Female Perversions may sound like a porno title but Susan Streitfeld's film, opening at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater on Nov. 28, is a brave, bold, and provocative exploration of how society - indeed, the entire weight of culture and history - shapes and distorts a woman's sense of her own sexuality, consciously and unconsciously, and therefore her identity as well.
Starring Tilda Swinton, Amy Madigan, Karen Sillas, Frances Fisher and Laila Robins, Female Perversions is director Susan Streitfeld's feature debut, from a screenplay she wrote with Julie Hebert, inspired by the non-fiction book of the same title by noted psychoanalyst Louise J. Kaplan.
Employing an ambitious narrative technique that interweaves erotic fantasies, nightmares, and memories in a highly impressionistic way, Streitfeld creates a drama that is stylized, symbolic, and filled with extraordinary images challenging all conventional ideas about the female psyche and female eroticism.
Siskel and Ebert confer Female Perversions with "Two thumbs up!" calling the film "completely fascinating!" and the Newsday magazine film critic bestows Female Perversions with 4 1/2 stars writing that the film possesses "extraordinary wit and erotic heat!"
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.
Female Perversions is showing Nov. 28-30 and Dec. 4-6. The Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater is closed on Thanksgiving Day. Screening 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.
Continuing a long-standing tradition of offering exhibitions with broad public appeal during the holidays, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden presents a unique holiday exhibition, "Fired and Frozen: Contemporary Glass," an exhibition of contemporary studio glass from Dec. 4 to Feb. 1, 1998. Primarily drawn from the permanent collection of the Sheldon Gallery, this special exhibition will also include important works from local private collections and feature the studio glasswork of regional artists.
Although glasswork is traditionally associated with utilitarian purposes, this exhibition will reflect the extraordinary interest in glass as a contemporary artistic medium. The nature of the medium, elastic enough when molten to be worked into virtually any shape, but later cool and hard to the touch, allows the artist almost unlimited expressive opportunity. Also, the range of color, translucent quality, sparkle and brilliance, give glasswork broad appeal both to artists and to collectors. The distinction that defines studio glassmaking and sets it apart from factory work is that it is based upon the efforts of a single individual or a small group of persons who both determine the design of their products and accomplish the technical and craft processes necessary for their execution. This exhibition will focus on American studio glass as opposed to factory or industrial glass, and will reflect the exciting developments in studio glass in the past three decades.
The resurgent interest among the art world in glass as a medium of aesthetic expression began largely due to the efforts of individual artists. Harvey Littleton, a professor of ceramics at the University of Wisconsin, inspired his colleagues through his personal interest in glassmaking, and eventually organized a department for glassmaking at the University of Wisconsin. Marvin Lipofsky studied under Littleton and then went on to the San Francisco Bay Area to teach and practice the art. Dale Chihuly was also at Wisconsin in the mid-1960s and impacted glassmaking in the 1970s at the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle. Works by these artists will be featured in "Fired and Frozen," along with works by other important glass artists Dan Dailey and William Morris. Additionally, work by regional glass artists such as Ray Schultz of Kearney, John Thein of Omaha, and Kenny Walton of Avoca, will be included in the exhibition. A diverse range of glassmaking and decorative techniques will be presented, including hand-blown, cast, fused and slumped pieces, and examples of decorative lampwork. Local and regional glass artists, some represented in the exhibition, will have examples of their glasswork available for sale in the Sheldon Gift Shop during the presentation of "Fired and Frozen."
General support for exhibitions at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery is provided by the Nebraska Art Association, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the advancement of the visual arts in Nebraska through educational and cultural enrichment opportunities. Nebraska Art Association programs are supported in part by a Basic Support Grant from the Nebraska Arts Council, a State agency.
On Dec. 6, following a morning at the Star City Holiday Festival Parade, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden invites the public to attend a free Holiday Open House from 1:30 to 4 p.m. in the Great Hall.
