ORCA WINNER KAREN KUNC: "It's always frightening to think, can I do more work that matches previous work? Can I do work that still surprises me?" (Photo: Richard Wright)
Vibrant colors, rhythmic shapes and patterns catch the eye. Some of the wood block prints are bold. Others are delicate. But the creation of each print by artist Karen Kunc is an agonizing process.
Kunc, an associate professor of art, is one of the winners of the university's 1998 Outstanding Research and Creativity Awards. She's an artist whose work has been shown in galleries around the world. But every time she starts a new project, she's scared.
"It's always frightening to think, can I do more work that matches previous work? Can I do work that still surprises me?" Kunc said. "By the time I finish something, it almost has a life of its own. I don't remember the agony of the creation at the start of the process so I have to physically go through it again, reconfirming to myself that, yes, I can do it."
Experience with creative ebb and flow is part of what makes Kunc effective in the classroom where students also struggle with the creative process. As a practicing - and successful - artist, Kunc recognizes what stage a student is in and what she can do to spark an idea or generate excitement about a project. Kunc also brings her enthusiasm to the classroom. She is passionate about art.
"It is as innate of a human characteristic as being able to read, speak, think and walk. It's part of human nature to want to make things and make them beautiful," said Kunc.
Kunc started woodcut printing 20 years ago and was drawn to the simple process, the ruggedness of the work and the immediate results. She starts with a small black and white sketch that is transferred to a piece of birch plywood. Then the carving begins.
"I'm not an elegant carver. I gash at the wood," she said.
With the first gouge, Kunc is committed to moving forward, because she uses the reduction method. She carves away what needs to stay white, applies ink, prints some sections, and then carves again, using the same piece of wood. Gradually, the block is destroyed, and the print comes to life.
Kunc has had one-person exhibitions at 55 galleries throughout the United States and in the Czech Republic, Japan and Finland. Her works have been shown in more than 350 exhibits in the United States and 25 nations. Her favorite exhibition was close to home, a mid-career retrospective at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.
The university Department of Art and Art History is her support system, a collaborative environment that allows her to be a practicing artist and stay in Nebraska where she enjoys the quality of life and other benefits.
Kunc continues to look for ways to keep her chosen medium alive. Even in the classroom she never teaches printmaking exactly the same way from term to term.
"A formula makes you want to sit still and play it safe and art is always about risk-taking," she said.
She's like the landscape of one of her wood blocks. Always changing. Always moving forward.
-Mary Jane Bruce, Public Relations
Chancellor James Moeser addressed campus audiences Wednesday, repeating his plea to end incidents of harassment and discrimination.
"A number of incidents have occurred within our campus community which create a less than welcoming climate for some of us. While I can't comment on specific cases under review, I want to reinforce what I've said on several occasions previously," he said.
"We have talked a great deal about being a tolerant community but that does not include tolerance for harassment or unprofessional behavior. I have zero tolerance for behavior which prevents others from taking advantage of our learning environment. The time has come for others on campus to adopt this zero tolerance attitude as well. Faculty, staff and students alike must be the positive forces of change.
"Why can we not learn enough from each other to eliminate racist, sexist and homophobic behaviors from this campus? Why can we not be more accepting of those with disabilities? To have the kind of climate we want to have on this campus requires positive leadership from each one of us. We must all prepare to step forward and say 'this is wrong' when we witness acts of discrimination or harassment. Standing by passively is not leadership.
"I speak out on these issues, because to be silent is to be complicit. Now I appeal to the larger academic community to join me in working towards change. Together, we can make a difference."
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| Kelly Clark, director of the Clifford Hardin Nebraska Center Hotel, stands in one of the recently remodeled rooms. (Photo: Richard Wright) |
Guests who open the door to the newly remodeled Clifford Hardin Nebraska Center for Continuing Education will find themselves walking into a completely new environment for serious education and immersion learning.
The Nebraska Center has been completely remodeled, from the spacious meeting rooms to the comfortable guest rooms, which make it easy for clients to find moderately priced accommodations.
Today's pastels and bold contrasts have replaced the dull browns and oranges of a previous era, while the technology available to the Nebraska Centers clients is clearly second to none.
