Working with the Grain: the Art of Wood Turning at the Sheldon

Until fairly recently, the craft of wood turning was associated with the modest production of mundane objects such as bowls, trays and candlesticks, while crafts such as glass blowing, pot-throwing, metalworking and weaving were regarded as more sophisticated, with large collector followings.

A new exhibit at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Working with the Grain: Wooden Bowls and Boxes, lays to rest those notions. In the last few decades, wood turning, the use of a motorized lathe to rotate a chunk of wood while the artist shapes it with cutting tools, has evolved from a technically oriented process to one more concerned with aesthetics.

Other woodworking modes also have also gained favor. An expanding group of turners, shapers and carvers has been producing artistically ambitious objects - vessels, plates, boxes, wall plaques and other items - that have the flair and sensory appeal of craft objects in other materials, and sometimes the thrust of sculpture.

The exhibition of works drawn from the Sheldon Gallery's permanent holdings and local private collections is presented as part of the Sheldon's tradition of offering exhibitions with wide public appeal at the holidays.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 17.

Documentary on Folklorist Botkin on Public Radio

A documentary about the celebrated folklorist, will be broadcast at 2 p.m. Nov. 22 on the Nebraska Public Radio Network.

Botkin (1901-75) was a major figure in American folklore studies and played a important role in its popularization. A student of Louise Pound, he received a doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska English Department in 1931.

The 45-minute program is a lively mix of folklore recordings including street singers, sale patters, children's jump rope rhymes and more. Interwoven throughout the program is Botkin's personal story. His papers and personal library are housed at the University Archives/Special Collections Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, and provided the basis for the documentary. Narrating the program is noted folksinger, radio producer and friend of Botkin, Oscar Brand.

Steve Robinson, NPRN general manager, produced the documentary, which was supported by funding from the Botkin family, the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Humanities Council and New York State Council on Humanities.

The Nebraska Public Radio Network broadcasts on the following frequencies: Alliance/91.1 FM; Bassett/90.3 FM; Chadron/91.9 FM; Columbus/90.3 FM; Falls City/91.7 FM; Harrison/89.5 FM; Hastings/Grand Island/89.1 FM; Lexington/88.7 FM; Lincoln/90.9 FM; Max/93.3 FM; McCook/92.7 FM; Merriman/91.5 FM; Norfolk/89.3 FM and North Platte/91.7 FM.

School of Music Presents Free Concert

The Jazz Ensemble Performs Dec. 2 at Kimball

The School of Music presents The Jazz Ensemble in concert at 8 p.m. Dec. 2 in Kimball Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Gene Smith, will perform music by Billy Strayhorn, Rodgers & Hart, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern and others.

Joining the Jazz Ensemble will be guest artist Darryl White, trumpet. White is assistant professor of trumpet at the School of Music and a member of the Faculty Brass Quintet and Faculty Jazz Quartet. A clinician and soloist for the Mile High Jazz Festival for the last four years, White was also a member of the Aries Brass Quintet and the Denver Brass, with recordings on the Centaur Recording Label. He has performed with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and Colorado Ballet Orchestra and appeared as Guest Soloist with the Grand Junction Symphony, Roaring Fork Jazz Festival, Lake Forest Chamber Orchestra and guest soloist on WBEZ public radio in Chicago. His most recent recording project was completed with nationally acclaimed Jazz Saxophonist Keith Oxman on his 1998 release Out on a Whim, on Capri Records. He is former Artistic Director of the Jazz by Design music series in Denver and founder of the jazz quartet Pretext, which will complete their first CD later this year.

Gene Smith is director of jazz activities and assistant professor of saxophone at the School of Music. He is also leader of the NU Faculty Jazz Quartet. As a saxophonist and woodwind doubler, Smith has backed artists such as Stevie Wonder, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Petula Clark, Bobby Rydell, Vic Damone, Carol Lawrence, Jerry Van Dyke and Jon Secada. He has also performed and or recorded with the New World Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. As an educator, Gene is the Jazz Discipline Coordinator for the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, a faculty member at the Mile High Jazz Camp, and former director of the Florida GRAMMY in the Schools Jazz Ensemble. Smith is the only student director to win the college big band division of the Down Beat Student Music Awards competition with the North Texas Three O'clock Lab Band in 1991.

An Old-fashioned Thanksgiving on Nebraska Public Radio

Celebrate Thanksgiving the old-fashioned way when the Nebraska Public Radio Network broadcasts "We Gather Together" at noon Nov. 26. The program tells the profoundly human story of Thanksgiving, relying on music, diaries and letters that span three centuries. It's a story laden with forgotten heroes and heroines.

There's Squanto, the Wampanoag Indian, who, despite having been enslaved by the English, saved the Pilgrims' lives by teaching them to fish and plant corn. There's Sarah Josepha Hale, a widow with five children, who persuaded President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. More recently Thanksgiving has become the story of a million immigrant families whose children recite tales of turkeys and Pilgrims, happily engaged in a distinctly American ritual.

Gather the family around the radio. After all, Thanksgiving is America's holiday of hearth and home, and, by retelling stories of Thanksgivings past, "We Gather Together" enriches Thanksgiving of today.

"We Gather Together" is narrated by stage and film actor Lindsay Crouse. The sacred hymns of the Pilgrims are sung by the Gregg Smith Singers, with the Revels and others performing additional selections. Letters and diaries are read by Joe Mantegna, Peter Renady, Michael Gough, David L. Krebs, Dawn Comer, Anita Jesse, Newell Alexander, Toni Boyle, Rosemary Alexander and Philece Sampler.

