By Museum of Nebraska Art
KEARNEY, Neb. — The Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) presents its newest exhibition, Cindy Weil: Only Wool, opening October 9 in the rotating exhibition gallery on the second floor. The exhibition brings together sculptures by Omaha-based artist Cindy Weil for her first solo museum show, celebrating the versatility of wool as a medium for soft sculpture.
Transformation is ingrained in Weil's artistic process. She often engages the concept of liminality expressed as a state of transition, change, and letting go. Cumulus (2024) depicts rounded masses of raw wool on the verge of expanding, bursting open or dispersing. Shape Shifting (2025) is one of her clearest references to liminality with its unmistakable fluidity of form—strands of raw wool, fleece and silk provide a visual transition of light and dark. Her art can produce fleeting sensations or a sense of dreamlike serenity. Fundamentally, liminality is present in her techniques and discipline. Wool is malleable yet unpredictable. It is a transformative practice to build sculptures from such an unconventional raw material.
Weil's history as an artist and relationship with wool are communicated through the material of each sculpture. For most of the sculptures in the exhibition, she sourced her wool and fleece from a farm in Ashland, Nebraska, sheared from sheep she met in person. Through her intentional choice of local material, her art is inextricably connected to the state where she was raised.
"I source wool from all over the world. Different wools behave differently in the felting process, so I use the most appropriate wool for the effect I am trying to achieve," Weil said.
With Crutches (2025), she modeled raw Icelandic fleece into a remarkably ethereal yet grounded sculpture. Three vertical 'crutches' are constructed from felted wool, standing exactly six feet tall. She collected the wool in 2019, when she completed her residency at the Icelandic Textile Center in Blönduós, Iceland.
That Time I Moved Home (2024) captures the familiar yet unfamiliar feelings of a homecoming. Strictly manipulated strips of wool are starkly contrasted by the earthy tones of the sculpture, reminiscent of golden fields or yellowed stalks. Weil reflects on the transitional experience of returning to a place that has changed over time. She moved back to Omaha, Nebraska in 2021 after spending 25 years in other cities.
To create the works featured in Only Wool, Weil colored the wool by hand. Musicfield (2024) shows how she can meticulously dye raw wool to resemble stones, almost indistinguishable from the real stones in the sculpture. In a piece like Badlands 2 (2023), she departs from reality in exchange for somewhere far more surreal. She occasionally applies acid dye on the wool to achieve specific colors and effects. Stomach Ache (2025) is acid dyed to produce the muted pinkness of internal organs, the felted wool tightly forming twisted pathways. Through shape and color, she blends the unrecognizable and recognizable, otherworldly yet organic, liminal but still rooted in nature.
Elephant in the Room (2020) is one of the few sculptures in the exhibition built on an armature. Tufts of grayish wool sprout from a conical structure protruding from the gallery wall, calling to mind taxidermied trophy kills. Other sculptures featured in Only Wool include Do Not Touch (2024), Black Box (2021), Cairde Anam (2025), and Salon Wall: Cool Loneliness (2021-2025), which incorporates Icelandic horse hair and specialty alpaca wool.
Weil's sculptures seem to capture a transformation in motion, a carefully considered exploration of color, softness, and depth—an intimate conversation between the viewer, artist, and the wool.
MONA will host an opening reception for museum members and press on October 9 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Weil will give brief remarks at 6 p.m. MONA will also host a free and public artist talk with Weil in February 2026 to discuss her profound interest in wool and its materiality. Further details will be announced.
Cindy Weil: Only Wool
October 9, 2025-March 8, 2026
Rotating Exhibition Gallery, 2nd Floor
Museum of Nebraska Art