Mission & History

KHN Center for the Arts
Richard and Laurine Kimmel

The mission of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts is to support established and emerging writers, visual artists and composers by providing working and living environments that allow uninterrupted time for work, reflection and creative growth and to present and support arts-related programming that expands public awareness and appreciation of the arts. 

Since 2001, KHN has hosted more than 50 working artists each year which include a combination of visual artists, writers, composers, and interdisciplinary artists. Each has found privacy in which to create along with ample opportunities to interact with fellow artists in a vibrant and friendly community located in the rolling bluff country of eastern Nebraska.

The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts is a program of the Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation.

A Letter from the Kimmel Foundation Board President

Laurine Oetgen Kimmel was a well known Nebraska artist for many years. She was known primarily for a series called "American Architecture," which are water color paintings of old outhouses. She was also very well known for her watercolor paintings of Old Barns and Small Birds. Her work is still widely held in high regard by families who commissioned her to do paintings of old family farmstead outhouses. Mrs. Kimmel once told me she had done over 600 such paintings. A number of her works can be seen at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City and the Kimmel Foundation offices in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mrs. Kimmel was also featured in a number of national magazines and publications. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel’s lifetime support and Mrs. Kimmel’s lifetime of painting is what drew me to the triplex of the Nelson Family when brought to my attention by the Dean of the Art College at the University of Nebraska. One thing lead to another and after much work and investment the living tribute to the Kimmel’s love of the arts came to life. The Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation sincerely hopes the Center is enjoyed for years to come by both artists and the public. 

Len Weyeneth,
President and CEO