When I think about time, I’m almost always thinking about how I don’t have enough of it, I wish it were a different time or that I’m worried that I might run out of time.
The new show at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art aims to force me out of such pragmatic thoughts of time. Viewers will likely appreciate this effort, though they’ll have to devote quite a bit of their own time to figure it out.
spurse: MATR (Mobile Apparatus for Temporality Research) is an installation created by the spurse collective, a group of artists scattered around the world. The group, through its work, endeavors to create a laboratory where it can figure out problems related to the world’s “deep and rapid time.” Members undertake this through art using the creation of clothing and dwellings, or through deciphering the “politics of sense.”
As any person of color will tell you, the politics of race brands racial minorities with stereotypes that serve to isolate, diminish and exclude them.
In America, perceptions of what it means to be black or to be a particular shade of black carry the baggage of history and popular culture. Distortions abound. Media portrayals reinforce certain stereotypes.
Artist and University of Colorado art instructor Francoise Duresse, a native Haitian who has lived and worked all over the world, has navigated societies that use skin color as a basis for stratifying, classifying people in caste systems. Her experience of “differentness” and her search for “personal identity” as a stranger in strange lands is something she often explores in her art. She looks at how “colorism” acts as a litmus test for inclusion/exclusion, acceptance/denial.
* The Nebraska Arts Council and Wayne State College recently announced a new public art project; artists are being invited to submit their qualifications. The WSC Seymour Heritage Plaza Project will remodel an existing exterior plaza area and enhance the campus for use of the space, including a seating/study space and a performance platform. The plaza, part of a larger green-space upgrade, will include a sculpture walk with existing artwork. WSC and the NAC are seeking artists to plan and design the remodeling. The project is open to artists from Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Colorado and Wyoming. The project proposal deadline is Aug. 21, the budget is $50,000. For more information, contact J.D. Hutton, at 595.2142.
* The summer season of art shows begins with a performance piece at the Bemis Center. ætherplough: knives out is described as “equal parts ancient Greek tragedy, noir thriller, reality television and postmodern dance.” ætherplough is a performance company founded by artists Thom Sibbitt, Susann Suprenant, Sarah Carlson-Brown and Vince Carlson-Brown. Its mission is to create, produce and present contemporary performance in Omaha. These usually include writers, musicians, performance and visual artists. knives out will feature floating furniture, knives-out toys and an obstacle course that “(mis)remembers the process of finding one’s way home.”
It’s not often that the façade of an Omaha arts organization undergoes such a dramatic transformation as the Joslyn Art Museum did last weekend.
The grand opening of Joslyn Art Museum’s Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden is a project nearly three decades and millions of dollars in the making, and it’s significantly changed how the museum welcomes visitors. It’s a shift not just visually, but a statement on the museum’s future.
After months of construction, the Joslyn’s changed street presence is the first thing a visitor notices: no longer is the front of the museum fully visible from Dodge St. Instead, drivers get a view of a tall grey wall and a tantalizing glimpse into a verdant garden. Driving around the block to 23rd Street is now the only way to access the parking lots, which have been relocated to the northeast side of both the garden and the buildings.
* Omaha artist Jess Benjamin is showing new work at the RNG Gallery. Her show Paradox of Value opens Saturday, June 13, and the work is inspired by research she did at Kingsley Dam, on Lake McConaughy near Benjamin’s hometown in Ogallala. The sculptures are based on the jackstones at the base of the dam that became exposed as Nebraska plunged deeper into drought. A jackstone — a reinforced concrete tetrahedron — works as an interlocking strength wall when pared with other jackstones. Benjamin’s work has always been based on her Nebraska history, and in this series she aims to explore a symbol of strength while exposing the fragile balance between man and nature. The show opens from 7-10 p.m. at RNG Gallery, 20th and Leavenworth, and continues through July 12.
Before Christian Lind draws the first muddy outlines of his drawing on the ground, he knows he’s in for some punishment. He’ll have to work nine hours straight to reinvent a painting square-by-square until he’s finally unable to concentrate. He is sunburned. On his nails and fingertips, the chalk has mixed with spots of his blood.
In a day or so, as everyone understands, his work will disappear as wind, footsteps and rain take turns banishing it. Lind, frankly, couldn’t be happier about his hobby.
“I love sitting in front of a crowd and making these big pictures and people kind of stand back, stand in awe of what you’re doing … that’s why I do it, for the exhibition, for the fun of it,” he said.
