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ARTS: The Season Schedule is Full of Surprises// The Art A-List
Watch This Space Watch This Space
The SeASon Schedule for ViSuAl ArTS iS full of SurpriSeS
BY Janet Farber
As Omahans get acquainted with 2023, they’ll find plenty in the works for visual arts exhibitions in the area. What follows are some highlights. Following the conclusion of its “Monumental” season, Kaneko will showcase another renowned artist whose work graces the sculpture garden at the newly renovated Gene Leahy Mall. “James Surls: Nightshade and Redbone” opens March 24 and runs through Aug. 13. The exhibit includes an array of sculpture, drawings and prints that illustrate the artist’s singular approach to abstracting the forms and spirit found in nature. https://thekaneko.org.
The UNO School of the Arts jump-starts the year by partnering with UNO’s Fried Academy to bring the virtual reality experience “Nobody’s Listening” to the UNO Art Gallery from Jan. 9-Feb. 23. This immersive exhibition uses art, photography and VR technology to bring immediacy to the ongoing Yazidi genocide initiated by ISIS in 2014 by focusing on the determination and resilience of its survivors. Art Gallery | Art and Art History | University of Nebraska Omaha (unomaha.edu) and www.nobodys-listening.com.
Over at the Elkhorn campus of MCC, the Gallery of Art and Design will present “Mindscape: Jing Huang” from March 15-April 12. Huang is a ceramicist from China who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her looping and flowing glazed sculptures bridge the physical and cultural landscapes that contribute to her sense of identity. www.mccneb.edu/gallery.
At Gallery 1516, the talented stitch-masters of the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild are joining forces with the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln to present “Modern Quilting on the Prairie” contrasting traditional textile conventions with contemporary “no-rules” approaches to technique, aesthetics and narrative. The exhibition of 40 quilts runs from Feb. 17-May 14.
As always, there will be plenty of one-artist exhibitions from which to choose. Following Nancy Lepo’s show at Fred Simon Gallery (see Cool Things to Do, page 26) will be Joe Addison’s “Landscape, Seascape, Some Kind of Escape” (March 17-May 10). Addison’s experimental approach to photography paints with light while deconstructing traditional darkroom practices. www.artscouncil.nebraska.gov/ explore/fred-simon-gallery/.
The Garden of the Zodiac Gallery welcomes back Christian Rothmann (Feb. 2-April 2). The versatile German artist will present fresh work reflecting his current investigations of landscape and mountain imagery in oil, oilsticks and Japanese ink. Next up in April-May will be Joseph Broghammer with new oil paintings expanding his surrealistically zoological vision. www.facebook. com/TheGardenOfTheZodiac.
petShop Show “humAn”: ALySSA Schmitt, “SeLF in opAL,” 2022, AcryLic on pAneL
Fred Simon Show: Joe AddiSon, “LAndScApe, SeAScApe, Some Kind oF eScApe no. 58,” 2021, cyAnotype
MCC show: Jing huang, “Loop #5,” 2022, gLazed stoneware
On the First Friday side of town, galleries in Benson have a full slate planned. At Petshop, Alyssa Schmitt is organizing “Human,” a multi-media show of local figurative artists (Feb. 3-March 31). “Voices of Choice” is a group show highlighting the work of participants in a rural billboard project sponsored by BFF Omaha, Planned Parenthood and Nebraskans for Abortion Access (March 3-April 28). An immersive installation featuring Ramon Guzman’s funky faces follows (April 7-May 26). www.facebook. com/bensonpetshop. Down the street at BFF Gallery, Stephen Kavanaugh’s exuberant street-smart art will show from March 3-24, followed by Isabella Janssen’s paintings reflective of life’s serious and comic absurdities (April 7-28). www.bffomaha.org/gallery.
The Second Friday denizens of Vinton Street are filling out their schedules as well. The Roberta and Bob Rogers Gallery hosts the Visual Arts Showcase for the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards with a show from Jan. 13Feb. 4. It’s a great time to see the nominees in each of nine categories before the awards are given on Jan. 29 at the Hoff Family Arts and Culture Center. www.rbrg. org.
