Sheldon’s statewide ‘Railroads’ exhibit opens in Falls City Friday

The Sheldon Museum of Art’s 2012–13 Sheldon Statewide exhibition, ”Railroads and the Making of Modern America,” opens at the Stalder Gallery inside the Falls City Library and Arts Center at 7 p.m. Friday, March 8. The Gallery doors will open at 6 for preview and guest speaker Sarah Feit, Assistant Curator of Education at the Sheldon Memorial Art Museum, will speak at 7.

The exhibition, which features works from the Sheldon Museum of Art’s permanent collection, examines the ways artists captured and shaped the modern ideas and practices made possible by the railroad, emphasizing the broader cross-border movements and their global consequences. “Railroads and the Making of Modern America” was originally organized by William Thomas, Professor of History at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, to coincide with the publication of his book, “The Iron Way: the Civil War, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America” (Yale University Press).

Sheldon Statewide is an education and exhibition outreach program of the Sheldon Museum of Art, Sheldon Art Association, and University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Since its inception in 1987, the program has reached more than 286,000 people in 24 Nebraska communities. The program is made possible by the generous support of Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Nebraska, the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Sheldon Art Association, and James and Rhonda Seacrest. The Richardson County Arts and Humanities Council will sponsor the Falls City exhibition that will run through April 3.