The Tales He Could TellIf he could tell the story of his weekend, "Man in the Open Air" might have some tale to tell.
"Man in the Open Air," an irreplaceable sculpture stolen from the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden at the University of Nebraska was found by University Police shortly before midnight Wednesday (Jan 7), police reported on Thursday.
Community Service Officer Bud Bowlin found the sculpture, near the greenhouse complex on the university's East Campus, more than 3 miles from where the sculpture was displayed near 12th and R streets on the city campus. Bowlin was making his usual security rounds when he found the sculpture, said Ken Cauble, chief of University Police.
George Neubert, director of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, described damage to the work by Elie Nadelman as "moderate." An art conservator from Omaha will assess the damage Thursday afternoon, he said, and work to repair and restore the sculpture will begin immediately. It is anticipated that it can be returned to public view in the spring.
Neubert said the sculpture was warped and shows stress cracks near the base. "These are areas that are reparable," he said, "and the restoration should not affect the overall aesthetic of the piece."
Cauble said investigations into who took the sculpture are "most assuredly" ongoing, however, leads are few. "We have done some things to see if we could gather evidence to help locate (the thief or thieves)," he said.
Cauble said that since the sculpture was reported missing on Monday, his office has checked such areas as near-by Dumpsters and the city landfill. The sculpture, which was mounted on a concrete base southwest of the Sheldon Gallery, was known to have been in place Jan. 1. Police suspect it was taken during post-game antics following the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2.
Neubert said he would "definitely sleep better" knowing that the sculpture has been safely returned. He acknowledged the outpouring of support from the Lincoln community, saying he had heard from many people who were devastated by the loss of the 53-inch high bronze, which has been a signature piece for the gallery. He credited news media coverage for the return of the piece, speculating that once the thief or thieves learned of the sculpture's value, it was returned.
The sculpture definitely was not dumped from a vehicle, Neubert said, but appears to have been "thoughtfully" placed to assure its discovery.
Neubert said the theft of one of the university's extensive 34 pieces of public art was a "rare incident."
"We would hope we could use this as an example that these valuable works of art are owned by all of us and should be treated with respect," he said.
Both Neubert and Cauble said the university will look at ways of providing more security for campus art works.
The sculpture, on public view for nearly 30 years, is considered a university and community landmark. The artwork was acquired in 1952 for the F.M. Hall Collection and was installed in the garden in 1970 as a part of the Sheldon's sculpture garden inaugural exhibition. Since then, the work has been temporarily removed twice. It was included in the indoor Centennial Exhibition of the Sheldon Gallery in 1988 and during 1990-92 it was included in "Of Time and the City," an exhibition that traveled to major museums throughout the country.
Nadelman (1882-1946), a leading Modernist American artist, created the sculpture after he emigrated to New York in 1914 from Europe. The work is an icon of the American Abstractionist movement by a master of modern American art. It is well known as a highly valued work within this Sheldon collection. The sculpture is one of two lifetime casts made of the work; the other is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
-Kim Hachiya, Public Relations
The University of Nebraska and Lincoln communities will join in a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Rally and University Convocation Jan. 19 in celebration of the national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.
Activities will begin at 9 a.m. in the Ballroom of the Nebraska Union where participants will assemble prior to the Youth Rally March at 9:30 a.m.
The march will follow a different route than in past years. Instead of ending at the Capitol, it will go east on R Street from the Union to 16th Street, south on 16th to O Street, west on O to 12th Street and north on 12th, ending at the Lied Center prior to the rally and convocation from 10:30 to noon in the Lied Center.
The full program for the rally and convocation will include music from the Lincoln High School choir, Voices of Destiny; a reading by Lincoln High students of King's "I Have a Dream" speech; an address by longtime community civil rights activist Lela Shanks; a performance by Jessie Myles, director of multicultural education for the Nebraska Department of Education, as King, delivering King's motivational speech, "I Stand in a Nation;" and remarks by Chancellor James Moeser, who will also provide piano accompaniment for the audience in singing "We Shall Overcome."