Musical entertainment will be provided by such local groups as the Lincoln High Swing Choir, the Lincoln High Voices of Destiny, and the Christ Temple Glee Club, for this sanctioned event of the Star City Holiday Festival. Holiday decorations and seasonal refreshments will be presented as visitors enjoy the Sheldon Gallery's special holiday exhibition, Fired and Frozen: Contemporary Glass. This exhibition will present contemporary glassworks drawn from the Sheldon Gallery's permanent collection, as well as important works drawn from local and regional private collections, and work by regional glass artists.
Other exhibitions available at the Sheldon Gallery during the Holiday Open House are Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Tom Golden Collection, and VanDerZee, Photographer (1886-1983).
The Sheldon Gallery will host Christo and Jeanne-Claude, internationally-renowned artists, in a public lecture at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1 in the Sheldon auditorium. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, are visiting UNL in conjunction with their exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Tom Golden Collection, at the Sheldon Gallery until Jan. 4.
Kusitaki, a South American Folk band will be playing at 9 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Crib at the Nebraska Union. The performance is free.
For more information, call the University Program Council at 472-8146.
It seems like every community has some sort of brass ensemble root-toot-tooting its way through Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Tune. But the granddaddy of brass groups, The Canadian Brass, still lead the way in terms of innovation, virtuosity and sheer entertainment.
The Canadian Brass bring their spirited and lively playing to the Lied Center for Performing Arts for two 8 p.m. performances Friday, Dec. 5 and Saturday, Dec. 6. The Lied Center, located at 12th and Q streets in Lincoln, Neb., is hosting The Canadian Brass for the third time. Previous concerts have sold-out and these concerts are on the way to continuing the trend.
Since first appearing on the music scene in 1970, The Canadian Brass have revolutionized the brass quintet as a vital and beloved musical force. In 27 years, the Brass have commissioned dozens of works, expanding the repertoire of brass music by transcribing to brass instruments musical lines originally assigned to violins, piccolos and cellos. The Brass have published more than 100 works from its own repertoire for use by other brass ensembles. And because of their absolutely flawless musicality, The Canadian Brass have set the standard by which all other brass groups are judged.
The key to The Brass's appeal is an easy rapport with the audience based on communication, commentary and tasteful humorous asides which educate and enhance each performance.
The Canadian Brass were one of the first classical "cross-over" ensembles - they are as comfortable playing Johann Sebastian Bach as they are P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele). And by mixing the classical with the comical (they usually appear in black tie and tennis shoes), they have won a worldwide audience of admirers.
Their Lied Center programs will include works by J.S. Bach and Schickele and a tribute to The Beatles as well as a holiday medley and two sing-alongs of Christmas favorites.
The Canadian Brass have recorded more than 40 albums and compact discs, including several holiday-themed recordings, jazz, Dixieland and straight-forward classical works. Whatever they play, however, their crisp polished tones and balanced articulation signal that these are musicians of supreme talent and professionalism.
Tickets for both 8 p.m. performances are $32, $28 and $24. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College students and youth 18 and younger with proper identification can purchase tickets for half-price. Target "Treatseats" discount coupons are available at participating Target stores.
Two 15-minute pre-performance talks beginning at 55 minutes and 30 minutes before curtain in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room are offered as part of Lied's ongoing education and outreach programming.
Call the Lied Box Office at (402) 472-4747 or toll free, 1 (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability. Box Office hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. On performance weekdays, the Box Office is open from 11 a.m. through the first intermission. For evening performances on weekends, the Box Office opens at 3 p.m. For more information on the Lied Center and its program, check the Lied Center website at http://www.unl.edu/lied.
This Lied Center performance of The Canadian Brass is made possible in part with generous support from the Burket and Sheila Graf Fund. The performance is sponsored in part by the Gene and Hazel Tallman Memorial Endowment of the Lied Performance Fund.
Lied Center programming is supported by the Friends of Lied and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Mid-America Arts Alliance; and the Nebraska Arts Council. All events in the Lied Center are made possible entirely or in part by the Lied Performance Fund, which has been established in memory of Ernst F. Lied and his parents, Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied.
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