Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
There’s a new public library in Omaha and three Creighton artists were among the 16 creatives selected to display their work on the interior and exterior of the building.
- Cindy Weil, BA’86, assembled and painted 28 wool-embroidered cloud-shaped pieces.
- Creighton adjunct professor Angie Seykora, BFA’09, attached 75,000 plastic beads to a steel overhang.
- Creighton professor Littleton Alston sculpted two bronze portraits.
Their work combines with 13 other artists’ pieces on display at the Omaha Central Library, which opened in April at the corner of 72nd and Dodge Streets and is now the main hub of the city’s library system.
The artists all earned this opportunity two years ago — they were chosen from a pool of 242 applicants. They received commissions to create their pieces and worked with building architects to formulate their ideas and execute their visions.
The 16-piece collection is believed to be the largest single display of public art in Omaha.
Learn more below about the three artists with Creighton connections (and their artwork):
Cindy Weil
Design: Thinking
Inspired by the vast and expansive Nebraska sky, Weil painted each individual piece (28 in total) to represent clouds illuminated by the pastel colors of sunrise and sunset. When you allow yourself to let go and get lost in the majesty above, Weil said, you realize something: “The sky never stops giving.”
Weil graduated as a history major at Creighton in 1986, and soon found her calling as an artist. She has exhibitions showing in museums and galleries across the country — including her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, Neb.
Littleton Alston
Design: Knowledge & Wisdom
Alston’s work portrayed two separate states of mind by featuring two individuals in bronze. In one bust, he captured a person’s steadfast earnestness, a gaze that he said signifies a feeling of seeking more and learning more. He said he also sculpted a waitress who was so noble, so focused and so confident as a worker that her presence on the job evoked a sense of wisdom.
Alston has been on Creighton’s fine arts faculty for more than 35 years. His work is on display on campus, in Omaha and elsewhere. In 2023, he became the first African American to have a sculpture placed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Angie Seykora
Design: Untitled (drawing rays)
There are 10 contact points where the hanging installation emerges from the 40-foot-high ceiling — its branching, steel structures hold more than 75,000 round, plastic beads. Seykora hand-cut and looped steel wire to connect the cascading beads together. The beads’ gradients transition from dark to light, conveying a natural “glow” within the spacious, central interior.
Seykora, who has a fine arts studio practice based in Omaha, uses ordinary materials to create sculptures and installations. She’s been recognized by the International Sculpture Center and Sculpture Magazine. She recently contributed a piece to the Joslyn Art Museum's Made in the Plains exhibition. Seykora, a 2009 Creighton grad, is also an adjunct professor in the Fine Arts department.