Free Speech and Religion Clash in Statewide Report

A Lincoln municipal law intended to define the limits between two First Amendment rights - to free speech and to worship - has failed to resolve the ongoing conflict between pro-life demonstrators and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, according to a "Perspectives" segment airing at 8 p.m. Nov. 27 on Statewide, the Nebraska ETV Network's weekly magazine series.

The series, which repeats at 7 p.m. Saturdays and 1:30 p.m. Sundays, includes up-to-the-minute news reports from across the state and other features of interest.

The Lincoln City Council adopted a law restricting picketing outside of churches after members of Westminster Presbyterian Church complained that pro-life demonstrators were intimidating them and their children with large signs depicting aborted fetuses. Abortion opponents from Omaha-based Rescue the Heartland have targeted Westminster because one of its elders, Dr. Winston Crabb, performs abortions at clinics in Lincoln and Omaha.

Demonstrators turned to the courts and obtained an injunction that prevents the City of Lincoln from enforcing the ordinance. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said the law, which prohibits demonstrators from displaying large signs within 50 feet of a church before, during and after church services, was too vague to meet Constitutional requirements.

New Nebraska ETV Program Examines Internet Decency Issue

Should Internet pornography be prohibited? Should there be limits to the type of information available on the Internet about homosexuality, abortion or terrorism? Find out what Nebraska teenagers and young adults believe when "The U.S. Confronts the Information Age," part of the new Visions of Democracy series, premieres on at 9:30 p.m. Nov. 23 on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network.

The program features 17- to 21-year-old Nebraskans discussing freedom of expression, the Internet and the Telecommunications Decency Act, which was passed by Congress but ruled unconstitutional by federal courts. Former Nebraska U.S. Sen. Jim Exon sponsored the legislation.

"The U.S. Confronts the Information Age" was produced by the Interactive Media Unit of University of Nebraska-Lincoln Television for broadcast on Nebraska ETV. It is the first program completed in the Visions of Democracy series, which will eventually include programs produced by public broadcasters in nine nations: the United States, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Israel, India, Denmark and Sweden. Each member of the consortium will produce a program about the way young people in their country view the democratic form of government, according to Luis Pèon Casanova, producer of "The U.S. Confronts the Information Age."

Justin Wilson Serves Up Tasty New Series

Internationally acclaimed Cajun cook and storyteller Justin Wilson has a brand new series beginning in December on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network. Justin Wilson's Easy Cookin' will air at 3 p.m. Saturdays, beginning Dec. 5.

The 26-part series, Wilson's seventh, emphasizes techniques and ingredients to make his zesty and inventive dishes faster and easier to prepare. That leaves plenty of time for a good story or two.

Cooking was a family affair on the south Louisiana farm where Justin Wilson grew up, and he started helping in the kitchen at the age of 8. Wilson has spent a lifetime honing the cooking skills he began developing in that farm kitchen. Justin Wilson's Easy Cookin' is an exciting continuation of his tradition of having fun with food, while creating tasty and unexpectedly new combinations.

Besides being a superb cook, Wilson is an internationally recognized humorist whose records have sold millions of copies. He writes music, enjoys singing and is also a practicing safety engineer. Wilson was born, raised and lived most of his life in Louisiana, but now makes his home in Summit, Miss., "just a stone's throw from the Louisiana border."

Special Lord of the Dance Extravaganza Airs Dec. 3 on Nebraska ETV

"Feet of Flames," a special production of the Lord of the Dance stage show featuring 84 dancers in a tribute to lead dancer Michael Flatley, airs at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 on the statewide Nebraska ETV Network.

The show marks Flatley's last performance in the title role of Lord of the Dance, a celebration of Irish step dancing, music and folklore, which he created.

"Feet of Flames" was a one-time-only program staged July 25 before an audience of 25,000 in an outdoor amphitheater in London's Hyde Park. It featured performers from two Lord of the Dance touring companies and required construction of an oversized, three-tier set that rose to the top of the amphitheater and extended to the wings of the stage. Twenty-five cameras captured the show for television.

In addition to Flatley (a former world champion Irish step dancer), the show features many of the world's best Irish step dancers. Irish tradition also inspires the music and the story line, but it is Hollywood and Las Vegas that inspire the show's costumes, production values and pyrotechnics.

Viewers will want to stay tuned at 8:45 p.m. for "The Making of Feet of Flames," which goes behind the scenes to show how the program was produced.

Both programs will air as part of the December membership drive for Nebraskans for Public Television, the nonprofit fundraising organization of Nebraska ETV. Money raised by the membership drive is used to acquire and produce programs aired on Nebraska ETV.

Husker Swim Sprint Classic Featured on Nebraska ETV

The excitement of men's and women's collegiate sprint swimming and diving will be featured on "The Husker Swim Sprint Classic," airing at 11 a.m. Nov. 22 on the Nebraska ETV Network.

The 90-minute special was videotaped Nov. 20 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Bob Devaney Sports Center pool. Joining the Nebraska Cornhuskers will be teams from Arizona State, Florida Atlantic, UCLA, Kenyon College and the University of Virginia. Sportscasters Bill Doleman and Kevin Kugler along with Matt Rye, former Husker All-American swimmer, will call the action.