Lincoln, Neb.--As part of the national America 250 celebrations, the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, through its research and emerging media production team Edgeworks, has digitized and 3D-scanned each of the sculptures included in Nebraska’s Interstate 80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project in collaboration with the Nebraska Arts Council (NAC).
“The Arts Council is honored to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the I-80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project, a unique arts project for the state of Nebraska and the country,” said NAC Executive Director Mike Markey. “We are equally glad to take this opportunity to shine a light on the role of public art in today’s communities; the dialogue on art made possible by the proliferation of public art across the state since 1976.”
In 1976, during the United States Bicentennial, Nebraskans commissioned a series of eight modernist sculptures for Interstate 80 rest stops across the state. The sculptures were intended to inspire reflection on the nation’s past and curiosity about its future. The project was led by Thomas A. Yates of Bankers Life Nebraska and Norman Geske, founding director of Sheldon Museum of Art. Nebraska’s “500 Mile Sculpture Garden” was dedicated July 4, 1976.
Nebraska Arts Council Director of Public Art and Artist Programs Meagan Dion said the arts council was interested in expanding access to the sculptures through emerging technologies.
“As we were reviewing the sculptures and the archives at NAC and at the Nebraska State Historical Society to develop new signs for the rest areas and exhibits about the sculptures, I recognized how they documented the events 50 years ago,” Dion said. “It was interesting to see that even as technology shifts, we always use different technologies in art and recording history or memories. It became apparent that for the 50th anniversary of the sculptures, we should expand accessibility of the artwork and record through the technological tools of today.”
The Edgeworks team 3D-scanned each of the seven remaining sculptures and digitally reconstructed an eighth sculpture that no longer exists using a scale model housed at the Museum of Nebraska Art. The resulting immersive digital models are available now on the Nebraska Arts Council website at https://www.artscouncil.nebraska.gov/america250-nebraska-celebrations/. The NAC is also creating an exhibit titled “50th Anniversary of the I-80 Sculpture Garden” that will be set up in each community that has a sculpture featuring the sculpture that is nearest to their rest area. Participating cities will include Ashland, Seward, York, Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte and Ogallala.
“Once we deliver the exhibit, the community will keep the exhibit, which will include a large panel of printed historical text and photos, a video created by ONPXL (an Omaha-based digital studio), and the 3D print of the sculpture in that community,” Dion said.
The project combines emerging technologies with historic preservation, making Nebraska’s public art accessible to audiences across the state and beyond.
Carson School Emerging Media Arts alumni Alex Gee and Reid Brockmeier played key roles in the project. Gee created the Gaussian splats, which are highly detailed digital recreations generated from hundreds of photographs, while Brockmeier created printable 3D models and prepared the splats for online viewing.
Lindsey Clausen, project manager at Edgeworks, said the sculpture garden was particularly well suited for digital preservation.
“I think something like the 500 Mile Sculpture Garden makes so much sense to capture in digital format because a sculpture in Ogallala, for example, is not necessarily accessible to someone in Lincoln, and a sculpture in Elkhorn is not necessarily accessible to someone in Ogallala. It’s been a great use case for some of these digital tools to have the ability to make distance irrelevant so you can really fully experience the exhibition of sculpture without having to travel the distance.”
The Edgeworks team visited the sculptures at rest stops across the state, capturing extensive photographic data to build the digital models. Some locations presented unique challenges. One sculpture had to be scanned inside a closed rest area after special permission was granted to access the site.
The digital scans allow viewers to rotate, zoom and explore the sculptures from virtually any angle through a web browser or virtual reality headset.
The technology behind the project, known as Gaussian splatting, creates photorealistic 3D environments from overlapping photographs. Brockmeier described the process as creating “a 3D photograph that you can move around and look at from any angle.”
Unlike traditional 3D scanning methods that often require expensive equipment, Gaussian splatting can be created using standard photography and computer processing. Brockmeier said the technology captures details and textures with remarkable accuracy, making it especially valuable for historic preservation work.
“Emerging technologies like Gaussian splatting will be monumental to preservation of art and history,” Brockmeier said. “Pictures are a great form of documentation, but even better is a 3D picture that you can freely navigate around to see from any angle.”
