TEAM Research

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Art4Omaha: TEAM Research

Each school was asked to answer the following six questions as part of their TEAM Project. Check out their answers below.

1. What is the most interesting historical fact that your group discovered about your neighborhood?

2. Often artists will team up with or a husband or wife or will work with other artists or creative individuals as a team or group. For example Jeanne-Claude and Christo, Claes Oldenburg and Coosjie Van Bruggen, and Andy Wharhol's Workshop: a creative environment where music and films were created through a group effort. These are examples of collaborations. What is another example of a collaborative group you have discovered through your research?

3. Through your research what new technique have you discovered?

4. What two artists have you discovered who create artwork for public display?

5. Give an example of an artist who addresses any of the following social concerns: identity, self-image, ethnicity, diversity, and civic responsibility.

6. Artists have been known to stretch limits. Matthew Barney uses vaseline and tapioca to create sculptures. Petah Coyne sculpts with a special wax that has maximum resilience to dust, varying temperatures and movement, which she developed through her collaboration with a scientist. What example can you find of an artist who utilizes science, math, language, culinary arts, movement, or are influenced by some other skill, technique, or interest you previously did not think to associate with art?


Abraham Lincoln & Thomas Jefferson High Schools

1) Areas of Council Bluffs were discussed. The library has reference binders that supported the histories of the homes and areas that students had heard of. The area of Park Avenue, for instance, was discussed because of the “hanging tree.” The house on Jane and the house that at one time connected to it.

Current conditions of the neighborhood were also discussed. One student reported that her neighbor had a “meth lab.” Students discussed moving within the community, living in different areas, and the way those areas were perceived.

Fairmont Park was brought up and few students had heard of it. The history of Council Bluffs was not well known among the group. As the facilitator, a native of Council Bluffs, I promised when the weather is nicer we will take a tour of Council Bluffs.

2) Suite Home Chicago Exhibit – 2001 a Public Art Display on Chicago Sidewalks. Materials used included sofas, chairs, and televisions.
http://www.chicagotraveler.com/suite_home_chicago.htm

3) Students discovered Dana Damewood’s photography and looked at the idea of projecting images onto an object and then photographing the object. The idea of combining images and objects to demonstrate a connection was interesting. What kinds of juxtapositions could be created within our own community? One idea was Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial’s water flowing into Lake Manawa. It was mentioned that in Ames, Iowa a successful “billboard” is a projector displaying advertisements at night near campus town.
http://www.damewood.com

4a) Liza Lou created Kitchen and Backyard. For her work on Backyard she enlisted the community to assist in her creation of grass. She stated that she could not have completed the project alone. Even though the work is privately owned, Kitchen is about allowing the public to experience it and look into their lives.

4b) Claudia Tennyson’s work often invites the public to explore their lives as well. In Repair Work Tennyson presented the repairs of household goods that serve as absurd inventions rather that a repair to the original function. Tennyson invited the public to bring their damaged possessions to the gallery when the work was displayed.
http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/873/print

5) Students came up with Diego Rivera and Georgia O’Keefe. Although these artists deal with some of these ideas, as the facilitator, I shared the work of Cindy Sherman with the students. Rivera’s murals deal with current and historical events of his Mexico.

6) Michael Gilbert and Yeo Shih Yun work collaboratively to create collages that are mailed back and forth between them. The act of mailing, damages that are caused, actual mailing material, and the small size of the work all contribute to the final piece. Each artist can at any time decide that a work is finished, whether or not the other agrees http://www.absolutearts.com/artnews/2005/08/10/33217.html.


Bryan Senior High School

1) The Willa Cather Library was built in the early 1950’s. The library serves this south central neighborhood, that used to be primarily white middle class, but now serves a diverse population, from medical students to Jr. High students and Sudanese to preschool students. The library’s namesake is a famous Nebraska author who wrote about the culture of the Great Plains.

2) We looked at Tim Rollins and the Kids of Survival. We liked the way of working they had together, letting the students draw literally from the inspiration of what was being read to them. We looked at several mural projects that were generated this way. We obtained books from the Willa Cather library’s popular books for youth, and drew pictures based on the stories we were hearing. This allowed us to see each student’s drawing ability and imagination at work.

3) We looked at clay work done at Wilson Tile studios and wrought iron work done at Loken Forge. We learned that clay could be sculpted, laid out flat and cut like puzzle pieces, or silk screened with slips or glazes. We saw how metal was heated in a forge and hammered into shapes.

4a) Jun Kaneko and his Dangos. And the J. Doe project, a group of 110 diverse treatment of the same basic form.

4b) Leslie Iwai is an artist who is trained in math and architecture, but who creates environmental sculpture.

