Grant Reynard, ROMANCE 2, n.d., pastel. Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney. Photo courtesy of Museum of Nebraska Art.

Great Plains Collection Features Reynard, Falter

Exhibit of Nebraska Artists Includes Jan. 28 Lecture

The Great Plains Art Collection will feature Grant Reynard and John Falter in an exhibit originated by the Museum of Nebraska Art at Kearney. Featuring work by two of Nebraska's best-known and respected artists, the exhibit will run through Feb. 25.

In conjunction with the exhibit, Jon Nelson, first curator of the Great Plains Art Collection, will present a public lecture on the career of Grant Reynard at 4 p.m. Jan. 28 in the gallery in 205 Love Library. The Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies will sponsor both Nelson's talk and reception beginning at 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Both Reynard and Falter began their careers as illustrators, yet also effectively expanded their careers as fine artists. Reynard and Falter worked primarily in the metropolitan areas of Chicago and New York, but they also maintained strong ties to Nebraska. Reynard began as an illustrator for Redbook magazine and Falter for the Saturday Evening Post. Both continued significant careers as illustrators throughout their lives and worked for other publications, businesses and government.

Born and reared in Grand Island, Reynard (1887-1968) was the son of Stephen Reynard, a Grand Island music store operator and manager of the Grand Island opera house. While Reynard studied music and composition during his early years, he also took an active interest in drawing. Eventually, he came to devote his major efforts to art, and retained music as an avocation. After studying at the Chicago Art Institute, Reynard took the position of art editor at Redbook. He then moved near Manhattan and joined art illustration classes taught by Harvey Dunn, who had moved from South Dakota. He become a highly successful illustrator and printmaker. On teaching and lecture tours he made every spring and fall throughout the country, he always incorporated stops in his native state.

Falter (1910-1982) was born in Plattsmouth but grew up in Falls City. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, then in New York at both the Art Students League and the Grand Central Society of Artists. J. "Ding" Darling, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of the Des Moines Register, encouraged Falter to become a professional illustrator. By the 1930s, he had made a promising start by doing cover illustrations for detective and western pulp magazines. Like Reynard, he also worked for several major corporations such as Gulf Oil and Arrow Shirts.

Falter enlisted in the Navy in 1943, and completed designs for more than 300 recruiting posters. During this period, he also did work for leading American magazines such as Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Life and Cosmopolitan. He completed his first cover for the Saturday Evening Post, the most important publication for which he did illustrations, in 1943. Falter created more than 185 cover illustrations for the Post alone. He once said that he sought to base his work on his own experiences with a flavor of home and town life of the Midwest.

Balanchine Perfection From the Rockies

The Colorado Ballet will present an evening of three works by George Balanchine at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Each of the three ballets on the evening program -- Serenade, Apollo and Rubies -- is considered a hallmark in the career of George Balanchine, who is considered by many to be America's greatest ballet maker and the greatest choreographer of the century.

According to Martin Fredmann, artistic director of the Colorado Ballet, Serenade, the first ballet Balanchine created in the U.S., shows the artist's resourcefulness in creating a masterpiece in less-than-ideal circumstances. Apollo, created for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in 1928, was the product of a very young Balanchine in an atmosphere of great creativity and inspiration during his last years in Europe. Rubies, on the other hand, from the full-length ballet Jewels, attests to Balanchine's brilliant assimilation and ingenious use of American influences.

For more information or to obtain tickets contact the Lied Center box office at 472-4747.

Classical Music Meets Marimba

Makoto Nakura, (shown at right), the first marimbist to win a place with the internationally renowned Young Concert Artists, will bring his classical repertoire to Kimball Recital Hall at 8 p.m. Jan. 27.

The marimba, a type of xylophone with resonators beneath each of its large wooden keys, is typically reserved for jazz and ethnic music. In the hands of Makoto Nakura, however, the percussion instrument produces flowing, legato melodies as well as its typically rhythmic tones.

After his New York and Washington, D.C., debuts earned enthusiastic praise from critics and classical music fans, the Japanese native embarked on a concert tour across the United States. In March, he will make his New York concerto debut with the New York Chamber Symphony.