At Generator Space, artists Joelle Wellansa Sandfort and Wanufi Teshome are presenting “Drop Stitch,” combining text and textiles (Jan. 13-Feb. 17). A dialogue between friends in installation form, the show reflects on the transmissions and losses of cultural information through an intermingling of text fragments with woven, knitted and altered artifacts. www.amplifyarts.org/ exhibitions-current.
Finally, there’s never a shortage of experimentation at Project Project, which has a full menu of monthly offerings. Following Peyton Pearson’s show (see Cool Things to Do, Page 26), multi-media artist Jen Bockelman will weave together found objects, texts and sound (opening Feb. 10). Geometric abstraction dominates the next two shows, with a solo of bright, textural acrylics from Jada Messick (opening March 10), and the return of muralist Nick Miller, whose optically energetic floor-to-ceiling duct-tape patterning transformed this same space two years ago (opening April 14). www. projectprojectomaha. com.
proJeCt show: Jada MessiCk, “under the sea,” 2022, aCryLiC Mixed Media oeaa VisuaL arts showCase noMinee For outstanding new Media artist: gregory brown, “sMash it up,” digitaL photograph
gaLLery 1516 show: JaneLLe VogLer, shauna sMith, heather akerberg, Cari aLLen, beth saListean and haLey Fetters, “gtFo,” quiLt top in progress
kaneko show: JaMes surLs, “history waLk,” 2013, wood, 72 x 72 x 246 in. photo: JaMes surLs studio
ART REVIEW The Art A-List The Art A-List
A Look At the Most sIgnIfIcAnt events, exhIbIts of the PAst 12 Months
BY Mike krainak
Joshua abelow: 1982 – 2022, exhibition View
hannah Demma, “a tune without the worDs,” 2022, mixeDmeDia installation
If 2021 was marked by a Metro struggle to re-open, stay open and remain relevant under peaking COVID conditions, 2022 saw signs of optimism despite health, economic and political challenges of its own. The past year saw the promise of political renewal, Husker Rhule and urban redevelopment with rumors of real retail for those who call downtown home and not just a place to visit and party.
Visual arts plays its part optimistically every year with significant happenings and exhibits, some planned, some unexpected, and 2022 was no exception. The Reader’s A-list recognizes Metro arts contributions annually, beginning the review of 2022 with three major events, each of which will have cultural impacts for years to come.
After celebrating its 90th anniversary with a significant reappraisal of Karl Bodmer’s portraiture, Joslyn Art Museum made the bold decision to close its doors to the public in May due to the start of its extensive expansion and renovation. Scheduled to reopen in 2024, it will be worth the wait to see the impressive Phillip Schrager Collection being added to its permanent display of contemporary art. joslyn.org/expansion
The newly revamped Gene Leahy Mall opened to great fanfare in July, completing the first phase of Omaha’s RiverFront reimagination. An open, active and family friendly space, it’s also home again to sculpture, albeit a largely different selection than it housed previously. The new “sculpture garden” includes one permanent installation — the festive “Wind Sculpture” by Yinka Shonibare — as well as works on extended loan by Bruce Beasley, John Clement, Linda Fleming, Richard Hunt and James Surls. theriverfrontomaha. com/visit-the-riverfront/gene-leahy-mall/.
Omaha’s urbanscape continues to be transformed by a variety of mural projects. Since The Reader’s coverage of developments in the last two years thereader. com/2022/05/03/painting-thetown/, public works continue to be added at lightning speed. Aksarben Village and the New North Makerhood are particularly vibrant; this fall alone Millwork Commons joined forces with Omaha by Design to engage Dan Crane, Tyler Emery, Sarah Hummel Jones, Betni Kalk and Sarah Rowe to create 17 exterior murals at the new Hello Apartments, and Weston Thomson painted a mural at its neighborhood playground, all in the spirit of the area’s youthful, artsy vibe. https://www.facebook.com/artplusinfrastructure/.
What then were the most significant contemporary art exhibits of 2022 seen and written about by yours truly and The Reader’s staff of arts writers, including Kent Behrens, Janet Farber and Jonathan Orozco? The so-called A-list is comprised of three levels: Best in Show, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions. Best in Show is included below, but in the interest of space, Runners-up and Honorable Mentions can be found online at thereader.com.
The A-list is not the last word on the “best in art” in 2022.
Nor do we claim to have seen or written about all art events and exhibits. But the majority were and have been considered via the criteria of most creative, unified and realized work based upon original intent. In addition, every attempt has been made to emphasize exhibits featuring local or regional artists and/or curators who organized such.
