Left: Gustave Klimt, 1862-1918, LADY WITH FAN, c. 1888, black chalk heightened with white. Right: Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944, AMARYLLIS, c. 1907, charcoal on brown paper.

Sheldon's 'Line and Form' Explores Evolution of Drawing

A broad range of stylistic approaches by various artists from the Renaissance to the contemporary allows for an investigation into the changing understanding of drawing in the new Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery exhibit, Line and Form.

Chosen exclusively from Sheldon's permanent collection, the exhibition will run through Sept. 8 and showcase some the strengths of the gallery's collection.

The comprehensive quality of Line and Form lies in great historical breadth and stylistic differences. Although the focus of the exhibition is primarily on 20th-century American artists, influential European artists also will be included. The academic tradition in the work of Renaissance master Alessandro Veronese and the masters of European modernism and avant-garde art, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Constantin Brancusi are representative examples of the traditions inherited and influenced by American artists. The realism of the 19th-century works of Americans, Thomas Anschutz and John Singleton Copley is very much connected to the European Old Master tradition of drawing objectively what one sees. This tradition of realism, however, is influenced and changed by the progressive movements within European modernism and the new conceptual ideas of art and the artist. Americans influenced by European avant-garde art included in the exhibition are Abraham Walkowitz's Cubist-influenced geometric breakdown of form and the surreal imagery of Gordon Onslow Ford.

The selection process for this show was aimed at confronting the issue of stylistic differences within the medium of drawing. Drawing from the prehistoric to the contemporary always has been about what the artist sees or feels immediately.

Line and Form was conceptualized around the understanding of drawing's importance as both the creative process and as being at the very heart of the artist. Drawings provide insight into the artist's thinking and perceptions, and therefore exist on a highly personal and subconscious level.

New Sheldon Curator Assumes Post July 1

Daniel Siedell (shown at right) was recently named curator at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, where he will oversee the interpretation and promotion of the museum's collection and will administer the development of the exhibition program.

According to Sheldon Director George Neubert, "Dan Siedell brings a new generation of curatorial scholarship to Sheldon's exhibition programming and collection development at a critical time (the close of the 20th century) in the 100-plus year history of the gallery's collection."

A native of Lincoln, Siedell earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in December 1995, completing a dissertation on the New York School art community of the early 1950s. He received an M.A. in art history, criticism, and theory from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1991 and a B.A. in art history from UNL in 1989. Associate to the Chancellor Herb Howe said "Dan Siedell's strong academic background and experience will help to reinforce the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery's collection as an active educational resource within the university community."

While at the University of Iowa, Siedell served as curatorial and project assistant for Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity, a European retrospective exhibition of one of the most important mid-century American artists. Originating out of the Fundacio Antoni Tapies in Barcelona, the exhibition traveled through 1994-95 to the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Saarland Museum in Saarbrüken, Germany. He also served as Project Assistant for Weldon Kees and the Arts at Midcentury, a collaborative, interdisciplinary project at the University of Iowa, which includes an exhibition of Kees' paintings and collages that will tour to the Sheldon Gallery in November 1997.

Sheldon Presents Magic Realism of Charles Rain

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery is presenting Charles Rain: Magic Realism, an exhibition of paintings and shadow boxes. The exhibit runs through Aug. 25. Rain's early ties with Lincoln have become an important part of the history of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.

Rain, a local artist who has lived throughout the world, has donated his works to the Sheldon as well as a substantial bequest toward the museum's planned expansion in combination with a subsequent gift from his sister, Charlotte Rain Koch. In honor of Charles Rain's commitment to the Sheldon Gallery, an exhibition of his work is organized annually.

Born in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1911, Rain attended high school in Lincoln and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1933, he traveled throughout Europe and was especially impressed by Berlin, Paris and Vienna. It was during his European travels and his exposure to traditional painting techniques that Rain began to develop his realistic style. Rain's realism is closely identified with 19th century traditions, though his subject matter is often eccentric, and sometimes assumes surrealistic overtones.

Rains's tendency to combine disparate subjects and to isolate a single subject against an empty background often lends a mysterious quality to his paintings, which critics have termed "magic realism."

The attention to detail and references to archaic subjects favored by Rain in his paintings is also evident in his shadow boxes. These small, highly detailed boxes present elaborate scenes depicting the 17th-century Commedia dell'Arte in Italy. The miniaturized sets include architectural details, clouds and landscapes and offer a convincing backdrop for the diminutive actors seen in full costume.

Upon Charles Rain's death in 1985, his private collection of 34 paintings and shadow boxes was bequeathed to the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Since that time, the museum has received three paintings from Mr. Henry Grady, one painting from Dr. and Mrs. Isidore Cohn Jr., one painting from Dr. Robert C. Reinhart, two paintings from Patricia and James Stotter and two paintings from the estate of Clare Booth Luce. The total of 43 works makes Sheldon Gallery's the most comprehensive collection of art by Charles Rain.

Film/Video Showcase to Host Oscar Winner Allie Light

Oscar winner Allie Light will be appearing in person with two of her films, Dialogues with Madwomen and In the Shadow of the Stars, to discuss her work with the audiences at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater July 19-20 as part of the Film/Video Showcase, "The Films of Allie Light & Irving Saraf."

Filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf explore, in their films, the nature of human creativity and examine the powerful need people have for attention and recognition.

