Artist Erin Blayney
The Great Reveal
Originally published in September-October 2016 issue
of Omaha Encounter magazine
Story by Leo Adam Biga
Photography by Bill Sitzmann
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Duncans turn passion for art into major collection; In their pursuits, the couple master the art of living
July 28, 2019
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Duncans turn passion for art into major collection
In their pursuits, the couple master the art of living
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in the New Horizons
Robert and Ksren Duncan
When it comes to visual art, there are institutions devoted to its display and then there are Karen and Robert Duncan. Married 50-plus years, the Duncans are serious art collectors whose patronage extends to individual artists, museums, artist residencies and cultural endowments.
The private contemporary collection cultivated by the couple is notable not only for its size (2,000-plus works), but also its” high quality and stylistic diversity,” said Flatwater Folk Art Museum director George Neubert. “I’ve been able to visit numerous private art collections across the United States and Europe,” said Neubert, formerly director of the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, “and many are fantastic. But often they have the same 25 artists. A lot of collections look a lot alike. This does not have that look because of their unique selection and the way they go about it.” “Eclectic” is how the Duncans describe their art trove that ranges across mediums with a strong three-dimensional object emphasis. Neubert joins other veteran art world professionals familiar with the holdings in saying the collection has “national significance.”
Unlike most collections that feature work by a particular artist or cohort, the Duncans have assembled work by many artists spanning the contemporary art scene both geographically and stylistically.
“The only thing they all have is our personal interest,” Robert Duncan said with wife Karen nodding approval beside him in the kitchen of their Lincoln home. “They reflect our personality and who we are.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?” Karen asked rhetorically.
Where some collectors retain a consultant to advise selections, the Duncans trust their own instincts. They can’t conceive someone choosing for them.
“That’s no fun.” Karen said.
They also can’t relate to art as a commodity
“We never buy art for investment. Lots of people do, but we don’t,” she said. “We buy art for our own pleasure. Some of our art has increased in value. But we never bought it for an investment. We see something and we have to have it – because we love it.”
Similarly, they don’t purchase a work just to fill a niche.
“We never buy art with a place in mind,” Robert said. “We buy the piece because we love it and we find a place for it or we don’t.”
They generally purchase art from galleries, sometimes directly from artists and other times at auction. The pair travel far and wide visiting museums, galleries, auction houses and artist studios. On their journeys, which have taken them as far as India and China and to the art capitals of the U.S. and Europe, they operate as a team.
“Collecting art is always a joint effort,” Robert said. “We agree on the pieces we’re going to buy 99.9 percent of the time. We won’t buy anything of consequence unless we both agree.”
“If we don’t agree on it,” Karen said, “then we’ll go look at something else.”
“Our tastes have developed together. Forty years is a long time,” Robert said of their collecting experience.
By now, they share the same discriminating eye for what they feel has merit. But they don’t always get it right.
“We’ve made a lot of mistakes, too,” Robert said, “but we get better and better at it. I think both of us have got a really good eye now to collect good art.”
Their alignment is uncanny. “If there’s a roomful of art, he’ll walk around, and I’ll walk around separately, and we find we have the same piece in mind,” Karen said.
While some collectors keep their art out of sight, under close wraps, the Duncans enjoy sharing their treasures with others. When word spread of their collection, they began fielding requests from university art departments for tours. Other groups followed suit. Then, when the couple built an art repository that doubles as their residence, they received overtures from architectural and design schools. Today, the Duncans or their in-house curator Anne Pagel accommodate private tours as schedules allow.
The couple frequently loan out works for exhibitions at museums and galleries.
“Things move all the time,” Karen said. “They’re loaned out all over the place. I don’t worry about them, but I do miss them. You have to have pieces that travel easily. Some pieces are impractical to loan. They’re just too big or too difficult to ship, so they’re here permanently.”
“Sometimes we’ll go for a show (featuring their work). It’s fun to see people experience it,” Robert said. “And to talk about when and why you bought it,” Karen added.
To share more of their art, the couple developed Assemblage gallery in downtown Lincoln. It’s open only by appointment. To bring art to their hometown of Clarinda, Iowa, they opened the Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, whose exhibitions include work by artists they collect,
The couple’s art adorns the Lincoln headquarters of Duncan Aviation, the national business jet service and supply company Robert Duncan took over from his father Donald. Robert’s son. Todd Duncan, leads it today. The family-owned company has now reached four generations with grandsons following in the fold.
Duncan art pieces also brighten company facilities in Battle Creek, Michigan and Provo, Utah.
The Duncans’ Lincoln residence
The most impressive receptacle for the art is the Duncan home on the outskirts of Lincoln. The classical structure designed by London-based architect Dimitri Porphyrios was built, per the Duncans’ express wishes, with permanency in mind through quarried stone and other durable materials. The eight-years-in-the-making project is a highly livable edifice that also functions as a gallery with museum-grade lighting, temperature controls and dedicated art spaces.
The house rests on gated property of nearly 40 acres studded with sculptures, including some monumental ones. The house may one day transition from their residence to a fully-dedicated museum. “We’re still talking about it,” Robert said. “We’ve got several options. We haven’t made that decision yet. We need to get busy and bring it to a conclusion.”
The couple keep homes in Mexico and Colorado as well.
Art has been a vital part of their lifestyle for decades but especially since Robert retired from Duncan Aviation 12 years ago. Travel and looking at art has dominated their lives since then.
Selecting a work may come down to a gut feeling, but there’s also research involved.
“I’m the reader of the two of us,” Karen said. “We get all these art magazines and I read them all. Robert’s on the phone talking to artists and planning where we’re going next, which is as important as all the reading I do.”
The pair also comb art auction catalogues looking for potential buys. “We go through them in detail and mark the pieces we’re interested in or that are similar to pieces we have so we can do price comparisons,” he said. “Art shows are another great way to educate yourself because you see thousands of different pieces – many by artists you’ve never seen before.”
Once doing their due diligence, they plunge into major art markets, such as Art Basel Miami, an immersive, weeks-long exposure to countless works.
Staying abreast of trends, Karen said, “keeps you busy.” “India is one of our favorite destinations.” she added. The couple has traveled there four times. “This last trip to India,” she said. “we spent every day looking at art for three weeks.” They only took a break at the urging of a fellow traveler worried they were near exhaustion.