Burke High School

1) Through panel discussions with community leaders and residents, readings, and a lecture given by Pat Ryan, Burke High Omaha History Teacher, Burke TEAM members discovered the following Dundee historical facts:

Literature has always been important to Dundee residents. Before a library ever existed in the community, Dundee had the highest number of summer readers in the city of Omaha. There was even a bookmobile that would stop at the former Hinky Dinky on 50th and Underwood every Tuesday. On February of 1973, Kitty Prinz and Kay Bashus came together to discuss the need for a library. READ (Recreation and Education Association of Dundee) was formed to campaign for a library and recreation center. Former Omaha mayor Al V. Sorenson and wife donated an empty lot on 48th and Cass for the building. The building opened August 2, 1976. The second floor was the library filled with books partially donated by the Sorensens. The first floor included a gymnasium, art center, meeting rooms, and recreation area. The community, especially young children and young adults, heavily utilizes the A. V. Sorenson library.

Dundee was built one house at a time. Therefore the architectural styles of these houses are extremely diverse and reflect the development, architects, and trends in homebuilding. Some of the styles that you can see as you drive or walk through Dundee are: prairie homes with sprawling porches, colonial revival, Spanish colonial, Early classic revival, craftsman, Tudor, French, Italian Renaissance, Ranch. Porches, balconies, and patios not only provided natural air-conditioning, but also was a way for neighbors to catch up on the news of the day. This helped to nurture a close-knit community.

The following are businesses that have provided goods and services to the Dundee community throughout the last half of the twentieth century: Dundee Dinner Theatre, Dundee Theater, Dundee Hardware, Trovato’s, Dundee Florist, Dundee Dell (after the 1933 prohibition), and the Dundee-Memorial Park Association (dedicated to preserving the community).

Today’s Dundee continues to be a tight-knit community with residents representing a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds. Although historically it is one of Omaha’s first automobile communities, it considers itself a pedestrian community. Members worked fiercely to maintain historical integrity of the neighborhood in the face of modernization.

2) Suzanne Lacy is one of the most interesting collaborative artists we discussed. Her large-scale public collaborative events range from working with inner city kids to focus mass attention on social concerns to small one-person performances. She uses “both traditional and nontraditional media to communicate and interact with a broad and diversified audience about issues directly related to their lives.” One of the most unique collaboration projects is titled “The Roof is on Fire. Lacy invites teenagers to participate in a performance that takes place in a rooftop parking lot. While viewers walk around rows of parked convertible cars, students discuss issues of identity, stereotyping, peer pressure, teen sex and drugs.
The outcome is both humanizing and educational.

3) Through research and discussion of public ceramic installation, students learned to develop an idea for a site-specific installation project. Students learned the basic steps to prepare a commission proposal; from concept, design, chosen materials, budget, site specification, time schedule, installation details, written description, three-dimensional model and signed contract, students gathered information from various resources including the Hand in Clay book chapter on installation. Burke students learned to conceptualize, design, and interpret what the Dundee represents to Omaha. They learned to transfer a design from a 2D drawing to a 3D model. They learned to prepare a grid to sculpt model to scale with clay, according to specific ratios and measurements. They learned about new hand building techniques and glaze calculations. They learned how to create hollow sculpture forms in sections as part of a larger whole. Students learned to work collaboratively, allowing various hands to sculpt over forms they had sculpted. As students moved from one process to the next, they learned to teach and learn from each other. Most importantly, they learned about teamwork by bringing a variety of ideas into one cohesive work.

4a) John Scott, a Chicago based artist has worked with countless commission projects throughout the country. His harmonious works range from making life sized metal trees in a forest to an interactive playground for kids as a metaphor for home. Some of his large-scale abstract minimal sculptures are intensely vibrant and reference music, dance, and spirit. He has a unique sensibility to turning any kind of metal into graceful eloquent forms harmonious to nature.

4b) Richard Serra uses metal and steel with an entirely different approach. He directly considers the public when creating large-scale steel sculptures for public display. Serra purposely confronts his viewer when he installed “Tilted Arc”, a 72-ton sculpture that forces pedestrians to walk around it. This piece with a curving wall made of raw steel stands 12 feet tall and 120 feet long. Those working around or visiting the Federal Plaza (where it was located) had to constantly walk around it to get to their destination. This created many controversies with the viewers regarding the piece. Many complain the piece should be taken down to create easier access for people to get to their destinations on time. However, Serra argued that the “Tilted Arc” made viewers aware of where they are and their own movement. To move it or to relocate it would ruin the piece because one of the most important things about it was its location, a busy plaza. Serra didn’t care if the sculpture interfered with the public use of the plaza. Serra claimed, “I don’t think it is the function of art to be pleasing.” Unfortunately, after a public hearing and voting process, removal of the piece was the favorable decision. “Tilted Arc” was removed in 1989.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/tiltedarc_a.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra

5) Some artists we discussed address one of more of the mentioned social concerns pertaining to culture and community. Artists such as Kara Walker, Adrian Piper and James Luna were among the few. Luna, a half Native American and half Mexican American artist addresses ethnical issues related to identity. A storyteller, video artist and performer, he often uses himself as subject.

