UNEARTHED:
a first look at the antiquarium’s bill farmer collection
aug. 7-29, 2026
opening reception | friday, aug. 7, 2026
6:00 to 9:00pm
6066 maple street
omaha, eE 68104
BENSON - Ming Toy Gallery, in partnership with the Brownville Education Center for the Arts and Humanities (BECAH), is pleased to host “Unearthed: A First Look at The Antiquarium’s Bill Farmer Collection” during the month of August. The opening reception is Friday, Aug. 7, from 6:00 to 9:00pm at 6066 Maple Street in beautiful downtown Benson (we are right between Au Courant & Legend Comics and Coffee).
This exhibition is the first public activity of The Bill Farmer Project, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of Farmer and facilitating the inventory, valuation and sale of his work to benefit BECAH, a Brownville (NE) nonprofit.
BECAH acquired the building housing The Antiquarium in Brownville and its contents in 2021, which included a sizeable collection of Farmer’s paintings, sketches and other works in addition to its more than 25,000 books, manuscripts and images. The late Tom Rudloff and his late sister, Judy, founded the iconic used bookstore in downtown Omaha, Neb., in 1969. Rudloff moved The Antiquarium to an empty schoolhouse in Brownville in 2006. He passed away in 2016 at age 76.
The exhibition, which will occupy both levels of Ming Toy Gallery, which showcase works from various periods in Farmer’s prolific career. He occupied the third floor of The Antiquarium in downtown Omaha throughout the institution’s storied history. All sales proceeds will benefit The Antiquarium.
Regular gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday from 1:00 to 6:00pm, Thursday from 3:00 to 8:00pm, Saturday from 10:00am to 1:00pm and by appointment (call or text 402.681.1901).
1922-1999
bill farmer
The following was written by Karen Nelson as part of a memorial exhibition held at The Antiquarium in Omaha in the summer of 1999.
How does one sum up an entire life in a few words? When that life is Bill Farmer’s, it’s not easy. Born in Omaha, he studied art (among many places) in Colorado under Max Beckman, traveled the world from Spain to Ireland to Central America, always for art.
He taught in colleges and public schools, created theatre sets and built a bronze casting foundry in Nicaragua. He worked for social justice as an artist and an activist (a few years before his death, Bill was sentenced and served 60 days in federal prison for crossing the line at Strategic Air Command, an act of civil disobedience, which he and others carried out every year to protest the threat of nuclear weapons that were controlled from SAC).
And, of course, he was part of group exhibits all over Nebraska and had solo shows in New York, Chicago, Mexico and Nebraska.
Bill believed creativity was a continuing process. He was creating art until the day he was taken to the Veterans Administration Hospital for the last time, and who’s to say that he wasn’t working out ideas in his head there as well? The week before he want to the hospital, Bill was working in his gallery on new carvings. The table is left exactly as it was when he was working on it. Even though the passage from life to death means there will be no new Farmer art, the process continues as we look at his art and decide for ourselves what it means to us.
Bill was a man of faith as well as an artist. His faith led him to fight through his art for peace and justice - he was against the Vietnam war, he supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and he fought against the incarceration of Mondo (David Rice) here in the United States. His life, his art and his activism, in partnership with his wife, Marge, are all intertwined. Marge is portrayed movingly in so many of Bill’s most beautiful works.
There is much to say about Bill Farmer and so little space to say it here. To this end, we are seeking materials for a larger biography of Bill, photographs of him, his works or anything else you can think of that will help us tell Bill’s story.
- Karen Nelson
resources
Work is under way by BECAH in Brownville to inventory all Farmer-related items at The Antiquarium. If you’d like to help or have anything to contribute, email us at mingtoygallery@gmail.com.
got a bill farmer story to share?
Help us preserve Bill Farmer’s legacy in Omaha and beyond. We’d love to collect stories from those who knew him, his art and his approach to life.