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■ I
m
Artist weaves
new images
with paintings
i
By John Fulwider
Senior Editor
Betty Jo Axthelm makes watercolor
paintings on paper. Nothing unusual
there.
Many artists would then frame their
work and display it. Not Axthelm. She
cuts hers up.
She cuts two new paintings up, then
weaves them together to create one
entirely new composition from verti
cal and horizontal strips of the begin
ning two. .
The result is an unusually textured
floral portrait that looks like it’s made
of hundreds of squares — a different
approach to the time-honored still life.
An art show including Axthelm’s
works opens Friday at Noyes Art Gal
lery. |
Axthelm’s woven watercolors
emerged from experimentation, like so
many of her other works in watercolor,
oil and acrylic paints. She likes to make
pictures of anything she can get her
hands on and then arrange in an attrac
tive composition.
“I see beauty in my environment
Noyes Art Gallery
119 S. Ninth St.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday
John Fulwider/DN
BETTY JO AXTHELM’S woven
watercolors will be on display
starting Friday at the Noyes Gallery.
wherever I look,” said Axthelm, who
prefers to be called B.J.
Please see AXTHELM on 8
Haydon Gallery to show
collection of digital art
From Staff Reports
“The Digital Show: Artists Us
ing Computers,” opening Friday at
Haydon Gallery, exemplifies the
staggering proliferation of tech
nology and its use in contemporary
art.
The show is a follow-up to 1996
Haydon exhibitions that focused on
the use of computers in weaving and
printmaking. “The Digital Show”
takes a look at electronic photogra
phy and image manipulation.
Anne Pagel, Haydon director,
said the creative capabilities of the
artists create an aesthetic statement
that overcomes the challenges of us
ing the latest technology. Their
works, she said, prove that artistic
expressions can reach far beyond the
media from which they were pro
duced.
Jim Butkus, a graphic arts in
structor at Omaha’s Metropolitan
Community College, organized the
show and is one of its featured art
ists. Other artists are Jill Birschbach,
Judith Ernst Cherry, Gary Day, Mary
Day, John Derry, Gary Downing,
Shelly Fuller, David Helm, Becky
Hermann, Tricia Smith Hollins,
Lorran Meares, Kat Moser, Peggy
Reinecke and Lynn Reynolds.
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Haydon Gallery
335 N. Eighth St.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday
_»_
fNFuufiDja/DN
th a computer
Digital Show:
Friday. The show was organized by Jim
Butkus, a graphic arts instructor at Metropolitan Community College in
Omaha.
Burkholder Project p: duces shows, new space
From Staff Reports
Opening Friday at The Burkholder
Project are three shows and a new ex
hibition space.
The exhibition space is called The
Sampler Gallery and occupies base
ment space formerly used by the Lin
coln Artist’s Guild,'which is leaving
because of financial difficulties.
The Sampler Gallery’s purpose is
to give artists who aren’t members of
die Burkholder cooperative a chance
to have a work or two on display. In
the space now is a piece from a Leba
nese artist, Roula Ayoub, as well as
works by artists from South Korea,
Seattle, Minneapolis and all over Ne
braska.
The space features much-improved
lighting and wall coverings.
Upstairs in the Main Gallery Fri
day will be “Mysteries,” a collection
of abstract works by Lincoln artist
Richard Tyrrell, plus some of his re
cent landscapes and figurative
sketches.
Burkholder Project
719 P St.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday
In the Back Gallery will be a group
show of abstract works by Burkholder
artists.
And die Skylight Gallery will have
recent mxe^^&a^ag j^pgr works by
Omaha artist
opens exhibit
against Wltid
i.
By John Fulwtoer I
Senior Editor -
‘cr ’
There was a time when Omaha art
ist Bonnie O’Connell wanted to’throw
the moneylenders out of the temple—
or die Warhol-lovers out of the Art In
stitute.
When she lived in Chicago,
O’Connell considered the Ait Institute
of Chicago a refuge — a place to see
art untainted by die influence of com
mercialism. £ >
That ended in 1989when a new pop
culture exhibit turned the Institute into
what O’Connell called “a Warhol
mall.”
"The museum had simply been con
sumed by this whole notion of market
ing Warholia,” she said. “I was re
pulsed.” .
Andy Warhol worked in “pop art,”
making paintings of popular figures
and items like Marilyn Monroe,
Mickey Mouse and Campbell’s Soup
Please see WARHOL on 8
Gallery ;9
124 S. Ninth St.
Hours: 10 a.m-5 p.m.
Wednesday-Saturday,
noon-5 p.m. Sunday
Gallery openings bring
full bellies, free culture
Free food.
Art lovers go to gallery openings because the experience of view
ing fine art enriches their lives. But if life enrichment doesn’t top
your list of weekend priorities, go for the free food.
We’re not talking carrot sticks and ranch dip here. At a recent
Haydon Gallery opening, we’re talking confections that put The Gar
den Cafe to shame.
Fresh fruit. Sublime gazpacho dip. Summer sausage. Cheese from
around the world and a few other planets besides.
Gallery openings are an experience unto themselves. People dress
up and dress down. Some wear the stereotypical all-black. All com
ers have fun if they want.
That’s right, fun. Art shows are a source of cheap entertainment.
Actually, not cheap — free. All you have to do is go.
For those who aren’t convinced, free up 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fri
day and follow this route through Lincoln’s four downtown galleries:
1. Start at Gallery 9, 124 S. Ninth St, not because it’s the best
gallery (they all have their own charm), but because it’s just outside
the Haymaiket and parking is easier to find. Walk right under the iron
arch to file courtyard entrance. Fill up a plate with food from die table
l^^jgs^^Lg^around for 30 minutes—don’t miss the handmade
^ 2. WaJkjim»ss Ninth Street to Noyes Art Gallery, 119 S. Ninth St.
Thefiefc food should be in the room to the left of the entrance. Get
sbm&,*tkdh%alk clockwise around the gallery’s three exhibit rooms
' for 30 minutes. You’ll end up at the entrance again. Exit.
3. Any other month but February, you would walk or (hive to the
Burkholder Project, 719 P St It’s across die street from Jabrisco and
next door to Ted and Wally’s. The free food is usually in one of the
artists’studios on the left >
But not Friday. Burkholder isn’t having a night opening this month,
so go either earlier in the day or another day. Admire the gallery’s
architecture and foliage as much as the artwork. Allow some extra
time, because Burkholder is huge.
4. Run over to Haydon Gallery. Take Eighth Street past The Oven
and The Mill. Haydon is about half a block past La Paloma on the
same side of the street. There is one exhibit room, so the free food
won’t be hard to find.
Too bad these things happen only once a month.
Fulwider is a junior news-editorial nutfor and the Daily Ne
braskan wire editor.