Omaha artist Mike Scheef — who I’d call a “wrestling connoisseur” — is broadening his horizons. After completing and publishing his book 1000 Wrestlers, he has a new art show opening this week. Jewish Wrestling Champions is a series of large-scale portraits on display at the Jewish Community Center gallery, 333 S. 132nd St. The exhibit also features portraits from his book, some of which were featured in the Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler. Opening reception is Sunday, June 7, 2-4 p.m. For more information, call 334.6564. — Sarah Baker
OMAHA * Artists Cooperative Gallery, 405 S. 11th St., 342.9617 — Work by Jim Brummel, Lori Elliott-Bartle, Tom Hamilton and Jean Mason. Opens June 6.
* Dundee Gallery, 4916 Underwood Ave., 505.8333 — Ceramicist John Dennison and painter Paula Wallace show new work at the gallery June 5 through June 14.
* Hot Shops Art Center, 1301 Nicholas St., 342.6452 — Art of the Subconscious and work by Ben Allen both open June 5.
Adam Frelin’s Diviner ‘talks about the weather’ at Bemis
by Sarah Baker
When you live in Nebraska, you know two things: The weather is a big topic of conversation and it’s often unpredictable.
Adam Frelin’s sculpture and film installation Diviner, on display at the Bemis Center, serves as a timely reminder of both. Frelin, a former Bemis resident, shot the 18-minute film during the tumultuous summer of 2008 when the state saw lots of tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods and even what amounted to a land hurricane. The images serve as a backdrop for Joe, the film’s main character, a man with a special interest in weather and its unpredictability.
A teacher at the University of Albany, Frelin lives in Troy, New York, and has held numerous residencies around the country. Bemis Curator Hesse McGraw said that while he was in Omaha, Frelin was taken by the drama of Nebraska weather, and his film captures the human side of what Mother Nature sometimes confers.
* My computer crashed on my way home from Miami, and I haven’t recovered anything. My column on what I saw in the city is somewhere in the depths of my PC. Now I know why people become Macs.
Anyhow, this weekend I have a bunch of friends coming into town and I’m planning to take them on the tour of Omaha Open Studios. A bunch of talented artists are participating: Scott Blake, Joe Broghammer, Dana Damewood, Wanda Ewing, Skyelar Hawkins, Rebecca Herskovitz, Bill Hoover, Mike Loftus, Joey Lynch, Tim McEvoy, Caolan O’Loughlin, Kim Reid Kuhn and The Kent Bellows Center for Visual Art. The free event runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 30, and includes friendly pets and snacks along the way. It’s a great way to travel at your own speed to the studios you’re most interested in, and trust me, there’s nothing better than talking to a creative person while in the space where the magic happens. As with most events, there’s a Facebook event page on facebook.com. If you’re somehow not on Facebook, the organizers also provided a comprehensive Google map at: maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=112178339313793373318.00046955afd204f089940.
Tugboat features ceramics from UNL professors and students
by Nancy Petitto
New Masters and Mentors takes three University of Nebraska-Lincoln Masters of Fine Arts ceramists and pairs them with three professors whom the new masters primarily worked with during graduate school.
The exhibition at Tugboat Gallery is sparse, but striking, featuring impeccably made sculpture pieces.
Sarah Blitz, a “new master,” has previously shown her sculpture at Tugboat. I’ve seen and reviewed it, and it’s just as good the second time around. In the front gallery, she shows three wall pieces that resemble eyes, ears and mouths. In a second gallery, she shows a few pieces that I’ve seen before and again found very intriguing. The sculptures resemble antlers and are mounted on each side of a doorway wall — making it seem as if each horn is growing out of the wall in both directions. Blitz’s work is nature oriented and quite different from other pieces in this show.
I’m in Miami, Florida, this week, and I’ll have a review of some of what I’ve seen for next week’s column. But, as I’m currently away, this column is devoted to cluing readers in on a few ongoing shows and recent openings.
Local photographers with international reputation show at Nomad
by Sally Deskins
Photographers Scott Drickey, Chris Machian and Bill Sitzmann met while shooting for Omaha Magazine last year, and decided to travel together to the South by Southwest music festival in Austin. Soon they became Minor White Studios, a “creative content collective,” according to Drickey.
The trio’s portfolio includes national publications and corporations such as Elle Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Sony Records, Lifetime for Women, Verizon Wireless, First National Bank and Saddle Creek Records. Minor White also has strong connections with Omaha Magazine, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and Nomad Lounge, the host of their current exhibition.
* The Durham Museum is taking another fun look into Omaha’s history this summer. The museum’s River City History Tours provide four separate trolley tours to different spots in Omaha’s history. Omaha circa 1869, in the time of gambling dens, saloons, brothels and other places of ill repute, is the focus of one tour. On another, explore South Omaha and learn the history of the stockyards and the stories of immigrants who worked in the packinghouses, breweries and smelting plants. North Omaha’s jazz heritage flourished during the 1950s, and one tour focuses on its heritage and culture, as well as the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exhibition. Finally, learn about the west Omaha of the early 1900s, where many of the city’s early residents built homes in the Gold Coast neighborhood; the Joslyn Castle, the Mercer Mansion and the homes built by Gottlieb Storz will be highlights. Many of the tours include lunch or dinner, and they run all summer long. Tours without meals are $15, $10 for Durham Museum members; prices vary for those including meals. For a full schedule and prices for the River City History Tours, visit durhammuseum.org.
