Children's Museum is to engage the imagination and create excitement about learning. The museum was founded in 1976 by Karen Levin, Jane Ford Hawthorne, Betty Hiller, and a group of local educators. It began as a traveling group of exhibits and activities, and today occupies a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) space in Downtown Omaha. [2] The museum has a Board of Directors composed of community members.
In 1989 the museum moved to its current and permanent home at 20th Street and St. Mary’s Ave. In 1993 Omaha Children's Museum completed the renovation of the main floor (40,000 sq. feet) which included the Charlie Cambell Science and Technology Center.
In 2004 and 2010, the museum was honored with Leading Edge Awards for Visitor Experience from the Association of Science and Technology Museums. [3] The museum’s director, Lindy J. Hoyer served on the Board of Directors for the national Association of Children's Museums. [4]
The Omaha Children's Museum renovated its permanent exhibits through the $6.6 million capital campaign entitled "Building on the Best". The permanent exhibits include the Creative Arts Center, which features a theater, Artist-in-Residence Studio, community sculpture and art island; the "Charlie Campbell Science and Technology Center", which houses the "Super Gravitron", a ball machine where balls powered by air wind and water travel through tubes and on rails, and an inventors workshop, pulley and vacuum chairs and the "Science Showplace" where live science presentations take place. [5]
Other features include the "Imagination Playground", which is designed for young children; "Sandy’s Splish-Splash Garden", which is an interactive fountain area outside where kids can cool off. A 51-foot (16 m) kinetic tower and four 24-foot (7.3 m) whirligigs resembling giant pinwheels are located immediately outside the museum. [6]
Janie York was the first artist in residence at the museum's Creative Arts Center in an ongoing program. York explored a variety of textile arts, including community quilting and story quilting, as well as textile history and identification. [7]
In addition to its permanent exhibits, Omaha Children’s Museum regularly features traveling exhibitions and educational programming in art, science and humanities. The museum's Science Lab has been featured on the PBS Kids website. [8]
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship institution of the University of Nebraska system.
The University of Nebraska State Museum, also known as Morrill Hall, founded in 1871, is a natural history museum featuring Nebraska biodiversity, paleontology, and cultural diversity, located on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln City Campus near the corner of 14th and Vine Streets in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. The museum houses Mueller Planetarium, a hands-on science discovery center, and the Elephant Hall, where visitors can see the world's largest articulated fossil mammoth among the collection of fossil elephants. Also featured are interactive paleontology exhibits, a dinosaur gallery, ancient life and evolution exhibits, wildlife dioramas, gems and minerals, American Indian and African exhibits, and a temporary exhibit gallery featuring rotating displays on diverse topics including photography, quilts and fine arts.
The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of contemporary self-taught artists from the United States and abroad.
The University of Nebraska Omaha is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally known as the University of Omaha. Originally meant to provide a Christian-based education free from ecclesiastical control, the university served as a strong alternative to the city's many successful religiously affiliated institutions.
Explora is a science center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, located near Old Town Albuquerque. Its name is the imperative form of the Spanish language verb explorar, which means to explore.
The culture of Omaha, Nebraska, has been partially defined by music and college sports, and by local cuisine and community theatre. The city has a long history of improving and expanding on its cultural offerings. In the 1920s, the Omaha Bee newspaper wrote, "The cultural future of Omaha seems as certain of greatness as the commercial future... The symphony orchestra, the Art institute, the Community Playhouse and other organizations are on firm foundations and Omaha is destined to be not only a bigger, but a better city, both financially and culturally." Reviewing Omaha's contemporary arts scene in 2007, the New York Times hailed the city as having "a kind of cultural awakening".
Kidspace Children's Museum is a children's museum in Pasadena, California, dedicated to "nurturing the potential of all children through kid-driven experiences, inspiring them to become joyful, active learners." It is located next to the Rose Bowl, in the former Fannie E. Morrison Horticultural Center.
El Museo Latino is a museum featuring Latino and Hispanic art and history that is located at 4701 South 25th Street in South Omaha, Nebraska. Established in 1993, by Magdalena García, it is the first Latino art and history museum and cultural center in the Midwest.
Quilt art, sometimes known as art quilting, mixed media art quilts or fiber art quilts, is an art form that uses both modern and traditional quilting techniques to create art objects. Practitioners of quilt art create it based on their experiences, imagery, and ideas rather than traditional patterns. Quilt art generally has more in common with the fine arts than it does with traditional quilting. This art is generally either wall hung or mounted as sculpture, though exceptions exist.
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1977, the museum is the first in the United States devoted solely to quilts and textiles as an art form. Holdings include a permanent collection of over 1,000 quilts, garments and ethnic textiles, emphasizing artists of the 20th- and 21st-century, and a research library with over 500 books concerning the history and techniques of the craft.
Tourism in Omaha, Nebraska, United States offers visitors history, sports, nature and cultural experiences. Its principal tourist attractions are the Henry Doorly Zoo and the College World Series (CWS). A 2003 study by a Creighton University economist estimated that the CWS added $33.8 million to the city's economy that year. With 1.1 million visitors annually, the Henry Doorly Zoo is Nebraska's most popular tourist attraction. In 2007 Omaha hosted the USA Roller Sports National Championships, along with 10,000 people who auditioned for the American Idol television show at Qwest Center Omaha.
The Omaha Public Library in Omaha Nebraska currently has 12 locations.
Timothy Sean Guthrie is a visual artist and experimental filmmaker. Guthrie's work is in collections throughout the United States, including the Boise Art Museum, and the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Plemmons Collection of Contemporary Art,, and the Leigh Lane Edwards Collection of Contemporary Art,.
Michael Francis James is an American artist, educator, author, and lecturer. He is best known as a leader of the art quilt movement that began in the 1970s. He currently lives and maintains a studio in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts is a museum in Melbourne, Florida, located in Brevard County. It is part of Florida Institute of Technology and exhibits textiles, clothing and accessories.
Wanda Ewing (1970–2013) was an artist born in Omaha, Nebraska. She considered her art to be "provocative with a political edge." A common message of her art was “I’m a proud black woman, and I’m going to be hard to ignore.” Ewing studied printmaking at San Francisco Art Institute where she received her BFA in 1997. She received her MA and MFA in printmaking at the University of Iowa in 2001 and 2002, respectively. She was a tenured professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she taught visual arts classes from 2004 to 2013. Ewing exhibited nationally and won several awards for her work.
Mel Ziegler is an American artist whose artistic practice includes community art, integrated arts, public art.
Canan Tolon is a Turkish-born artist who now lives and works in Emeryville, California. Tolon works in the mediums of printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation.
Yvonne Wells is an African-American folk artist and quilter from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She is best known for her self-taught style and her story quilts depicting scenes from the Bible and the Civil Rights Movement. Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and at the International Quilt Museum.
