Omaha based artist Joseph Broghammer is as much of a storyteller as he is an artist. His one-of-a-kind pastel drawings in “Animals” are chronicles of his life. The creatures Broghammer creates are vehicles to uncover the varying characteristics of the artist’s personal identity.

Hence, Broghammer’s “Animals” translates as a flowing stream of consciousness. The different birds and livestock staring back at the viewer are ornamented with inconographic symbols – small suprises a long the way. These trinkets are keys to understanding the stories Broghammer is sharing.

“My favorite cereal is Lucky Charms, so occasionally yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers will find their way onto the paper,” Broghammer says of his work. “Each piece is a visual diary, a story of my life and what happens around me.

Moreover, Broghammer’s animals seem especially ethereal in the way he manipulates oil pastel to embody a painterly quality. They are his “dry paintings,” as he likes to call them.

Broghammer began mastering his “dry painting” technique during his B.F.A. in Visual Art at the University of South Dakota. He graduated in 1986 and a year later went on to study his M.F.A. at the University of Wisconsin. In 2009, he studied at Creative Capital in Omaha, Nebraska.

As storytellers often do, Broghammer later went on to become an educator himself, teaching at WhyArts? and becoming an Artist Assistant at Vera Mercer in Omaha – both of which he still practices at today.

It’s apparent that Broghammer’s work has resonated with so many people around the world. Only a few years after his formal education, he began exhibiting his work through various International group shows in Italy, Germany, Holland, Mexico and even Kansas City.

Solo Exhibitions:

Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Clarinda, Iowa 2018

Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, Omaha, NE 2018

Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, Omaha, NE 2017

Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE 2015

Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE 2012

Argo Gallery, Trento, Italy 2011

The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2010

The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2008

The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2006

Modernartsmidwest, Lincoln, NE 2004

Fluxion Gallery, Omaha, NE 2003

Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, NE 2000

Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha, NE 1998

Haydon Gallery, Lincoln, NE 1996

The Art Gallery, Southwest Michigan College, Dowagiac, MI 1993

Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha, NE 1993

13th Gallery, Omaha, NE 1991

Haymarket Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE 1990

Group Exhibitions:

Round Table 5, Berlin Germany, 2016

Group, Galeria Omar Alonso, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2016

Maiz, Museo de la Filatelia de Oaxaca, MUFI, Mexico 2016

2 person show, South Dakota Art Museum, South Dakota, 2016

Berlin Art Fair, Berlin Germany, 2015

Maiz, El Museo Latino, Omaha, NE 2015

Small works show, Germany 2015

Berlin Art Fair, Berlin Germany, 2014

Henri Désiré Landru show, Trento Italy, 2014

Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha NE 2014

Bird on a wire, 2 person show with Larry Sosso, Gallery 1510, Omaha, NE 2014

University of Nebraska at Omaha Print Workshop 1976-2010

Museum of Nebraska Art, 2013-2014

Tribute to Landru, Argo Gallery , Trento Italy 2013

Visions of Bosch, The Museum of Instant Images, Holland 2013

Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany 2013

2 person show, Norfolk Art Center, Norfolk NE 2013

Freiberg Art Fair, Freiberg Germany 2013

Jeff Freeman: Collaborations in Education, Sioux Falls, SD 2012

Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany 2012

River Market Regional Exhibition, Kansas City, MO 2010

Although Broghammer’s portraits depict downy creatures, his work is very much about the human experience. They are honest and full of life, evoking a sincere exchange between artist and viewer. “Animals” is for the animal lovers, students, teachers, collectors, writers, the young or old, and art historians alike.