One more thing

Remember I said I had my photo snapped while at the Edison Winter Estates while I was in Florida? Well, here's the result. That's me on the left and my friendly (and very tall) coworker Ann on the right. We're hanging out in front of a very cool early Model T.

Artsy Food

My sister's friend and, by association my friend, Lainey (an awesome amateur outfit photographer as seen on my sister's blog Only Style Remains the Same) has a food blog.

The only thing I love more than art and fashion is eating.

Cheers!

http://foodeatenlifelived.blogspot.com/

Happy Friday

Hello, everyone. I'm back from Florida. Never did see any art, but did spend a morning on a rather lovely beach before I left. Took a boat about 25 minutes from my resort to an island; the beach was chockablock with shells. I picked up a few and was reminded both of the power of the ocean - which never fails to scare me a little bit - and the beauty of what it spit out at my feet every few seconds. I guess you could call that art, huh?

Meantime. Here's some actual art news.

I got an email from Peter Burr this morning. He's a former Bemis resident who put on a great show when he was in town along with his band Hooliganship. Now he's coming back to town as part of a new project: the Cartune Xprez wagon, a travelng show of cartoons and video performances. Burr and his collaborators just finished a new movie called the 2008 Cartune Xprez DVD; its his second video compilation with this group. The traveling show will bring a group of cartoon performers around the country, including performances by Hooliganship and videos by Bruce Bickford, Takeshi Murata, Adrian Freeman, Blu, Martha Colburn, Paper Rad, Shana Moulton, Timo Katz, Emanuele Bortoluzi, Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver, Eric Dyer, Ola Vasiljeva, Jeff Kricshun, Corey Lunn, E*Rock, Mumbleboy, Tars Hrabowsky, Lief Hall, Josh Mannis, Jim Trainor, Christopher Doulgeris and Burr himself. The animation party comes to Concordia University in Seward on Sept. 10 and to the Bemis Center in Omaha on Sept. 11.

I'm sure most of you have heard that artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude are coming to Omaha for a Sept. 16 lecture at the Kaneko on their two new projects. I'm interviewing them on Monday for a story in The Reader the week before the lecture, which I am looking forward to hearing. I'll be posting a sort of Q&A style rundown of the interview in the blog, and hopefully will be able to include more than I can in the newspaper.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Florida

So I apologize for the lack of posting recently. I've been traveling again - currently, I'm in Bonita Springs, Florida, for a conference for my day job. I haven't seen much art here - honestly, all I've seen is bad resort hotel art. But I did get to visit a cool place the night before last: the Edison Ford Winter Estate. Both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford lived in Edison's compound here in South Florida, and now it's a historic landmark. I have to say the coolest part was seeing Edison's untouched lab where he spent years trying to invent an alternative to rubber. It was truly amazing. Sadly, I left my camera in Omaha, so I don't have any of my own images. (The official photographer for the conference I'm attending did take my photo in front of an old Model T, so when he emails it to me, I might post it. If I look presentable, that is.)

I get home tomorrow and hopefully will have another post for you to read this weekend. Until then, happy Tuesday.

A post that doesn't have much to do with art. (but kind of does.)

One of my favorite features in the New York Times each week is "On The Street," where iconic times photographer Bill Cunningham takes photos of street style in the city. There's a ton of street style sites on the internet these days, but Cunningham is truly the original. His narration is lively and fun and his photographs capture the real vibe of NY city's streets.

A recent "On The Street" was about scarves. Anyone who knows me knows that I have an absolute fascination with scarves. I wear them in all seasons, all weather, all prints, all the time. The first time I wore one in the summer was about two seasons ago - I had on a white tank top and a lime green pashmina around my neck. I remember a boy I knew looked at me, with a puzzled stare, and asked "Why in hell are you wearing a scarf in the summer?" It's all about style, my boy. Style.

During my travels, I often come home with a bag of brochures from museums and either wearing or toting a new scarf. Case in point: three vintage Vera scarves came home from Chicago with me. In Pittsburgh, I got a striped cashmere wrap on ultra sale. In Las Vegas, it was a green and white plaid cotton scarf with accents of yellow. Someday, I hope to own a classic silk Hermes scarf, along with the book it comes with on, what else? The art of scarf knotting.

On The Street: Muffled

Some openings

Opera Omaha continues its recent tradition of working with artists in its latest collaboration. The Opera commissioned artist Waite White to create images for the world premiere performance of The Blizzard Voices by composer Paul Moravec. The show is based on the poetry of former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and is a retelling of the dramatic story of the blizzard of 1888. White illustrated characters and scenes from the poetry that will be projected on large screens during the performances. At left is one of his drawings, called "The Search Party."

White has an accompanying show on display at the Nebraska Arts Council's Fred Simon Gallery, where he's showing a new series of work, titled PULP, as well as bold, vibrant oil paintings inspired by everyday life. In a statement, White said he explores the relationship between the subject, its surroundings and how it relates to art in his work. He draws inspiration from impressionism, realism and contemporary culture.

The Blizzard Voices runs Sept. 12 at the Holland Performing Arts Center and Sept. 13 at the Arts Center at Iowa Western Community College. For more information on tickets, visit www.operaomaha.org. The NAC Fred Simon show continues through Sept. 12.

