Western artists showcase work at Noyes
By Emily Pyeatt
Staff writer
Seeing a 5-foot rabbit cbuld give a
child nightmares for the rest of his or
her life.
Fortunately, the rabbit isn’t a real
one.
The 5-foot bunny does, in fact,
exist and is currently in Lincoln. But
have no fear, the rabbit is safely on dis
play at the Noyes’ Focus Gallery
throughout the month of April.
The rabbit is actually a gigantic
bronze sculpture created by artist
Richard Tucker. His rabbit, along with
about 15 other sculptures and creations
from three other artists, can be experi
enced this month in the Focus Gallery
within the Noyes.
Julia Noyes, director of the gallery,
said four diverse artists were chosen
for April’s exhibition so that a variety
of art work could be represented.
“We didn’t want just paintings,”
Noyes said.
Painter Carol Sexton organized the
exhibition and said she wanted to
select artists specifically from Western
Nebraska.
“I thought this was a good opportu
nity for people from the West to exhib
it their work,” she said.
Sexton selected artists Maxine
Yost, Richard Tucker and Alice
Rodgers to have their work pack the
Focus Gallery.
“The room is really filled up right
now,” Noyes said. “We have about 30
of Sexton andYost’s paintings, Tucker’s
15 sculptures and at least 30 pieces of
Alice Rodgers’ pottery all on display.”
Sexton’s own paintings are made
with pastels and each illustrate the
beauty she sees in the Nebraska land
scape.
“I really enjoy the beauty of
Nebraska’s land that most people here
don’t take advantage of,” Sexton said.
Sexton’s romantic influences are
also evident in her work.
“I enjoy painting landscapes with
people in them to show the relationship
between the two,” she said.
Yost is presenting 12 of her trans
parent watercolor paintings. Yost said
her paintings are primarily of still-life *
arrangements she creates of antiques *
and collectibles. Yost also paints still- I
life images of what she terms as f
“close-up vegetation.” She cites her
interest in the plant forms that com- j
plete her vegetation stills.
Yost said she has achieved much j
success while her paintings have |
awarded her distinction across the
nation.
“I got back to art about 30 years
ago,” Yost said. “And now I’ve had
paintings in shows from New York to
California.”
Although Yost has been recognized
across the country, she served as the
President of the Association of
Nebraska Art Clubs for two years.
Since Yost’s presidency, she has earned
12 excellent achievement awards for
her paintings.
Yost is passionate about her realis
tic still-life paintings and said that she
feels painting “is something you have
to do and are driven to do.”
Rodgers, like Yost, has been simi
larly driven to create pottery since she
Focus Gallery
jUI WHERE: Noyes Art Gallery
119 S. Ninth St.
WHEN. Through April
COST: free
THE SKINNY: Group of
artists work together on
show.
was a child. As a little girl, Rodgers
said she would sit under trees and
make dishes from the mud. Then, after
seeing a man create a pot, Rodgers
knew, she too, could create such pot- -
tery.
Rodgers said she has created vari
ous forms of pottery for about 20
years. The 30 pieces on display at the
Noyes are symbolic of Rodgers’ body
of work.
“I work with primarily the same
colors: brown, off-white, blue and
black,” she said.
Rodgers creates baking dishes,
cups, goblets and candle holders. The
candle holders are the most difficult
for Rodgers to create.
” I thought this
was a good
opportunity for
people from the
. West to exhibit
their work.”
Carol Sexton
exhibit organizer
“I carve the bottom of them while
the are spinning, so they definitely take
more time and are much more intri
cate,” Rodgers said
While die Focus Gallery is show
casing Sexton, Yost, Tucker and
Rodgers’ work, the main gallery in the
Noyes is displaying creations by fea
ture artists Jo Brown and Shelia
Downey. The main gallery is packed
with abstract mixed-media paintings
and watercolor paintings.
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Houston struggles through show
■ Critics of the singer
continue to question
her health and wellness.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Whitney
Houston took the stage to a standing
ovation at Arista Records’ 25“*
anniversary tribute to her mentor
Clive Davis, then the diva struggled
at times in a heavily scrutinized six
' song performance.
Rumors about Houston have
swirled in the wake of drug abuse
allegations, a much-discussed
absence at last month’s Academy
Awards telecast and a disjointed
magazine interview.
Houston tripped walking onstage
Monday night, and sometimes sh$_
spoke rather than sang the words to
her hits while four backup singers,
including her brother, Gary, carried
the load.
She stopped abruptly before the
final dramatic notes of “I Will
r..
Always Love You to signal tor a
drink of water. Husband Bobby
Brown walked on stage with the
water. She took a sip and kissed
Brown, who patted her sweaty fore
head before walking off.
Brown injected himself into
another song, too, cavorting wildly
back and forth on stage before grab
bing his wife’s microphone and let
ting loose with a chorus.
“The record’s not over yet,
remember,” Houston said cryptically
at the end of her 20-minute perform
ance.
Dressed in a shimmering long
gown, Houston wore her hair in a
flip. *
“She looks fabulous,” Dionne
Warwick, a cousin of Houston’s, said
backstage.
Houston didn’t appear backstage
to talk with reporters.
She joined some of the biggest
names in Arista’s history to perform
for label-founder Davis, who signed
Houston when she was 19. Ihe two
hour special will air May 15 on NBC.
“You ask anybody in the industry
who is the great singer in the world
today, it is she,” Davis said back
stage. “When you see her, you’ll see
an artist at the top of her form.”
Three weeks before the Oscars,
the singer failed to appear at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner
where she was scheduled to help
induct Davis.
At 66, Davis is fighting Arista’s
owner, BMG Entertainment and
German media conglomerate
Bertelsmann, to keep his job.
Bertelsmann traditionally enforces a
retirement age of 60 on its top execu
tives.
Before she performed, Houston
sat smiling in the audience with her
arm resting on Brown during a med
ley by Barry Manilow. Seated next to
Davis, Houston sang along as
Manilow performed “I Write the
Songs.”
--1
An event in celebration of 100 years of graduate education, research, and creative activity at the University of Nebraska.
The Kept University vs.
The Autonomous
Tlnivprsi^'
n
_j
^re universities becoming more like for-profit companies, spinning busi
nesses and earning royalties off faculty inventions? Are increased funding ties
-— between universities and corporations compromising university research? Or is
private funding the key to continued research success and achievement?
Jennifer Washburn, author of The Kept University (The Atlantic Mpnthly,
March 2000), and Howard Bremer, patent attorney and former president of the
Association of University Technology Managers, debate the issue.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln
An equal opportunity educator and employer with a comprahonaivQ plan for diversity.