According to Tim Barry, Building Manager at Hot Shops Art Center, the building is intact as long as it doesn’t rain. “Our problem is that when the streets flood, there’s water in the boiler room … Every time it rains, Public Works and the engineers come out and work around the clock to fix it up.”
June 25th’s heavy storm caused the closing of the Center briefly; Omaha Public Works pumped it out within 12 hours. Barry says there has been water in the blacksmith studio, but no damage to any art; and they do not anticipate water in any galleries, unless the levees break. The main issue is that when the street floods, artists cannot get in the studio to work, and customers can’t get in to visit. Barry keeps instant updates on the Hot Shops website, hotshopsartcenter.com.
Princesse X by Constantin Brancusi, owned by the Sheldon Museum of Art, is currently in Switzerland at Foundation Beyeler. The sometimes controversial sculpture, potentially read as sexually explicit yet abstract, is featured in a show dedicated to the artist alongside his contemporary, sculptor Richard Serra.
In June, the University of Nebraska Medical Center College Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health introduced their newly decorated digs. It features artwork by Nebraska artists such as Steve Roberts and Mark Gilbert, signifying the connection of the humanities and health. Paintings, portraits, sculptures and glass pieces now celebrate the opening of this building, the first new college at UNMC since 1968.