In his Lincoln performance, Nakura will perform a Bach sonata, as well as several pieces composed for classical marimba and an original piece written by Nakura.

Tickets are $18 and $14; half price for those 18 and under or UNL, Wesleyan and Doane students who present identification. The Lied Center box office is open for walk-in sales on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and 60 minutes before the performance. Phone orders may be placed by dialing 2-4747 or 1-800-432-3231.

Flutist Garrison to Perform Jan. 29

The School of Music will present guest flutist Leonard Garrison in recital at 8 p.m. Jan. 29 in Kimball Recital Hall. Garrison will be assisted by Ann Chang-Barnes, piano; Quentin Faulkner, harpsichord and John Bailey, flute.

Leonard Garrison, coordinator of the National Flute Association Masterclass Performers Competition, is second flute and piccolo with the Tulsa Philharmonic, and instructor of flute at the University of Tulsa. Formerly, he was on the faculties of the University of Arkansas and the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. He has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Scotia Festival, and the Music Festival of Arkansas. Garrison performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Scotia Festival, and the Music Festival of Arkansas.

'Angels' to Appear at the Lied Center

Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America will be performed at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in two parts Jan. 30-31.

The Broadway production of Angels won seven Tony awards in two years. Part One,"Millennium Approaches," will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30. It is set during the 1980s and tells the story of how several gay men, a Mormon woman who struggles with drug addiction, and a conservative politician each explore the impact of AIDS, homosexuality and the political climate on their lives.

The second part, "Perestroika," scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31, presents the characters in the years that follow, when their plights are cast in a new light under a new government. Although each part can be seen as a separate play, the author recommends seeing both.

Angels in America is a drama that portrays contemporary and controversial adult issues. The show includes male nudity and profanity.

In describing the play to The Associated Press, Kushner said, "It's about things that Broadway plays are usually not about. It's very political. It's about gay people. It's about AIDS. It's about Ronald Reagan, or the Reagan era, at any rate."

Two pre-performance talks will be given in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room. George E. Wolf, associate professor of English, will offer his insights 55 minutes before each performance and again at 30 minutes before curtain.

Tickets for each night's presentation are $34, $30 and $26; half price for UNL, Wesleyan and Doane students who present identification. The Lied Center box office is open for walk-in sales on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and 90 minutes before the performance. Phone orders may be place by dialing 2-4747 or 1-800-432-3231.

Sheldon's Chief Curator Accepts Post at Yale

Daphne Anderson Deeds, chief curator at UNL's Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, has accepted the position of senior curator for exhibitions and programs at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Conn., effective March 18. Her last day at the Sheldon will be March 8.

Deeds has served as chief curator and assistant director at the Sheldon for 10 years, and has served as a faculty member for the Museum Studies Program since 1992.

"I certainly feel that my tenure here has been very beneficial to me. I've learned a tremendous amount working with (Director) George Neubert and I have also greatly benefited from the work of my tremendous staff," she said. "My move is a reflection of that teamwork. Together we have made some very important accomplishments, such as traveling exhibitions, publications and a variety of outreach programs that were not in place prior to my arrival at the Sheldon. I will always be proud of those accomplishments."

In her tenure at UNL, Deeds said she was most proud of her work in acquiring the art book collection of Dr. Stuart Embury of Holdrege. Embury's collection, nearly 9,000 art books ands archival materials, many of them rare, is considered to be the largest private collection in the world. Plans for an addition to the Sheldon include space for a library named in honor of Embury, which would combine Embury's collection with the Sheldon's existing collection of more than 10,000 books.

"The Embury Library will have a far-reaching impact and a lasting value for the museum, especially with the expansion of the gallery," said Deeds. "The Sheldon will gain a new meaning with the library, and it will attract many prominent researchers."

Deeds earned her bachelor's degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1976, and her master's in art history from the University of Chicago in 1979. Prior to her tenure at Nebraska she worked in museums in Tucson, Ariz., and Phoenix and in Washington, D.C.

For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
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