Adrian Piper’s political self-portraits combine and connect her personal childhood memories with larger social issues. Kara Walker incorporates aspects of American History and slavery with her identity as an African American woman. She creates powerful silhouette installations works made of black construction paper.

6) Barbara Kruger stretches the limits of her art by incorporating text with her ready- made images. She superimposes text over fragmented and enlarged photographs, which she appropriates from the media. Most contemporary artists use nontraditional materials as shock value or as eye candy to seduce the view. On the contrary, Kruger challenges her viewers to rethink meaning of words and pictures by addressing issues of power through text and images found in advertisement and media. Her play with language and how it is used in culture fascinates viewers to reevaluate the power of media.

Cental High School

1) The Omahas encamped above the stream, Er-o-ma-ha, contracted into O-ma-ha, which means ‘above’ with reference to a stream, or ‘above a stream’. There are three words translated ‘above’: Mangre, with reference to height, air; A-mer-e-ta, with reference to a country bordering on or near a stream; E-ro-ma-ha, with reference to where your position is. Hence the natural inference is that Omaha is ‘E-ro-ma-ha,’ above all others upon a stream.

The Platte River was also called the Nebraska, which is an Indian word signifying Ne, water, and braska, wide or shallow. So we have ‘shallow water’ as the meaning of Nebraska.

Tthe Omaha tribe was named after the fight of two tribes across the Missouri River. All who survived was one man who nearly drowned. His head came out of the water he said “Omaha!” which was heard and then adopted as the tribe name.
All in all, this is how Omaha is believed to have started.

The most interesting historical fact I have discovered about my neighborhood is how Con Agra built it’s headquarters. Where Con Agra is located now used to be a downtown district called Jobber’s Canyon. Con Agra decided it wanted to build on the location, so the company threatened Omaha by saying it would move to another city. Since Con Agra is a major aspect of business, Omaha accepted the terms, had the downtown area torn down and Con Agra got it’s headquarters. Initially, Con Agra had stated that it’s property was open to the public, but when people began to fly kites there, Con Agra planted rows of trees to cover the grass. Con Agra’s story is interesting because corporate corruption is often forgotten about in a state stereotyped by agriculture. However, Omaha is far more advanced and urban than the rest of the country gives it credit for.

The most interesting fact about my neighborhood is the Union Pacific Railroad. The U.P.R.R. was given ten sections of land to build the railroad west. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 allowed this. The railroad was not always going to come through Omaha. The fight for the U.P.R.R. was between Omaha and Bellevue. Omaha got the U.P.R.R. to come through the city because it was a cheaper route. The railroad that was now new to Omaha raised the population from 3,000 to 16,500 in three years (1865-1868).

2) Eva Hesse was a German artist born in Hamburg in 1936. She died in 1970 of a brain tumor after only a decade-long career. Hesse specialized in latex, fiberglass, and plastic sculptures. Hesse was a Post-minimalist, and was one of the artists to lead the Post-minimalism movement in visual art. Post-minimalists use minimalism as an aesthetic or conceptual reference point from which they develop. Many of Hesse’s pieces deal with her estrangement from her family, fear of the Nazis, her failed marriage, and the death of her father. She used suggestion to undermine the Minimal and Conceptual art of the sixties with emotion, eroticism, and corporeality. Much of her art exhibits flowing or translucent qualities, and uses gray areas or empty space to attract the eye.

Her pieces include: Expanded Expansion, 1969, which uses reinforced fiberglass poles and rubberized cheesecloth, Repitition Nineteen I, 1967, which utilized paint and papier mache on aluminum screening (nineteen cylinders), Repitition Nineteen III, 1968, which was made of fiberglass and polyester resin (nineteen cylinders), and Hang Up, 1966, which was acrylic on cord and cloth. Hesse’s work has heavily influenced other minimalists and conceptual artists.

3) Rachel Whiteread (b.1963), who creates her pieces out of polyethylene and concrete. Whiteread’s technique is to cast everyday objects, from small boxes to looming water towers to entire living spaces and make them cast her art. Perhaps Whiteread’s best known piece, House, 1993, was a concrete cast of the inside of an entire Vicorian terraced house, now exhibited at the location of the original house. House won her the Turner Prize for best young Britsh artist and the K foundation art award for worst British Artist. In January 1994, House was demolished.
Artists like Whiteread and even Hesse have yet to gain the widespread fame that other cutting edge artists have achieved, but inside the art community they are highly regarded for their experimentation and ability to use far more then classical media to make art.

