Musings and a few links

I've been out of town for the past few days, in Phoenix, and I was actually glad to get back to Omaha for a few uninterrupted days (though I do have to travel to Kearney bright and early tomorrow morning.)

Here's some links to some of my recent writing.

Cover story on Larry the Cable Guy, Omaha Reader

Review of the Bloch Building, the new wing at Kansas City's Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

Review of Natalie Linstrom's show at the old Darkroom Gallery in downtown Omaha

I also recently checked out Kansas City's first Friday openings, and my review of that isn't posted online, but I posted it below in its entirety.

This week I'll be reviewing Sheldon Connections two, now on display in Lincoln and writing about the Bemis Center's new podcasts. I'll also be attending the opening of Dave Swensen's solo show at the Bemis Underground.

Other intriguing stuff: There's a show opening at Creighton's Lied Gallery of art inspired by the work of Ted Kooser. I'm also looking forward to this fall at the UNO Gallery now that Dan Siedell is on staff in Omaha. I'll also be writing in the coming weeks about a new group called Design Alliance Omaha, which aims to heighten all of our knowledge about architecture and the envoronment around us.

Meantime, here's my thoughts on KC's first Friday:

Kansas City's First Friday art openings are almost legendary in the Omaha arts community.

I've heard about them ever since I've written for the Reader, but I've never been able to time my annual KC summer trip to the right time. This year it finally happened, and I come to you with a full report – some good and some bad – on the city's bustling Crossroads District on First Friday.

The first thing you gotta know is that it's packed out. Thousands of people descend on a mile-wide area in downtown KC, the boundaries being 15th Street, Interstate 35, the Freighthouse district and Troost Ave. My sister and I were forewarned that the area surrounding 20 th street and Baltimore was the craziest part – the epicenter – and boy was that right.

The streets were teeming with people and the crowd, combined with the sauna-like August heat, made things a tad sweaty. In fact, the crowd was so big that people in essence formed a single-file line down the street, into each gallery door, through each gallery, back out the door and on to the next. It's not exactly an atmosphere for casual perusal.

I looked in vain for a glass of wine or a catered snack but none were in sight. One gallery owner told me in the past, vittles were part of the game, but the crowds have made it too expensive for most galleries to provide, so they stopped. Also, don't expect to go to the ladies room without a battle. In one gallery, I was met with a snide remark when I asked about facilities, and the lack of restrooms is apparently a common problem on First Friday. (Thanks to the gallery owner that took pity on me a few blocks later.)

That's the not so good.

But the good was really good. My sister and I loved – and I mean loved – the stretch of galleries, stores and coffee shops along 18th St. I was especially excited to spot Straw, Sticks and Bricks, the sustainable design outlet that also has a location in Lincoln. The street life was great – we saw a man taking photos for a Kansas City fashion magazine, a guy in red and black zebra print plastic pants doing some crazy dance moves on one corner and a café full of some hard core indie rockers; closer to 20th street we saw street vendors, a band using a street sign as an instrument and some politicos: one group supporting Ron Paul and a second supporting Bush impeachment.

The best art was at the Blue Gallery, (http://www.bluegalleryonline.com/) on 19th and Grand, but I also loved a store called Spool (http://www.ilovespool.com/) where I bought a really sweet horseshoe necklace made by Lawrence jewelry artist Kyle Grater. I'd recommend checking it out, if only to give a cool event some added support, something any arts community needs if it's going to continue to thrive.

It's been a while...

...but I'm back. The impending fall has me ready to write about art. (It also has me in the mood to wear boots and sweaters, but that's a different blog, yes?)
I'd been planning a special blog section to be plugged via my column in the Omaha Reader, and I'm thinking that this fall I may actually get that off the ground. So please stay tuned in the next few weeks.

Also, you can find me on Facebook these days much more than MySpace.

In non-art related news, I wrote a cover story for the Reader this week on Nebraska native Larry the Cable Guy. It's out of my element but it refreshed my writing skills. Check it out and let me know what you think.

New Job...

So as posted on my MySpace, I got a new job. Quite a few people have asked me about what the new job is, so for those who might be interested, here's some info: I'm now the PR coordinator for the state of Nebraska's Department of Travel & Tourism. This is my third week on the job. I'm working with all sorts of media people, both in and out of the state, and doing what I can to encourage them to write stories about our lovely state. I'll also be doing quite a bit of traveling, both in and out of the state.

I will still be doing all my freelance writing, so this site will continue to exist and hopefully, as things calm down and settle into a rhythm, I'll have time not only to regularly update but also to finally create some web-only content.

As for the freelancing, I have some non-art related assignments I'm working on as well as a review for Sculpture magazine, and hopefully one or two more for Review Magazine. Also, I'm doing some short story writing. I may or may not post that here; we'll see how it goes.

Thanks, as always, for reading, and please do feel free to leave comments or feedback.

A personal post...

I won't normally do such things on this site, but I want to do what I can to support a local organization.

I'm raising money for the MDA by "going to jail" at the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Wild Wild West Lock Up on April 24. (If you want to see me go to jail, you can do so at noon on that day at Jobber's Canyon in the Old Market.)

My bail has been set at $2,600, but whatever I can raise will be a great help. My "Bail Money" will go toward helping people with Muscular Dystrophy in Nebraska and southwest Iowa by providing them with clinic services, support groups an research grants. It will also help send a number of kids to a MD summer camp in Cozad, NE. MDA also funds research grants to help find treatments and cures for some 43 neuromuscular diseases that affect people of all ages in our community.

Any donation is tax deductible.

Thanks again for reading and for anything you can do to help me raise some money!

Click here to visit my Participant Page.

