s'
watashi
ga
moratta
mono
gifts
I
have
received
Takako Hicken didn’t dis
cover until college that she
wasn’t white.
The daughter of an Ameri
can father and a Japanese
mother, Hicken went
through primary and sec
ondary school without a
real concept of her identity
as half-Japanese.
Then, at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, in an
American literature class of
all places, she read about a
Chinese-American woman’s ex
several inches). Hicken says |
she hoped to capture ij
some of the delight she
had in owning the key
chain by making the chain
float above the pink
flower-covered charm
below, giving the piece
a lofty feeling.
“What I like about it
is someone could mis
take it for one of those
’70s lanterns — and that
doesn’t bother me.”
“Plastic Bow — Barrette” is
penences witn racism. the closest to reality — the 1 1/
“So I think it was from that semes- 4- by 3-foot sculpture looks almost just
ter onward that I realized I was not a “Prayer Beads and Case” like its diminutive inspiration,
white person,” Hicken says. “It was re- ^ Takako Hicken 11 s a good examPle of Hicken’s
ally pretty funny.” * style—billowy in form, with no sharp,
Hicken’s new exhibition at _ harsh edges to take away from the
Gallery 9, “watashi ga moratta 44 childlike meaning of the piece,
mono (gifts I have received),” is TT7"L t l j. , . Hicken got the tiny barrette
an exploration of her Japanese WflCTl 1 duSudCt t/llTlgS from her Japanese uncle in
heritage. . ‘ Okinawa.
Hicken, a 24-year-old fine 1 171 diWdyS flOpiTlg pCOpLC He was taking Hicken and her
arts student, has taken gifts she sister around to the see the sights
received from Japanese relatives Will SBC different and wanted to stop at a store to
and turned them into monumen- : = : get them a gift — even though
tal ceramic sculptures. llTldgeS. ” ~' he’d given them five gifts the day
“Prayer Beads and Case” is ° before! r
an abstraction of a pouch filled ' -ElEd’s just the Japanese way,
with Buddhist prayer beads. IAKAKO HlCEBN" ;*• Hicken has discovered —— gift giv
This viewer thought it looked artist ing cm any occasion, or no occa
like a seashell with pearls around sion at all.
the edges — which didn’t bother
Hicken at all.
“When I abstract things I’m always
hoping people will see different im
ages,” she says. “I think it increases
interest to have someone have to fig
ure it out.”
“Key Chain” is closer to the actual
form — the main abstraction here is
its monumental size (several feet, not
“No one talks about gift giv
ing,” she says. “It’s a given.”
Hicken’s gift to Lincoln — her art
show — has its opening reception Fri
day night from 7-9 at Gallery 9,124 S.
Ninth St.
Lincoln_
P R E N/' I EE W
Stories by John Fulwider
Humor s no accident
at Noyes Art Gallery
I- Tsl® SieSffiSri. ’< ’• I
Patience becomes an art
Those who consider patience a vir
tue would respect Turner McGehee.
After all, the internationally known
printmaker works in a medium that
doesn’t lend itself well to quick
completion.
In his technique, intaglio, metal
plates and ink are used to make images
on paper. With tools, including chisels
and acids, he incises depressed lines
and gouges on the plates, then fills the
depressions with ink. Finally the ink is
drawn up into paper laid over the plate,
forming the image.
Time-consuming, but not too much
so — right? Yes, if McGehee liked
monochrome images. But his prints are
multicolored, and each color requires
its own plate (roughly similar to the
cyan-magenta-yellow-black process
used to print color pictures in newspa
pers).
In addition, he sometimes combines
two or more processes to form each
image. Each process — etching, dry
point, mezzotint and engraving — re
quires its own plate.
The result is a neat, clean image
that, humbly, only hints at the enor
mous effort that went into it.
“It’s a very exacting way to work,”
says Anne Pagel, director of Haydon
Gallery. McGehee’s latest exhibition,
“The Royal Ballgame and Other Sto
ries,” has its opening reception Friday
from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Haydon, 335
N. Eighth St.
The show’s title refers to a Mayan
contest that often lasted three days and
was played to the death. It inspired
McGehee on his recent trips to see
petroglyphs in Wyoming and Mayan
sites in Mexico and Guatemala. His
experiences are documented by images
v Photo Courtesy of the Artist
“LIGHTEN UP” Is one of a collection of mixed-media paintings by York
artist Jeanl Gustafson. The opening reception for a humor themed art
show of the same name is Friday from 7-9 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Haydon Gallery
“TO THE STOHE” is sis of several intaglio prints by priataaker Ibnor
McGehee. An exhibition of McGohoe’s works has its opening reception Friday
evening from 7-9 at Haydon Gallery, 335 M. Eighth St.
Jeani Gustafson is painting acci
dental wrinkles.
The York artist is well known al
ready for her “accidental images,”
which she describes as “fancy
doodles.” The mixed-media paintings
thus far have been rather abstract, but
Gustafson edges closer to reality with
a new show at Noyes Art Gallery.
Gustafson is a sprightly, rather
young-looking woman. Nevertheless,
she realizes she’ll one day be just as
wrinkly as the subjects of her new
paintings — elderly people having a
lot of fun.
“It’s a personal goal of mine to
be there,” she says. “I want to live
that long and look like that. I mean,
you can’t avoid it — so you may as
well look forward to it.”
Please see JEANI on 12
of what Pagel calls “enigmatic, rather
frightening” Guatemalan sculptures.
McGehee’s figures are gracefully
distorted, with prominent hands and
long, exaggerated limbs. They occupy
spaces suggestive of stone relief carv
ings.
McGehee writes of his work, “I
suspect that people who find signifi
cance in their dreams may find mean
ing in my prints. Certainly I aim to cre
ate images with some of the power of
a vivid dream, where no description
is adequate to summarize the Ration
or characters.”
McGehee’s exhibition at Haydon
continues until May 31. He will give
a brown-bag gallery talk May 9 at
11:30 a.m. Admission is $1 or $5.50
including a sack lunch.