Ocean Park No. 89.5, 1975 Oil by Richard Diebenkorn

Exhibit Celebrates Diebenkorn Acquistion

In connection with the acquisition of Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park No. 89.5 the Sheldon Gallery is dedicating one of the permanent collection galleries to a temporary exhibition of the artist's work. The showing continues throughout the summer months. The exhibition includes a selection of 41 of the artist's etchings, one lithograph and one woodblock drawn from the Sheldon's holdings.

The new painting is a 1975 oil on canvas, measuring 66 1/2 by 81 inches.

Internationally acclaimed, Diebenkorn is one of the most respected American painters of the last half of this century. He first came to national prominence in the late 1950s as one of the leading members of the California figurative painters, a group that included Elmer Bischoff and David Park. In the late '60s, Diebenkorn discarded topical reference in his works when he began working on his Ocean Park paintings. These "observations" from the American landscape represent a most significant accomplishment within the artist's career, and are a major contribution to contemporary American painting.

Acquired from the artist's estate, Ocean Park No. 89.5 fills a gap in Sheldon's previous holdings by Bay Area Figurative artists.

The works in Diebenkorn's highly-acclaimed Ocean Park Series are a culmination of his career's achievement and exude his creative process, where underpainting and reworking is allowed to bleed through creating harmony and a balance of the various elements of surface, luminosity and the illusion of space. As in most of the artist's paintings where 'pentimento,' an Italian term for an alteration made while a painting is in progress and that subsequently shows through on the surface of the completed work, is present, Ocean Park No. 89.5 investigates the domain of feeling-atmosphere and mood-a meditation of the landscape. The work is a mood-evoking equivalent of the environment-the California landscape composed of sky, ocean, fog and smog, sunshine and light-filtered water and sand.

"It is an honor to be able to acquire such an outstanding example of Dick's Ocean Park Series thus enabling the people of this community and region to experience first-hand the oeuvre of this important American artist," George Neubert, Sheldon director, said of the painting. "Richard Diebenkorn is unquestionably one of America's most respected painters. The character of his art, its mastery and authenticity is brought to full force in this major acquisition."

The artist died in 1993 in Berkeley, Calif.

JOHN BROWN, 1939 lithograph by John Steuart Curry

Sheldon Features Regional Vision of J.S. Curry

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden presents Curry's America-The Regionalist Vision of John Steuart Curry from June 15 to Sept. 12. This exhibition features approximately 30 drawings that survey Curry's artistic development from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.

Guest curated by Wendy Katz, visiting assistant professor of Art History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and drawn primarily from the inventory of Vivian Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, Neb., Curry's America devotes special attention to the artist's intense interest in representing community.

Along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry is one of the most well-known of the Midwestern American Regionalist painters of the 1930s who attempted to depict (or reconstruct) an "American Scene" that was, to their minds, in serious jeopardy of disappearing in the face of modernity. Often dismissed as reactionary nationalists, these Midwestern Regionalists of the 1930s were committed to a program of cultural rejuvenation.

Worried about the divisions in American society between "highbrow" and "lowbrow," the Regionalists wanted to create an art that would bridge the two styles and audiences.

Painters such as Curry turned to the traditions and values of the communities in which they lived for subject matter in order to find a common ground that all members of a culture could identify and appreciate. As with other modernists of the period between the wars, Curry believed that art could bring about social change, especially by sustaining communities besieged by economic depression, standardized mass culture and individual rootlessness.

The majority of images in the exhibition portray various kinds of communities: idealized small-town life, farmers confronting industrialization or hobos dispossessed by it, people gathering to fight natural forces, or groups forming in new venues around events such as football games or the circus. In images spanning Curry's career, Curry's America shows how his style shifted from aestheticism to the monumentality of an artist creating heroes for public murals such as those for the state capitol in Topeka, Kan., and for the University of Wisconsin's Rural Art Program, where Curry was professor of art for 10 years.

Performers John Blake Jr., left, and Sumi Tonooka, below, will headline the June 17 concert.

Tuesday Tales, Pow-Wow Part of AAB Programming

Jazz Headlines First Arts Are Basic Concert June 17

John Blake Jr., regarded as one of the premier jazz violinists in the world, will perform a free public concert at 7:30 p.m. June 17 in Kimball Hall. Appearing with Blake will be pianist/composer Sumi Tonooka.

Currently on faculty at the University of The Arts in Philadelphia, Pa., and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, Blake has made guest appearances with such notables as the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the McCoy Tyner Trio, the Billy Taylor Trio and the Turtle Island String Quartet. He is a frequent soloist and leader of his quartet, trio and duo on stages in Europe and in the United States.

