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| PAINTING OF A SMILE, c. 1950, oil on canvas by Robert Gwathney is part of the Sheldon exhibition Human Factor: Figuration in Contemporary Art, through July 5. |
The Human Factor: Figuration in Contemporary American Art, will continue at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden until July 5.
George W. Neubert, Sheldon Gallery director, and Daniel Siedell, Sheldon Gallery curator, will discuss The Human Factor: Figuration in Contemporary American Art during the May "Wednesday Walk" from 12:15 to 1 p.m. May 13 in the Sheldon Gallery. "Wednesday Walks" is an ongoing educational program provided by the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Cookies and gourmet coffee provided by The Mill will be available following the walks.
Paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings drawn from the Sheldon Gallery's collection and included in The Human Factor provide a mini survey of many various aesthetics, issues and ideas contained within the figurative idiom of the United States over the past several decades.
Stylistically the 63 works trace recurring human imagery in contemporary art.
The human form has a long history as a measure of our intent - each age has invested the body as an artistic object with beliefs and values of their own time. Until the Abstract Expressionist movement, the human figure had been a dominant subject/form in Western art. Since the turn of the century and the development of modern art, the image of man has been transformed, distorted and almost disappeared as a subject in much of the most important artistic expression of the period. However, in the last quarter of the 20th century, we have witnessed a return to the human figure by many contemporary artists in the visual arts as a valid subject and an important vehicle for self-discovery and self definition against the velocity of change in our world.
Not only does this exhibition illustrate the comprehensive nature of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery collection holdings, it also reflects the change in focus of the human figure as subject in contemporary art from a modernist tradition, which primarily relied upon the sensory and physical properties of form, to a shift in sensibility where the human figure functions as a narrative and physiological vehicle reflecting the human condition within a social and political context. Each artist uses the human figure as a common vehicle through which they express personal and aesthetic issues alluding to the human condition of our time.
The University Brass Quintet will perform an outdoor pops concert after the commencement exercises at 2 p.m. May 9 at 2 p.m. at the Gazebo in the Maxwell Arboretum, East Campus, weather permitting. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Brass Quintet is composed of School of Music faculty members Allen French, horn; Darryl White and Kevin Brown, trumpet; Scott Anderson, trombone and Craig Fuller, tuba.
The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance will present the Nebraska Repertory Theatre beginning with a production of Carnival in June. Season tickets (three admissions): $15 students; $39 senior citizens and UNL faculty/staff; $45 all others. Call the Howell Box Office at 472-2073 for individual ticket prices.
Carnival opens on an empty stage. A small figure in rather shabby clothes enters and the stage begins to light up as roustabouts carry in poles and canvas. A carnival is erected before our eyes. Lilli appears, a wide-eyed and lonely orphan, who is enchanted with the desire to join the lively and glamorous carnival, but this carnival troupe, touring the small cities of France, is raffish and run-down. Lilli becomes the pawn in a fierce rivalry for her affection. The hauntingly wonderful musical theme Love Makes the World Go Round, runs through the story and captures the mood of the carnival people perfectly.
A preview will be performed at 8 p.m. (or designated time) on June 9. Performances are at 8 p.m. June 10-13, 16-20, and 3 p.m. June 14 in the Howell Theatre.
The play is directed by Kent Paul. The corporate sponsor is Cornhusker Bank.
The Woman in Black is a spine-tingler with an unusual framework: a middle-aged lawyer hires an actor to tutor him in recounting to family and friends a story that has long troubled him concerning events that transpired when he attended the funeral of an elderly recluse. There he caught sight of the woman in black, the mere mention of whom strikes terror into the heart of the locals, for she is a specter who haunts the neighborhood where her illegitimate child was accidentally killed. A theatrical spine-chiller . . . a truly nerve-shredding experience.
A preview will be performed at 8 p.m. (or designated time) on July 7. Performances are at 8 p.m. July 8-11, 15-18, and at 3 p.m. July 12 in the Carson Theater.
The play is directed by Terence Lamude.
Noises Off is a wonderful Broadway hit is a farce about farce that takes the cliches of the genre and shakes them inventively through a series of kaleidoscopic patterns. Never missing a trick, it has as its first act a pastiche of traditional farce; as its second, a contemporary variant on the formula; and as its third, an elaborate undermining of it. Pure fun with a preview at 8 p.m. (or designated time) on July 28. Performances are at 8 p.m. July 29-31, Aug. 1, 4-8, and 3 p.m. Aug. 2 in the Howell Theatre.
The play is directed by Bob Hall. The corporate sponsor is Home Real Estate.
Aladdin is a participation play by Moses Goldberg, directed by Karen Libman
As the audiences arrives, they are greeted by a troupe of itinerant peddlers selling their colorful wares. Burgundo, the father of the family of peddlers, stops his sales activities and proclaims that what he has always wanted to do was to be an actor. The result is the creative retelling of a story that is "full of magic and faraway places - Aladdin, the story of Aladdin." Imaginative and fun. A treat for the entire family. Tickets are $3.
Performances are at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., July 24; 2 and 7:30 p.m. July 25 and 2 p.m. July 26 in the Studio Theatre.
