One woman show fills arts center in Nebraska

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    SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (Star-Herald) — The walls of the main gallery at the West Nebraska Arts Center are lined with images of Nebraska. Finding a flat service in the room is also difficult with drawings and paintings set up on shelves and tables.

The sheer amount of artwork could lead a person to believe several artists were part of the show, but that’s not the case.

Every piece was completed by one woman: Clarice Kuehn and it will be on display through Aug. 30.

She was born Clarice Obendorfer in 1934 in Potter and shortly after moved to Gurley. She married her husband, Ray, in 1956.

“She was a sewer, a singer, a painter,” said Ray. “She was a good cook too. We were married for 45 years.”

Clarice also worked part time as an registered nurse in Bronson.

“She did this all in her spare time,” Ray said.

Her love for art became prevalent in high school and she began designing drawings for the yearbook. After high school, she wanted to hone her artistic talents.

“Do you see that book over there?” said Ray, pointing to a large sketchbook. “She ordered that right after we got married.”

The pages were filled with reference images and Clarice’s attempts to reproduce them. Critiques were written on her pages in red pen, “Very good,” one said. Another encouraged her to work on blending her shadows.

The book was part of a program from a school in Minnesota.

“She would draw a picture, then she’d send it in and they’d criticize her,” Ray said. “She took the art classes through the mail, the way you would do online now.”

Directly behind the book is a painting that is much simpler than the others on display.

“That was her first one,” he said.

The class made a difference, he said. In 1970, her talents earned her first place in a postcard contest and her work was distributed throughout the state.

Ray remarried and his wife, Teri, embraces Clarice’s talents as much as he does. She helped round up the artwork for the display.

“She was a very talented lady,” Teri said.

The idea to show Clarice’s work came about after her nephew Bob Benzel spoke to Rita Stinner about her talents.

Generally, the work of deceased artists isn’t shown on it’s own – particularly if it can’t be sold. Stinner met with Ray and Teri and then the couple were approached about the show by WNAC director Michele Denton.

“With COVID, we didn’t think the show would happen,” said Teri. “But, it did. We rounded up all the pictures from everyone we could think of brought them here and let the girls work their magic.”

The collection goes beyond drawings and paintings. Clarice was also a skilled seamstress who enjoyed quilting and made her children’s’ clothes.

“I never bought any clothes for them until the kids were in high school,” said Ray.

The exhibit includes christening gowns, every day clothing, formal dresses and replicas of pioneer clothing that Clarice created for Nebraska’s Centennial.

Out of the collection, there are two paintings that are particularly special to Ray and Teri. The first features Ray and Clarice’s children herding cattle on horseback. It’s a large piece and spent many years on a wall in Ray’s office.

The second is of a homestead with a small run-down house. She painted it in the 1960s. The land belonged to a dentist from Sidney and it became more than just a piece Clarice painted.

“We would always drive by the land,” Teri said.

“I live on that piece of ground now,” added Ray.

The couple bought the land that Clarice once found beautiful enough to paint.

“That one is pretty special,” Teri said.

It was actually painted for someone else, Ray said, but he bought it back from them. Before her death in 2001, Clarice created and gave away so much artwork, that her family isn’t even sure what is out there.

“I know there’s many more,” said Teri.

Many of the pieces on display were given to other people by Clarice and are being borrowed for the show. There were some that Ray hadn’t seen until the exhibit opened.

He isn’t one to get mushy, said Teri, but walking into the gallery and seeing so many pieces of Clarice’s work brought tears to his eyes.

“I usually only ever saw them one at a time,” he said.

Teri commended the work of the staff and volunteers at WNAC.

“The kids and grandkids were here and, you know, they remember seeing grandma paint and stuff like that,” she said. “I think it was a very emotional night for them to walk in and see all of their grandma’s work displayed in one lovely room.”

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