The Best in Show in 2022 featured another overwhelming group show from Gallery 1516, its first Regional Photography Biennial, www.gallery1516.org/ current-exhibition. No Metro venue has made a bigger commitment to Nebraska artists, and while quality of the work varies, a second visit after the popular opening may find you agreeing with judges’ selections.
The best curated photo exhibit of 2022 belongs to Thomas Wharton’s “Windows and Keys” shown at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, thereader.com/2022/10/27/ windows-and-keys/. Mixed media overall, critic Behrens emphasizes its photography with “Wharton’s work is challenging at first, but the reward is a short course in seeing. It is photography about photography, art about art, and it is a solid examination of an idea.”
Speaking of curation, no one in the Metro works harder at it then Baader-Meinhoff’s Kyle Laidig, and his efforts resulted in two of the best exhibits in 2022, Joshua Abelow’s “It’s Personal” thereader.com/2022/04/21/its-personal/ and “If It Die,” by Henry Belden www.baader-meinhof.org/if-itdie. Laidig has put B-M on the Metro art map. Put his exhibits on your calendar, and you will find them personal and provocative.
The Union for Contemporary Art made a big comeback in 2022, opening its doors to viewing that is, by bookending its gallery season with two fine tribute exhibits, both coincidentally with late significant printmakers, New Yorker Mavis Pusey, www.u-ca. org/exhibition/mavis-pusey and Omahan Wanda Ewing.
Pusey’s self-titled exhibit of “urban renewal” in bold geometric forms showcased this “leading abstractionist” of the 20th Century.
Fittingly, Pusey exhibited in the Wanda Ewing Gallery, whose own show, “Growing up Black, Growing up Wanda,” focused on the nine image/text diptychs that comprised her 1997 thesis book from the San Francisco Art Institute. www.u-ca.org/wanda-dewing-gallery. In this work, we clearly see the roots of not only her socio-political vision but her self-aware sense of humor and recognition.
The most impactful 3D event was part of Kaneko’s exhibit umbrella, “Monumental,” a survey of Richard Hunt’s paradoxically fixed and flowing sculpture, one of which helped to anchor the Gene Leahy Mall’s sculpture garden. In “Monumental,” Hunt explores the narrative of African culture — its historical origins and global movement — through large-scale, abstract public artworks, still on display in January.
Smaller venues also contributed at this level, including Project and the BFF Gallery in Benson. The former continues its underground, incubator status in the Metro, but its marvelously original installation of reflective color, pattern and texture, “Prism Cell” by Hannah Demma, was its most impressive. Likewise, BFF Gallery offered the most successful two-person exhibit of 2022, Jeff King’s provocative, expressionistic portraits with Josh Powell’s subtler but equally disturbing, futuristic narratives in “and After All of This.” thereader. com/2022/05/31/fatefulattraction/.
Three exhibits in Best in Show are arguably the “best of the best” for their scope, vision and aesthetic: Gallery 1516’s visually stunning immersive video, “Nebraska: Flatwater,” was created by videographer Adam Larsen, www.gallery1516.org/ nebraska-flatwater. Deserving of permanent installation, it surpassed the popular Beyond Van Gogh Immersive Experience seen in Council Bluffs last summer.
But an even more conceptual and partially immersive installation is the “Monumental” exhibit “Unseen” of Charles Kay, www.charleskayjr.com/UNSEENInstallation-Kaneko-/1/thumbs. Like “Nebraska: Flatwater,” Kay’s ethereal video and photography are transcendent, but the experience of the latter is more interiorized, both seen and “Unseen.”
This past year climaxed with its Best Group Show, the aptly titled “Opulence,” at Bemis Center, curated by Jared Packard, exhibitions manager, www.bemiscenter.org/exhibitions/opulence. It’s subtitle and subtext, “Performative Wealth and the Failed American Dream,” continues Bemis’ preference for socio-political themed exhibits, but this one best lived up to its promise with a mix of multi-media art -- from 2D to 3D, from video to fashion -- as interesting as its premise. A truly rewarding exhibit that makes opulence look good.