8 March 2007

-- The University of Nebraska at Omaha Gallery’s largest show of the year — the 2007 UNO Art Student Exhibition — runs through March 26. The juried show is open to any UNO student; submitted works include two and three-dimensional work and inter-media pieces. This year’s juror is Amy Nelson, a Sioux City, Iowa native, Creighton University graduate and concept-driven artist whose work manifests itself through installation, community involvement and ideas of political change. UNO also will unveil the Hexagon Installation Program, which will allow UNO art students to create a site-specific installation in the space each spring semester. This year’s work is Meander by Jason Pierce. He built a wall of light that winds through the gallery that interacts with viewers. For more information, call 554.2796.

-- The latest show at Lincoln’s Great Plains Art Museum focuses on Native American Art. The Journey Home: Native American Art Show features about 30 pieces that explore the spirit of Nebraska tribes — Winnebago, Omaha, Santee Sioux, Northern Ponca and Otoe-Missouria — as well as the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. The show is part of the Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission’s official commemoration of The Journey Home. Ernest Ricehill, a member of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes, curated the show. The exhibit also celebrates the reopening of the gallery, which closed after it was water damaged in January. The show continues through March 25 at the museum, 1155 Q St., in Lincoln. For more information, call 402.472.6220.

-- The latest show from Vera Mercer’s Moving Gallery features contemporary photography and video art from Berlin, Germany. Curated by Matthias Harder, who is also chief curator at the Helmut Newtown Foundation in Berlin, the show explores the change in Berlin pre- and post-fall of the Berlin Wall nearly two decades ago. The show runs through April 26 and is being held at the Old Market’s Artists Cooperative Gallery, 405 S. 11th St. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-8 p.m.

— Sarah Baker

Sketchbook is about artistry in the Omaha-Lincoln area. Email information to sketchbook@thereader.com.

Art Scene Iowa Cover Story

I co-wrote the cover story for the March issue of Art Scene Iowa about comic art. My third focuses on Chris Ware. Enjoy.

A superhero of his own kind

By Meghan Hackett

Batman has his utility belt, Superman’s chest is emblazoned with his stylized ‘S,’ and Captain America bears homage to the American flag. Whatever their iconic trait may be, superheroes are instantly recognizable, and have kept America feeling safe and protected since the introduction of Superman in 1938.

At the age of 11, Phil Hester, a nationally published comic book artist, realized that even superheroes need help. “As a kid, I always liked drawing and I was a big reader, especially of comics,” he says. “When I was 11, it finally dawned on me that there were actual people doing this. Comic books weren’t made in factories.”

His first introduction as a comic artist came as a sophomore at the University of Iowa. Besides working for nearly every comic book publisher in the last 20 years, Hester has created art for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, two of the country’s largest comic publishers. His art is featured in over 300 published works, and he’s experienced the iconic worlds of Batman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, the Hulk, the Creeper, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, and many more. His original character ‘The Wretch’ was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series in 1997.

His first major assignment with DC Comics was the comic book ‘Swamp Thing.’ “I’ve read ‘Swamp Thing’ since I was a kid. It’s my favorite character to draw,” says Hester. “I was so excited to get that offer, but also completely petrified. I never thought I’d live up to my expectations.”

A stay at home dad, Hester resides in North English with his wife and two children. He says the best part about his work is that he got to stay home with his kids when they were little. The second best part is being able to bring to life America’s favorite superheroes.

“I get to draw Captain America and Spider-Man. These are things that I’ve been dreaming about since the age of 12,” he says.

Creating characters that have supernatural strength or extrasensory perception is all part of his job, but for kids that read these comics, Hester’s a superhero of his own kind. “At a comic book convention, I’m relatively famous,” said Hester. “But once I take my name tag off and open the door to the street, I’m no one.”

“One of the greatest things about comic books to me is the personal relationship they create with the reader,” he says. “It’s different than watching TV or a movie; you have to read a comic book, actively creating that intimacy with the prose. But at the same time, they come out every month and you share them with thousands of other people who read them. Comics establish a personal relationship between the story and the reader and yet can still create a community, since it is mass media.”

Hester has also has made the occasional jump over from comic artist to writer. Going from drawing the character’s rippling muscles and toppling towers, to telling the inner conflict of the comic’s central character, seems like a daunting task.

“It keeps everything fresh for me,” he says. “Right now, I’m in a comfort zone as a penciler and I’m maybe at my peak in that aspect of the industry. If I ever need a recharge, I go back to writing and it starts up again.”

Hester says he never really knows when an idea will become the next great idea. “I’ll see a kernel of what would be a neat scene in an exchange of dialogue at Arby’s and I’ll take notes, and eventually it’ll become a full-fledged idea.”

If you’re ever passing through the town of North English, take a glance around, for your red high-heels or your fight with your little brother just may be the inspiration for Hester’s next comic.

Graphic novelist and art museum team up

By Sarah Baker

Omaha native and comic artist Chris Ware’s solo show at Lincoln’s Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery is one of the most engaging of this year, and for those who see it, will certainly hold that title throughout 2007.

Ware, who is alternately described as a cartoonist, a novelist, and sometimes just as an artist, is best known for his graphic novels Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000) and Quimby the Mouse (2002). This show explores his newest graphic novel, set in Omaha. The installation offers insight into Ware’s creative process and the multi-layered way in which he creates and thinks about his work.

His solo effort runs in tandem with Comic Art, a show focusing on the place that comics hold in today’s American art world and within American culture, and includes work from Enrique Chagoya, Jon E. Gierlich and S. Clay Wilson, Howard Finster, Red Grooms, Philip Guston, George Herriman, Roger Shimomura, Saul Steinberg, Art Spiegelman, and Walt Kelly.

Ware has been creating comics for many years, and says it’s a genre he continues to pursue through difficult times, both financially and critically.