The intrepid couple will be off to Paris Photo at the Grand Palais in November.
They prefer traveling with others when possible.
“We are very good friends with Marc and Kathy LeBaron, who also collect contemporary art. We travel and do all kinds of art things together,” Karen said,
“They’re 10 years younger than we,” Robert said of the LeBarons, ” and they will say to this day we were their mentors.”
The Duncans acknowledge not everyone has the means to pursue their passion the way they do.
“We’re fortunate we have the time and the resources to travel,” Robert said.
Art networking leads to unexpected connections.
“We were introduced through a gallery to a sculptural collector in Cleveland,” Robert explained. “En route there Karen and I went to an art function we support in Chicago, where we met 50 artists. Then we went onto Cleveland to meet this guy, who has an incredible collection. He’s going to come out here and see our collection sometime and we’re going back to visit him again. Then we’re going to Yale University to view its collection and a new storage facility we want to see.
“It just goes on and on.”
Karen’s children’s book, Chica
On one of the couple’s visits to Mexico Karen adopted a stray puppy she named Chica. The dog’s become such a fixture in their lives that she recently published a children’s book called “Chica.” Duncan wrote it and Omaha artist Joe Broghammer illustrated it.
Of all the couple’s myriad art activities, repurposing the former Carnegie library in Clarinda into a museum is “the most gratifying,” said Robert.
“We were both born and raised in Clarinda. We love it,” Karen said. “I practically lived in the library. I rode my bike there almost every day. So when that building came up for auction, it was ‘my’ building.”
The Duncans purchased it for $33,000 and spent much more renovating it. The museum opened in 2014. Thousands of people visit it every year.
Clarinda Csrnegie Art Museum
Clarinda holds memories for the couple, including farm pond skinny dips. The former Karen Kent was a music prodigy. She’s a concert-level pianist. Robert applied his entrepreneurial innovation at Duncan Aviation.
“I’m more creative and imaginative than I am a professional manager,” he said. “A lot of the things Duncan has done were ideas for new businesses I created that really developed into major parts of the business. That’s one of the things I’m most proud of.”
His parents were adventurous enough to learn to fly. That led Donald Duncan to purchase surplus government aircraft and resale them. He became a Beechcraft, then Learjet distributor. That morphed into having the first Learjet authorized service center. Today, Duncan Aviation is a leader in the repair, maintenance, overhaul, refurbishing, painting of business-class jets.
Robert learned the business from the ground up.
“I pumped gas. I flew charters, I sold airplanes.”
Karen’s family, meanwhile, were not risk-takers. She doesn’t recall much adventure growing up.
“My parents worked all the time. We didn’t go anywhere. I wanted to go, I wanted to spread my wings. So I married this guy, and we did, didn’t we,” she said, nudging Robert.
“The thing I’m most grateful for,” said Robert, “is that we both have a sense of curiosity and …” “Fearlessness,” Karen said. It shows up in the wanderlust that’s seen them make cross-country treks by air and motorcycle – he’s a licensed small jet pilot and a Harley rider – and to follow their art quests to exotic locales.
“One of our first travels was to Spain.” Karen recalled. “It was there we went into the first gallery we’d ever been in together. We met the artist. He had a book with his art. We bought his book and a piece of his Spanish Impressionist art. I still kind of like it. I wouldn’t buy it today, but it’s not a bad painting.
“Robert hand-carried it home. That was our first piece and after that we hit the galleries and museums hard.”
Duncan Aviation
Just as Duncan Aviation started small in a single office before growing to 2,000-plus employees at dozens of sites, the art collection began humbly and grew over time. Watching each evolve has been satisfying.
“In business we’ve really been opportunists,” Robert said. “All along we’ve taken advantage of opportunities and we’ve made good decisions. We’ve made some bad ones, too. You don’t hear about those, but they cost money and time. But all in all we’ve always been steps forward with perhaps one back.
“This is something pretty terrific we’ve put together. The team there now – led by our son Todd as chairman and Aaron Hilkemann as president – is taking the company to much greater levels than I did when I was there. What that means to me is that we have a great culture and great people. In the business we certainly learned to keep our eyes and ears open and look for opportunities, and we definitely do that in the art world now.”
Ever since they began collecting in earnest, the Duncans have made a point of meeting as many of the artists they patronize as possible.
“It personalizes our collecting,” Robert said. “It personalizes art,” added Karen.
Recently, an artist they visited in Mexico said something that resonated with them. “He told us.,you collect experiences,” Karen said, There’s a story behind every artist they meet. “In fact,” Robert said, “we’re seriously considering doing a book sharing the stories of our encounters with artists and our relationships with them.”
“Some of them are really worth reading.” Karen said.
John Robert Weaver, self-portrait
Years ago they learned of a brilliant but sour Nebraska artist, John Robert Weaver, who’d completed a huge canvas and desperately needed a buyer for it.
“We bought it because it’s an amazing painting.” Karen said.
Thus began an association with the mercurial Weaver. who painted several commissions for the Duncans. Then he disappeared from their lives until Karen happened upon him one day in public.
“He looked as bad as that dog I picked up in Mexico,” she said. “I mean, he was in terrible shape – coughing, sick. He smelled.”
Then there was his abrasive personality.
“He was mean and rude. But he was a great painter. I thought, nobody’s going to care about him if he dies tomorrow, and we’ll have lost one of Nebraska’s best artists. I thought somebody needs to do something. So I bought him a house and furnished it and moved him in it. I took care of him for years and provided all the things he needed to work.”
The Duncans also funded the creation of a retrospective exhibition and catalog of his work and a feature-length documentary of his life. Weaver, who died in 2018, would likely have never enjoyed such recognition in his lifetime without their intervention.
More recently, the Duncans have fallen head over heals with the work of husband and wife artists Charley Friedman and Nancy Friedemann of Lincoln.
“We love the two of them,” Robert said.
Adopting artists “is Karen’s charity,” Robert said, adding, “She likes to do help individuals where she can see the impact.” She works with a Lincoln group that gives at-risk children piano lessons. She not only helps provide lessons but she’s purchased pianos for kids to practice on in their own homes.
A sample of the Duncans’ sculpture garden
The couple’s patronage of Nebraska art is legendary. They’ve been major supporters of the Sheldon Museum of Art and the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and the Kaneko in Omaha.
