Art center features book and paper works

NEBRASKA CITY- The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts has scheduled an artist reception for visual artist Chelsea Herman on Sept. 18.

Her exhibit “Palimpsest: Artist’s Books & Paper Works” will be on display Sept. 8 to Oct. 24.

Her paper works have been exhibited at the International Collection of Contemporary Creative Books, Art Around Books Gallery in Vermont and Museum of Papermaking in Georgia.

She served as the Instructor of Book Arts and Papermaking at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

 Here is the art center's press release

 

NEBRASKA CITY, NE, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts presents “Palimpsest: Artist’s Books & Paper Works” by Chelsea Herman. On display September 8th - October 24th, 2025. An Artist Reception will be hosted on September 18, 2025. 

 

“What is the capacity of written, visual, and body language to animate connective spaces between humans, land, and versions of the self that, in response to narrative, have been forgotten, concealed, or desecrated? What can the body, sensory experience, and materiality reveal when language acts as a form of violent erasure? Palimpsest includes work that explores these questions through image, handmade paper pieces, text, and the structure of the book. Vine covered forest, prairie remnant, drainage ditch, and the remains of the artist’s family home burnt in a forest fire yield materials such as nettle and bittersweet fiber, cattail pollen, plant dyes, charcoal, and the ashes of books. Sound and other sensations experienced in places where human attempts to overwrite long engrained patterns of nature have occurred offer formal elements and metaphor for exploring human relationship, desire, and yearning. The process of scavenging such materials from ruined or compromised sites for the intended purpose of shared human expression provides an opportunity for imagining language as a tool for the sanctification, repair, or re-building of life-affirming inquiry and connection.” Chelsea Herman

 

Chelsea Herman is a visual artist and educator specializing in the art of the book. Herman’s artists’ books, paperworks, and works on paper have been exhibited at the International Collection of Contemporary Creative Books, Atelier Vis-a-Vis in Marseille, France, Art Around Books Gallery in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking in Atlanta, Georgia among others. She served as Instructor of Book Arts and Papermaking at the University of Nebraska, Omaha where she coordinated the University of Nebraska Omaha Fine Arts Press. She is currently the proprietor of Flight Path Press, a private press in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

 

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Since 2001, KHN's residency program has hosted more than 60 working artists each year—a combination of visual artists, writers, composers, and interdisciplinary artists from across the country and worldwide. In addition, KHN's gallery program hosts approximately six exhibitions annually, showcasing the work of regional artists and alumni residents. KHN is a program of the Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation, Inc.