Jun Kaneko’s bold sculptures and paintings on display at Sheldon
by Nancy Petitto
Jun Kaneko knows how to make a statement. The Omaha-based artist will have his internationally recognized, sculptural dangos — the Japanese word for dumpling — on display in the Great Hall of the Sheldon Museum of Art beginning in early May.
A second Kaneko show, consisting of paintings, opens on the heels of the first, making it a Kaneko-filled summer on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.
The dangos — ranging from three to seven feet tall — can be almost overwhelming.
“The first time I saw them it really made an impact,” said Sheldon collections curator Sharon Kennedy. “I saw a lot of them all together, seven and nine-foot dangos. It’s a very impressive sight.”
* Entrepreneurs’ Organization of Nebraska commissioned Omaha artist Scott Blake to create a special installation piece for next weekend’s annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder events. The work, to be displayed for those attending the May 2 EO Black and White Ball, is an interactive barcode Warren Buffett. In the piece, Blake projects all the Berkshire Hathaway-owned companies on a screen, which responds to the barcode Buffett portrait. In typical Blake style, users can scan a code in Buffet’s face and the screen will respond: If a user happens to scan a barcode related to Coca-Cola, a glass of soda fizzes on screen and shows related company facts. Although the work will only be shown at the private event, those who follow Blake on Facebook or barcodeart.com can see his progression on the piece; he regularly posts updates of works in progress.
Pulp’s first show in passageway space reveals a good fit
by Sarah Baker
The new Pulp Gallery space is quintessential Old Market. In the lower level of the passageway space, the gallery sits in some prime Omaha real estate: across from V. Mertz Restaurant and smack in the middle of a bunch of other equally artsy retailers and quality restaurants.
Exposed bricks and the signature sounds of the Old Market in the evening make the space feel alive; all of the Old Market bays have a history, so it makes sense that the new space is so much of what Pulp has become in its new incarnation.
Owner Brigitte McQueen transported her store from Benson to downtown without changing much. The cards and gifts cover the north side of her space and the art gallery is on the south side. The bar remained at the back of the space, as in Benson, and although there’s less natural light, there’s atmosphere to spare.
* The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts broke its record for number of residency program applicants. Three hundred and seventy-eight artists applied for the January–June 2010 spots. The previous record, set during the last application period, which ended in February 2008, had 357 applicants. The residents are April Behnke, Washington, D.C, who draws, paints and creates installation work; Michael Caines, Brooklyn, N.Y., painter; Echo Eggebrecht, Brooklyn, NY, painter; Andrew Demirjan, Palisades Park, NJ, video installations; Elizabeth Ferrill, Providence, RI, printmaker; Ben KinsleyHenrijs Preiss, London, United Kingdom, painter; Nathan Ritterpusch, Brooklyn, NY, paints, draws; Don Won Shin, South Korea, ceramics and installation artist; Lenore Thomas, Pittsburg, PA, printmaker, painter, draws; Christina West, Waukesha, WI, culptor; Angela Zimmarelli, Northampton, MA, video and site-specific installation artist. Since its inception in 1985, the Bemis residency program has supported more than 500 hundred artists.
Bob Hall displays different styles in Project Room show
by Billy DeFrain
Famous comic artist Bob Hall started drawing to pay the bills. Viewers wouldn’t know that, though, by looking at Hall’s work, on display at Lincoln’s Project Room Gallery through April.
Hall’s original art, with heavy use of shadows and minimal use of lines, evokes the darkened cityscapes of film noir more than the brightly saturated hues of conventional superhero stories. Some of his work might surprise those unfamiliar with comic art outside of the mainstream.
Hall moved to New York City in 1972 to pursue a theater career. He soon realized many aspiring dramatists had two lives. They spent their days in an office and their nights in the theater, often never breaking out of the grind.
* Spring is definitely in the air. I for one couldn’t be more excited to welcome a new season along with a new location for one of the city’s coolest galleries. Pulp is now downtown, and opening its doors Friday. Sprout! A Fresh New Crop of Emerging Artists is Brigitte McQueen’s first show in her new space, in the lower level of the Old Market Passageway at 1026 Howard St. Full of almost all new artists, the show is a perfect one for her new beginning and the opening is sure to be packed. The opening runs Friday, April 17, from 7-10 p.m. and admission is free. Visit p-u-l-p.com for more information.