“We both love the University (of Nebraska’s) art department,” Robert said. “Great people there. We have a lot of respect for them.” “We buy their art, too,” Karen said.
The couple are ambassadors for Nebraska art. “There’s so much in Nebraska,” Robert said. “It’s very rich.”
The Duncans gave California artist Joseph Goldyne a sample of the state’s visual art scene after he arrived for the opening of his exhibit in Clarinda.
“He was amazed,” said Karen. Such reactions are typical of artists who come here for the first time and expect a cultural wasteland. “They just underestimate us so much.”
Another expression of the couple’s generosity is their Duncan Family Trust, which supports education and aviation-related endeavors. Daughter-in-law Connie Duncan manages it.
“The company funds part of that and part is supported by funds we’ve set up at the Lincoln Community Foundation,” Robert explained. “People apply to it. The most important part of that is an employee scholarship fund.”
For all their good works and all the jobs created by Duncan Aviation, the thing that most intrigues people about the couple is the collection they’ve built. It’s a never-ending source of inquiries from scholars, collectors and journalists. Robert Duncan has a theory why he and Karen took it to so emphatically.
“I know that both of us have a collecting gene, We have collecting in our souls because as children we collected (her, butterflies; him. cereal box prizes). As adults, we collect a lot of things.”
Her first edition American novel collection numbers some 10,000 volumes. She has a large handwoven basket collection.
Her own literary efforts didn’t begin with the children’s book. She earlier authored “Pieces of Me,” a book meant only for her grandchildren. “It’s vignettes from my life. I wanted them to know I was once their age and i did some stupid things just like all teenagers do.”
“If I can get myself organized I’m thinking of doing a second Chica book about her Nebraska friends (the fox, raccoon and hawk Chica frolicked with on the property).
The collecting gene seems inherited by the Duncans’ two adult children, Todd and Paige.
“They have an interest and they both collect,” Robert said. “I don’t think they’re interested in shouldering the burden of this collection.”
“No,” added Karen. “Besides, they’ve got our art in their houses. We said, come pick out whatever you want, and they picked out good pieces. They grew up surrounded by it. They knew what to pick.”
As the collection’s grown ever larger, Karen said, “this has all gotten very complicated.” Thousands of works, multiple sites, plus storage, security, insurance details. They stay at it though because it’s still “fun.”
Collecting keeps them engaged with all the research and travel required. The 76-year-olds not only preach the benefits of mental and physical activity, they live it. He still rides motorcycles and pilots planes. She’s turned weight-lifting for exercise into competing in powerlifting meets. She’s also a gourmet cook and an expert at Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging).
Much like the work they collect, they are singular in their boundless curiosity. Mastering the art of living may be their greatest legacy.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8
July 25, 2019
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North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8
Who: North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA)
What: Annual Arts Crawl
When: Friday, August 9 from 6 to 9 pm.
Where: North 30th Street Corridor in North Omaha
Why: For the love of art and community
How: Walk it or drive it
North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8
North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) concludes its 2019 season with the Arts Crawl from 6 to 9.p.m. on Friday, August 9 with exhibitions and demonstrations on and off the North 30th Street Corridor.
This progressive art exhibition right in the heart of North Omaha is a family-friendly community event. It is free of charge. The Arts Crawl is in its eighth year after taking a hiatus last year.
Whether you walk it or drive it, the NOSA Arts Crawl has something for everyone between six venues encompassing ethnic folk art, icons, quilts, paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture. The makers include immigrant and refugee artists and Native American artists as well as emerging and established African-American artists from the North O community. Works by adult and youth artists will be featured.
At some venues, artists will make work and describe their process. Live music and dance add to the mix at other venues. It’s a chance to meet artists. purchase work and learn about under the radar talents.
If you work up an appetite and need to quench your thirst, there’s finger food and refreshments, on the house, at each stop.
The venues are:
Charles B. Washington Branch Library
2868 Ames Avenue (Just east of 30th and Ames)
Kicking things off is a 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. opening reception that showcases an exhibition of handmade quilts by the Omaha group, Quilters We Are.
Metropolitan Community College Fort Omaha Campus
30th and Fort Streets
Building 21 (The Mule Barn) – Expanding the Circle” exhibition features art by Native American students and their mentors.
Building 23 (Career and Academic Skills Center) – An exhibition displaying MCC’s collection of art.from various African nations.
Church of the Resurrection
3004 Belvedere Blvd. (30th and Kansas)
Noted Icon artist Jane Tan Creti of Omaha will be on hand to display her work and to educate about the meaning and making of icons.
Nelson Mandela School
6316 North 30th Street (30th and Curtis)
View works by adult artists and by Nelson Mandela students.
Trinity Lutheran Church/Heartland Family Service
6340 North 30th Street (30th and Redick)
An exhibition of contemporary and traditional art by established and emerging artists, including work from members of refugee communities in Omaha.
Check out the Arts Crawl Facebook event page.
Follow NOSA at https://www.facebook.com/NorthOmahaSummerArts.
Join Friends Who Like North Omaha Summer Arts at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1012756932152193,
For more information, call NOSA director Pamela Jo Berry at 402-502-4669.
_ _ _
North Omaha Summer Arts is a completely free, community-based arts festival now in its ninth year. It includes a gospel concert in the park, writing workshops and retreats, pop-up art events, and the Arts Crawl. The festival runs from June through mid-August. NOSA founder and director Pamela Jo Berry is a North Omaha resident, mixed-media artist and art educator.
Categories: Art, Arts Crawl, Arts-Entertainment-Culture, Metropolitan Community College, North Omaha, North Omaha Summer Arts, North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA), North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl, Omaha, Pamela Jo Berry
An Arts Crawl 8, Art, Art-Entertainment-Culture, Metropolitan Community College, North Omaha, North Omaha Arts Crawl, North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA), North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl, Omaha, Pamela Jo Berry
Abstract Mindz: Group gives artists a voice and showcase
May 23, 2019
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Abstract Mindz: Group gives artists a voice and showcase
©by Leo Adam Biga
Appearing in El Perico (el-perico.com)
Abstract Mindz founder Jose Antonio “Tony” Barrales, 25, wants to give young artists what he didn’t have growing up.
The Omaha Central High School graduate started the artist collaborative in 2013, he said, to give underrepresented youth “an opportunity to showcase their talent.”
