UNK-Nationally and internationally known artist Martha Pettigrew of Kearney is one of the featured artists who will participate in this year’s “Spirit of the Great Plains 2000” art sale and exhibition.
“We invited the artists we believe represent the best of all the art mediums in the United States,” said Gail Lowenberg, Museum of Nebraska Art director of development.
MONA adopted a buffalo sculpted by Pettigrew as the signature piece for the exhibition. She has given MONA five replicated sculptures of the buffalo to be auctioned off during the daylong event.
Pettigrew is also sculpting the bust of the event’s honored guest, Frank Morrison, which will be available to purchase at the live auction.
Pettigrew once served as the scientific illustrator for the University of Nebraska’s Natural History Museum, where she often illustrated relics from western indigenous tribes.
“My illustrating served as the discipline which would later be drawn upon for much of my subject matter,” Pettigrew said.
Recent commissions include a monumental-size horse for the J.P. Morgan Co. in New York and a one-quarter life-size buffalo for the Irvine Company in New York.
On April 8, MONA will host the “Spirit of the Great Plains 2000.” Forty-five nationally known artists from all over the country have been invited to display five pieces of work that will be auctioned off throughout the event.
The event will include a “quick draw” session when artists will complete artwork in one hour. A silent auction and a live auction will give ticket holders an opportunity to purchase the exhibited art.
For more information on the “Spirit of the Great Plains 2000,” contact the museum at (308) 865-8559.
