June 6, 1997



Zdenek Sverak (left) and Andrej Chalimon (right) in Jan Sverak's Kolya.


'Kolya' Showing at the Ross Theater Through June 15

Unfolding during the buildup to the 1989 Velvet Revolution and the end of Communist rule in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kolya, a bittersweet comedy-drama about a cherubic Russian tyke and a middle-aged cynical confirmed bachelor thrown together by circumstance, opened at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater on June 5.

Winner of the 1997 Oscar and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Kolya balances heartwarming sentiment with gentle humor and observations that strike universal chords.

In the hands of some filmmakers, the inevitable redemption of the old bachelor would, no doubt, grow overly sentimental, but Kolya never fails to remind us of the characters' flaws or the ever-present tension between Czech nationals and the Russian occupying forces on the streets of Prague. The result is a film that is wry, honest, at times completely hilarious, and finally moving - thanks in large part to the performances of Zdenek Sverak as Frantisek Louka and Andrej Chalimon as Kolya.

Kolya is showing on June 6, 7 & 8 and on June 12 through 15. Screenings are at 7 and 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; at 1, 3, 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturdays; and at 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $6; $5 for students; and $4 for senior citizens, children, and members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater.

Architectural Still Life, 1978, oil.


Charles Rain Works at Sheldon Gallery

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery will present Charles Rain: Magic Realism, an exhibition of paintings and shadow boxes from June 11 to July 20. Charles Whedon Rain's early ties with Lincoln have become an important part of the history of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden.

Rain's substantial bequest toward the museum's planned expansion in combination with a subsequent gift from his sister, Charlotte Rain Koch, laid the foundation for the Rain family legacy at the Sheldon Gallery. 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, Nebraska, 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. Rain'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 charming 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 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 3 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 the Sheldon Gallery's the most comprehensive collection of art by Charles Rain.

The Great Plains Film Festival at Ross Theater in July

The Great Plains Film Festival will be held July 15-20 and July 22-27 at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater.

Now in its fourth year, the Great Plains Film Festival is a regional, competitive venue for independent film and video artists working in the heartland of America and Canada. Held biennially, this festival provides a showcase for artists in the Great Plains to present their work to the public as well as to potential distributors and exhibitors from throughout the region and the nation. Although there are several successful regional festivals operating in other parts of the country, the Great Plains Film Festival is unique to this region.

The festival provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity that serves the needs of the superlative, established and emerging, film and video artists who live and work here. The Great Plains Film Festival is an entertaining and enlightening event, a positive cultural asset to this community and the region, that provides its audience with the opportunity to experience works of art which reflect the richness and diversity of life on the Great Plains.

Highlighting this year's festival is a special presentation, cosponsored by the Nebraska Film Office, Spotlight on Nebraska Filmmaking. Emphasized by film screenings, personal appearances by filmmakers and panel discussions, this exciting aspect of the Festival is providing a comprehensive study of filmmaking in Nebraska: its history, its present, and its future.

Augmenting the competitive segment of the festival, the Mary Riepma Ross Award, named in honor of our film program's principal benefactor, is a tribute to an established film or video artist whose roots and heritage or artistic concerns are grounded in the Great Plains region and culture. Each year's recipient is invited to attend the festival to accept the award and interact with the festival's audience through a variety of venues and a retrospective of the recipient's work is presented during the festival. This segment is designed to both enrich the festival's programming and pay tribute to artists from this region whose work has made a significant contribution to the art of cinema and the culture of our nation. Thus far, recipients of the Mary Riepma Ross Award have been actress Sandy Dennis and filmmaker Joan Micklin Silver, both of whom were originally from Nebraska, and Mary Riepma Ross.

The schedule will be available by calling the Ross Theater at 472-5353.

Gutzon Borglum, Cattle in the Meadow, 1902.


Great Plains Summer Exhibit Features Western People & Places

The Great Plains Art Collection's summer exhibition People & Places: Western Views from the Permanent Collection will run May 19-Aug. 22. It consists of about 40 pieces from the permanent collection including the Christlieb Collection and newer acquisitions. The show is curated by Elizabeth Mota, curatorial assistant of the gallery.

Pieces selected for the exhibit include western or Great Plains landscapes characterized by a strong sense of place, and portrayals of varied peoples dwelling or passing through these these places. Some of these works of art focus primarily on people, some depict the uninhabited landscape, most include both figures and landscape or indicate human presence in the landscape, and thus illuminate the changing relationship between the land and people.

The exhibit presents depictions of American Indians and iconic western types such as fur traders and cowboys, by artists as diverse as Mel Gerhold, Harrison Begay (Navajo) and Cameron Booth. Examples range from a 19th century engraving after Karl Bodmer that shows a lively scene of Indians hunting bison, to 20th century artists' romantic depictions of fur traders in serene wildnerness settings. Peter Hurd's portrait-like lithograph of a sheepherder contrasts with Begay's colorful painting of a Navajo family going to a Blessing Way rite.

Western views from the 19th century reflect earlier artists' interests in accurately depicting the topography of unfamiliar terrain as seen in views of landmarks such as Chimney Rock. Twentieth century artists depict activities such as cattle drives, ranching and farming. Ray Ellis, Joseph Bohler and Olaf Wieghorst take a nostalgic approach in their scenes of cattle drives or travel through vast mountain or plains landscapes. Robert Gilder focuses on changing atmospheric conditions in his oil painting Passing Storm.