Sumi Tonooka, of Japanese-American and African-American background, has broken new ground in her extended compositions, blending Japanese musical instrumentation with jazz. She has received Meet the Composer and NEA Jazz Fellowship awards, which let her continue the blending of music from east and west.

She is a frequent performer at jazz festivals, colleges, clubs and other venues from coast to coast and has been a guest artist on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz show and in a nationally broadcast tribute to Thelonius Monk on NPR's Jazz Set with Branford Marsalis.

Blake and Tonooka will perform a varied program that celebrates the evolution of jazz in this century.

They are in Lincoln as participants of the Arts Are Basic program and will work with approximately 75 teachers and artists at the Arts Are Basic workshop. They will return in March, 2000, to perform concerts in Arts Are Basic schools across the state.

This concert is sponsored collaboratively by Arts Are Basic, UNL Summer Sessions and the Great Plains Music Camp.

Other Arts are Basic Events this summer include:

A preview to Tuesday Tales will be at 9 p.m. June 29, on the Architecture Hall steps. There will be a special Ghosting (telling of ghost stories) immediately following the last Jazz in June concert on June 29. The ghosting will introduce Jazz in June attendees to the upcoming Tuesday Tales storytelling series to begin in July. The event is free and open to the public. Storytelling artists for the evening will represent various cultural groups including Native American, Hispanic and Euro-American.

The Tuesday Tales series begin at 7 p.m. on July 6, 13, 20 and 27 on the Architecture Hall Steps. Two storytellers will perform each evening for approximately one hour. Scheduled storytellers are Matt Jones and Ricardo Garcia on July 6; Karen Libman and Joanne Olleren-Shaw on July 13; Rita Paskowitz on July 20 and Cowbow Rhythm on July 27.

Tuesday Tales is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather all Tuesday Tales will be held in Westbrook Music Building (immediately south of Architecture Hall). Tuesday Tales is sponsored by UNL Summer Sessions and Arts Are Basic. The Nebraska Humanities Council will also co-sponsor the presentation of Cowboy Rhythm.

The last event of the summer are Pow-Wows from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. on July 14 on the grassy area north of the Nebraska Union and on July 15 on the grassy area behind the Ice Cream Store on East Campus. As in past years, this event will include Native American dance, song and drumming.

The Pow-Wows are free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, they will be held in the Unions of each campus. Sponsored by the UNL Summer Sessions, Arts Are Basic, University Program Council, and the UNL Anthropology Department. Additional support is provided by the Nebraska Humanities Council.

For more information contact Maureen Gallagher at 472-6844

The Dreamlife of Angels starring Grégoire Colin as Chriss (left) and Natacha Régnier as Marie.

The Dreamlife of Angels Debuts at Ross Theater

June 17 is the feature debut of Erick Zonca's The Dreamlife of Angels at the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater.

A deceptively simple story about two young women on the fringes of society in the northern French city of Lille, the film is impressive because of its originality and because Zonca never resorts to anything resembling standard-issue storytelling.

The film won praise at the Cannes Film Festival.

It follows the lives of two women, squatters living in an industrial zone far from the romantic glamour of Paris. The leads deliver powerfully naturalistic performances in a film shot in modified cinema-verite style.

The Dreamlife of Angels is showing on June 17 through 20 and on June 24 through 27. Screenings are at 7 and 9:15 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; at 1, 3:15, 7 and 9:15 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 members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, seniors and children.

Deadline Extended for GP Film Festival Entries

The Great Plains Film Festival, a regional biennial competition for independent film and video artists working in the heartland of America and Canada, has extended its deadline to June 14 in order to allow more time for filmmakers to enter the festival. The previous deadline was May 31. This year's festival is scheduled for July 20 through Aug. 1.

Now in its fifth year, the Great Plains Film Festival provides a showcase for regional artists to present their work to the public as well as to potential regional and national distributors and exhibitors. Entrants are competing for over $11,000 in cash prizes. Special emphasis is being given this year on looking at how women, minorities and other under-served groups are faring in today's media field.

Applications are available by contacting Great Plains Film Festival, Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, P.O. Box 880302, Lincoln, NE 68588-0302; Telephone: (402) 472-9100; Fax: (402) 472-2576; E-mail: dladely1@unl.edu. Application forms are also available at the web site: http://www.inetnebr.com/ro ssfilmtheater.

