August 30, 1996









Claes Oldenburg with an early working model of "Torn Notebook." Models, drawings and other items that influenced the design of UNL's newest sculpture will be featured in a special exhibition on display at the Sheldon beginning Sept. 7.
















Weekend Events to Highlight 'Torn Notebook' Dedication

The dedication of Torn Notebook, a new monumental sculpture by internationally renowned artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, will be marked by several events over three days, including:

Sheldon to Explore History of Photographed Nude

The photographed nude is the focus of a special exhibition at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery beginning Sept. 10. Human Form: The Photographed Nude is drawn from Sheldon's renowned collection of photography, focusing on the human form and surveying the utilization of the nude as a subject in the history of photography from Eadweard Muybridge to Robert Mapplethorpe. Forty-five works tracing the development of photography, the exhibition reflects a wide range of aesthetic issues, techniques and styles. The exhibit runs through Nov. 24.

Exhibition Highlights Bay Area Graphics

John W. Winkler: Master Printer, an exhibition of works on paper drawn primarily from the Sheldon Gallery's permanent collection, focuses on graphic works from the early part of this artist's career, during which he executed scenes of the San Francisco Bay Area. This selection of works not only reveals the changing appearance of San Francisco during the first decades of this century, but also demonstrates how Winkler was a "master printer"-that is, an artist wholly involved in all phases of the art of etching. The exhibition will run to Nov. 24.

Hip-Hop with Mr. Wiggles at the Lied

A revolution in music theater, Jam on the Groove celebrates youth with hip-hop music and street dancin' at the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 8 p.m. on Sept. 13 and 14.

After playing 100 house-rocking performances at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theater in New York City, for which they won a Drama Desk nomination for Best Choreography, Jam on the Groove begins an international and domestic tour, jump-starting the American musical theater and bringing hip-hop culture to audiences across the globe with on-the-edge theatricality.

Conceived, created, written, composed and choreographed by GhettOriginal Productions, Jam on the Groove is a joyous journey through the positive elements of hip-hop culture which include art, theater, music, lyrics and dance. Responding to worldwide interest in American hip-hop culture, Jam on the Groove delivers soaring performances with a pyrotechnic display of physical graffiti.
Scheduled to appear in more than 25 cities worldwide (including an extensive tour of major American cities), the company has performed at Lincoln Center's "Serious Fun!" series, a collaboration with STOMP and Savion Glover for Boston's Dance Umbrella; The Kennedy Center; the Vienna Dance Festival; Theatre Jean Vilar in Paris; the American-Japan Festival in Tokyo, which was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution; and most recently with Bill Irwin in Hip Hop Wonderland at New York City's New Victory Theatre.

Television credits include: The Kennedy Center Honors; Hip-Hop You Don't Stop for Great Performances' 20th Anniversary Special; and the Emmy-nominated September Song, based on Kurt Weill music, which will be released on Sony Home Video.

Tickets are half price for youth 18 and under or UNL, Wesleyan and Doane students who present identification. The Lied Center box office is open for walk-in sales weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 90 minutes before the performance. Phone orders may be placed by calling 472-4747 or 1-800-432-3231.

Two pre-performance talks will be given in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room by Bob and Stephanie Chase, owners of Chase Firm Fitness and Dancerschool. The talks are scheduled 55 minutes and 30 minutes before the 8 p.m. performances.

Lied Candidates to Visit UNL Campus Sept. 5 and 10

Two candidates for the directorship of the UNL's Lied Center for Performing Arts will visit the UNL campus in September.

Susan Sheppard of Wilmington, Del., will visit Sept. 5. Sheppard was president and chief executive office of the Grand Opera House from 1993-95 and before that was director of special events and coordinator of public functions at Florida State University from 1986-91 and managing director of the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, N.C., from 1991-93. She earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Wisconsin (1968), a juris doctorate from George Washington University (1971) and a master of fine arts degree in theater management from Florida State (1985). She owned and operated a charter sailboat in the British Virgin Islands from 1972-74, then practiced law in Florida from 1974-83.

