The Great Plains Art Museum presents Portraits of the Prairie: The Land That Inspired Willa Cather. Watercolor Paintings, Inks and Sketches by Richard Schilling on view June 3 — September 15, 2011.

Richard Schilling, Dandelions in Spring Watercolor, Great Plains Art Museum

Richard Schilling was born in Lincoln and graduated from the University of Nebraska. It was at the university he received his first instruction in watercolor. “As a kid I was invited to take painting lessons on Saturday mornings in the university’s art department. The seeds were planted, and in time, others pruned and groomed me into an artist.” Schilling worked ten years as a part time, dental officer on Holland America Cruise ships. He also serves as a short-term dental volunteer in developing countries. His travels have inspired him to paint diverse landscapes and architecture.

The Portraits of the Prairie series focuses on Webster County, Nebraska. According to Amber Mohr, Curator of the Great Plains Art Museum, “The land where Willa Cather spent her childhood inspired several of her stories of European immigrants on the prairie. Schilling has likewise found inspiration in the land’s history, geology, and ecology. His watercolor depictions of the prairie equal Cather’s eloquence of prairie prose – both truly present their love of the landscape in their art.”

The offices of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Great Plains Art Museum are housed in Hewit Place on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s City Campus

Great Plains Art Museum
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1155 Q Street, Hewit Place
P.O. Box 880250
Lincoln, NE 68588-0250
Gallery: (402) 472-6220
Fax: (402) 472-0463
Email: gpac@unl.edu
www.unl.edu/plains/gallery/gallery.shtml

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