It was the final Saturday of the 2015 College World Series and downtown parking was a nightmare. This is not a story about sports (or parking), however. In a parking lot on __ street, a canvas tent houses the beginnings of a band setting up, while outside chairs surround an area marked off by police […]
Visual Arts Feature
‘You Are Here’
Having visited the South Omaha studio of artist Watie White a few times in the past, I was surprised on my most recent foray to encounter a new object dominating the space: a long table (actually, three tables lined up end to end) composed of reclaimed wood (flooring, doors, etc.) and seemingly waiting for a […]
Renewable Energy
(Editor’s note: In May, The Reader published Part One of an article on Artist Sustainability. It focused mainly on seminars, workshops and courses in professional and business practices that Metro arts venues and colleges offer pre-emerging and emerging artists. Metro Community College and The Union for Contemporary Arts, and several students, artists and staffs were […]
Artists! Sustain Thyself!
(Artist Sustainability: In April, Reader ran a feature on sustainable art, that is, art dedicated to drawing attention to social, economic and environmental issues. Beginning in May, we are publishing a two-part story on an issue even nearer and dearer to all in the creative class, artist sustainability. Part one below concentrates on non-degree colleges, […]
Fine Art of Sustainability
“Sustainable is the new green.” At least that is what arts writer David Grant wrote last month in the Huffington Post. So, what else is new? Doesn’t everyone know by now that agriculture, architecture and even financial investments have taken up the banner? Maybe. But Grant went on to say that sustainability is so pervasive […]
Secret Garden
Omaha artist Kristin Pluhacek has a Secret Garden. No, It’s not an unknown, unseen plot of annual or perennial “city flowers.” Nor is it a hidden cache of her popular botanical drawings that have made Pluhacek one of the most popular visual artists in the Metro. Her “secret” is a hothouse group of figure drawings […]
‘Sexperts’ Agree!
It’s true that artists aren’t exactly “sexperts,” at least not in a scientific or academic manner. Yet neither are they foreign to sex whether they eroticize, satirize or romanticize the subject in the medium of choice. No matter the approach, in a society increasingly more politically correct, surveilled and censored, we often turn to artists […]
North Omaha Arts Crawl to feature diverse visual and perfoming artists
Friday, August 8 […]
Bemis Reboot
Since the Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts’ inception in 1981, the venue has been led by only four directors. These include its co-founder Ree Schonlau, currently on its board, who along with husband, artist Jun Kaneko, founded the institution that bears his name just down the block on Jones Street. In 2001 Al Harris-Fernandez, now […]
Summer Arts Preview
If staycations are in your future this summer, the visual arts have something to offer locally other than softball, a crowded community pool and yet another summer blockbuster at a movie complex. There are a plethora of exhibitions on the docket, but key arts venues also offer hands-on learning activities, lectures and panels, even a […]