4a) Susan Leibovitz Steinman is an artist that works with the environment to create her work. She takes raw materials that are in the area of her work and uses it. Some of her works include art done for the National Park Service, Mandela Artscape, River of Hopes and Dreams, and art done for the San Francisco Art Commission’s Market Street Art in Transit program.

Steinman worked with Jackie Brookner on the National Park Service. It is made of three separate, yet related works that discusses issues about the area along with being environmentally conscious. One is the Hoquarten Interpretive Trail in Tillamook, Oregon. It functions as a bridge and serves to tell about the history of the area. The next one is Clark’s Creek Greenwayin Puyallup, Washington. Steinman, along with many other natural artists are sprucing up the area. Finally, the Indian Creek Daylighting Project in Caldwell, Idaho. Similar to the project in Washington, this project was to help renovate the area.

The Mandela Artscape was made of completely of used highway materials. It was put in Oakland, California as “a symbol of positive urban regeneration on new-found but degraded open space where the 1989 earthquake collapsed on an elevated freeway tragically killing motorists.” She also worked with many others on the project.

5) Jamie Burmeister is a sculptor, born in Harlan, Iowa 1969. He attended Creighton University and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in 1992. Then, he went on to get his Master’s at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1995. Then, in 2005, he got his Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He now resides in Gretna, Nebraska. The artist has worked throughout the Midwest. Burmeister has made works in Souix City and Des Moines, Iowa, Omaha, Nebraska, Topeka, Kansas. He has won many awards consisting of the Trickey Memorial Award, Woods Fellowship, and Lewis Art Scholarship.

Have A Seat is an interactive piece made of a table and electronics, with no definite measurements. Tap is another piece with variable dimensions. It is made of a pair of shoes, a ruler, and electronics. This piece is fabricated to create the illusion of a pair of disembodied shoes tapping. Similar to it is Pencil. It is made of a pencil, wire, electronics, and a stool. It’s dimensions are 12 feet high by three feet wide, by three feet deep. It gives the illusion of a pencil writing and erasing.

This artist likes to make interactive pieces that give off illusions. He makes use of negative space by including it in his work. Often times, he leaves, the viewer to use his of her imagination to fill in the negative space. He does not use the usual materials that most sculptors do. He takes sculpture to a new level by breaking the norm and creating wonderful, contemporary works of art that people of all ages can enjoy.

6) Jean Tinguely was a Swiss born artist in the late Twentieth Century. He used mechanics to create kinetic sculptures that painted, moved, and even self-destructed. He used the idea of machines (conventionally used for productive purposes) and created what he termed “meta-matics,” most of which performed no useful tasks. This may have been a way to protest the structured and conventional attitudes of his country, which Tinguely had always resented, and exhibit his anarchist ideas.

One of Tinguely’s more famous machines was one he designed for the MOMA called “Homage to New York”. The machine only ran for thirty minutes before it self destructed. Another of his “meta-matics” was a machine that produced abstract paintings. It was a comment about abstract art. Viewers could turn knobs and pull levers to create their own masterpieces.

Tinguely was strongly influenced by Marcel Duchamp, and like this Dadaist artist incorporated chance and everyday objects into his work. The influence of Alexander Calder is also apparent in these kinetic sculptures.
Tinguely’s use of mechanics allows for insight on the industrial world, so reliant on mechanics, and neatly organized for productivity. It is these connotations that allow for the irony of Tinguely’s work.

Millard North High Shool

1) The most interesting historical facts we have discovered about our neighborhoods of Omaha and Millard include what we learned during the Forum at the Millard Branch Library. They include; discovering that the Omaha Indian tribe, which migrated from Ohio, lived in and around the Bow Creek, Nebraska area. Their home, “Omaha” means going against the wind or current, and came from the fact that they traveled up the river to get to Nebraska. Several students enjoyed hearing about Omaha facts from people who experienced some of our history including; the trolley cars downtown, personal experience with the tornados of 1975, downtown underground passageways between the stores, the old Brandeis building holiday window displays, and how libraries used to be mobile vans. One student stated that she found it fascinating to learn how much our city has developed in such a short amount of time as compared to other cities in the Midwest. “Growth in both technology and size, our city seems to have evolved tremendously.” Another spoke about how much and the variety of public art we have in West Omaha. She never realized how much until she visited the Omaha by Design website. http://www.omahabydesign.org/art/art_index.htm#west. Which confirms the need for even more!