URN; THE ENGLISH MAN 1994 by Tom Towater

40 Works Comprise American Ceramics Exhibition

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden presents American Ceramics: Tradition and Innovation through Aug. 22. The exhibition consists of approximately 40 works drawn from the Sheldon Gallery's permanent collection and supplemented with loans from local collectors.

The development of ceramics as an expressive medium is an important, if under appreciated, theme in the history of American art in the 20th century. Guest curated by Michael Strand, recent University of Nebraska-Lincoln M.F.A. graduate and ceramist, Tradition and Innovation explores three major aesthetic traditions in the 20th-century: the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast traditions.

The potential for clay to be used for both functional and aesthetic purposes has been explored and exploited by artisans and artists for centuries. This tension between "craft" and "art," between "use" and "aesthetic contemplation," has informed recent innovation in the medium of ceramics. Far from eliminating this traditional tension, 20th century ceramists have embraced it, producing work that is useful and aesthetically powerful.

Although relatively young, the American ceramics tradition has become influential world-wide as it is known for its aggressive use of the material and diverse range of approaches in exploiting and maximizing the medium's expressive potential.

Characterized by its clean lines and pristine glazed surfaces, the East Coast tradition was brought to the United States by Gertrude and Otto Natzler, Sam Haile, and Maija Grotell in the 193Os. It has provided a strong foundation for technical virtuosity as a means of artistic expression. The Midwest tradition, was developed through the working relationship between Bernard Leach, an Englishman, and Shoji Hamada, a Japanese artist. Leach and Hamada merged the peasant traditions of both the West and the East. Minnesotan Warren Mackenzie apprenticed with Leach in St. Ives, England, in 1950 and subsequently became the chief proponent of the so-called "Leach-Hamada" tradition. The third tradition is the West-Coast tradition derived primarily through the energy and efforts of Peter Voulkos, who met Leach and Hamada at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Mont. Inspired by the Abstract Expressionists's intuitive and gestural painting process, Voulkos succeeded in moving the ceramic tradition beyond the limitations of vessels and into the context of aggressive, expressive sculpture.

Not only does it feature fine examples of Natzler, Leach, Hamada, Mackenzie and Voulkos, Innovation and Tradition includes the work of such important artists as Robert Arneson, Hans Coper, David Gilhooly, Jun Kaneko, John Mason, Ron Nagle and Richard Shaw. The exhibition also includes the work not only of UNL ceramics faculty, but younger artists, several of them recent graduates of UNL's nationally recognized ceramics program, who are continuing the exploration and exploitation of these three traditions.

Focus on Plains Landscapes

Favorites Featured at GP Art Summer Exhibition

The summer exhibit at the Great Plains Art Collection presents new additions and old favorites from the gallery's permanent collection, with a focus on plains landscape. The exhibit will run to Aug. 27 in the Great Plains Art Collection, 215 Love Library.

Dating from 1854 to 1997, the works of art reflect many artists' different perceptions of landscape and diverse approaches to portraying it. The 30 to 40 scenes that span 150 years are rendered in varied media such as oil, tempera, watercolor and photography. Earlier works by well known artists such as Albert Bierstadt, William de la Montagne Cary, Alfred Sully and William Henry Jackson include scenes of subtly varied terrain or topography of Nebraska and the Southwest. These encompass landscapes either marked by or lacking signs of human habitation. The exhibition offers historical views of Bellevue and Omaha, the Platte River and the re-imagined appearance of an Ogalala Sioux village. Selected pieces also give the viewer windows on more distant locations in Utah and the Southwest.

Some contemporary artists featured in the exhibit are Keith Jacobshagen, Anne Burkholder, Peter Brown and Bill Ganzel. Rather than a documentary approach, these and other works in the show exemplify a modern perception of the landscape.

The exhibition will also include sculptures from the Christlieb Collection that will complement the two-dimensional art.

This special exhibit is free and open to the public. Normal hours open: Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30 to 5 p.m. Closed on holiday weekends, between exhibits and academic sessions. The gallery will be closed the following weekend dates: July 3-5, 10-11, Aug. 14-15, 21-22.

Three Seasons Showing on Ross Screen

Tony Bui's Three Seasons, winner of three major prizes at this year's Sundance Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award and Cinematography Award) and now showing at the Ross Film Theater, is a luminous, delicate, and powerful saga of modem-day Saigon.

In the effulgent Three Seasons, 26-year-old director Tony Bui presents the new face of Vietnam, providing a resonant and fascinating window into the last moments of an irrevocably changing culture. Told from the perspective of four characters passed over by the "improvements" of Western progress, the film is a touching portrayal of characters who lead very different lives but share a remarkably common experience.