The university convocation will continue from 12:30-2 p.m. with a "Universitywide Conversation on Dr. King" in which faculty, staff and students will be able to share their thoughts on the importance of Dr. King's life and work. The location of this event will be announced next week.
"I urge all university faculty and staff to attend the sessions of the convocation and I encourage faculty to take their classes to them and avail themselves of this splendid educational opportunity," Moeser said. "While all university offices should remain open, managers of university offices should encourage members of their staff to attend one of the sessions as part of the university's observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It's very important that we as a university honor the legacy of Dr. King."
University student organizations will also mark the day with a series of presentations on various aspects civil rights from 10:30 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4 p.m. in the Union.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
Corn yields must climb to an average 300 bushels per acre by 2025 to meet growing world demand, and Nebraska corn producers will have to achieve those yields with fewer inputs, a University of Nebraska agronomist predicted.
Doubling corn yields while using less water and nitrogen fertilizer are examples of the challenges facing agriculture, said Ken Cassman, head of the NU agronomy department. Cassman offered opening remarks at the annual Agronomy Highlights conference in December. The conference is sponsored by the Department of Agronomy in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources with support from private companies.
IANR scientists outlined research on crop improvement and protection as well as management practices to conserve natural resources during the annual one-day conference at the Cornhusker Hotel.
Genetically engineered crops offer higher yield potential, disease and herbicide resistance, and potential new uses for crops, said Don Lee, IANR plant molecular geneticist. Bt corn that resists corn borers and herbicide resistant corn and soybean varieties are examples of genetically engineered crops grown in Nebraska the last few seasons.
IANR scientists are tapping the tools of biotechnology, such as gene mapping, cloning and plant transformation in research that is laying groundwork for the next generation of crop varieties, Lee said.
NU wheat breeders have expanded their efforts to include hard white wheats, the type preferred by the expanding Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
"Plant breeders need to be aware of their markets, and become more entrepreneurial and experimental," said Stephen Baenziger, NU wheat breeder.
Today's plant breeders also need to shift their focus from just improving a crop to a more inclusive strategy that considers the whole farming operation, Baenziger said.
"We are now working on the 'whole farm,' looking at how to maximize farm profits and resource conservation," Baenziger said.
While genetic engineering will improve traditional crops, new crops may offer real potential for feeding the world's people and livestock. Pearl millet, an African grain, offers good feed grain quality and tolerates heat and drought, said NU Plant Breeder David Andrews.
"With pearl millet, we have to basically develop a new crop" for Great Plains' farming conditions, Andrews said. Using conventional plant breeding methods, Andrews concentrates on improving pearl millet's lodging resistance and increasing its hybrid yield potential. Pearl millet performs well in western Nebraska where it shows potential for use in wheat rotations.
In 1997 Andrews' breeding program released four pearl millet seed parent lines and has three male parent lines ready for release. Commercial companies will use this material for hybrid seed production.
Accurately estimating how much nitrogen fertilizer a crop needs each year can have a huge effect on a grower's budget and on conserving natural resources, said Dan Walters, IANR soil scientist. To do this, growers must know how much residual soil nitrate is available for crops and factor that into fertilizer decisions.
Each pound of nitrogen fertilizer is equivalent in energy use to slightly more than one pint of gasoline, Walters said.
Nebraska farmers apply 730,000 tons of nitrogen to crops annually, the energy equivalent of 208 million gallons of gasoline, Walters said. More than 70 percent of this nitrogen is applied to irrigated corn.
Walters and colleagues have developed soil nitrate testing and tracing techniques to more accurately assess how much residual soil nitrate is available for the crop.
"Failures in nitrate testing largely result in over-application of nitrogen," Walters said. "Assessing nitrate distribution in the soil should give more accurate recommendations" about fertilizer applications.
Adopting soil nitrate testing on all Nebraska corn acres could reduce nitrogen use by 172,000 tons per year and reduce total farm energy consumption by 6 percent, he said.
-Vicki Miller, IANR Science Writer
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