2) Often artists work collaboratively with different groups. As an example, in our research we found (http://www.chihuly.com/) Dale Chihuly is one of the most influential glass blowers ever. We learned how he has now reached a point in his career that he comes up with the design concepts, then supervises and directs his team/co-workers as they are the ones doing the actual glass blowing and assembly of many of his monumental chandelier-type constructions.

Another collaborative effort in art is the Cultural Quilt. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts collaborated with young artists from 25 various groups across Omaha in the creation of this public art. It's fitting that the city's youth has gathered together to create this powerful, united symbol. In creating the quilt, they made a 30’ wide by 60’ tall banner. Installed at the Qwest Center Omaha, the vibrant colors and symbols in the quilt represent and celebrate our city’s diversity, cultural heritage, and our unity. http://www.art4omaha.org/project2.html.

Another of our members learned about Jim Gallucci, a professional sculptor from Greensboro, North Carolina. This man was given 16 tons of the structural steel from the World Trade Center in New York after the 9-11 attack. Mr. Gallucci proceeded to invite drawings and ideas from talented artists across the nation to join him in helping the country recover emotionally. He would use these sketches as part of the sculpture called “The Gates”. It was to denote the character of the people, from janitors to CEOs, which we lost in the 9-11 attack. http://www.911sculptureproject.org_collabnoration.shtml/

3) We researched and learned more about the technique of figure sculpture using plaster before we begin our actual construction. New insights and helpful steps included using Vaseline to cover the entire body, start from the bottom of the figure and work up, and when applying the plaster the model must stand (or hold the pose) absolutely still or it will wreck the form. We found a great site http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/index.html that included some of the materials we’ll need and helpful suggestions of even what “not” to do. It gave warnings about using fiberglass resins so I’m glad we won’t be doing that. The steps are quite long so I’m not including all that, but saving it for our reference during construction.
George Segal was the artist most students connected with this technique. “In 1958 he turned his attention from painting to sculpture, experimenting with plaster, burlap, and wire mesh.” Later he discovered and used medical gauze bandages as material and used himself as a model for Man at a Table, his first plaster cast using this technique. It was said that many of his groupings were autobiographical scenes. He published a pamphlet in 1979 on his technique, which was put out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His subjects have been described as reflecting a melancholy mood of the “alienating nature of modern urban life”. Segal cast the figures with plaster-soaked gauze bandages for the Bus Riders, which was made from live models (including his wife, Helen) in their real clothes. His process included wrapping a model with the bandages then removing the hardened forms and putting them back together with more plaster. The shell itself became the sculpture including leaving the rough texture from the plaster gauze as is. At first Segal left the sculptures white, but later began painting them with bright colors. Eventually he did have some of his final forms cast in bronze but made them white like his original plaster color. We plan to do further research into his techniques before we begin our process. http://www.fi.muni.cz/~toms/PopArt/Biographies/segal.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Segal_(artist) http://hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/gallery/segal.html
Another new technique a student learned more about was glassblowing. She did not know that an artist (in this case, Dale Chihuly) was capable of making glass in very different/vibrant colors. The glass can be made to look like different objects and can be put together in big 3-dementional compositions. http://www.chihuly.com/intro.html.

4a) Jun Kaneko, an Omaha artist began his career as a painter and then a sculptor, famous for his large abstract “Dangos” or ceramic dumplings in Japanese (we learned during our tour of his exhibit that he doesn’t care for that name). Some of these are located outside of the Hilton Hotel by the Convention Center. In creating his sculptures, sometimes he must work upside down: using thick clay slabs to form the walls then letting the bottom layers dry enough to hold up the top construction, but plastic enough to join the segments. Finally, hoping it will hold together through the bisque and glaze firings without cracking. We learned more about Mr. Kaneko’s body of work when we toured the Bemis Center, including his set and costume designs for the play, “Madame Butterfly”. (The students were truly astounded when they actually stood beside his impressive works.) We learned that the massive figurative heads, which measure over 8 feet tall, weigh around 1000 pounds and so do the bases on which they’re displayed. Kaneko moved to the U.S. to study ceramics. Not being able to speak English yet, he focused on visual communication. “After construction, his work generally takes four months of drying time and up to a 35-day firing process. In the final stage of the production, out of a group of 10 pieces, only two to three actually survive.” Mr. Kaneko’s exhibition history spans over 40 years and includes pieces at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, De Young Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, European Ceramic Work Centre, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, Oakland Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, and Japan’s Wakayama Museum of Modern Art. http://www.omahabydesign.org/ http://www.ceramicstoday.com/potw/kaneko.htm http://www.artscope.net/VAREVIEWS/Kaneko102601.shtml

