Reposted from Nebraska.tv
Sales from artwork sold at the Museum of Nebraska Art's holiday gift boutique is helping in a new effort to protect pieces of Nebraska history.
Right through the MONA’s doors, Nebraska artists fill the room with the state’s history as the museum continues to tighten their security.
"The works that we have been around for hundreds of years and we want to make sure we maintain those artworks,” said MONA marketing coordinator Gina Garden.
From paintings, to sculptures and pictures, all of these pieces share a story about Nebraska.
"People tend to forget you can’t recreate these things. We can’t have John James Audubon, and draw the Sandhill and the whooping crane. We just want to make sure that we are preserving the artwork,” Garden said.
The museum is raising funds to make sure everyone keeps a safe distance while learning about our state.
"We want to encourage people to interact with the artwork, but not quite that closely interact with them. We want to engage, not necessarily touch because the oils from your fingers and that type of thing can damage the artwork. People tend to forget about that, but it’s not out of malice or anything it’s just they get so engrossed they want to touch it,” Garden said.
As MONA staff work to protect these pieces of history, artist Roger Nyffeler is happy the staff is making a push to protect these pieces of history.
"So people can walk in and walk through and look at the material and look at the art work and much of it is very, very expensive and we want to keep it looking that way,” Nyffeler said.
Larry Peterson, one of the founders of the MONA said times have changed.
"When we started out 41 years ago we didn't have any art, so it wasn't a problem and we just had a few pieces, but now that we have 5, maybe 5,000 pieces it gets more complex and we have to take precautions and have more security,” Peterson said.
The MONA has just one person guarding the entire gallery at a time but it hopes hire more people with money raised at events like this one..
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