Three Seasons is also groundbreaking historically, as the first American film shot in Vietnam since the war, and the first to be acted in Vietnamese, by Vietnamese actors.

Three Seasons is showing on June 10 through 13. Screenings are at 7 and 9:15 p.m. on and Friday, at 1, 3:15, 7 and 9,15 on Saturday; and at 2:30, 4:45, 7 and 9:15 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $6; $5 for students; and $4 for members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, seniors, and children.

Nebraska Art Association Family Day June 27

The Education Committee of the Nebraska Art Association convenes its Family Day from 1 to 4 p.m. June 27 in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and the lower Sculpture Garden south of the Gallery. Hands-on art projects as well as other activities will take place. The event is free to the public.

The NAA Family Day provides an opportunity for children and their parents to be creative with the help of local artists. Artists scheduled to date are: Rose Ann Dowty, friendship bracelets; Jessica Smith, jewelry; Todd Miller, metalwork; Carianne Cass, paper stamping/paper folding; Nancy Childs, marbleized paper; Dee Lynch, masks; Toddy Madsen, paper dolls; Penny Siefker, mosaics; Amy Smith, ceramics; Margaret Berry, Matisse paper bags, and Brenda Wiseman, clothespin people.

In addition to the art projects, families will have an opportunity to act as detectives with clues given by storyteller Jim Cook. There will be bubble blowing and balloon hats by Jelo the Clown. Cold drinks and cookies will be served.

The Nebraska Art Association is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote visual art in Nebraska. The NAA is the major financial support organization for the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.

Rep's 32nd Season Features Death, Dogs, Division, Princesses and Peas

The Nebraska Repertory Theatre season begins with Deathtrap by Ira Levin, directed by Ina Marlowe, at 7:30 p.m. June 9 to 12 and June 15 to 19 and at 3 p.m. June 13 in Howell Theatre. One of the great popular successes of recent Broadway history, Deathtrap is an ingeniously constructed play offering a rare and skillful blending of two priceless theatrical ingredients-gasp-inducing thrills and spontaneous laughter. Dealing with the devious machinations of a writer of thrillers whose recent offerings have been flops, and who is prepared to go to any lengths to improve his fortunes, it provides twists and turns and sudden shocks in such abundance that audiences will be held spellbound until the very last moment.

The season's second offering is A.R. Gurney's Sylvia directed by Brant Pope at 7:30 p.m. July 7 to 10 and July 13 to 17 and 3 p.m. July 11 in the Carson Theater, Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Sylvia is a modern romantic comedy about marriage and a dog. Greg and Kate have moved to Manhattan after 22 years of child-raising in the suburbs. Greg's career as a financial trader is winding down, while Kate's career as a public school English teacher is beginning to offer her more opportunities. Greg brings home a dog he found in the park-or that has found him-bearing only the name "Sylvia" on her name tag. A street-smart mixture of Lab and Poodle, Sylvia become a major bone of contention between husband and wife.

The Rep's third Theatre for Family Audiences Production is The Princess and the Pea by Paul A. Lavrakas, directed by Karen Libman, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on July 22 and 23 and at 2 and 5 p.m. on July 24 and 25 in the Studio Theatre.

Princess Astrid finds she has been lured from home by Gustav the Troll as a prospective bride for the bookish Prince Eric. Although this feisty princess has no interest in marriage or princes, she takes a series of tests to prove she is a "real Princess." Despite the plottings of the oily courtier Osric, Astrid and Eric fall in love with each other's minds and spirits. However, before there can be a proper happy ending, the mysterious Queen and her magic talking book decree that Astrid must pass one final test.

The final show of the season is Division Street by Steve Tesich directed by Paul Gaffney, at 7:30 p.m. July 28 to 31 and Aug. 3 to 7 and at 3 p.m. Aug. 1 in Howell Theatre.

Chris, a burnt-out '60s radical, has settled his activist past, but he is besieged by old cronies and unwanted new acquaintances-a left-wing militant who has been reborn as a female cop, an ex-wife who speaks in 60s rock lyrics, and a prostitute who believes in the moral virtues of promiscuity ­ a wild and funny farce.

The Nebraska Repertory Theatre is a professional theatre that employs actors and stage managers who are members of Actors' Equity Association, directors and choreographers who are members of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and designers who are members of the United Scenic Artists Association, all national theatre unions.

For ticket information, call the box office at 472-2073.

12th Annual Event

Henri Is Subject for Sheldon Touring Exhibition

Robert Henri-a Nebraska Legend, is the title of the 12th annual Sheldon Statewide exhibitions.