“There were tons of people in the South Omaha community whose work wasn’t being seen and who weren’t being offered the opportunities others were. I had this idea to create an arts group that would hopefully become a gallery in the future. No one would be rejected based off their art style, age, ethnicity.
“There’s a ten year build-up of passion behind this group. Growing up in traditional Mexican homes trying to pursue art as a career wasn’t something our parents deemed worth pursuing or spending money on.”
In addition to lack of support at home, he and others found inequity at school, where, he said “certain students got opportunities others didn’t,” such as mentoring. “That’s when my passion to create the group was really sparked because I was one of those overlooked kids. I was like, Hey, I’m doing artwork, too – why am I not getting a shot to show what I’ve got. I saw other people who deserved their shot and didn’t get it, and they gave up.”
Barrales wants to affirm others.
“There’s real talent out there, but people feel like they can’;t make it on their own or there’s no one to help them out. i just want people to have a free wall space where they can express who they are and show people what they do.”
Artist Ari Marquez, 28, helps run the collaborative.
“Art was like my escape for expressing my emotions. A lot of our members are the same,” she said. T”hey don’t like to verbalize what they’re feeling or going through. Instead of saying it, they draw or paint or photograph it.
“Sharing their work can help with the healing process from hardships and darkness they have. It’s hopefully an escape to express themselves in ways that maybe the adults in their lives wouldn’t accept. Some of the kids are expressing a scream for help or attention. We create a safe space for them to express without being judged.”
It’s a catalyst for work to be made and seen.
“We’ve learned there’s a whole bunch of kids who have this secret talent no one knows about,” Barrales said.
“They have that passion to do things, but they might be scared to try or don’t know who to talk to about creating opportunities for themselves.”
Barrales knows from experience “it’s really hard establishing yourself in the art community.” You’re bound to be asked, what have you done? and where have you shown?
“Most of our artists do abstract art, graffiti art – things that are more urban. We want them to know that can be marketable. We have artists who’ve gone to local galleries with their portfolios only to be turned away because the professionals said their art style is not what they show in their spaces.
“That’s something we want to change. This urban art is really popping in other cities and we want it to be seen that same way here.”
He’s working on the organization becoming an LLC.
“We’re looking at getting our own dedicated gallery. We want to be based in South Omaha. Most art galleries around here are collectives, We’re shooting for the same thing. We want this to grow to where we have mentoring programs and can support locations in Fremont and Lincoln, so people can have showcases in their own communities.”
Without a space of its own, Abstract Mindz has thus far relied on partnerships to show work in loaned spaces.
“Luckily we’ve found a welcoming space in the Bancroft Street Market. Our first show in 2015 was there. We had 15 artists. Each sold one piece. That motivated us to continue.”
More shows there followed. A Day of the Dead exhibit included performance by the local band.Mariachi Patria Juvenil. The largest and longest running show displayed 50 pieces for a month at Hotel LR.
Bellevue Social Center hosted another exhibit.
South Omaha entrepreneur Macros Mora donated a booth space for the group at the Cinco de Mayo market.
Local playwright Ellen Struve has worked with the group in different ways..
“She’s been sending us to the right people to talk to. She’s been great in helping with our outreach,” Barrales said. “She also presented us a great opportunity to participate in her new play EPIC for the Great Plains Theatre Conference. We were one of the groups she did story circles with. We told our own personal stories to help create the backstory for her play.
“The high school-age kids really loved it. She did an activity to open them up to speak. It’s something they usually don’t do. They felt really comfortable in that circle. They are amazed knowing their story is implemented in this play.”
Abstract Mindz members range from high school and college students to college grads working full-time jobs. Their ranks include Shantee Zamora, Sergio Gomez, Salem Munoz and Gerado “Polo” Diaz.
Abstract Mindz presented a solo show of Diaz’s work.
“He was a little more mature in his craft and body of work,” Barrales said, “so we gave him an individual showcase. He’s one of the main artists we have who wants to make this his career.”
Members pay minimal dues and get help with framing, portfolios and marketing.
The group’s planned next show, Visual Sounds, is in need of a venue. Participating artists were asked to create a large piece based on a song of their choice.
“This collaboration of music and visual arts will be our first interactive gallery. As spectators view each artwork they can put on headphones to listen to the correlating song.”
A place and date is in the works.
Follow Abstract Mindz on Facebook.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
Expressionistic images by Elisa Morera Benn
December 26, 2018
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Expressionistic images by Elisa Morera Benn
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally published in El Perico (el-perico.com)
Costa Rica native Elisa Morera Benn of Omaha has been making art infused with the colors and passions of her tropical Central American homeland since childhood.
“All my life my surroundings have been full of contrasts. Shades of green, red, orange, a whole range of intensities and feelings. It is impossible to separate artists from their visual and emotional environment,” she said.
She’s one of four siblings born to a customs agent father and stay-at-home mother.
“My father worked hard to give his children a private education. He later managed to open his own business.”
Benn studied with masters. Each gave her something that grew her as an artist.
“With Francisco Alvarado Avella, I learned the eroticism that always covered his paintings. With Soraya Goicoechea the realism of the portrait. With Max Rojas, the use of expressionism. With Isabel Naranjo, realism. With Rodolfo Rocha, I learned how to mix all these techniques.”
Her work’s shown internationally at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France and at galleries and museums in Fabriano, Italy, Juarez, Mexico, Toronto, Canada and Houston, Texas.
Since moving to America with her husband, Dr. Douglas Benn, an adjunct professor at the Creighton University School of Dentistry, she’s consistently shown her work in Nebraska. She recent exhibited at the Artists Cooperative Gallery in the Old Market. She has work at the Burkholder Project in Lincoln. She’ll show some pieces at her studio during the Hot Shops open house in December.
She and her husband reside in a near downtown home accented by her own art and by artwork they’ve collected. The couple met five years ago in Costa Rica when he visited there. They married three years ago.
Benn was no stranger to America, where she traveled on school vacations and visited an aunt in Florida.
“Once I moved here, I fell in love with Omaha, which is full of art.”
As a girl in Costa Rica a school teacher and a newly arrived classmate from Cuba affirmed her talent.
“All my life I have painted and drawn,” said Benn, who found her voice in art.
“My formal studies were in architecture but I didn’t finish. But always the drawing was in my blood,”
Like any artist, she finds inspiration in many sources. The paintings of Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt and his use of gold leaf foil are particularly influential.
