Hastings College graduate David Otis Johnson returns to campus with “A Spiritual Plain,” a solo exhibition of new neon and mixed-media sculptures at the Jackson Dinsdale Art Center (JDAC).
The show opens Friday, September 26 — the Friday of Homecoming weekend — and brings Johnson’s practice back into direct conversation with the people and landscape that shaped his earliest years as an artist. It’s on view through Thursday, November 6.
The JDAC gallery, located at 700 E. 12th Street, is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and noon to 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is free and open to the public.
In “A Spiritual Plain,” Johnson, a 2001 graduate, engages with the rural expanses, layered histories and close-knit communities of his Nebraska upbringing, reframing these influences through the formal and conceptual framework he developed in Hastings.
Working in neon, text and sculptural form, he examines how identity and expression shape lived experience, drawing on his history and the landscapes that formed him. These personal narratives connect to a broader cultural history and the geography that seeded ideas first nurtured at Hastings College, ideas that continue to evolve through his practice today.
The JDAC is a focal point for art in the region, with exhibitions and programs connecting visiting artists with Hastings College students, faculty and the surrounding community. For Johnson, showing at the JDAC is not just a return visit — it is a way of honoring a place that gave him his first sense of what was possible as an artist.
“Nebraska is a big part of who I am,” he said. “The light, the expansiveness, the unending horizon, this environment has greatly influenced how I see and how I work. Coming back to Hastings College allows me to share this expression in the place where my earliest creative instincts were formed.”
Hastings College is a four-year residential college that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Discover more at hastings.edu.