Statewide exhibitions are a partnership between the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, its principal funding support group, the Nebraska Art Association, and 22 Nebraska communities that have served as exhibition venues since the inception of the program in 1987.

The NAA is a nonprofit volunteer membership organization dedicated to the advancement of the visual arts in Nebraska. Local sponsors who support the exhibition in their communities, and volunteer docents who disseminate important information to the school children and adults of Nebraska have been equally invaluable to the success of Sheldon Statewide.

Born Robert Henry Cozad in Dawson County, Nebraska, Henri was a painter, teacher and writer whose influence on American art is immense, due in part to his belief in the individual freedom to create as opposed to blind allegiance to the accepted school then in vogue.

The remaining program schedule:

o Cozad, May 30 to July 2, Robert Henri Museum and Historical Walkway; local sponsors-Cozad Area Arts Council and Friends of the Henri Museum.

o Cambridge, Aug. 1 to Sept. 3, Cambridge Museum; local sponsor-Cambridge Museum Foundation, Inc.

o York, Sept. 7 to 24, Cornerstone Bank; local sponsor-Cornerstone Bank

o Nebraska City, Sept. 26 to Oct. 29, Morton-James Public Library; local sponsor-donations to the library.

Creative Drama for Youth Workshops

Nebraska Rep invites 5- to 13-year-olds to accompany their parents or guardians to the theatre. While the adults are at a performance on the main stage, the youth are learning about the theatrical process through creative activities. For $1 per person, young people have an opportunity to learn while they play. Creative Drama for Youth Workshops will be held during Deathtrap on June 10, 13 and 17; Sylvia on July 8, 11 and 15 and during Division Street on July 29, Aug. 1 and 5.

Reservations for the combined package of admissions to the performance and the workshop must be made 24 hours in advance by calling the Rep Box Office at 472-2073. Workshop fees and tickets must be purchased at the same time.

Let the Games Begin

You're invited to participate in a contest during each Nebraska Repertory Theatre production, with the winners receiving two free meals donated by Grotto's, Blue Heron Wine Bar and The Bistro, or Lazlo's Brewery & Grill/Jabrisco.

During Deathtrap, clues to a mystery will be given for which you must find a solution, for Sylvia answer questions about famous dogs, and the Division Street contest will have a 1960s theme. Complete your contest form and deposit it in the lobby. Winners will be determined through a drawing.

Rep's Friday Talks Uncover Theatrical Secrets

Discover backstage secrets, uncover the process of producing the Nebraska Rep season, and meet the people who make the Rep happen through the Friday Talks series. Each "First Friday" performance a 7 p.m. pre-show discussion will be held in the balcony lobby on the second floor. Rep staff members and guests will discuss the script, the directors, the actors, and the design.

Each "Second Friday" performance stay after the show to meet-the-cast. The session will include a question-and-answer period.

Friday Talks include Deathtrap on June 11 and 18; Sylvia on July 9 and 16 and Division Street on July 30 and Aug. 6.

Friday Talks are free. No reservations required.

Three Concerts Remain in Jazz in June Series

The 8th annual Jazz in June series continues on Tuesday nights during June. The free jazz concerts begin at 7 p.m. in the Sculpture Garden of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Concert-goers are urged to bring a picnic, a blanket or lawn chairs and enjoy the evening surrounded by Sheldon's outstanding sculpture collection. In addition, the Sheldon Gallery will be open before and during concerts. In case of rain, concerts will be held in the Sheldon Auditorium.

This remaining concerts in this year's schedule include:

o June 15, IRIE featuring the Gulizia Brothers-cool sounds of jazz blended with the heat of island music. IRIE is Jamaican slang for "all-right."

o June 22, Karrin Allyson and Friends-a brilliant improviser and interpreter, Allyson commands a broad repertoire, which ranges from jazz and blues to pop and samba.

o June 29, Matt Wallace Group-a saxophonist who runs the gamut from mainstream jazz to pop, funk and jazz fusion, Wallace was a featured performer with Maynard Ferguson for 11 years.

Soft drinks, iced tea, and cookies from the Cookie Company will be for sale at each concert. NAA volunteers will also sell Jazz in June posters, T-shirts, and CDs and tapes by the featured band.

Jazz in June is sponsored by the Sheldon at Six Committee of the Nebraska Art Association. The series is underwritten by CellularOne. KFOR is the media sponsor. Additional funding is provided by the Nebraska Ails Council, a State agency, through a basic support grant, which supports all the year's programs of the Nebraska Art Association.

For additional information, contact Kathy Piper at 472-2540.