“Klimt’s symbolism seems extraordinary to me – the way he uses symbolism and geometric patterns, which I always use in my work.”
Expressionism best describes her style, though she incorporates elements of surrealism as well.
“We live in anxiety about humanity’s increasingly discordant relationship with the world and accompanying lost feelings of authenticity and spirituality. I am an expressionist and as such support the rebellion to be free from academic restrictions. I want to be free in the way I express myself.”
The style fits her temperament and vision.
“These techniques were meant to convey the emotional state of my feelings and my art reacting to the anxieties of the modern world with all the problems of this particular period of time. This style allows me to have that freedom of expression.
“True art always causes an emotion in the spectator. When I succeed in transmitting the feeling I want to reflect in my painting to the viewer then I feel I have achieved my goal.””
She often deals with women’s emotional states in her work.
“Capturing the emotions and feelings reflected in a face is a challenge. I achieve feeling THROUGH a painting. Reflecting the model’s expression of joy, sadness, excitement, sensuality, for me is a challenge that I like.”
When dealing with women subjects she uses eroticism to capture mood and atmosphere.
“Why not? These feelings are part of human beings.”
After all, she said, seduction and mysticism are well known ways to captivate viewers.
“There are many ways to convey eroticism,” she said. “All of Georgia O’Keefe’s work is wrapped in eroticism and sensuality in a very subliminal way. Then there are the very criticized erotic drawings of (Gustave) Courbet’s realism, which is not my message, nor my style. I prefer the model of the painting have the expression and leave the rest to the imagination.
Benn’s imagination sometimes supplies the human figures in her work. Other times she works from live models.
“The imaginary models are easier to work with. When one makes a painting of a live model, more is known by friends and family, so the level of accuracy has to be higher, which is more difficult. Normally everyone has a mental image of how we see ourselves, so to satisfy the model and also make the painting in your style, it’s quite a challenge.”
She makes her paintings directly on wood and enjoys the texture the surface gives her work.
“I really like how the lines of wood are mixed inside the face of my paintings. When I paint on canvas, the backgrounds go with the personality of the models. For example, I painted a friend who is a metal sculptor, so her surroundings have to be where she was born here in the USA and what she does.”
Visit http://www.artistamorera.com.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
Categories: Art, Artists, Costa Rica, Elisa Morera Benn, Latina, Latino/Hispanic, Omaha, Writing
Art, Artist, Artists, Arts, Costa Rica, Elisa Morera Benn, Latino/Hispanic, Latino/Hispanic Art, Omaha, Painter
El Museo Latino: A Quarter Century Strong
September 23, 2018
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El Museo Latino: A Quarter Century Strong
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
Omaha’s a livelier place today than 30 years ago because Individuals noted cultural voids and put their passion, reputation or money on the line to create iconic attractions. Blue Barn Theatre, The Waiting Room, Slowdown, Film Streams, Kaneko, Holland Performing Arts Center, Union for Contemporary Art and Gallery 1516 are prime examples.
Count El Museo Latino among the signature venues in this city’s cultural maturation. Founder-director Magdalena “Maggie” Garcia noted a paucity of Latino art-culture-history displays here. Like other place-makers, she didn’t wait for someone else to do something about it. Acting on her lifelong interest in Latino heritage, she left a business career to learn about museums and in 1993 she launched her nonprofit.
El Museo Latino got its humble start in a 3,000 square foot basement bay of the Livestock Exchange Building. The stockyards were still active, making pesky flies and foul smells a gritty nuisance. Volunteers transformed the grimy old print shop space in 34 days for El Museo Latino to open in time for Cinco de Mayo festivities.
Five years later she led the move from there to the present 18,000 square foot site at 4701 South 25th Street in the former Polish Home. Growth necessitated the relocation. As the museum consolidated its niche, it expanded its number of exhibits and education programs. It hosts events celebrating traditional art, dance, music, film and ethnic food.
The museum launched amidst the South Omaha business district’s decline. It prospered as the area enjoyed a resurgence of commerce – finding community and foundation support. From 1993 till now, Garcia’s nurtured a passionate dream turned fledgling reality turned established institution. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, El Museo Latino is hosting a Saturday, October 13 Open House from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visitors can view a special contemporary textiles exhibition by Mexican artist Marcela Diaz along with selections from the permanent collection.
A quarter century of presenting national-international traveling exhibits and bringing visiting artists, scholars and curators only happened because Garcia didn’t let anything stop her vision. She didn’t ask permission, She didn’t heed naysayers who said Omaha didn’t need another museum. She didn’t delay her dream for her board to find a more suitable space or to raise money.
“My attitude was, let’s get something established instead of waiting for funding, for a different space, for this or that. I just thought we needed to do it now – and so we went ahead, Besides, who’s going to give us the authority to say what we can have and not?”
Retired University of Nebraska at Omaha arts education administrator Shari Hofschire lays the museum’s very being at the feet of Garcia.
“Maggie Garcia’s passion is the building block of its 25 year history. She doggedly fundraised and programmed. She recognized the need for a community-cultural identity just as South Omaha was growing with new residents.”
Hofschire added the museum’s now “a catalyst for both the past traditions of Latino history and culture and future opportunities for the South Omaha community to express itself and expand its cultural narrative.”
As a founding board member, David Catalan has seen first-hand the transformation of Garcia’s idea into a full-fledged destination.
“Underlying the foundation of El Museo Latino’s success was Maggie’s leadership and outstanding credentials in the arts Her outreach skills harvested financial support in the form of foundation grants and corporate sponsorships,” Catalan said. “Her organizational acumen created a governing board of directors, each with resources necessary for achieving strategic objectives. The museum’s programs and exhibits drew rapid membership growth as well.
“Today, El Museo Latino is a treasured anchor in the cultural and economic development of South Omaha. Another 25 years of sustainability is assured so long as Maggie Garcia continues to be the face of inspiration and guidance.”
Garcia spent years preparing herself for the job. She performed and taught traditional folk dance. She collected art. She met scholars, curators and artists on visits to Mexico. After earning an art history degree, she quit her human resources career to get a master’s in museum studies and to work in museums. Seeing no Latino art culture, history centers in the region, she created one celebrating the visual and performing arts heritage of her people.
She’s seen El Museo Latino gain national status by receiving traveling Smithsonian exhibits. One brought actor-activist Edward James Olmos for the Omaha opening. The museum’s earned direct National Endowment for the Arts support.
