By: Chase Zagurski
The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Art Gallery is hosting the first ever retrospective exhibition of local artist Bill J. Hammon’s work, the gallery’s curator said Friday.
The Hammon in Mid-Century Omaha Exhibition will run through Oct. 30. The UNO Art Gallery is free and open to the public, and is located on the first floor of the Weber Fine Arts Building on UNO’s Dodge Campus.
Hammon was a highly active member of Omaha and broader Eastern Nebraska’s artistic scene from the 1950s to the 1970s. He worked across a wide variety of mediums including painting, sculpture and mosaics, and commissioned projects for a variety of public and private clients.
UNO Art Gallery Curator and Manager Rebecca Norris, Ph.D., said the exhibition was a unique opportunity for Omaha residents to experience a figure that was integral to the city’s aesthetic and artistic history.
“What I’m struck by with Hammon is his versatility and the scope of his different projects,” Norris said. “And, surprisingly, here’s someone that really was leading edge in Omaha back in the day, and we get to rediscover him now.”
The exhibition was assembled from a variety of donations to the gallery and several works on loan from collections across Nebraska, including the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha and the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney. The largest donation came in 2022 from Hammon’s nephew, Tony Hammon.
Norris said the exhibition required large amounts of archival and research work into Hammon’s life before it could be opened.
The exhibition also features work from several Hammon’s contemporaries and collaborators in the mid-century Omaha art scene, emphasizing the spirit of community that the artist fostered through his work.
In addition to the works on display in the gallery, the Hammon in Mid-Century Omaha Exhibition spawned a companion sculpture installation project by 3D artist and UNO adjunct art instructor Megan McCoy. McCoy was approached by the UNO Art Gallery in the spring to undertake a project that would tie into the upcoming Hammon exhibition and formulated the Paper Bead Project over the summer.
Throughout September, McCoy organized several artistic workshops held around the UNO campus, inviting students to come help her craft small paper beads out of recycled magazines. The thousands of beads were then assembled into an interactive sculpture installation in a direct homage to Hammon.
“In the spirit of Bill Hammon, it’s community, bringing community together, but then also it’s temporary as well, and utilizing materials to its fullest extent in different and odd ways,” McCoy said.