4b) Mr. Bruning has given slide presentations at the Central Time Zone Sculpture Symposium in Lincoln, Nebraska and at the 1990 International Sculpture Conference in Washington, D.C. He acquired a Mentoring Grant from the Nebraska Art Council and his works are displayed in many public and private collections such as the Museum of Art in Kearney, Nebraska. Bruning also created a J. Doe for Omaha public art project. In 1998 and 1999 he took part in the Pier Walk Sculpture Exhibition on Chicago’s Navy Pier. Throughout the U.S., Bruning has participated in more then 100 juried and invitational shows and is actively working at the Hot Shops here in Omaha. http://www.bruningsculpture.com/bio.html

5. An example of an artist whose work addresses social concerns is Maya Ying Lin, a female Asian American, who was the artist of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. At that time Maya Lin was still an undergraduate student at Yale University’s School of Architecture. Dedicated in 1982, her monument is very powerful (emotionally) as it stands 493 feet long and contains over 58,000 American’s names who were killed in the war. In her words, " . . . this memorial is for those who have died, and for us to remember.” In an interview with Washington Post writer Phil McCombs, Maya Lin stated, "It was while I was at the site that I designed it. I just sort of visualized it. It just popped into my head. Some people were playing Frisbee. It was a beautiful park. I didn't want to destroy a living park. You use the landscape. You don't fight with it. You absorb the landscape . . . When I looked at the site I just knew I wanted something horizontal that took you in, that made you feel safe within the park, yet at the same time reminding you of the dead. So I just imagined opening up the earth . . . ". The granite came from southern India and the monument is considered minimalist in it’s style. As she has stated, “It’s sole proposition is that the cost of war is human life.” Ms. Lin also designed the “Civil Right’s Memorial” (1987-89) in Montgomery Alabama. http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial.html
http://www.plazzotta.co.uk/plazzotta_the_sculptor.htm#Christian%20themes

6) Duane Hanson pushed the limits by creating extremely life-like sculptures, making it almost eerie to look at them. When observing his pieces often onlookers become uncomfortable with their realism. It looks as though each person is merely frozen in time. She remembered walking through his exhibit and, as the people stood looking at the sculptures, she would watch out of the corner of her eye to see if they themselves were sculptures or real people. It is fascinating to see how he portrayed the character and the feelings of the person he was “making” from their facial expressions to their clothing and body language… you can almost read each person’s mind. http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa206.htm

North High School

1) In our talks with the focus group and visiting the Preston Love Jazz and Arts Center at 24th and Lake Street we have found that the Jazz scene in Omaha was truly impressive.

The Dreamland Ballroom was a center for jazz in Omaha, Nebraska was a “hoppin” place. After it burned down the jazz culture in Omaha diminished and we found that sad.

It is generally accepted that the end of World War I marked the upswing in ballrooms across the country. Ballrooms refer to all those establishments, whether called pavilions, parks, or just dance halls, where large crowds would gather to dance to the new music of the times. Although ballrooms have long been associated with the Big Bands, it was the Jazz Age where many of them got their start. The 30’s and 40’s were undoubtedly the highpoint of the ballroom era, and ironically, it was the end of World War II that also saw the downswing in the number of ballrooms across the United States. Many ballrooms remained quite prominent through the 50’s and into the 60’s. But by the later 60’s changing times began to take a heavy toll on these popular dance locales.

Preston Love was just 22 when he got his big break with the Count Basie Orchestra. In the years to come, the musicians he performed with read like a who’ who of jazz and rhythm-and-blues: Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin – and that’s only a partial list.
www.nbea.com/archives11.htm
www.nebraskalife.com

2) The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It is incorrect to just say, “Christo.” They are an artistic team and work together.

Works, including Rifle Gap Canyon, Running Curtain, and Central Park Flag Series were installations that drew our attention.

Rifle Gap Canyon, a brightly colored orange curtain spanning a canyon in Colorado blocks the view of the viewer. You are not able to see up the canyon. Area residents found the project anywhere from amusing to ridiculous to thought provoking.

The curtain was ripped apart by Colorado winds.

The idea of covering the view focused new attention to the view after it was “re-opened,”

The artistic event clearly brought attention to the area and spawned much conversation about the artists and their work.

The idea that people noticed and were talking about what is art meant that the work was successful. Whether they liked the piece or not it still brought about conversation.
http://christojeanneclaude.net

3) On our third field trip we visited the studio of Diane Mattern. Diane is working with the Omaha North students and instructors on the Bemis Public Arts Project.

Diane welds steel ribar and also uses a concrete product in her sculptures. We learned how to mix concrete with fiber glass materials and an acrylic fortifier.

This is not normal “sidewalk” concrete, but rather a very fine mix of sand and other ingredients that become extremely strong and workable for 2-3 hours.

