{"id":5350,"date":"2021-07-19T15:51:54","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T21:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/?p=5350"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:59:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T21:59:17","slug":"spirit-of-the-plains-exhibit-completed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/spirit-of-the-plains-exhibit-completed\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit of the Plains exhibit completed"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Kerri Rempp<\/strong><\/p>

Discover Northwest Nebraska<\/strong><\/p>

The Spirit of the Plains exhibit at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center was completed and unveiled to the public earlier this month with the addition of a coyote, a rabbit and several yucca plants. The final installations join Kola, a 7\u20194\u201d buffalo.<\/p>

All of the pieces in the exhibit are made entirely from cardboard, burlap and paper mache and were donated to the Sandoz Center by local artist Linda Dabbs.<\/p>

Located on a traditionally empty platform above the lower level that houses the C.F. Coffee Gallery, the new exhibit fills a void in the Sandoz Center. Structurally, the platform that serves as a ceiling to the Coffee Gallery is not designed to hold much weight, presenting a challenge for any exhibit that could be located on it. Dabbs, a local artist and an adjunct professor at Chadron State College, envisioned the buffalo made of nothing more than cardboard to keep it lightweight.<\/p>

Weighing in at 50-75 pounds, the buffalo, named Kola, which is Lakota for \u201cfriend,\u201d was lifted over the railing in the Chicoine Atrium and lowered on to the platform to greet visitors in April. He was joined by yucca plants, but the remainder of the space awaited the final pieces from Dabbs.<\/p>

Dabbs used cardboard donated by Ace Hardware, three-and-a-half bolts of burlap and a \u201cmassive\u201d number of hours to complete the entire exhibit, on which she began working in December 2020. The empty platform presented a challenge due to the weight restrictions, but Dabbs was undaunted.<\/p>

\u201cI said \u2018I will figure out a way,\u2019\u201d she said, adding one of her favorite slogans, \u201cArt solves.\u201d<\/p>

Dabbs used her background in set design at the Henry Doorly Zoo and in commercial and theater art to create the \u201cSpirit of the Plains\u201d exhibit for the space that had been vacant since 2003. In addition to the donation of cardboard from Ace Hardware, Dabbs said the project would not have been possible without the help of Loriann Linder and Ema Ackerman and the patience of Sandoz Center staff members Holly Counts and Laure Sinn.<\/p>

After the coyote, rabbit and other brush was installed, the group also added several fossil-threaded rocks to the exhibit to provide a finishing touch. The rocks, given to Counts\u2019 family by Sterling Bets, are the heaviest items in the entire exhibit.<\/p>

\u201cHe would be thrilled to have them in here,\u201d Counts said. \u201cI love (the exhibit). It\u2019s such a great addition. It\u2019s very much what this building is about.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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At left:\u00a0Kola the buffalo, made of cardboard and burlap, has awaited company at the Sandoz Center since April.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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At left: A friendly-looking bunny, made from cardboard, joined Kola the buffalo and a coyote in the Spirit of the Plains exhibit at the Sandoz Center earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>

Above: This coyote, surrounded by brush, is part of the final installation of the Spirit of the Plains exhibit at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center in Chadron.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kerri Rempp Discover Northwest Nebraska The Spirit of the Plains exhibit at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center was completed and unveiled to the public earlier this month with the addition of a coyote, a rabbit and several yucca plants. The final installations join Kola, a 7\u20194\u201d buffalo. All of the pieces in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_3686.jpg?fit=1800%2C1107&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgf0HI-1oi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5350"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5358,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions\/5358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discovernwnebraska.com\/staging\/5924\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}