Charles Henry Bethea, associate executive director of the department of public events at Arizona State University since 1987, will visit Sept. 10. Bethea, who earned bachelor of education in choral music (1970) and master of music (1972) degrees from Arizona State, has been at ASU since 1980. He was facilities and event coordinator from 1980-85, then was assistant director of operations in the department of public events from 1985-87. Prior to that he was an instructor at Balsz Elementary School in Phoenix from 1973-80. He has owned and operated the Charles Henry Bethea Consulting firm since 1983, consulting for university performance events administration, planning, scheduling and operations.

UNL seeks a replacement for Bruce Marquis, who resigned earlier this year. Larry Lusk, dean emeritus of UNL's College of Fine and Performing Arts, is acting director of the Lied Center.

Lentz Exhibition Features Vessels From Jade to Silver

Thirty-one new objects donated to the Lentz Center for Asian Culture are displayed in a new exhibition, To Have and To Hold: 1995-96 Gifts of Jade, Ceramic and Silver Vessels. The items that make up the exhibition have been given to the center by three donors.

The title for the exhibition was chosen because almost all of the pieces are holders. Some are ritual containers and others have more ordinary purposes. As a group they show great variety in materials and shape.

Twenty-nine pieces in the exhibit are from a donation by Mr. and Mrs. John T. Fosdick of Mamaroneck, N.Y. A variety of ceramics from the 17th, 18th and 19th century China and Japan (i.e. polychrome enamelware, blue and white ware, Dehua ware and Tamba, Oribe and Seto wares) and a pre-historic bowl from the Ban Chiang culture in Thailand are included.

Joan and Houghton Furr, formerly of Lincoln, have donated a jade winepot, carved from a single block of nephrite about 1650. The jade winepot has a fully finished interior and relief carvings of dragons with bifurcated tails on the exterior of the body and the handle. A monster mask forms the base of the spout and a lotus bud crowns the octagonal lid. The winepot was used in wedding ceremonies.

Mrs. Cecil Wickstrum of Omaha was living in California in the 1960s when she and her husband acquired the Indian altarcloth which is now on display. The altarcloth, depicting the god Krishan, is painted on silk. It is an enlarged version of a painting made in the Rajasthani state of Kishangarh in 1820. The painting shows that high quality pieces in the traditional manner were still made in the mid-20th century.

A celebratory reception will be given in the Lentz Center from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Sept. 17 and is open to the public.

The Lentz Center for Asian Culture is located in room 329 Morrill Hall. In addition to this special exhibition there are Asian art objects from the permanent collection on display. Public hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The exhibit will continue through Oct. 20.

Sheldon Gallery Exhibition on National Tour

America Seen: People and Place, an important exhibition of eighty paintings, photographs and prints drawn from the extensive holdings within the permanent collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, will travel to sixteen venues, Sept. 1 through 1999. Although it presents a full complement of American Scene works, American Seen: People and Place expands the concept to include works that postdate the historical period. Included are major works by America's best known regionalists, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood. Also included are paintings by Edward Chavez, O.Louis Guglielmi, Isabel Bishop, Alexandre Hogue, Louis Bouche and Norman Rockwell. Photographic portraits by Ralston Crawford, Dorothea Lange and Wright Morris are particularly poignant. Edward Hopper is represented with a print, as are other important painter/printmakers.

The conditions and various events that occurred between the 1930s and the 1950s provided unusual opportunities for visual artists to establish a novel and recognizable art form. They created imagery that was unique to American culture and could be understood, identified with, and supported by the public. Many of the works central to America Seen: People and Place have usually been identified stylistically and formally as American Regionalism, but within the context of the exhibition, they are discussed within a larger sociocultural framework. Most of the art of this period remained closer to pre-20th-century formal conventions, particularly those of realism, and altogether avoided abstraction, which was significantly less acceptable to local and regional tastes.


Back to menu

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