“I truly believe comics, with their mixture of writing, art, and a kind of visual music, is a really powerful way of recreating human experience on paper, with all of its layers of meaning and contradiction,” he says. “I essentially worked for little or no pay for many years. I’ve now found myself able to support myself with what I do, and consequently, I find myself one of the luckiest people in the world.”

Ware wrote an essay for the Comic Art show catalog, and created a special gallery guide for his solo show.

“The gallery guide tries to differentiate between the original drawings and the actual printed work, since the printed page is where the real art of it — if there’s any at all — resides,” he said. “I guess it’s sort of like the difference between a manuscript of a musical composition, its published version, and then hearing a performance of the piece; in comics, the manuscript is the original drawing and the performance is the reader’s experience of reading the published book.”

More than 300 people attended the opening night, both to see the work and to hear Ware’s live discussion with Sheldon curator Dan Siedell, and more than 1,000 have checked out the event via the museum’s Web site. Posting the talk online is something new for Sheldon, and is part of its new initiative to take its programming to a global audience. So far, it’s a clear success: normally, the site draws about 400 unique visits a day. Ware said he is continually surprised — and pleased — by the ever-growing audience for comic art.

“I’m more than a little incredulous at what appears to be a genuine popularity of comics among more and more thoughtful readers,” he says. “But I have to think that’s partly due to my generation having grown up reading them and partly due to more talented and serious cartoonists working and writing now than ever before.”

Chris Ware and Comic Art will be on view through April 29 at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, 12th and R Streets. A few events surrounding the shows remain: At 2 p.m., Sunday, March 11, Sheldon’s Second Sunday Gallery walk will feature a discussion on comic art with artists Paul Fell and Bob Hall. At 10:30 a.m. on March 10 and 24, Sheldon will hold comic art workshops for 6th graders. For more information on these events, visit www.sheldon.unl.edu.

To view the webcast, visit www.unl.edu/unlpub/podcasts/videofiles/chrisware.mp4.

Conquering and saving the world
By Cathy Wilkie

Imagine you have a great tree house, and your friends come over everyday to talk comics, movies, music, and video games. Now, imagine that same tree house as ‘electronic,’ your friends are scattered throughout the Midwest, and your discussions lead to jobs with DC and Marvel Comics. That, in a nutshell, is Shocktrauma Studios — a loose collective of comic artists and writers who network with one another over the internet for ideas, job leads, and to collaborate on projects.

They came together gradually; it all started when The Des Moines Register ran an article about artist Phil Hester of North English. “A bunch of us Iowa artists were astonished to find that there were other folks doing this sort of thing, so eventually we all sought out each other and became brothers,” says Fredd Gorham, an Iowa native who now resides in Omaha, Nebraska.

They occasionally meet in real life for collaborations and ‘comic-cons’ (conventions), sharing not only the group name, but the exposure it’s brought them. “Those are grand times for us,” says Gorham, “we get to spend a weekend surrounded by the things we love and share the company of our friends.”

Over the years the ‘Shocktraumanauts’ (as they refer to themselves) have spread their influence in books like The Holy Terror, Swamp Thing, Clerks: The Lost Scene, Superman, The Simpsons, and gaming projects such as Society of Shadows. They proclaim that inking, drawing, or writing comics was what they were born to do.

“I think the fact that having grown up in rural Iowa during the 70s and 80s and finding little to do in a small town lead many of us to gravitate to comic books, which lead us to want to create stories and art in the medium we grew up loving,” says Jason Caskey of Milo, south of Indianola.

Caskey says it’s easy to make a living in the Midwest drawing comics. “In the age of the internet, Fed Ex, and multiple comic-cons nationwide, it’s no easier or harder to be from Iowa and to make it in comics than anywhere else.”

The internet has indeed helped them tremendously: they’re often contacted for pro assignments and fan commissions through their Web site (www.shocktraumastudios.com), and it proves an invaluable tool for networking. “In a career sense, most artists need networking in order to be in the loop when a project arises,” says Gorham. “Publishers are more likely to work with people they know (and trust to get things done) than to just hire someone unknown. It pays to be out there and have your name passed around.”

One case where ‘names were passed’ was the Iowa episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The show came to Gladbrook to build the Kibe family a new home; the producers discovered one of the boys lost his comic collection in a house fire. Producers contacted the Iowa Comic Book Club for donations; the ICBC went one better: they told the show there was a pro comic artist nearby, and Hester found himself painting a mural for the boy’s room featuring a custom superhero. “It was exhausting and stressful, but worth it,” says Hester, who called in fellow Shocktraumanauts Aaron Gillespie and Brook Turner to help finish in time.

The Shocktraumanauts frequently celebrate their victories and mourn their losses via their chat room, and they know how lucky they are that fans can access them via their Web site.

“The internet has vastly changed the comic book industry as a whole,” Caskey says. “I can’t think of any other entertainment industry where the big names are so accessible to the average fan. You can be into the most obscure characters or genres, yet instantly connect with countless people who share your passion.”

Hester agrees. “It’s a worldwide tree house for people to sit in and argue about Thor being tougher than Superman. It’s really quite beautiful.”

Boilin' Boots

by Sarah Baker

Nic Bartlett doesn’t want the shirt off your back. He wants the shoes off your feet. Bartlett, along with fellow artist and curator Rachel Ziegler, are kicking off their shoes, eh, their exhibition with a dance party before the art show even starts.

The Black Shoe Bash and Dance Party is a precursor to the duo’s show, Remainder, which opens in the Bemis Underground March 23.

