Shane Bainbridge, Matt Linder and Shawn Bainbridge of New BLK. Photo by Andrea Ciurej.

While Omaha artists are working together to build awareness about their industry, a divide remains between the creative class’ so-called starving artists and commercial designers.

Although they share the same playground, those who sacrifice their material well-being to focus on their artistry keep to local art galleries and museums, while those who create art for commercial purposes, such as advertising, stick to agencies of sorts.

This plants a red flag in the ground for the growing creative community, particularly for larger agencies.

“None of them really specialize in anything because they are full-service,” said Matt Linder, a former creative director at the Omaha-based ad agency OBI Creative. “It’s kind of unfortunately bucketed into agencies rather than people realizing that these smaller shops are niche and they have specialities that, when pooled together, are actually stronger than the main full-service agencies.”

Having been in the creative business for about 15 years, Shawn Bainbridge, who also worked at OBI, said there is a desire for all artists alike to co-exist.

“You want artists to be able to have the freedom to come here and have a nice space to showcase their work,” Bainbridge said. “You also want the Omaha community to be able to come to a place on the regular where they’re stimulated by work and promotes thought, conversation and debate.”

Together, Linder and Bainbridge, along with former OBI creatives Shane Bainbridge (Shawn’s brother), Eric Gautschi and Jon Hustead, set out to bridge the gap between the fine- and commercial-art worlds by starting a creative think tank of their own, New BLK (called the “New Black”), located in the 0ld Krug Brewing Co. building at 1213 Jones Street.

“We all believed that we wanted to do something together and we all believed the right way for us to do that is to collectively go own something together,” Shane Bainbridge said. “We basically had faith that as a group we were all capable and willing to do this together as owners.”

The idea of starting the agency, which opened June 2010, began after attending Silicon Prairie News’ Big Omaha conference. 

“All of the people out there [were] doing great things and we just sort of said, ‘We’ve been thinking about doing something like this,’” Shawn said. “‘If not now, when? If not us, who?’”

Shawn said their self-funded agency professes in brand storytelling through video, narrative and design.

“We like the brands that already have a natural story to tell and they’re good at what they do, they’re successful, but they might not be on top of their game,” he said. “They’re pushing on top of the big gorilla in the room.”

The five-man team’s registry of clients already includes the United Football League and Havana Garage, among others. As for who their ideal client is, the agency isn’t industry-specific.  

“They might’ve been around a while, maybe didn’t do a whole lot of marketing, but want to kind of step up into the technology age and modernize their brand,” Shawn said. “We just like to kind of amplify and extend the true story of the company.”

New BLK members continue to work through OBI Creative, as well.

“We still work for them on their clients, we still work as a vendor for their clients and those projects are still rolling in,” Shane said. “We’re doing great work together and they’re continuing to hire us.”

While serving as a hub for commercial art, New BLK is also home to an art gallery for local artists to showcase their work. The art gallery is a way for the agency to carry out their mission of connecting the fine-art and commercial-art worlds under one roof.

“You want to believe that if you can treat the fine artist the same way you treat the commercial artist, the fine artist is going to boss him out business,” Shane said. “If you treat the commercial art the same way you treat the fine art, the commercial art is going to get better.”

(Shawn Bainbridge speaks with Omaha artist Joel “Mighty” Damon at New BLK. Photo by Andrea Ciurej.)

New BLK has an open-door policy: all artists are welcome. And, along with the gallery, they hope to build a presence by creating an official Omaha First Friday Gallery Walk, as well as build partnerships with local galleries and agencies.

“Everything we’re working on is something we take home with us,” Shawn said. “We’d like to grow a little bit, but just keep doing good work.”

Tonight, the New BLK will be hosting the opening of Respectacle: The Exhibition from 6 to 10 p.m. The exhibition, which runs until October 30, features 12 Omaha-based artists with concentrations in photography, painting, sculpting and  mixed media. The event is free and open to the public.

“This is just hopefully a snapshot of some of the best artists right here, right now, in Omaha,” Shane said.

Shawn Bainbridge works in New BLK’s gallery space. Photo by Andrea Ciurej.