If you've ever wondered about the origins of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben (and honestly, I have) a new show at the Durham Museum will answer some of your questions. Dawn in Quivira: The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, 1895-1900 chronicles the beginning of the group, which went on to become one of the most influential organizations in the region. The show tells the story of the foundation of the Knights, the ascent of the monarchy and the group's eventual contributions to Omaha and the state of Nebraska. Several prominent businessmen banded together in the late 1800s with the mission of attracting people to Omaha, and eventually assimilated the Spanish myth of Quivira, a legendary kingdom containing seven cities of gold. From this mythology came the royal house of Ak-Sar-Ben with its ceremony, coronation and pageantry. The organization also spearheaded the creation of the Nebraska State Fairs. The show is the first in a series of Ak-Sar-Ben Hall of Fame Exhibitions that will be at Durham; this one is on display through Nov. 9.

Quilts as art (and other musings)

Today I'll get my second lesson in quilting. My significant's aunt is a fantastic quilter and has agreed, while she's in town for a few weeks this summer, to give me a quilting tutorial, which she promises I'll be successful at. (She teaches kindergartners how to quilt; so I had best not be a failure.) I've already amassed two yards each of seven coordinating fabrics, most of which are reproduction prints of styles first made in the 1870s, 1930s and 1940s. Today, in preparation for slicing them, I've washed, pressed and starched each piece of cloth. I'll post my first block when I finish making it (and yes, I know this isn't a craft blog. But there's some art to the world of handicrafts, trust me.)

I've long been a lover of "crafts," and though I've not always excelled at my crafty girl efforts, I find much solace in the idea of making something with my hands: I sure as hell can't make a painting, but you want a hand knit wool hat? I'm your girl.

I taught myself to knit a few years ago, and I mostly stick to scarves (I love a hand knit scarf more than many things) though I've made mittens, hats and other wooly goods, too. Quilting has also always appealed to me, but I've never taken the plunge. I think the opening of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln earlier this year pushed me toward finally taking more interest in the idea of making a quilt by hand. The heirloom, vintage quality of a hand stitched, beautifully matched series of patterned fabrics appeals to my love of all things old, to my admitted vintage sensibility. Quilts as art used to seem an odd pairing to me; now, those two words together make more sense. Quilts, like most art, are best appreciated in person, but I think you'll see a little bit of what I mean when you take a gander at the photos below. I don't aim to create anything this grand, especially in my first attempt, but hey. A girl can dream.

(These are all log cabin quilts. It's the style I plan to make.)

above: Log cabin quilt made of wool suiting and gabardine, around 1930-1940

above: Pennsylvania quilt, dating from 1870-1890, made of suiting, serge and wool gabardine

above: Pennsylvania quilt from 1865-1895, made of wool. All images courtesy UNL's International Quilt Study Center.

I'm back...

So I've been away for a week or so, I know. My day job, freelance work and travel have made it hard for me to post, but I'll make up for it with some images, a few stories and some notable openings in today's post. If you're curious as to where I've been, well, I've been doing a lot of back and forth between my home office in Omaha and my real office in Lincoln for my day job. When I get home, I'm beat. This weekend, I was in Chicago for Lollapalooza and some relaxing fun - the trip was a Christmas present to my significant. So there you are. On to some art.

First, two openings I'm excited about and two events I plan to attend. Both, coincidetally, capture images -- though vastly different ones -- of Nebraska.

Artist Keith Jacobshagen is showing Journals of the Days at Lauritzen Gardens, and the show includes 20 of his sketches and journal entries from field notebooks. I love Jacobshagen’s beautiful Nebraska landscape paintings; so for me, this is a can’t miss show. He’ll give a lecture on Aug. 21 at 6:30 p.m. about his journaling process, which lead to his final works of art. The lecture is $10 for the general public and free for art students with ID. Reservations are required; make them by calling 346.4002, extension 201. (I'm making a note to be sure and attend this one.)

Another artist whose work I quite like has a show opening in Lincoln’s Great Plains Art Museum. Michael Farrell’s Hinterlands runs at the gallery, 1155 Q St., through October. The show of gelatin prints includes images from Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado from the remote locations Farrell most favors: low population, stark landscape, inaccessibility and a void of tourists are the types of places he photographs. "These are parts of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado where you can spend an entire day on back country roads or trails and not see another person,” he said. “These places, even though they appear rugged or harsh, are also fragile environments that may not survive, as we experience them now, too far into the future." The show will open officially on Lincoln’s September 5 First Friday, from 5-7 p.m. At left is one of his images of Nebraska. Starkly beautiful, no?

Blogging, though a somewhat time consuming pursuit, can also lead to some unexpected connections. Since I revived Week Fifty Two, I've been in touch with a pair of editors working on a new volume of essays exploring the work of one of my favorite artists, Chris Ware. I've also received an email from friend and Omaha artist Kenneth Adkins, who told me that not only has he relocated to Rhode Island, he's also opening a show this month at Gallery 070 in Vashon Island, Washington. I'm hoping to post a question and answer session with the Ware editors and a ful update on Adkins and his new work on the blog in the coming month. And because I couldn't wait to show a new piece of Adkins, here's the image from the postcard he sent me in the mail. Enjoy.

Farrell image "Nebraska" courtesy of the Great Plains Art Center. Kenneth Adkins "Study for the Hamburger Lady, 2008, mixed media, 8x10" courtesy of Gallery 070.