The artists are asking dance party guests to bring a pair of black shoes as admission, and if you don’t want to give up those old black Doc Marten boots just yet, you can also get in for $5.
This is the second time Bartlett and Ziegler have showed their work together — the first was at a show in 2004 in Seward, Neb.’s Marxhausen Gallery. That show included works vastly different than what will show at the Underground, Bartlett said.

“The show included two very different installation pieces that came from two very different people employing two unique concepts,” he said. “That show was a success and laid the groundwork for a Bemis Underground curatorial collaboration.”

The duo decided to kick off their second collaboration with not just a party, but a dance soiree with live music from Brimstone Howl, The Terminals and Denver-based band The Machine Gun Blues.

Ziegler said she’ll be creating two-dimensional work which will hang on the walls, while Bartlett is doing a site specific, centralized floor installation that will fill a portion of the gallery. He plans to use variations in surface texture, color and lighting to separate his work from Ziegler’s.

“The show won’t fill the Bemis Underground to maximum capacity, but will utilize the space it does use while keeping in mind the peripheral space,” Ziegler said.

And what of the shoes? They’re the main ingredient for Bartlett’s piece. He plans to collect at least 100 pairs of shoes, then will boil them and use the remaining liquid in what he calls a “saline installation.”

“I am using a process of saline evaporation to create works that focus on my own memories,” Bartlett said. “My site-specific installations are part sculpture and part ephemeral interactive performance.”

The two bodies of work will be separated in the space, but there is a tie between the distinctive artistic styles: Both Bartlett and Ziegler plan to use the reductive evaporative process in their pieces.

“We are very different, but we work well as a pair,” Ziegler said. “Personally, I couldn’t think of anyone else that I felt more comfortable showing my work with.”

The Black Shoe Bash & Dance Party is Friday, March 9 at the Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth. The music starts at 9 p.m. Guests can either bring a black pair of shoes to donate or pay $5. For more information, visit bemiscenter.org.

Update 2-28-07

My Chris Ware story -- part of a larger piece on comic art -- will run in the upcoming issue of Art Scene Iowa. I'll publish it here once it's out. For anyone who missed Ware's talk, it's available via a webcast on the Sheldon's web site. Ware was funny, engaging and smart. I highly recommend checking out the dialogue between him and Dan Siedell here.

In other news, four shows are opening this Friday at the Bemis Center. I'll be writing about a few of them, most notably Karen Kunc's solo show. I wrote a story this week for the Reader about the upcoming Bemis Underground show, curated by Nic Bartlett and Rachel Ziegler, which looks to be super interesting, as is the norm at the BU. Click on the image at right for more information on the party they're throwing next Friday night. I had to buy a new pair of black shoes so I could donate an old one (or at least that's what I told myself.)

This Saturday I'm traveling to Nebraska City to visit, for the first time, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Lincoln artist Clarisse Hastie creates collage work inspired by her home, the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. I'm also going to try and do some thrifting and eating while I'm in town, and maybe get a few apples just for good measure.

I'll be starting a new job next week so I might be a bit slower on updating, for the two people that are likely looking at my blog. But rest assured I'll do my best to keep posting as usual. I hope to see more comments posted on here at some point -- I'm always interested in feedback. Thanks for reading.

Review: Select Cuts

by Sarah Baker

By the time someone calls you “of the moment,” you’re usually passé.

Select Cuts, a carefully curated group show at the Jewish Community Center Gallery, avoids that stigma. It focuses on a handful of young, up-and-coming Nebraska artists and, for the sake of being taken seriously, throws in a few familiar young people who are already among the area’s most accomplished new faces.

The show’s curator, artist J. Lynn Batten, writes an intriguing statement on the show’s invitation, outlining the show’s goal of exhibiting artists that in some way are “set apart.”
“For as long as there have been established art communities, there have been artists within them who usher in new practices, principles and perceptions of expression,” the statement reads. “While often varying in media and subject matter, the collective power of these individual’s work has had the ability to revolutionize the definition of art.”

Including new work by Peggy Gomez, Joey Lynch and Jake Gillespie — the three original founders of Lincoln’s still-closed Tugboat Gallery and some of the most innovative young artists in Nebraska — gives the show a solid base and fits in perfectly with its goal. All three show excellent pieces, each building on work they’ve shown in the past.

Lynch, newly transplanted to Omaha with a studio snuggled in the basement of the Bemis Center, shows a few new prints that have a more painterly feel than his older work.
“America’s Hardest Hitting” features his familiar kitschy screen print work to one side, but lower on the piece, there are visible brushstrokes, as though he painted over the screen print, or did some brush work before printing. Regardless, he seems to be moving his technique somewhere new.

Gillespie shows two pencil drawings, done in his familiar style. His recent focus has been more on video pieces, but he doesn’t show that work here, instead focusing on the two-dimensional. Gomez shows a few mixed media pieces, the best being “Mixed Media with Zeppelin,” featuring a little floating blimp suspended in front of a familiar Gomez collage.
Paris-based artist Anthony Mundy shows a series of illustrations that are some of the most humorous pieces I’ve seen in some time. They don’t take themselves too seriously and invite the viewer to break the gallery stigma of silent art perusal: In fact, my gallery viewing companion and I laughed boisterously a number of times while we looked at his work. Our favorite was a small drawing of a cow sitting in an armchair watching a television. A bubble above the cow’s head read something akin to the film being “moooving.” The animal’s big, watery eyes and gangly body made me think of vintage “Ren & Stimpy” cartoons. A viewer needs to see it to appreciate.

Omaha artist Andrew Hershey, a printmaker and installation artist, presented photographic works that juxtaposed domestic scenes — kitchens, doorways and other images swiped from a suburban enclave — behind ghostly, partially transparent humans doing tasks in the spaces. They felt moody and had an American Beauty-esque feel of detachment and isolation; whether this was deliberate, I couldn’t tell. His artist statement says he aims to capture the mundane and the beauty of everyday occurrences: The work accomplished that goal, but for this viewer also had an intriguing layer of disconnection.

