Jim Rey wins Purchase Award from Great Plains Studies Friends
Released on 05/22/2008, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHERE: Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q Street, Hewit Place
Nebraska artist Jim Rey has been awarded the 2008 Purchase Award by the Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies.
The award was made at the fourth annual Invitational Art Show and Sale May 1 at the Great Plains Art Museum. Rey's oil painting, "Fishing for a Catch," depicting a scene from a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills, will be added to the permanent collection of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St.
The Purchase Award is given in recognition of the work acquired by the Great Plains Art Museum for its permanent collection. The painting was selected by a jury that included Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies board members, staff of the Center for Great Plains Studies and Great Plains Art Museum, and outside community members.
"I'm thrilled that this artwork was selected for the Great Plains Art Museum's permanent collection," said museum curator Amber Mohr. "Rey's work is documenting the West of today. He belongs in the collection."
Jim Rey and his wife, Sharon, were at the Preview Night reception and learned of the award that evening. "I got chills straight down to my toes," Rey said. "I'm so pleased, so pleased, to have been awarded this honor."
The Reys live on a small farm in the Nebraska panhandle north of Mitchell. He has exhibited in the Frederic Remington Museum in New York, the Leanin' Tree Museum in Colorado, and the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney. Featured articles on his work have been published in Southwest Art, Art of the West, International Artist, Western Horseman and many others.
"Fishing for a Catch" will be part of an exhibition at the Great Plains Art Museum titled "Dangerous Romance: The Baroque Energy of American Cowboy Art" on display May 20 through July 27.
The Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies was established to promote the educational, scholarly and cultural programs of the Center for Great Plains Studies. More than 60 artworks have entered the Great Plains Art Museum's permanent collection through gifts of the Friends.
The Great Plains Art Museum is open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30-5 p.m. Sundays (closed Mondays, holiday weekends and between exhibitions). There is no admission charge. For more information, telephone (402) 472-6220, e-mail gpac2@unl.edu or visit www.unl.edu/plains/gallery/gallery.shtml.