Artifacts in Omaha, Nebraska by Randy Brown Architects

Article source: Randy Brown Architects

Kent Bellows (1949 – 2005) was a lifelong Nebraska Artist who has been recognized as one of America’s greatest masters of American Realism and was known as a mentor for friends, colleagues and burgeoning artists.

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

• Architects: Randy Brown Architects
• Project: Artifacts
• Location: Omaha, Nebraska
• Owner: Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts
• Construction: University of Nebraska Architecture Students
• Photography: Farshid Assassi

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

The Kent Bellows Foundation requested a renovation to the artist’s work/live building to transform it into a center for art and student mentoring. The Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts strives to ignite the creative spark in inner city youth, encouraging them to reach their highest potential through self expression in the visual arts. Artists ages 12-21 attend workshops and receive mentoring from nationally renowned artists through various programs and events put on by the Center.

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

The artist had worked in the building for twenty years and had built out much of the space with his own hands. Our intention was to identify the artifacts the artist left that had meaning. We identified and preserved 9 artifacts (gallery floor, Kent’s parka, glass block transom, moving backdrop wall, books, collages, light fixture pulley, wall mural, and wall installation).

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

Working with the artifacts, the design focused on minimal interventions to upgrade the building and provide the new spaces for the facility. The storefront intervention was a three dimensional sculpture of steel plates/tubes which creates windows, seating, facility signage, and the main entrance. The staircase/balcony intervention creates a continuous steel plate walkway that connects the entrance, gallery, library, office and the second floor studios. The library intervention is a meeting and reading space hovering above the gallery defined by a folded wood panel wall/ceiling that frames the artist’s moving backdrop wall.

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

Image Courtesy Farshid Assassi

Tags: Nebraska, Omaha

Category: Studio

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