This Theatre for Family Audiences Presentation is sponsored by Woods Charitable Fund, Inc. & Pace Woods.
1998 Nebraska Repertory Theatre Season is made possible by Aliant Communications, Cliffs Foundation, Gallup Community Builders, Lincoln Arts Council, Union Bank and Trust and the University Program Council.
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre's first production this summer, Carnival, features performing animals. They are looking for a dog that can walk on its hind legs and a monkey. These pets must be well-behaved and have the ability to be handled by actors.
If you own a dog (or dogs) or a monkey which fit the description, contact Brad Buffum, production manager, 472-1620.
The performance dates are June 9 through June 20. Rehearsal times are negotiable, but will likely begin during the first week of June.
The Arts Are Basic Children's Academy enters its third year of arts exploration with two sessions June 8-12 and 15-19 at the Wagon Train Loft, 504 S. Seventh St., with excursions to the UNL campus to attend performances at the Arts Are Basic teachers workshop.
Children will experiment with Japanese arts and with Kabuki-style acting, create modern dances, and make music with an a capella singing group from St. Louis. The Academy is open to students finishing Kindergarten through the eighth grade. Limited need-based scholarships are available. Cost: $125 per week. Contact: Beth Schenker, 111 Architecture Hall, 0144, 472-9348, ext. 2, or email schenker@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer have entertained us with crazy scenarios and oddball catch phrases for nine seasons, but a University of Nebraska professor says the gang of misfits may have even taught us a lesson or two.
Ellen Weissinger, associate dean in Teachers College, admits she is one of four Americans who has never seen the show and has no plans to tune in for the last hurrah May 14. But she offered a theory on "Seinfeld's" social value nonetheless.
If, as its creators claim, "Seinfeld" really is a show about nothing, "Maybe the reason people are so captivated with it is because they're trying to make something out of nothing in their own lives," she says.
Weissinger, whose research focuses on why people get bored in their spare time, says the sit-com sounds like it's great training for making the most of the mundane.
"My sense is the characters on the show don't portray a lot of boredom," she says. "They're constantly entwining themselves in the intrigue and beauty and mystery that really is around us every day, which is the very best way to avoid boredom - to be open to seeing what other people don't see around us."
Indeed, Jerry and co. have a knack for making mountains out of minutiae in a way that many times mimics real life. And, as Weissinger contends, real life is anything but boring.
"Avoiding boredom isn't about jumping out of airplanes or scuba diving in underwater caves or any other dramatic event," she says. "It's about making the most of the opportunities that every day presents us, which is far easier said than done. My suspicion is that the characters on the show are very good at that . . . so that might be one of the things that people get out of the show."
-Amy Cyphers, Public Relations
Enjoy the sultry sounds of a Kansas City cabaret sensation as Nebraska Showcase presents "Brownville Concerts: Lisa Henry with the Russ Long Trio" at 9 p.m. May 15 on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network.
Recognized as one of Kansas City's top jazz vocalists in 1991, Henry has been a mainstay on the city's nightclub circuit for 10 years, performing often with such notable groups in the area as the Steve Miller Orchestra, the Vince Bilardo Big Band, the Everette DeVen Trio and the Tim Whitmer Group.
Trumbull High School will close its doors for good this spring, the victim of state lids on property taxes and changes in the way state aid to schools is distributed, according to a "Perspectives" report to air at 8 p.m. May 15 on Statewide, the Nebraska ETV Network's weekly magazine series.
The program, which repeats at 7 p.m. May 16 and at 1:30 p.m. May 17, also provides up-to-the minute news reports from across the state and other features of interest.
The Nebraska Husker baseball team, led by new head coach Dave Van Horn, will host Big 12 rival Iowa State at 2 p.m. May 10 on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network.
The three-hour broadcast, called by sportscaster Bill Doleman, with color commentary by former Nebraska baseball and football star Adrian Fiala, will be telecast live from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Buck Beltzer Field.
Find out more about Nebraska Life magazine and how it got started when Omaha-based publisher Tom Collignon appears this week on Roger Welsch &. The interview series airs at 8:30 p.m. May 15 on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network.
Welsch asks, "Do we need any more magazines in the world? A lot of people must have asked Tom Collignon that same question a couple of years ago when he wanted to launch Nebraska Life magazine. Against all odds he put his heart and soul, and a great deal of money, into it, and the result is a very good publication about Nebraska, Nebraskans and, well, Nebraska life! Join us this week to find out what makes someone go out on a limb and try something like this."
Two past American presidents are featured in a pair of specials broadcast May 10, on EduCable, the cable television service of the Nebraska ETV Network.
"TR, The Story of Theodore Roosevelt" presented on The American Experience, airing at 6 p.m., examines Roosevelt's intersection with the major issues and events of his age, and shows how those influences shaped the man, and how he, in turn, shaped the course of American history.
John F. Kennedy was an admired president, a dynamic, intellectual, witty and charismatic man who embodied the spirit, hopes and dreams of an entire nation. "JFK: In His Own Words," airing at 8 p.m., reveals the private man behind the public hero, told in Kennedy's own words from audio tapes and features rarely seen film footage, including color home movies.
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