The patinas that Diane showed us will enable our group to make the concrete appear exactly like rusted metal. She also showed us how we can get it to be any color we wish. We will be using Diane’s techniques to complete our project.

4a) Enid Yandell - Throughout history artists and sculptors have lead the way for new advances in their fields. One of these artists was Enid Yandell. She was one of the first major female artists of her time. Enid Yandell was influenced by a number of artists including that of her mother Louise Yandell, Frederick William MacMonies, Philip Martiny, August Rodin, and Lorado Taft.

Enid Yandell led the way for women artists in the male-dominated art of sculpting during the 1890’s. Yandell first gained national attention for her work on the Women’s Building of the Columbian Exposition in 1892. Yandell devoted time to both art and improving people’s lives. She organized the Branstock School of Art in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts in 1907.

4b) Ken Unsworth's work has been displayed in major galleries all over the world. He was one of the first artists to receive the Australian Artists Creative Fellowship award, and has represented Australia at the Venice Biennale.

Ken Unsworth may draw his inspiration from a number of sources, but a few seem to stick out in some of his pieces. The influence of music is constantly appearing. In his Rapture (1994), a grand piano with seven keyboards stacked up like stairs, the piano maker's name is replaced with the name of his wife, Elisabeth Volodarsky. Volodarsky is a concert pianist. Pianos make their appearance in several other sculptures, along with other musical instruments. An installation piece, titled I'll Build a Staircase to Heaven, featured the 1930's song that it is named after playing repeatedly in a room housing a staircase that rose up through the ceiling and disappeared from the darkness, which was lit only with a soft, pink light.

Commonly found in Ken Unsworth's art is the contradiction of ideas, and a delight in the humor of these contradictions, as well as a playful attitude with the realistic interpretation of words. For example, in Falling in Love Again, five tables are set up with white tablecloths spread and candles lit, but the men beside them are all lying on the ground, as if they have literally fallen. Similarly, is a piece titled In the Doghouse, a human form lies on the ground with legs in the air, and the head literally inside the glass doghouse filled with straw.

Ken Unsworth, as all memorable artists do, has pushed himself, and pushed the world with his art, by expanding boundaries and taking risks. He has explored nearly every material, every type of art, and used them to create his own unique and personal style.

5) Diego Rivera – In the autumn of 1927 Diego took a trip to the Soviet Union, as a member of an official delegation of Mexican Communist Party functionaries and various workers representatives, to take part in the tenth anniversary celebrations of the October Revolution. Diego’s interest in the Workers Movement is clearly shown in a mural depicting Frida Kahlo, Diego’s wife and longtime (1929-1954) partner handing out guns to workers who have decided to fight.

6) Again, we focused on Diane Mattern. Her outdoor sculptures can be found in many local garden spots in the greater metropolitan Omaha area. Her new and unusual use of concrete has intrigued us so much that we have pursued her to be our mentor. Concrete is a durable material which can be manipulated to look like weathered bronze or rusted metals. It can be sculpted and molded similar to clay and requires no firing process so it has a cost saving measure as well. Clay tiles, metals, steel, copper, and other objects can be added onto it without fear of the concrete shrinking and dislodging these items.

Northwest High School

1) Military Road was actually used by the military. The actual Mormon Trail runs through this area. (Information Source: Public Forum)

2) We looked at a partnership between two traditional potters. Maria Martinez and Julian Martinez, husband and wife, were commissioned to duplicate ancient pieces of pottery found in an archeological dig. In the process, they discovered a new firing method that produced their distinctive black on black designs. Maria fabricated all of their pieces, while Julian did all the design painting. (Information Source: Southwestern Pottery by Allan Hayes and John Blom)

3) Through practical/ hands-on research we have been experimenting with expanding foam insulation. We have discovered that spray-foam is much more useful as a surface (1-2 inches) treatment than as a structural element. Specifically, in our trials, the foam oozes everywhere, laterally, making it very challenging to fill up our forms.

4a) Luis Jiminez uses fiberglass around steel armitures to create larger-than-life, flamboyantly colored sculptures of Hispanic figures. These figures have a joyful appearance and reflect his interpretation of the Hispanic culture. (http://artdepartment.nmsu.edu/news/news_index.htm)

4b) Phil Epp, in cooperation with other artists, created a large mosaic mural. The convex wall panels were covered in tiles to emulate the sky and it was installed outdoors with the actual sky as a backdrop. We liked the serene feeling and impressive mass that this project exhibited. http://www.philepp.com/public.htm

5) Barbara Neijna is an artist known for her pristine geometric sculptures. Her sculptural works are often white and arch-shaped. Barbara feels her art reminds viewers of entrances because they invite viewers to walk through and experience the “other side.” www.jacksonville.com

6) Cai Guo-Qiang began using gunpowder to gain spontaneity and comment on the social climate in China. He developed his signature “explosion events” after studying gunpowder in Japan. Cai also uses elements of fung shui, eastern philosophy, as well as images of dragons and tigers. The artist uses these various cultural influences to design his work with the intention being to draw attention to political and social issues with which he feels strongly. (Information Source: Bemis center hand-out)

South High School

1) We learned that 80% of the working population worked either directly or indirectly for the packing houses.