Gene Leahy MaLL with yinka Shonibare “wind ScuLpture,” 2022, diGitaL photoGraph photo by ivan Micek betni kaLk, “Sepik FLoraL MuraL,” 2022, at heLLo
apartMentS Photo by Janet Farber
richard hunt, “pLanar and tubuLar,” 2012-20, StainLeSS SteeL, in the Gene Leahy MaLL. Photo by Janet Farber
The stage is set for 2023
brOadway and lOcal prOducTIOns hIghlIghT Omaha’s TheaTer seasOn
BY Leo AdAm BigA
It’s said theater is the truest, most direct window into the human condition. By that measure, Omaha has a kaleidoscopic view of comedy and tragedy courtesy of a depleted but still robust theater landscape for 2023.
Though the Shelterbelt and SNAP Productions! have yet to recover from losing their shared space, the Union for Contemporary Art theater series is on hiatus until its new digs open and Nebraska Shakespeare is regrettably no more, Omaha’s still rich in all-the-world’sa-stage offerings.
Three new players bolster the scene. Anastasis Theatre Co. develops community-based work. Benson Theatre is both a venue and presenting group. Omaha Mobile Stage offers a movable feast.
Not to be forgotten, Opera Omaha stages world-class productions of new and classic operatic works.
The Omaha Performing Arts (OPA) 2021-2022 Broadway touring season brought one mega show after another, including “Cats,” “Hamilton,” “Hadestown” featuring Omaha native Kevyn Morrow, “Wicked” and “Anastasia.” The 2022-2023 season is equally loaded, highlighted by Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Feb. 7-12, starring Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch.
The rest of the Broadway season at the Orpheum TheaTer is a parade of past and present hit musicals: march 7-12
“Disney’s Frozen”
aprIl 19-30
“Hairspray”
June 6-11
OPA brings Omaha native Broadway talents home for workshops and special commissions. Last year Morrow, Q Smith and Ray Mercer brought their stagecraft back. Q’s primed to return for OPA programs. Mercer’s coming again, this time to choreograph “Dreamgirls” at the Omaha Community Playhouse (March. 3-26).
The Playhouse, whose “Ain’t Misbehavin’” under Kathy Tyree’s direction dominated the Omaha Entertainment and Art Awards, is extending diversity-equity-inclusion to its first staging of an August Wilson play, “Fences,” Jan. 20-Feb. 12. Special programming is scheduled around the play (see story on page 20).
The remainder of the playhOuse season features a pair of Mainstage blockbusters and a more adventurous work in the Howard Drew Theatre:
Feb. 10-march 19 (Howard Drew)
“Six”
January 3-8 aprIl 14-may 7 (Mainstage)
“Pretty Fire”
Playwright and actress Charlayne Woodard’s one-woman celebration of life, her own, is a relatively little-known but acclaimed work that won L.A. Drama Critics and NAACP awards for best play and best playwright.
June 2-25 (Mainstage)
The bluebarn TheaTre is Omaha’s way-stop for those fancying something other than mainstream, and it shouldn’t disappoint in 2023.
“What the Constitution Means to Me”
February 2-26
The complex relationship between the U.S. Constitution and the lives of four generations of women is interrogated for all its humor and pathos by playwright Heidi Schreck. The New York Times called her Tony-nominated work the best play of 2019.
Jonathan Larson’s phenomenon “rent” wiLL take the omaha Community pLayhouse by storm.
march 30-aprIl 23
Questions of identity, exploitation and self-determination animate this true-life tale of Afong May, the first woman from China to enter America. Exhibited as a curiosity and disconnected from her homeland and heritage, she waged a lifetime struggle to find her true self amid the cruel narratives imposed on her and to reckon with colonizing practices.
may 25–June 25
Girl power as personified by prepubescent competitive dancers intent on world dominion takes center stage, but they must first nail their routine to win the Boogie Crown Grand Prix Finals. This 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama features a multigenerational cast as the 13-year-old heroines.
Curated by Seth Fox aprIl 19
“Miscellanea Volumes One & Two: Storyteller’s Choice” – a onenight-only event in the tradition of “The Moth Radio Hour” and “PBS Stories from the Stage” in which tales are woven and spoken by the people who lived them. bensOn TheaTre is making its dramatic arts mark by delivering its first full season of stage works.