Lincoln fiber and fashion artist Mary Pattavina showed three whimsical hats that I really, really wanted to put on my head (I refrained). “Victorian Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat,” “Mustard Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat” and “Brown Itty Bitty Cocktail Hat” were transported from a different era and planted in a gallery. One had a tiny satin veil, a second had a big, gold flower and the final had a brown ball made of feathers. They were Christina Aguilera meets Lady Di meets Dame Edna but with an extra dose of class. It’s hard to mesh vintage with now and not be either kitschy or dated: Pattavina’s work achieved the perfect balance and that balance, above all, made me want to wear it.

Select Cuts continues at the Jewish Community Center Gallery, 333 S. 132nd St., through Feb. 27. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

22 Feb 2007

-- When I was younger, my sister and I rabidly read “X-Men” and “Red Sonja” comics. So when I heard Bemis resident Dane Watkins created an online, animated comic, I was all about learning more. “The Call of the Dead” is a 22-part, animated, black-and-white comic strip, a new “episode” premieres daily at eatmydata.co.uk (click on the skull). The story is one of “zombie love” and the work is basically a series of skulls, animated in line drawing. The animation spans three paneled strips, and skulls in each strip “communicate” via flying balls, catapults, gears, conveyer belts, pulleys, mechanical arms and human hands.

The tone of the piece is slightly sentimental. It’s about love, but with a sort of seedy underbelly — after all, these are lovelorn zombies. The pieces continue running online through Feb. 25. The final episode will be unveiled at a closing party Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth. Online viewers can sign up for a daily email reminder to check out the next episode of the strip during its run. Also, take a look at the link that gives instructions on how to apply a temporary “eat my data” tattoo. The pictures are a trip.

-- If you have a blank space that needs immediate filling, check out the Lincoln Print Group’s sale Feb. 22-24 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The sale features original prints from UNL faculty, undergraduate and graduate students in all sizes and media. The sale features a benefit raffle featuring some framed pieces, proceeds going to support the group. The sale is held on the UNL campus, Richards Hall, Room 121.1. Hours are 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb 22; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. For more information, call 402.472.5522.
— Sarah Baker

Sketchbook is about all things related to art and artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. We cover anything from new projects to calls for artists. Please send information to sketchbook@thereader.com.

Update 2-15-07

Hope everyone out there had a nice Valentine's Day. I know I did.

My Q&A with Ware ran in abbreviated form in the Reader. I won't post it here because I already posted the entire text, but check it out in this week's issue if you like. It's free and available everywhere.

For next week's issue of The Reader, I'll be writing a review of a show called "Select Cuts" currently showing in West Omaha at the Jewish Community Center Gallery. My column focuses on an upcoming show by Bemis Resident Dane Watkins centering on his virtual comic called "The Call of the Dead."

Also, I'm working on another Chris Ware story for Art Scene Iowa, which will be running later in the month as part of a larger story about comic art.

Comics, all of a sudden, are everywhere.

I'll be in Lincoln on Friday for the conversation at Sheldon between Chris Ware and Sheldon Curator Dan Siedell, who tells me that the museum expects a packed house. The event starts at 5:30 and seating is first come, first seated. I'd stand, outside in the bitter cold maybe, to hear Chris Ware speak. I'm guessing it'll be a whose-who of artists and art people from both Omaha and Lincoln, so I'll see you there.

15 Feb 2007

-- Art collectors get used to choosing the work of artists they love; this time, a number of them are doing it for a good cause. MEDICI (which stands for Most Esteemed Donors, Intellects, Colleagues and Individuals), a friends group that supports UNL’s Department of Art and Art History, is throwing a fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 17 at the campus’ Eisentrager-Howard Gallery. Modern Medicis: A Collector’s Showcase invited Nebraska collectors to name artists they admire. The selected artists each contributed a piece, and at the event, the 30 pieces will be distributed to each Premium Ticket holder who will pay $300 admission and walk out with not only a good time but a new piece. Those not interested in buying a work can attend for $50.

Collectors such as Robert and Karen Duncan, Norman Geske, J.B. Milliken and Nana Smith and Larry and Judy Roots chose artists — Santiago Cal, Karen Kunc, Deb Oden, Craig Roper and Allan Tubach, to name a few — to donate pieces. The works are on display now at Eisentrager-Howard. All money raised goes back to support the department. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact MEDICI president Tom Woods at twoods@woodscharitable.org.

-- In late January the Durham Western Heritage Museum dedicated a gallery to Dick and Trish Davidson for their contributions to the Omaha arts community. The Trish and Dick Davidson Gallery includes many of the museum’s exhibits on the area’s rail history, including an 1890 Union Pacific steam engine — an appropriate choice because Davidson is also chairman of the Union Pacific Corporation. The museum also announced plans to create a special exhibition exploring Union Pacific and the beginnings of the transcontinental railroad in Omaha.

-- Photographer Matel Rokke explores herself in The Self: Collections and Memories at Lincoln’s Lux Center for the Arts. Rokke grew up in Lincoln and uses a number of different photographic formats and processes, along with melding photography and three-dimensional objects. The show runs through Feb. 25.

— Sarah Baker

Sketchbook is about artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. Send information to sketchbook@thereader.com

Blindcritic. Feb. 2007 Art Scene Iowa

Blindcritic

The opinion of the Blind Critic is to be an electric conduit for honest and forthright feet-to-the-fire gallery experiences. As information flows, the critics’ opinion generates interest or disinterest, validates or alters perceptions and glorifies or vilifies artists’ works and presenters’ exhibitions.

