September 4th First Friday exhibition Kent Manske: Being Aware

Date and Time

• Friday, Sep 4, 2026  6pm - 8pm

Location

Categories

Arts • Telegraph

Details

Exhibition Dates: September 4–October 31, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, 6–8 p.m.
First Friday Reception: Friday, October 2, 6–8 p.m.
Community Conversation with Kent Manske: Wednesday, September 9, 6:30–8 p.m.
Location: Constellation Studios, 2055 O street, Lincoln, Nebraska

Constellation Studios is pleased to present Being Aware, an exhibition of recent work by California-based artist, printmaker, and educator Kent Manske, on view September 4 through October 31, 2026. Manske will join Constellation Studios for the opening reception on Friday, September 4, and will spend two weeks in Lincoln as an Artist in Residence at Constellation Studios.
Being Aware is a series of eleven original prints combining monoprinting, screen printing, relief printing, and print collage. Created in 2026, the series revisits a collection of symbols Manske first developed more than two decades ago for his 2002 artist book Fear. Returning to these forms in a dramatically changed cultural and political landscape, Manske considers how many of the questions that motivated the earlier work, around information, knowledge, truth, communication, and cultural identity, remain urgent today.
Manske creates images and symbols to investigate and assign meaning to ideas about human existence. Working primarily through printmaking and book publishing processes, he produces one-of-a-kind and limited-edition works on paper. He holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A longtime educator, Manske served as Professor of Art at Foothill College from 1990 to 2015 and is co-founder of PreNeo Press in Redwood City, California. His work is held in public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California.
As part of his residency, Manske will also participate in a casual community conversation on Wednesday, September 9, from 6:30–8 p.m. The evening will center on the idea of “Serious Play” and the role of experimentation, curiosity, and continued learning in sustaining an artist’s studio practice. Manske will share perspectives from his own decades-long practice and invite participants into an informal conversation about developing ideas, staying receptive to discovery, and approaching the pursuit of learning as a valuable artist’s tool. https://kentmanske.preneo.org/
The exhibition opens during Lincoln’s First Friday on September 4 from 6–8 p.m., with Manske in attendance. An additional First Friday reception will be held October 2 from 6–8 p.m. Kent Manske: Being Aware remains on view through October 31, 2026.

For further information contact:
karen@constellation-studios.net
402-429-8239