Brockmeier, now an interactive media developer at Edgeworks, was responsible for adapting the digital scans into models suitable for 3D printing. That process often required extensive reconstruction work.
“3D prints have to be a solid, watertight object with a volume and thickness,” Brockmeier said. “Many of the details of the sculptures have important tiny structures that are integral to their forms.”
Some sculptures proved especially difficult to recreate. Brockmeier said “Nebraska Wind Sculpture,” with its reflective surfaces, required him to digitally rebuild much of the sculpture by hand.
“It was much more like traditionally drawing or painting while observing the subject,” he said.
One of the project’s most significant achievements involved reconstructing “Roadway Confluence,” by Hans Van de Bovenkamp, which was removed from the Sidney Rest Area in 2011.
“It was a visually striking piece with spires that reached 35 feet into the sky,” Dion said. “While we have pictures of the sculpture, it is sometimes hard to understand the presence and impact that scale can have. We thought that if the piece could be experienced through augmented reality, we could still enjoy that presence the artist intended of the piece.”
Using a surviving maquette, or scale model, the team created both a digital version and an augmented reality experience that places the sculpture within a Nebraska landscape.
“We were lucky to have just enough to, in a way, bring a sculpture that no longer exists back to life,” Brockmeier said.
Using the digital scan of the surviving maquette, Gee said the team was able to recreate the sculpture in ways that go beyond traditional preservation methods.
“Because we now have this scan of the smaller version, we can very capably place it in the original’s location at the original scale and offer it as a vision to anyone who’s interested in seeing what it would have looked like,” Gee said.
Dion said Edgeworks expanded the project’s possibilities beyond what she originally imagined.
“Edgeworks quickly surpassed my technological knowledge limitations,” she said. “Emerging technologies allow creative solutions through a completely new language.”
The project introduced many team members to an overlooked chapter of Nebraska’s artistic history.
“Many people might not recognize Nebraska as being a hub for public art, or they might not even be aware that it’s there,” Brockmeier said. “Fifty years ago, these sculptures were seen as controversial, but they have stood the test of time as beautiful marvels for visitors to see.”
Clausen said the project demonstrates how emerging media technologies can expand public access to art while preserving cultural history for future generations.
“It’s been great to work with the Nebraska Arts Council,” Clausen said. “They’ve been great partners in their desire to bring arts access and arts preservation into the 21st century.”
For Brockmeier, the project also highlighted the role Nebraska artists and technologists can play in preserving American cultural history.
“These sculptures are a significant part of the history of Nebraska and America, and there is an important story to be told,” Brockmeier said. “I’m glad to have played a part in their preservation.”
Gee said the project was a fun one to be a part of.
“I had no idea that such a national work was attempted in my home state and have since taken an enlarged curiosity into every rest area I end up at,” he said.
Dion said the project has many takeaways.
“That technology can offer increased accessibility to artwork for more people, that there are ways to interact with art through technology, that there are more ways to document art than you might think, and that public art has some exciting frontiers,” she said. “In this case, the sculptures and the conversations they started, and the community that the project created, is all very real, and I appreciate that these technologies can be used to complement the human experience and understanding of the project.”
The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center will be hosting a special screening of “500 Mile Sculpture Garden,” a 1976 documentary exploring the visionary I-80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project, on Tuesday, June 30 from 3-4:30 p.m.
The screening is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so please RSVP at https://theross.org/event/nebraskas-500-mile-sculpture-garden/ or call The Ross at (402) 472-9100 to reserve your tickets.
Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion from 5:30-6:30 p.m. with a reception to follow at Sheldon Museum of Art featuring panelists John Raimondi, artist of “Erma’s Desire,” which is located at the eastbound I-80 rest area near Grand Island; Art Thompson, director of the I-80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project; Dan Worth, Committee to Preserve the I-80 Bicentennial Sculptures; and Karen Janovy, former Sheldon Museum Education Director.
For additional NAC events surrounding the I-80 Bicentennial Sculpture Project, including additional artist talks with Raimondi, visit https://go.unl.edu/nacevents.