"We want to ensure that the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education is the most technologically advanced conference facility in the state, rivaling almost anything in the region," said Kelly Clark, Nebraska Center director.
The center has the capabilities to go on the air with a live television production throughout the building, has almost unlimited Internet capabilities, and projection, teleconferencing, and interpreting services can also be supported. The Nebraska Center can also comfortably handle conferences of up to 600 people.
The conference rooms feature concert hall sound, broadcast quality audio-visual systems, and 8-hour executive style chairs.
"We have features that you would have to travel to the coasts to find," Clark said.
However, the Nebraska Center has much more to offer than cutting-edge advances. The friendly, professional staff at the Nebraska Center works quickly and quietly behind the scenes to make programs run smoothly, doing many of the little things that people don't really think about, he said.
In addition to an obvious appeal to its clientele, the Nebraska Center's 96 guest rooms are available to visiting professors and parents, and many other groups throughout the year.
Among features that the Nebraska Center offers is a free continental breakfast for overnight guests, free parking for 400 people, king-sized beds, and new wrap around towels in the guest rooms.
The food service department has also changed with the Nebraska Center to offer a fresh, new look.
As an essential feature of the Nebraska Center, the food service department focuses on being service-oriented, and paying close attention to the concerns of the center's guests, said Kim Morock, manager of food service.
"If you haven't seen us lately, we've really worked hard to put together a nice experience for our guests," Clark said.
Part of that experience, however, has always been available at the Nebraska Center, which explains its solid reputation among its clientele. More than 1 million people have used the center since it opened in 1961.
- Chad Ellsworth, Division of Continuing Studies
Few Nebraska farmers consider tractors mere machines. Tractors evoke fond memories of the solitary and hard but rewarding work of planting and harvesting under the vast Nebraska sky.
Those memories will reawaken May 2, when vintage and state-of-the-art tractors are displayed during an open house on East Campus.
The open house begins at 2 p.m. in the original NU Tractor Test Laboratory northwest of 35th and Fair Streets. At 3 p.m., the building will be named the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum, honoring the lab's engineer-in-charge from 1946-1975. Others who helped make the museum possible also will be honored.
A 1950s-style Tractor Power and Safety Day, featuring demonstrations of tractor overturns, conservation tillage equipment and a Parade of Tractors, will follow the dedication. The event is free and visitor parking will be designated north of the museum.
Larsen, an NU alumnus, is an internationally recognized authority on tractor performance. His collection of 49 historic tractors forms the museum's core and traces the evolution of tractors.
During the 1900s, new tractor designs were developing, but no quality standards existed. In 1919, the Nebraska Legislature required that all tractor models sold in the state be tested to meet their advertised standards, and NU's Tractor Test Laboratory was born. It set the world standard for tractor test performance until World War II, when other countries began establishing standards.
William Splinter, president of the Friends of the University of Nebraska Tractor Test and Power Museum Committee and former chairman ofthe university's biological systems engineering department, enjoys telling stories behind many tractors on display. Splinter is now a George Holmes professor emeritus of biological systems engineering at UNL.
Splinter's sentimental favorite is the steel-wheeled McCormick Farmall F-12, circa 1933, the first tractor he drove as a 11-year-old living near Hershey.
After an Allis-Chalmers tractor tested at the NU lab a year later proved to provide faster speeds and greater fuel economy, "my dad put rubber tires on our tractor," Splinter said.
The museum also includes the Waterloo Boy, a forerunner of John Deere tractors and the first to meet its own standards after being tested in the NU lab. The collection features an early tractor safety cab, manufactured by the Egging Company of Gurley, Neb., and a sweep plow produced the Chase Plow Co. of Lincoln that reduced wind and water erosion. Its founder, Leon W. Chase, was the first chairman of NU's agricultural engineering department.
In addition to Larsen's collection of 49 historic tractors, the museum also houses 97 pieces of early farm equipment assembled by the late Chauncey W. Smith, an NU professor of agricultural engineering.
The implements include hand and animal plows, scythes, rakes and a blacksmith's bellows.
The friends group has raised about $132,000 in private donations to cover the museum with a new roof. The group hopes to raise another $50,000 to $100,000 for interior renovation, Splinter said. Tax deductible donations to the museum are accepted through the NU Foundation.
- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
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