In 2016, Garcia realized a long-held goal of creating a yearly artist residency program for local Latino artists.
Her efforts have been widely recognized. In 2015 the Mexican Government honored her lifetime achievement in the arts.
With the museum now 25 years old and counting, Garcia’s excited to take it to new heights.
“I don’t want us to just coast. I don’t want it to get old for me. For me the excitement is learning and knowing about new things – even if it’s traditions hundreds of years old we can bring in a new way to our audiences.
“We want to continue to challenge ourselves and to always be relevant by finding what else is out there, where there is a need, where do we see other things happening. Hopefully that’s still going to be the driving force. It has to be exciting for us. We have to be passionate about it. Then how do we bring that interest, love and passion to do what we said we’re going to do and to make it grow and fulfill needs in the community.”
She cultivates exchanges with Mexican art centers and artists to enrich the museum’s offerings. A key figure in these exchanges is artist-curator Humberto Chavez.
“We have connections with artists and centers in different parts of Mexico because of him,” she said. “He’s a professor of art in Mexico City and he was head of all the art centers throughout the country. He’s very well connected. That’s a huge window of opportunity for our artists here and a real plus with our residency.
“We’re not just giving artists a place and time to work and a stipend, but trying to provide them some other opportunities they wouldn’t necessarily be able to get.”
She said she hopes “to expand our network of working with other institutions as well as other artists “
Besides exposing artists and patrons to new things, Maggie’s most pleased when art connects with youth.
“I had a group of elementary students come in to see an exhibition of traditional shawls, Some of the boys and girls said, ‘What are those things doing here?’ Then as I talked about the different fabrics and colors, how the shawls are worn, what they mean, how they’re created, all of a sudden the kids were oohing and aahing at the rainbow of materials and history..
“When we came to a map of Mexico showing where the shawls were made, the kids were asking each other, ‘Where are you from?’ One said, ‘I don’t know where I’m from, but I’m going to go home and ask.’ Another pointed at the map and said, ‘Well, I’m from that state.’ Suddenly, it was accepted by their peers and so it was okay to value who they are.
“I see that all the time here. It’s very satisfying.”
Satisfying, too, is seeing the fruition of her dream reach 25 years.
“The journey has been an adventure. It hasn’t been easy. There’ve been challenges, but I thrive on challenges. If someone says, this is the way it’s been done forever, all the more reason to say, why not make a difference.”
Visit http://www.elmuseolatino.org.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
Categories: Art, Arts-Entertainment-Culture, El Museo Latino, Latino/Hispanic, Magdalena "Maggie" Garcia, Museum, Omaha, South Omaha, Writing
Art, Art-Entertainment-Culture, El Museo Latino, El Museo Latino Artist Residency Program, Latino-Hispanic, Magdalena "Maggie" Garcia, Museum, Omaha, South Omaha
Magdalena Garcia’s dream of a museum still thriving at 25
August 27, 2018
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Magdalena Garcia’s dream of a museum still thriving at 25
©by Leo Adam Biga
Appearing in the September 2018 issue of New Horizons
Magdalena Garcia
Magdalena “Maggie” Garcia has the rare opportunity this year to celebrate 25 years of a dream coming true and still going strong.
The founder-executive director of El Museo Latino in Omaha, the first Latino-Hispanic art, culture and history museum in the Great Plains, opened in 1993 because Garcia wouldn’t relinquish an idea. That idea to create a museum celebrating Latino heritage was emboldened by the empowering message conveyed by her father.
Garcia, 64, is the oldest of six sisters all born in Mexico City to Jesus and Beatriz Garcia. She did part of her growing up in Mexico, where she was exposed to fine and performing arts that inspired her.
“We returned every summer, sometimes for weeks and other times for the summer months,” she said. “Growing up I loved art and I was proud to be who I am.”
Her interest continued after she and her family moved to Omaha when Garcia was 9. She participated in traditional folk dancing from early childhood, even teaching fellow elementary school students to perform for the Our Lady of Guadalupe parish festival. She learned to make clothes from her seamstress mother. She admired her carpenter father’s handiwork restoring antique furniture. She dabbled in watercolor painting.
She comes from a family of art appreciators and creatives who all display some artistic talent.
As a young woman her life became more focused on education and employment.
“I come from a working class family. I never felt I needed anything because we had everything we needed. Always you worked toward something. It was that immigrant American Dream of if you work hard and you have a dream, it will come true,” she said.
She’s never forgotten the family patriarch’s words.
“I remember my father telling me. ‘My job is to provide everything you need – food, shelter, transportation, tuition. Your job is to do the best you can.’ He never said you have to get all As. That was never a pressure. It was just do the best you can – no skipping school, no playing hooky – that’s my expectation of you.’ Education was always very important to my parents. I don’t know how they put six girls through Catholic grade school and high school.”
Her father’s advice also drove her to follow her heart.
“When I was older, he sat me down and said, ‘You have to work, you need to be able to take care of yourself, so find something that makes you happy, that you love, that you have passion for – and go for it.’ I know that conversation happened with my sisters, too.”
The Garcia Girls are all accomplished college graduates.
“There weren’t any limitations placed on us. Starting with that belief of who you are and where you come from and that support from family was key for all of us.”
Preparing for her dream
It took her awhile to put into practice her father’s advice about heeding her heart after she was hired at Northern Natural Gas Co. through an affirmative action program
“That opened a door but that didn’t guarantee you were going to stay or advance in a career. I always felt it was important I prepare myself for any position I wanted. I checked off the requirements for education and training to make myself more qualified.”
She climbed the corporate ladder.
“My last position was as a human resources manager.”
Her passion for art still burned but was muted by the grind of a 9 to 5 workday and taking University of Nebraska at Omaah business classes at night. Still, art was as near to her office as Joslyn Art Museum across the street. An experience there rekindled her flame.
Her company made a permanent loan of its Maximilian-Bodmer Collection to the Joslyn, which in 1984 developed a national touring exhibition of these important Western art-history holdings. Garcia and some fellow employees trained as docents for the Views of a Vanishing Frontier exhibit.
“Marsha Gallagher, then-chief curator at Joslyn, welcomed us. She took us to one of the (storage) vaults. Watercolor was my passion and here were the Bodmer watercolors laying out in preparation for the exhibit. That was the moment I wanted to change careers. I said to myself, I know I need to find a way to be in a museum.'”