BEMIS UNDERGROUND
BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS

“BART VARGAS: ONE MAN'S TRASH”
OPENING RECEPTION JANUARY 26, FROM 7-10 P.M.
12TH AND LEAVENWORTH STREETS, OMAHA, NE 68102

Gallery statement: The Bemis Underground is a basement level gallery space suited to present visual, audio, and performance art in an interactive environment dedicated to experimentation. Six curators, selected by jury, are allotted five weeks and a stipend to execute projects of their design. A new group of Project curators are selected every spring for the following year.

The show: “Bart Vargas: One Man's Trash,” runs through Feb. 24. In some way the show is a survey of the work Vargas has done during the past few years. He focuses on a few key types of work — paintings, sculptural spheres, installations and his newest edition, dolls, all made of his own and other people's discarded junk. He threw a few wild card elements into the show — for this viewer, the unexpected elements were the highlight. "Nuclear Winter" is one of the newest works in the show and its one that Vargas struggled with. Originally his thesis project, he abandoned the piece after deciding he didn't like it, eventually creating "Nest" for his thesis. ("Nest" is a giant nest of coiled keyboards, cordless phones, cables, wires, and other old electronic junk that Vargas spent more than three years collecting. In the center sits a huge egg covered with discarded keyboard keys all in a muted shade of grayish white.) Nuclear Winter's 111 paintings are all the same shape — hexagons — but of different thickness and different sizes. Each is intricately layered with stenciled snowflakes; The paint in some cases is carefully applied, in others, it was clearly sloshed on, splattered on or sprayed on. Approached as a whole, the piece is like visual candy. Even singularly, the works are a feast for the eyes.

The welcome: The Bemis Underground shows aren't just an opening, they're a packed out party. More than 400 made a stop in this show; this amount of people has become the norm and is what makes the often artistically challenging shows such fun to check out.

The accessibility: Vargas made the rounds during the crowded opening; members of the Bemis Center staff were on hand to answer questions and welcome visitors.

The ambiance: The space is a bit awkward and challenging to fill. Vargas does an excellent job of using every bit and using it well. He even fills a small back room with heaps of discarded junk, further playing on the title of the show.

The nosh: Beer and wine, gallery staples, were here, as were cheese and crackers. The highlight for me were tiny, liquor filled candies in flavors like Courvorsier.

The sale: The paintings didn't have wall tags or prices; all of the work is for sale and a price list was available.

The final thought: This space continues to bring challenging work to a fresh, young crowd. As the seasons continue, the work only gets better.

Encounters with Chris Ware: part two

Last week, I sent artist Chris Ware five questions. Here are his answers.

I will be writing two stories about Ware and his work: One for the Omaha Reader, another for Art Scene Iowa.


Learn more about Chris Ware and his work.


SB: You mention in your interview with Dan Siedell (which can be found here) something akin to your "Midwestern work ethic." Is that really part of the reason you stuck to comics through the time when they weren't a stable, financially feasible undertaking?

CW: Well, maybe 25% of the reason. The older I get the more I’ve come to realize it’s also one quarter a strangely backwards way of pathetically protecting the memory of my child-self, since in America it's become more or less acceptable to “grandfather in” one’s juvenile interests into one’s adulthood; I guess I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I think I can fairly reliably say that the other half is accounted for by the fact that I truly believe comics, with their mixture of writing, art, and a kind of visual music is a really powerful way of recreating human experience on paper, with all of its layers of meaning and contradiction. It also takes a really, really long time to learn how to do, though as a kid, being both an only child as well as something of a nerd, I got used to spending time by myself, so I was already broken in, as it were. As it’s turned out, while I essentially worked for little or no pay for many years, I’ve now found myself able to support myself with what I do, and consequently, I find myself one of the luckiest people in the world. Thus, I don’t want to take my life lightly; I know there are countless people who are smarter and more talented than I am and who could do much better work than me if they had the chance.

SB: I've heard before that you are always surprised to learn you have female readers and fans. As a female and a reader of your work, I'm interested in why this surprises you. What do you think it might be that does draw women to your work? (Or conversely, why don't you think they'd like it all that much?)

CW: That’s really nice of you to say. I suppose it makes more sense lately because most of my “main characters” are now women; I went through art school in the late 1980s and early 1990s and I can remember on at least a couple of occasions being told (by my professors, no less) that it was “immoral” for me to draw women, let alone write stories about them, so it took me a few years to get those voices out of my head. As it’s turned out, I find myself much more identifying and caring about my women characters than about the
men, however. I still worry that I’m getting "something wrong" a great deal of the time, but that’s hardly a problem that’s exclusive to writing one’s opposite sex.

As for being surprised I have female readers, I suppose I’m still getting used to the idea that comics readers aren’t primarily men — in fact, I think, that the comic-reading “Y” chromosome has been usurped, actually, especially with the popularity of manga in America, which is great. Finally, as for what might draw or repel readers from my stuff, that’s anyone’s guess, and something I try to not think about, because the prospect is paralyzing and antithetical to working for me. I simply try to tell “the truth” as I understand it at that moment as honestly as I can and hope that I’m not lying to myself or working from completely false premises or experiences (which, as it turns out, I frequently am, but that’s what drives one to keep working to improve, I think.)

SB: Tell me about the special stuff you created for the Sheldon show, why you did it and how you think it enhances the pieces you're hanging on the walls.