Winner of the Freedom of Expression Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Dialogues with Madwomen tells the stories of seven women who have experienced the dark side of the imagination: multiple personality, manic-depression, schizophrenia, and euphoria. In a film about the private symbols of madness and sanity, the filmmaking process is included as a metaphor for the individuals' own processes of discovery and revelation. Filmmaker Allie Light is one of the women portrayed in this film.

The allure of stardom, the desire to stand out is a major theme In the Shadow of the Stars, winner of the 1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, a film about stars and bit players in the grand opera where ambitions are as magnified as voices and plots.

The presentation of this program at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater is made possible, in part, with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council, a state agency. The Films of Allie Light and Irving Saraf is cosponsored by the University of Nebraska Lincoln's Women's Studies Program.

"The Films of Allie Light & Irving Saraf" is showing July 18 through July 21. Allie Light will be appearing at the 7:30 p.m. screenings of Dialogues with Madwomen on Friday, July 19, and In the Shadow of the Stars, on Saturday, July 20. Screenings are at 7 and 9 p.m. on Thursday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday; 1, 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday; and at 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. on Sunday. Complete schedules and synopses are available at the Ross Film Theater. Admission is $5.50; $4.50 for students; and $3.50 for senior citizens, children and members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater. Special passes, allowing admission to all of the screenings, are available at the box office for $10 each.

A complete schedule of the Film/Video Showcase can be found in the Calendar section of the Scarlet.

Contemporary Quilts Deck Sheldon Walls

"Contemporary Quilts from the James Collection," a selection of 26 quilts from the remarkable collection of Ardis and Robert James of Chappaqua, N.Y., is on exhibit through Sept. 1 at the Sheldon Memorial Gallery.

Over the past 17 years, the Jameses, both Nebraska natives, have assembled one of the largest and most comprehensive private quilt collections in the world. Now numbering nearly 1,000 historical and contemporary quilts, the collection is widely known to researchers and specialists but still largely unknown to the nation's growing quilt audience. This exhibition focuses entirely on the James' contemporary collection and is a dazzling sampler of the American Art Quilt movement.

Ardis James first began quilting as a member of a church group that made a Cathedral Window quilt for a fund-raising raffle. She bought nearly all of the tickets she was given to sell, and felt such a loss when someone else won the quilt that she made another -- the first of many -- by herself.

Robert James, a former college professor, is a successful New York businessman who shares his wife's Nebraska roots and her interest in quilting. He recalls fond memories of his mother's quilting in his boyhood home. Neither he nor Ardis had any inkling that their first quilt purchase would ultimately restructure their existence.

Said Ardis James: "I don't think the collection would have grown so fast if Bob hadn't responded. He thought it was fun, and he had a critical eye that was different from mine. I was only dabbling, but then it really took off. Bob never does things halfway." When the stacks and racks of quilts overtook every wall, cupboard, and other surface of their home, the Jameses built an adjoining custom-designed gallery with storage platforms, and light and climate controls.

Without losing any of their interest in the heritage of traditional quilts, the Jameses are finding exciting new paths in quilts being created today. They both maintain that, "There is nothing to compare with the Art Quilt and what is going on now. American quilters are the best in the world, and they are doing some fascinating things. People who don't know contemporary quilts don't know that there is plenty of room to like both the new and the old. They complement one another." The contemporary quilts in the James' collection reflect the work of such noted artists as Michael James, Patrick Dorman, Therese May, Faith Ringgold and Jan Myers-Newbury.

Rep to Present 'Lost in Yonkers'

Nebraska Repertory Theatre is presenting Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers at UNL's Howell Theatre.

Directed by Constance McCord, the play is a journey to Yonkers, New York, and a peek into Grandma Kurnitz's idiosyncratic family life in this Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Show times are July 12-13 and 16-20 at 8 p.m. and July 14 at 3 p.m. The cast includes Harley Jane Kozak, star of stage and screen, as well as Sheriden Thomas, Ben Beck, Ryan Johnston, Jonas Cohen, Michael Rothmayer and Melissa Critchfield-Epp.

For more information, contact Julie Hagemeier at 472-1619.

Nebraska Repertory Theatre Presents 'Pterodactyls'

The Nebraska Repertory Theatre's Young Rep Company presents Pterodactyls, a Nicky Silver play directed by Robin McKercher, July 18, 19, 20 and 21. Performances will be at 8 p.m. each evening in the Studio Theatre on the third floor of the Temple Building.

Pterodactyls is an absurdist black comedy about the demise of the Duncan family, and, by extension, the species.

The Young Rep Company is an internship program offered to university students, designed to help develop skills and talents for future employment.

New Exhibits Open at State Museum

Two new exhibits at the University of Nebraska State Museum focus on a bird of prey and rain forest research.

"Life in a Nutshell" was inspired by the work of Janalee Caldwell, a professor from the University of Oklahoma who studies life inside hollow Brazil nut capsules on the floor of the Amazon rain forest. The off-spring of insects and the poison dart frog live inside the tiny capsules and compete for space and food. The exhibit includes an oversized reproduction of a Brazil nut capsule.

The second exhibit is "The World of the Red-tailed Hawk," a look at a bird of prey whose complex behavior is interesting to scientists and the public. The exhibit recreates a nest of red-tailed hawks with baby birds in the nest and the parents hovering above.

Both exhibits are on loan from the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History through August. They are located on the first floor of Morrill Hall.

For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825