Public Projects

For more detailed looks, click on the images below:

Tour de Bruning

If you are in Omaha, and would like do an art drive-by, you can do so at these following public locations.

Aksarben Village
(Frances & Aksarben Dr)
Hot Shops Art Center
(13th and Izard)
First National Bank
(114th & Dodge, lobby)
St. Cecilia’s Cathedral
(40th & Webster)
University of Omaha

(62nd & Dodge)

More Public Projects

Kathleen Lute Public Library

Metal and cement
Ogallala, NE

Installed in November 12-13 in 2023 at the Kathleen Lute Public Library of Ogallala in western Nebraska.

TOOL RACK MOBILE

bronze/stainless steel
16'x9'x12'
1998

As a sculptor, I have come to regard tools, whether manual or powered, to be a natural extension my primary tools, my hands. The lower part of this sculpture contains a large grinder with a grinding disc, a drill, and a screwdriver, all made from stainless steel. Suspended above this is a nine feet long welding glove made of bronze that is balanced and moves in a circular pattern as the wind catch the dangling chip hammer, wire brush and small grinder. This is somewhat of a whimsical view of the sculptor’s favorite shapes.

O! DUDE

Steel, w/LED lights and articulated head
2010

O! Dude is a 25-foot-tall attitudinal portrait of a young man with a ball cap, t-shirt, and court shoes. When first installed the O on his shirt lit up at night, and his head slowly turned left and right. Created in conjunction with the College World Series. O! Dude now sits on top of the AirGarage parking lot on Farnam street in downtown Omaha.

STANDING BEAR

galvanized steel
16' x8'x8'
2004

This sculpture commemorates a landmark legal decision made in Omaha in 1879.
Standing Bear was a Ponca Indian Chief whose tribe was forcibility moved to Oklahoma and was allowed to leave the reservation. Standing Bear’s son died and it was the custom of the tribe to be buried in their ancestral homeland, which was in northeast Nebraska.

Standing Bear was arrested and taken to court in Omaha. In this trial, he was declared a person and thus allowed to move freely. He was the first Indian to be legally recognized in the United States as a Person.

The teepee is large enough to be entered. As one moves around the piece, the viewer sees a large blanket with a bear form cut out and then a life size image of Standing Bear cut from the bear. Each viewer will experience history as well as enjoy contemporary sculpture in viewing this piece.

This sculpture has been displayed in Omaha’s Leahy Mall.

Zorbus

steel
26' x12'x14'
1977

Commissioned by Pacesetter Corporation, Omaha, NE
This is a sculpture about structure and construction. The huge steel channels and the circular cutouts play with the positive and negative spaces around the sculpture. The orange color also makes one think of a construction

Vance's Dilemma and Betty's Dilemma

Aluminum, each 18' x 22' x 8'

O’Connell Auditorium. Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE 1977

PYRATRA

steel/marble/concrete
32'x12'x8'
1984

Commissioned by Stanley J. How Architects, 101 Old Mill Road, Omaha, NE

This sculpture was commissioned to enhance the entryway into their new building. It rises over thirty feet tall and sits close to the building to catch maximum reflection from the building’s glass panels. The pyramid base is eight feet square and is clad with travertine marble. The reflective glass picks up and reflects multiple images of the sculpture as one approaches the building. The gentle sway of the upward shaft complements the solidarity of the pyramid. The shaft penetrates through the pyramid.

Ron and Caro Cope Grand Lobby