Contemporary landscape painters such as Keith Jacobshagen and Dale Livezey convey the grand sweep and scale of particular places in the plains and the West. Some of these artists choose to include subtle evidence of human presence, but a few, such as Dale Livezey, do not. Marcia Goldenstein's panoramic view of North Dakota plains incorporates an impressive array of natural features and subtle details of human impact upon the land; these range from ancient evidence of Native Americans to furrows made by contemporary farming practices. Considered collectively, these western views present glimpses of the diverse peoples of these regions and their ways of life in the American West from the past to the present.

Summer hours for the Great Plains Art Collection are Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Saturdays; Sunday 1:30 to 5 p.m. Closed on holiday weekends, between exhibits and academic sessions.

Ross Theater Takes on the 'Whole Wide World'

Based on her acclaimed autobiographical book, The Whole Wide World, tells the true story of Novalyne Price, an attractive feisty West Texas schoolteacher and her bittersweet, romantic, and turbulent relationship with Robert E. Howard, the great pulp fiction writer of the 1930s.

Featuring career making performances from Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio, director Dan Ireland's true story about the true love of the greatest pulp fiction writer of all time, The Whole Wide World, opens at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater on June 19.

Howard was the creator of such classics as Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, Krull the Conqueror, Solomon Kane, etc. Price's intense desire to become a writer initially drew her to Howard. Their brief relationship met with many obstacles, including Howard's possessive ties with his mother, and Price's inability to cope with Howard's offbeat eccentric ways.

But theirs was a romance like no other; deeply passionate, intellectually stimulating, and always challenging. This is an unforgettable love story that ultimately changed the course of their lives

The Whole Wide World is showing on June 19 through 22 and on June 26 through 29. Screenings are at 7 and 9:15 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; at 1, 3:15, 7, and 9:15 p.m. on Saturdays; and at 2:30, 4:45, 7, and 9:15 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $6; $5 for students; and $4 for senior citizens, children, and members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater.

Group Honors Eiseley With Evening Events

In honor of the reissue of Loren Eiseley's The Night Country, the Friends of Loren Eiseley have scheduled two events. At 7 p.m. June 11 in the Heritage Room of the Bennett Martin Library, 14th and N St., there will be a book discussion and a slide show depicting Eiseley's life in Lincoln. The group has also planned a twilight nature walk for the next full moon, June 21, under which moths, cicadas and night hawks should be visible. The walk, at Nine-Mile Prairie, will be led by Curtis Twedt, Environmental Analyst for the Nebraska Games and Parks Commission. Participants should meet in the parking lot on W. Fletcher Ave.

Originally published in 1971, Eiseley called the collection of essays in The Night Country "reflections of a bone-hunting man." The Bison Books edition, published this June by the University of Nebraska Press, contains a new introduction by Eiseley biographer, Gale E. Christianson. Many of the essays begin with an autobiographical anecdote and expand in a scientific direction as Eiseley explores a variety of topics. In The Night Country, Eiseley urges us that we must have compassion for every form of life animals as well as fellow humans. As it becomes increasingly tempting to turn to science for answers to social and moral questions, Eiseley cautions us that it is not science but rather humankind's unique capacity for empathy which will allow us to survive in the modern world.

Eiseley's Nebraska roots are featured prominently in the book. Born in Lincoln in 1907, he grew up exploring storm sewers and hunting frogs in the pond which is located on the Lincoln Country Club grounds. He attended Lincoln High School and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1933. While a student, Eiseley published poems and essays in the Prairie Schooner and became interested in anthropology as a member of excavation teams working in Nebraska.

The essay "The Gold Wheel" describes perhaps Eiseley's most important early excavation. While sifting through the ash heap of a stately South Lincoln home, young Loren found a small gold wheel which he came to view as a symbol of his connection with the unknown natural world. In the essay "The Relic Men," Eiseley gives an account of an important archeological find in Banner County while a student. In following a local legend that a farmer named George Bennet had found an elephant bone near his property, the author describes his meeting with Bennet and the subsequent discovery of a field of ancient bones.

Eiseley spent most of his professional career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a professor of anthropology from 1974 to 1977. During his life, he published fourteen books, including The Immense Journey, and was the host of the television series "Animal Secrets." He died in 1977.

Afternoon Gala Planned for Lincoln Arboretum

Enjoy an afternoon in one of Lincoln's best kept secret gardens when the UNL Botanical Garden and Arboretum hosts the Gardeners Gala in the Maxwell Arboretum from 1 to 4 p.m. June 8.

The Gala will combine fun with practical gardening advice in the picturesque setting of Maxwell Arboretum on the UNL East Campus at 38th and Holdrege streets.

The day's activities will include tours, demonstrations, musical entertainment, and refreshments in the Coffee Garden. Specific events will include: According to Diane Wilson, UNLBGA Education Director, the Gala is being billed as both an educational event and an opportunity to showcase the plant collections and setting of Maxwell Arboretum.

"Not many people know that the arboretum is here and open to the public," she said. "Maxwell Arboretum is one of Lincoln's best kept secrets."

She described this one-half acre site as packed with a variety of garden delights including sweeping perennial plantings, majestic oak and linden trees, an adjacent tall grass prairie planting, and some of the state's largest collections of lilacs, hostas, viburnums, vines, and other trees and shrubs.

During the Gala, garden and landscape professionals will be on hand to help visitors interpret these garden collections, and to answer questions about visitors' specific gardening challenges.

In case of inclement weather, the rain date for the event is June 15. The Gardeners Gala is being sponsored by the UNL Botanical Garden and Arboretum, the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and the Friends of Maxwell Arboretum. For more information about the Gala, call 472-2679.

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