“Old Bat”
In collaboration with Great Plains Theatre Commons March 23
This is another original creation of Omaha’s first lady of playwrights, Ellen Struve, whose “How to Build an Ark” premiered at The Rose last season. Here she brings us Kira, an Everywoman voyager in the elemental depths of the mythological other world. Transformation becomes her only chance at survival.
“Alexa, Siri and Cortana Enter a Juke Joint”
In collaboration with Radio Theatre Omaha april 30-May 2, May 6-9
Omaha playwright Kim Louise plays with time, place and female prerogatives in this radio play in which virtual reality becomes reality and Black women just want to have fun.
Writing the Short Play with Rob Urbinati “The Inheritance, Part I”
June 1-4, 7-11, 15-17 In collaboration with Voices in Alliance
Set in the post-AIDS epidemic era, three generations of gay men in New York City attempt to forge a future for themselves amid a turbulent America. Eric Glass is a political activist engaged to his writer boyfriend, Toby Darling.
Omaha’s longest-lived independent theater company, The circle TheaTre, is an inclusive space for differently abled individuals. Its new year lineup includes “Stronger Than Strong! Great American Tall Tale Heroines,” “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (REVISED)” and a special Art of Imagination partnership program with Ollie Webb Center.
GreaT plains TheaTre coMMons nurtures playwrights and new works in year-round programs.
GPTC 2023 New Play Conference
april 10-15
Prolific New York-based director-playwright Rob Urbinati, who has strong Nebraska ties, will lead a week-long workshop whose participants will complete a short play. The plays will be workshopped and showcased in staged readings at the end of the residency. Urbinati is director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre in New York, where he curates New American Voices. He’s the author of “Play Readings: A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners.”
May 28-June 3 Metropolitan Community College, Fort Omaha Campus
This convening of local and national playwrights, actors, directors, dramaturgs and designers around workshops, panels, readings and performances exposes audiences to theater’s new voices.
GPTC is staging 2021 New Play Conference favorite “Practice House” from May 31-June 2 at Yates Illuminates.
Playwright Rachael Carnes delineates a real chapter in American education that found infants leased from orphanages for the purpose of training women in the new and improved “scientific parenting methods.”
Classic theater fans still have the BriGiT sainT BriGiT to lean into.
“Dreamgirls” at the Omaha COmmunity PlayhOuse is DireCteD by Kathy tyree anD ChOreOgraPheD by ray merCer.
Irish Festival The Field
FeBruary 17-19, 24-26 & March 3-5
Annual Passover (Jewish-Themed Series)
March/april Full producTion – TiTle/daTes TBa
Spring Production
May Full producTion – TiTle/daTes TBa
Check for updates at www. bsbtheatre.com.
Suburban theater offerings can be had at several venues, including Ralston Community Theater, which stages an annual summer musical.
Bellevue liTTle TheaTer presents: An eclectic schedule:
“Spider’s Web”
January 13-29
March 10-26
“Girls’ Weekend”
May 5-21
Chanticleer Theatre in Council Bluffs has a schedule of stage chestnuts:
“Plaza Suite”
January 13-15 & 20-22
March 10-12 & 17-19
May 12-14 & 19-21
Last year UNO Summer Music Theatre Academy launched. This free, by-audition-only training ground for high school musical theater performers and theater tech students culminates in a full staged musical.
Don’t sleep on university theater productions, where some of Omaha’s best new talents shine. uno TheaTer features:
FeBruary 23-26, March 2-5
A (somewhat) true theatrical exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers in 1869 by a one-armed captain and his dedicated crew, with all the twists and turns of a rafting trip. History reconsidered, with a cast of non-binary and female performers.
april 20-23 & 27-30
Whether you call it The Scottish Play or The Bard’s Play, something wicked this way comes in this bloody tale of hubris run amok. creiGhTon TheaTer:
Studio Theatre FeB. 22-26
This musical chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Over a three-week period the creative team wrestles with inconvenient stage and life events leading to the show’s production.
Lied Education Center for the Arts Mainstage april 20-23
The Creighton Dance Company channels Gene Kelly in “An American in Paris” for this ballet tracing life in The City of Light and Love. Featuring the music of Jacques Offenbach and Leroy Anderson.
Omaha theater happenings worth tracking in 2023 include the expected opening of The Union’s new black box theater in the fall and any new Shakespeare-presenting organization that emerges to fill the gap left by Nebraska Shakespeare’s closure.