CW: Jeez, well, I’m afraid there isn’t really anything done especially for the exhibit; it’s pretty much all isolated and somewhat disconnected original pages done for reproduction in my comics and books, and as such, ends up being sort of a display of rather mechanical drawings rather than anything much too fun or colorful to look at. I was educated as a gallery artist but over the past few years of almost exclusively cartooning and writing I’ve basically just turned into an author who draws a lot, and so what’s on exhibit at the Sheldon is essentially that, aside from a couple of objects that I’ve made both in mass reproduction and in an “edition of one.” I honestly can’t imagine what would be of much interest there unless one was a cartoonist and wondered what sort of white-out I used.

I have, however, prepared a free sort of gallery guide for the show which tries to differentiate between the original drawings and the actual printed work, since the printed page is where the real art of it — if there’s any at all — resides; I guess it’s sort of like the difference between a manuscript of a musical composition, its published version, and then hearing a performance of the piece; in comics, the manuscript is the original drawing and the performance is the reader’s experience of reading the published book, despite how extremely pretentious this metaphor is.

SB: What do you think about the recent popularity of comics as art? For you, what is the connection between the two?

CW: Comics aren’t endemically art and cartoonists aren’t artists, but comics can be art and some cartoonists can be artists (just as a lot of painting isn’t art but something that made to be hung on a hotel wall.) I’m more than a little incredulous at what appears to be a genuine popularity of comics among more and more thoughtful readers, but I have to think that’s partly due to my generation having grown up reading them and partly due to more talented and serious cartoonists working and writing now than ever before. My stuff is
only one very small shard of the whole “iceberg,” and I think Houghton-Mifflin adding comics to their “Best American” series is evidence of that; I just guest-edited the most recent volume and I surprised even myself at the amount of really interesting and compassionate work that was done simply in the last year.

SB: One of the most intriguing elements in your work is the way it incorporates words and pictures, and sometimes says a lot more via images than via text. It leads the reader through the story but in a rather unconventional way. I guess I would just like you to talk a bit about your style, and maybe bring it back to your new work. Has it evolved? If so, how and why?

CW: Without devolving too much into my usual art-school nattering, I essentially write with pictures and I try to allow those pictures to not only organically suggest the flow of a story but also to suggest and draw out my own memories and experiences. Comics are essentially a language of abbreviated images that are intended to be read rather than seen (something like the difference between words being spoken versus being sung) though it’s also a language that allows for a very flexible approach, whether via more expressive or tentative drawings or much more internally-focused writing. I tend to work very flatly and banally, which is simply my choice; there’s no right way or wrong way to approach comics, just as there’s no right or wrong way to write. In terms of literature, what I’m most inspired by is what James Joyce accomplished with “Ulysses”; he was able to synaesthetically recreate with such perfect and poetic precision the layered, complicated experience of consciouness (i.e. simply what it feels like to “be alive”) that his writing can actually implant false memories or sensations in one’s own mind; on some level, I’d like my comics, however dumb they might be, to have some small sense of that
clarity, I guess.

08 Feb 2007

The Bemis Center allows lovers — and art lovers — to celebrate the sappiest of holidays in the classiest of ways. This year, the Center mixed things up, deviating from the regular, themed auction viewers have become accustomed to and instead selecting a handful of artists to participate in a weeklong benefit art sale.

In the past, artists conformed their creativity to the Bemis Center’s template, creating heart-shaped pieces and, one year, clocks, said Rachel Ziegler, managing director of Bemis projects, This year’s show embraces the diversity of each artist’s approach.

Viewers can expect to see new work by Dana Damewood, Mary Day and Eliska Morsel-Greenspoon, she said. Other artists donated familiar works: Scott Blake will show his “Bar Code Marilyn”; Therman Statom will show mixed-media wall pieces. Other participating artists include Kenneth Adkins, Wanda Ewing, Jake Gillespie, Joey Lynch and Craig Roper. Curated by Assistant Director Jeremy Stern, the work in the show ranges in price from $200 to $7,000. The sale runs Feb. 6-14.

On Saturday, Feb. 10 the Bemis is throwing a salsa dance party and ultra lounge to celebrate. The night will include salsa dance lessons and music as well as house music. All proceeds from the sale go back to the Bemis Center’s Community Arts Outreach Program.

-- Last week the Bemis, in tandem with Alegent Health, unveiled the city’s newest public art project. The O! Public Art Project commissioned 22 Omaha artists to design three-dimensional, 6-foot-tall O! fiberglass sculptures. The unveiling announced the artists and the future sites of the sculptures, scattered around the city. The sculptures will be installed in May. Participating artists include Kenneth Adkins, Littleton Alston, Les Bruning, Jamie Burmeister, Santiago Cal, Gary Day in collaboration with Anna Monardo, Eddie Dominguez, Wanda Ewing, Renee and Bill Hoover, Leslie Iwai, Susan Knight, Matt Lowe, Joey Lynch, Deborah Masuoka, Yanna Ramaekers, Larry Roots, Craig Roper, Colin Smith, Therman Statom, Bart Vargas, Liz Vercruysse and Mary Zicafoose. For more information on the project, visit opublicartproject.org.


— Sarah Baker


Sketchbook is about artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. We cover anything from new projects to calls for artists. Send information to sketchbook@thereader.com.

Encounters with Chris Ware: part one

SARAH BAKER to chrisware

show details

9:24 am (4 hours ago)

Dear Chris: My name is Sarah Baker and I am the arts writer for the Omaha Reader. I'm doing a story about your show opening at the Sheldon in Lincoln. My deadline is next Monday. Dan Siedell provided me with your email address.

I know you generally do email interviews, and I wanted to write and see if it would be ok if I sent you a number of questions later this morning. Let me know at your earliest convenience.

Thank you in advance --

Sarah.

Chris Ware to me

show details
12:04 pm (1 hour ago)

Dear Ms. Baker,

I'm happy to do an email interview for your publication by Monday, of course. If you send me five questions I'll do my best to email you some sort of answers which you can use as you see fit, or just discard altogether. My many thanks again for your kind interest, and I wish you the very best!