We also learned that there was an accident that was called the Krug Park accident where a roller coaster collapsed 60 feet killing two and injuring others.

We also learned that South Omaha was the most photographed city between the 1900’s and 1940’s

2) Barbara Grygutis and Linda Bolton worked together on the Martin Luther Kings, Jr. Memorial at Battle Garden in Columbia, MO. The garden was dedicated on August 28, 1993. The sculpture in the middle of a park is along-side the MLK trail. The basic design of the memorial is a semicircle – resembling an amphitheater. At the top of the design are eight columns inscribed with the writings and words of the famous leader. This monument was an artwork of public display. It was created to honor a great man of American history and educate the public. These two artists studied the writings of King, and created this public art to visually portray his messages. The spiral which was included in the design represents infinity. This stands for the influence and understanding which King gave to the world generations to come.

3) Through our research we have learned much about the technique of photo-mosaics. The word mosaic describes the process of making pictures by inlaying small bits, which combined, make up the whole. The process of photo-mosaic is specifically the process of making a composite picture by bringing together a number of different pictures, when viewed from a distance, blend together to create a larger image. We really centered on how parts are important to make up the whole. An artwork becomes more interesting and detailed when attention is paid to the details. The parts are as important as the whole.

4a) Barbara Aubin gives symbols and words to create a whole idea.

4b) Duane Hansen astonished people with realistic sculptures. This public display is so real it appears as though they are alive.

5) As an artist of the American Revolution, as both a soldier and artist, John Trumbull saw the war for independence firsthand and was moved to memorialize the historic events on canvas.

6) Chuck Close is an unusual artist because he uses a grid system (math and science) to create monumental portraits. Since his disability in 1988, he uses a forklift to assist him with these paintings that are several feet high.

Westside High School

1) When the houses in my neighborhood were built around 1945, right after World War II, there were protective covenants that were written. They talk about not being allowed to own more than two horses on the property, and the forbidding of raising swine and poultry on the properties. There were also a lot of racist things still going on at the time. The owners of the houses, according to the documents written, had to be white, and any kind of non-white citizen had to be a servant, or they couldn’t live in the neighborhood.

In the 1970’s, the Westside school district was just that – the West Side. There were hardly any developments to the west of the Westside district. There is a brick road by Oakdale Elementary School that is now a frontage road. This little brick road used to be the “Center Street” of Omaha! Now it is hardly capable of holding two lanes of traffic from the Oakdale Elementary School.

2) An example of a collaborative work in Omaha, Nebraska is the Hot Shops Art Center downtown, where artists another specialists hold workshops and classes for those who are interested in learning the techniques of glassblowing, blacksmithing, painting, writing and printmaking. Within these workshops and classes, those enrolled will be able to create art in a group, and learn from others what techniques to use while experiencing new mediums.

3) Many different artists today and in history have used glass to create colorful pieces of art. Lee Baldwin of Prescott, Arizona uses stained glass to create wall hangings. Starting in 1978, artists Jean Luc Comperat and Minouche Waring from New York, New York have come together to create glass boxes using glass (hammered, smooth, etc.) and metal. Their work has been awarded first place in the “Glass Master Guild’s” art glass competition.

4a) Cindy Zurcher, who creates artwork to be displayed at the Hot Shops Art Center, is both a painter and a photographer. She is a current Bellevue University student who hopes to go on to work in wedding photography and portrait painting.

4b) Patsy Smith is a painter, whose work has been displayed in multiple galleries and shows, including the Nebraska Showcase Gallery downtown.


5) Raymond Pettibon is an artist who is not afraid to confront issues in America on anything from sports to politics. His artwork is very contemporary, and it has been displayed in Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Spain, Tokyo, and Germany. His work is also featured in PBS’s “Art 21” series.

Charles Atlas is another artist who deals with issues such as war and peace in his artwork. Atlas works with video and filmmaking. He has worked with Merce Cunningham Dance Company for ten years, and has won multiple awards for his work.

6) Artist Cai Guo-Qiang is an artist who goes beyond basic sculpture and painting and redefines art by using gunpowder. His work deals with ancient Chinese medicine, roller coasters, dragons, and vending machines.