Garcia changed her major from business to art history.
In pursuit of her dream, she paved the way for her sisters’ higher education.
“Maggie was working full-time and married when she started at UNO. I remember her taking me when she registered for classes. She wanted to expose me to that environment, to that other world,” said her sister Maria Vazquez, who went on to earn degrees from Metropolitan Community College and UNO. She’s now Vice President for Student Affairs at MCC.
When Northern merged with Enron, Garcia made the move to its corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas. However, the lure of working in a museum was too great and she left to embark on a two-year museum studies graduate degree at Syracuse University in New York.
To supplement her studies, she immersed herself in museums.
“I did volunteer work in a number of museums in my journey, including the Joslyn, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse.”
All of it was preparation for creating El Museo Latino.
Her journey coincided with an explosion in America’s Latino population. She observed institutions seeking to reach that demographic through programming.
“I saw where Latino art collections were located. It made me aware for the first time there were only four Latino museums (then) in the whole United States: New York City, Chicago, Austin and San Francisco.
“It made me stop and think, why not one here in the Great Plains? Why not Omaha?”
Thus, the seed for El Museo Latino was planted.
She applied for a paid internship at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC but was surprised by a full-time job offer. Though flattered, she wanted to fast-track her master’s, so she did a part-time paid internship instead at the Los Angeles County Museum, which was preparing to host a traveling Mexican art show.
“I worked in the education department putting together some of the programming and training, writing materials, teaching docents.”
That experience further stoked her desire to make a Latino museum happen here. Reinforcing that desire were state mandates to bring multiculturalism into school curricula. Nebraska put it into effect in 1993.
“All those things were on my mind,” said Garcia, who was ready to take the best art opportunity afforded her.
“I was at a time in my life when I was going to pick up and go wherever. But this was still home.”
An art class/workshop at El Museo Latino
Realizing the dream
She decided to share her dream with community leaders. She’d already “drafted what mission and focus such a museum would have and what it would need in terms of 501c3 status and a board.”
She approached activist-educator Jim Ramirez with her vision. He organized a meeting with other movers and shakers including then-Omaha Mayor P.J. Morgan and arts enthusiast David Catalan. She made a presentation. The group toured the site she’d fixed on – a former print shop in the Livestock Exchange Building.
Where others were cautious, she was determined.
“The expectation was we’re going to do it. Who wants to help and be part of it. I signed the first contract with the Lund Company for that Livestock Exchange space.”
She didn’t let objections to the rough shape of that 3,000 square foot space stop her.
“There were holes in the wall. There were pools of grease and ink.”
Some thought it couldn’t be a museum.
“But I thought it could be. It wasn’t much, but it was a good start.”
All the work to get it secured and cleaned happened with sweat equity. There was no budget.
South Omaha was undergoing a major transition. The South 24th Street business district was dead and the immigrant-refugee resurgence just beginning. The Big Four packing houses were long gone. The stockyards on their last legs.
“We had to put a screen door on the entrance to our museum to keep out the flies.”
It took a big effort to repurpose the old print shop.
“Everybody we could pull in pitched in. Family, friends, their friends. We’d come in in shifts.”
It was an all-day, every day push for Garcia. “I’d go home, get a shower, take a quick nap and back I went.”
Her father helped restore the huge, beautiful windows that featured oak trim and copper fixtures.
“About a week before we were scheduled to open, I get a phone call from the owner of Designer Blinds in Omaha. He asked, ‘What are you going to do about the windows?'”
Though gorgeous, the windows let in excess sunlight not safe or conducive for the display of artwork. She’d thought of painting over or covering them but it was a week before the opening and they were still exposed.
The owner wanted to send a salesman with samples but Maggie kept begging off, saying she had no budget. She finally agreed to a visit and selected a style just to be rid of him. Later that day the owner called to point out she picked a non-energy efficient model. She repeated it didn’t matter since she couldn’t afford them anyway. Then the owner revealed he was donating the blinds and their delivery and installation for free.
The blinds went up opening day. They went with the museum when it moved to its current building in 1998.
Carpeting was donated by the Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Garcia also got her former employer to donate desks, panels and partitions.
“Some we’re still using.”
To assemble the opening exhibits Garcia called on local artists and tapped her own collection of Mexican textiles cultivated on her travels.
“We opened with two exhibits. One with local art, including painting and sculpture, and the other with textiles from my travels. That was the beginning.”
The museum got the space in April and opened May 5, which is the Cinco de Mayo observance of Mexican independence. The renovation took 34 days from start to finish. Each year, El Museo Latino co-celebrates its opening with Cinco de Mayo.
The museum might have located elsewhere. Area colleges courted it for their campuses, Some pressed for an Old Market or suburban site. But she insisted it operate independently and be situated near its base.
“We needed to be autonomous and we needed be in the Latino community of South Omaha. It should be in the community it represents and belongs to. The neighborhood doesn’t depend on the museum but there’s that support and connection, even if its just visual. The purpose of a museum is to serve its community, but I think ethnic museums have even one more connection with their community.”
The state multicultural mandate gave fledgling El Museo Latino an in with student tours. Founding board member Jim Ramirez proved a powerful ally and networker.
“He was very instrumental in getting the museum in front of superintendents and principals,” she said. “We’ve always worked with schools to get students here.”
Shes adamant about focusing on Latino art, culture, history year-round – not just for Cinco de Mayo. There’s an inexhaustible reservoir of rich material to draw on.
“If you live to be a thousand, you’ll never see everything that’s available or that you could see here.”
The museum’s built support by selling memberships and attracting grant support and donations. The Nebraska Arts Council, Humanities Nebraska and the National Endowment for the Arts are among its funders.
El Museo Latino
Making the museum international
Garcia’s been intentional establishing international ties with art scholars, curators and artists in Mexico.
“That had been taking place before the museum opened. I would travel to different places to feed my interest in art. In my two years of graduate work I spent part of the summers in Mexico City at universities there meeting department heads and artists.
“In Houston, waiting to get into grad school, I took some classes at Rice University, whose gallery showed a photography exhibition curated by several artists. One of them was Cristina Kahlo (great niece of Frieda Kahlo). “That’s when i met Cristina. We corresponded and anytime I was in Mexico City we would meet. She introduced me to artists. The artists there knew what I wanted to do and were aware when the museum opened. They knew it mean exhibition opportunities.