Regards,

Chris W.

Bart Vargas, One Man's Trash, Bemis Underground

By Sarah Baker For Bart Vargas, the future lies inside a big, computer-key covered egg. At least that’s how he answered a little girl who asked him the most obvious question that comes to mind when looking at his large-scale work, “Nest,” the first piece that viewers see when entering his show, One Man’s Trash, at the Bemis Underground. “She asked me what was inside the egg sitting in the nest and I paused for a minute,” he said. “I told her, ‘The future is in that egg.’ I don’t know if she got it, but she seemed satisfied.” It’s an appropriate sentiment — viewers may not “get” all the work in Vargas’ show, but visually, they’ll more than likely leave satisfied. In a way, the show is a survey of the work Vargas has done during the past few years. He focuses on a few key types: paintings, sculptural spheres, installations and his newest edition, dolls. He threw a few wild card elements into the show, which were the highlights for this viewer. “Nest” is just what it sounds like — a giant nest of coiled keyboards, cordless phones, cables, wires and other old electronic junk that Vargas spent more than three years collecting. In the center sits a huge egg covered with discarded keyboard keys all in a muted shade of grayish white. Vargas, who has been labeled an “eco-artist” and environmentalist, said his art doesn’t come from such lofty places. As a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, he was short on money and long on ideas, so he started dumpster diving, realizing that he could find just about anything he wanted in other people’s garbage. “It didn’t start out to be noble,” he said, “It started out because it was economical.” His honesty is refreshing, and his straightforward process makes his work easy to approach. Sphere sculptures are scattered throughout the gallery and all have the same basic internal construction of chicken wire, inflatable toys and plastic soda bottles, Vargas said. One of his earliest works, called “The Sphere of Education,” looks like a basketball and is covered with soda bottles turned upside down, revealing the names of universities underneath. Another is made of socks, and a third has a shiny gold finish studded with staples. Newer spheres, “Nest Egg I” and “Nest Egg II,” have morphed into egg-like shapes and are covered with money photocopied in the negative. The wall pieces come in a few different forms; some are woven pieces made of materials like sliced paintings, strips of fabric or nylon, and other found materials, like measuring tape. The majority, though, are paintings cut into multi-sided shapes and covered with repeating patterns of stars and circles, the two shapes that it’s fair to say drive much of Vargas’ work. Vargas can talk about his work and explain what’s behind it well, but when things aren’t as easily explainable it gets interesting. “Nuclear Winter” is one of the newest works in the show and it’s one that Vargas struggled with. Originally his thesis project, he abandoned the piece after deciding he didn’t like it, eventually creating “Nest” for his thesis. The piece consists of 111 paintings, all the same shape — hexagons — but of varying thickness and sizes. A friend gave Vargas a bunch of paper snowflakes from a grocery store Christmas display and the artist used them as stencils. The resulting paintings, which he sees as an installation of one large piece, are intricately layered with stenciled flakes. The paint in some cases is carefully applied; in others, it was clearly sloshed, splattered or sprayed on. Approached as a whole, the piece is like visual candy. Even singularly, the works are a feast for the eyes. The original installation featured wood backgrounds of varying sizes; when Vargas rethought the piece for this show, he unified the backgrounds, giving them all six sides — just like a snowflake. The departure from Vargas’ normal focus on the minute is what makes this piece so intriguing. It’s the same sort of feeling that surrounds his newly made dolls, which are creepily engaging and, in some cases, just plain creepy. Vargas still relies on trash as his medium of choice, and though he does buy paint and selected other materials, he still makes dumpster diving a regular habit. “I take advantage of other people’s consumption,” Vargas said. “There is no mythological place that we throw things called ‘away.’ I take that stuff and I try to make an art career out of it.” One Man’s Trash continues at the Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth, through Feb. 24. Vargas will give a gallery talk each Saturday at 1 p.m. For more information, visit bemisunderground.org.

1 Feb 2007

-- The Nebraska Arts Council is renaming its downtown gallery after retiring NAC Board Chairman Fred Simon. The Fred Simon Gallery, formerly known as the Showcase Gallery, will be dedicated with a celebration of Simon and his achievements Feb. 7 at 9 a.m. A lifelong Omahan, Simon graduated from Central High in 1955 and earned a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959. He started working for Omaha Steaks in 1959 and became the Vice President of Sales in 1965. In 1970, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of the corporation. Simon is actively involved in the arts, active with the Omaha Symphony, Joslyn Art Musuem, the Opera Omaha Foundation and El Museo Latino. The gallery is currently showing the work of ceramist Al Holden and photographer Dana Fritz through March 2.

-- The Council recently announced a project to be installed at Shadow Lake Towne Center in Papillion. The project, “The Lifestyle Center Median Sculpture,” seeks proposals from artists to create a removable sculpture for a center median within the 114-acre development. The budget for the project is $75,000 and the deadline is Feb. 5. For more information, contact Korey Sculz, project architect, at 816.842.8844 or kschulz@ohhkc.com.

-- Three Bemis Center residents take the stage this week at February’s First Thursday Art Talk. Homare Ikeda’s work explores the life cycle in microcosm. Lines and seed-like forms are used in his playful drawings, evoking innocent yet complex notions of the universe. Sculptor and installation artist Nadya Volicer’s work reflects her New England heritage, playing with themes of home, memory, movement and the influence of architecture. Peat Duggins’ new work focuses on the creation of an imaginary community called Hickory Ridge. The project explores personal, social, spiritual and political identity of 21st-century America. The free talk is Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.

Sketchbook is about artistry in Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs. We cover anything from new projects to calls for artists. Send information to sketchbook@thereader.com.