Cornhusker State on Canvas
Subscribe Now!Omaha Artist Brings Husker History to Life
Like a seasoned athlete, Ashley Spitsnogle approaches her live paintings – creating art in real-time – with the precision and mental focus of a championship contender. On Sept. 20, 2024, Spitsnogle stood before a sprawling three-by-five-foot canvas, brush and acrylic paints in hand, ready to capture the Huskers’ monumental 400th sellout game at Memorial Stadium.
Spitsnogle practiced her technique, visualized a win, and crafted a game plan. Now, it was showtime. From the 7th-floor press box, 90,000 fans watched her scarlet brushstrokes come to life.
Her preparation mirrors the devotion athletes bring to training and game day. “You put in the work to practice, you’re dedicated, you’re focused, you make sacrifices. Then, you perform,” Spitsnogle said.
The artist lights up when talking about live painting, describing it with the same passion that fueled her days as a high school and college athlete at Doane College, now Doane University, in Crete. For Spitsnogle, painting is as exhilarating as basketball or volleyball. “Live painting is very thrilling for me,” she said.
Sept. 20 marked the 400th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium – a testament to the unwavering dedication of Nebraska fans, who have filled every seat at every home game since 1962.
As Memorial Stadium filled with a sea of red, Spitsnogle painted furiously. A live painting typically demands three to four hours to complete, but she knew a work this detailed would require her to add finishing touches after the final whistle.
“It was the hardest live painting I’ve ever done. The game started in daylight and ended in night, so the lighting was always changing,” Spitsnogle said.
First, she sketched an outline in black charcoal to visualize the stadium’s composition. Next, she daubed a thin layer of acrylic paint to establish a base color for each section – a technique called blocking. Finally, she added details: hundreds of blurred dots representing fans in the stands, the iridescent glow of stadium lights on the “N” at midfield, and a moody night sky framing a full moon.
Spitsnogle’s canvas appeared on the big screen throughout the evening, giving viewers glimpses of its evolution. Her intention with this, and every Husker painting, is to commemorate the moment for everyone involved.
“This painting is an appreciation to the fans. Even though we did lose the game, people keep showing up for the next game and the game after that,” Spitsnogle said. “It brings them back to that special moment.”
This live painting event is just one chapter in the larger story of Spitsnogle’s intersection of art and sport. Born in Odell, just north of the Kansas border, she has been a Husker fan since birth.
Her parents were farmers, and Spitsnogle spent her early years helping around the farm. Her childhood companion was Lightning, a stout Shetland pony. The family refrigerator doubled as her art gallery, cluttered with taped drawings of unicorns, horses and mermaids.
Spitsnogle graduated with an art degree while playing basketball at Doane College in 2008. After graduation, she earned a spot in a rigorous master’s program at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy.
There, she painted for eight hours each day around the Italian city. Her work was critiqued by top-tier professors, including one who collaborated with Jeff Koons, famed for his metallic balloon animal sculptures. Florence marked a turning point. “After realizing I loved painting every day, all day, I knew I wanted to be an artist,” she said.
Spitsnogle’s first major professional work came when she illustrated Josh the Baby Otter, a children’s book promoting water safety. The book sold over a million copies worldwide and led to a partnership with the Michael Phelps Foundation.
In addition to her commissioned work and gallery exhibitions, she began live painting at major events across Nebraska. In 2016, she painted at the Cattlemen’s Ball in front of 5,000 people. Her auctioned work sold for $8,000 to raise funds for cancer research, an event she participated in until 2021.
Spitsnogle created one of her most moving pieces, “Nebraska Strong,” for the Cattlemen’s Ball in Columbus in 2019. Following the devastating floods that March, the painting honors the resilience of Nebraskans and the support from neighboring states, who brought truckloads of hay to farmers who had lost cattle, land and livelihoods during the crisis.
She also painted portraits of legendary figures like Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1972, and boxer Terence “Bud” Crawford after his historic 2022 win against the undefeated Errol Spence.
Crawford wanted to purchase the painting and offered to take photos with fans and sign prints, arranging a meet-and-greet at his home gym in North Omaha, B&B Sports Academy.
“People came from Western Nebraska over five hours away to hang out with Terence Crawford at the boxing ring. It was something people will never forget,” Spitsnogle said.
When fans witness her paintings, they don’t just see a moment in time – they feel their own nostalgic experiences of shared victories, ingrained in paint forever. “My art is capturing history that will live on past me,” she said.
Another transcendental piece, “Last Tunnel Walk,” is a moving tribute to Husker greats Brook Berringer and Sam Foltz. Berringer, who tragically died in a plane crash in 1996, leads Foltz, who was killed in a car crash in 2016, into the light at the end of Nebraska’s famed Tunnel Walk.
In 2018, Spitsnogle painted this emotional piece live at an event for Heartfelt Incorporated, a grief support organization. Foltz’s parents attended and watched her paint.
“This painting was emotionally heavy. Honoring these Husker men is something that’s bigger than me,” Spitsnogle said. Two original prints now hang in Memorial Stadium.
Although she is renowned for her sports-themed realism, there’s another side to Spitsnogle’s canvases at her Elkhorn studio. Abstract painting is where her brush finds freedom.
Some see elegant dancers in her swirling, splattered strokes; others, a winding river cascading down a mountain. “I’m really drawn to the emotional state abstract can evoke for people,” Spitsnogle said. “Each person has different life experiences and a different interpretation.”
This interpretive dance with the canvas contrasts sharply with the detailed nature of her realism imagery. Both approaches are essential to her creative process.
An acrylic painting, “Black Beauty,” depicts a powerful close-up of a black horse on canvas, each brushstroke angled to perfection. For now, she simply paints the horses. She hopes to someday own one again and ride through the prairies outside of Elkhorn.
“I can make something really good in a short amount of time,” Spitsnogle said about her live paintings. “That’s a talent I don’t want to waste.”
Giclée and original prints are available online, while her original canvases are displayed at her Elkhorn gallery on Main Street. For die-hard Husker fans, the iconic Husker Hounds shop on South 84th Street in Omaha doubles as Spitsnogle’s gallery.
Spitsnogle is excited to continue pushing the limits of her art and performing for larger crowds. “I want to keep painting at bigger events and capturing those special Husker moments as they arise,” she said.
As Johnny Rodgers once told her, she captures history with her brushstrokes. By preserving the spirit of Nebraska sports, Spitsnogle not only leaves her mark on the canvas but on the hearts of Husker fans worldwide.
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