“I did research on Mexican muralists. Over time I continued to build those connections.”
Garcia’s parlayed those connections by having Mexican artists and scholars visit. Cristina Khalo’s had several exhibits there. A frequent visitor is educator, photographer, mixed-media and installation artist Humberto Chavez. Garcia feels fortunate having a friend of the museum as well-versed and connected as Chavez is in Mexican art circles. His extensive travels and work expose him to diverse artists and art communities.
“We’ve worked with professor Chavez since ’95. Over the years we’ve had his work in a number of exhibitions. We’ve worked with artists and art organizations he’s been associated with in different parts of the country.”
Chavez said the work he’s brings to Omaha highlights different art strains in Mexico.
“We have different centers of art in different states of Mexico. I am trying to show the production of each center.”
Several years ago at El Museo Latino he curated work from the graphic workshop, La Parota, in Colima.
“It’s become very known in Mexico. In this space a lot of very important national and international artists have emerged or come there to produce different projects of graphic arts.”
Just as Garcia values this ongoing association, Chavez appreciates his Omaha ties.
“Having this new connection with artists was very important to me.”
In Omaha, he said, he’s found a kindred art family 1,500 miles from Mexico City. He looks forward to the relationship continuing.
“For all my life, I hope. Yes, I like to come, I like the artistic life in Omaha. I like for Omaha artists to come.”
El Museo Latino now operates an artist residency program that benefits form these cultural exchanges..
Chavez came from Mexico to do an extended artist-in-residence program but also to mentor to local artists.
“We also brought Carlos Tortolero, president and founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. If you’re a Latino artist, that would be one place you would want to exhibit your work. It’s an opportunity to bring our resident artists to their attention.
“These experiences expose our artists to another point of view and provide opportunities for them to grow. We’re opening windows or doors for our resident artists because of our connections in Mexico and there might be opportunities to have residencies down there.”
By sharing work, ideas, contacts, she said, “we’re helping each other,”
Connections sometimes happen in unexpected ways.
“A dance group from the University of Chihuahua traveled here under the auspices of the Mexican Consulate. They ended up coming to do a performance. Over the years that university and other universities have sent us professors to do residencies. It’s also a great opportunity for our students to go there to study. It goes both ways. Many families that have students in our programs travel back to Mexico during their vacations.
“There have been people who’ve really believed in what we’re doing and want to find ways to help us and open up doors, not only for us but for artists of whatever age and level.”
Setting down roots and growing
El Museo Latino soon outgrew its space in the Livestock Exchange Building and in 1998 moved to its current site at 4701 South 25th Street.
“We looked for about a year at different buildings,” Garcia said.
The former Polish Home became the top choice for its size (18,000 square feet), proximity and historical significance (it’s now on the National Register of Historic Places).
“I had never been in this building before,” Garcia noted.
The brick walls, red tile roof and manicured courtyard reminded her of a Mexican hacienda.
El Museo Latino at first leased only the north wing with an option to purchase the entire building. Then, “in July ’98,” Garcia said, “we exercised our option and took over the rest of the building.”
What had been the ballroom-reception hall became the main galleries. The bar became a classroom.
The museum presented a centennial anniversary look back at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. That 19th century fair likely included the state’s earliest public display of Hispanic heritage. In doing research for the museum’s commemoration of the event, Garcia discovered Mexico sent a cultural exhibition and official delegation.
“The exhibit was installed in the International Building. It included Aztec things and samples of products, such as beans and gold. In addition to Mexico, other Latin countries sent things. Panama, for example, sent a replica of the canal.
“It was nice to make that connection. I’ve often wondered if everything got sent back to Mexico or if it’s sitting somewhere here in Omaha.”
Family Fun Day
Exhibitions-programs express art, culture, history
Each El Museo Latino exhibit has its own life. Whenever possible, Garcia tries having featured artists at their exhibit openings. “That’s important,” she said.
For Garcia, “a new exhibit is an opportunity to research and learn about an art form or perhaps a new approach.” Part of her role is to bring to light an exhibit’s social, cultural, historical context. “I think if you can bring more aspects of that culture, it’s richer and it becomes more aligned and true.”
Former UNO Center for Innovation in Arts Education director Shari Hofschier said the museum “provides a showcase for rich Latino heritage and traditions,” adding, “It is a regional gem in the quality of its programs and exhibitions.”
Founding board member David Catalan said the museum’s “enriched our community.” Hofschire said it not only provides a cultural background to the Latino community but to the wider community. They refer to Maggie as “the building block” and “foundation,” respectively, of the museum. Both credit her passion and leadership for its success.
Recognition has come to Garcia from various quarters. In 2015 the Mexican Government honored her lifetime achievement in the arts with an award presented locally by the Mexican Consul.
The museum’s permanent collection is mostly photographs, prints and textiles, with some sculpture. “We do have a lot of folk art,” Garcia said.
A history of Latinos in Omaha is on permanent display. Humberto Chavez made the exhibit’s photo portraits.
“He was at the end of a Bemis Center residency. I loved his work and I shared with him I wanted somehow to document Latino presence. He decided it had to be in black and white (with accompanying bios). We worked up a set of questions, many having to do with why and how immigrants came here. We made contact with people in the community. I accompanied him to the sessions.”
The project prompted Garcia to reflect on the immigrant story of her own family and other families.
“I know we ended up here because I had an aunt who moved here many years before us. Many times families will go where there’s a relative. You’re not going to be totally alone, you’re at least going to know somebody who can help you get started.”
The prevalence of meatpacking and railroad jobs here was a big draw the first two thirds of the 20th century.Many folks came escaping poverty or civil unrest.
“Some people we documented heard Omaha had jobs.Some talked about first coming to Kansas City or Chicago before settling in Omaha.”
She said Omaha came to be known as a good place to find work and to raise a family. It didn’t have the overcrowded slums of other major metropolitan areas.
“Ninety-nine percent of those who fled come for a better life – to make money, to send back or to go back.”
Some elders described the Mexican revolution. When rebels Pancho Villa or Emiliano Zapata went through a village, they took boys as soldiers to fight in the war. The guerilla armies then were similar to the ones that preceded or followed them in history.
Where home is
Something she means to document is the length of time it takes for an immigrant family to consider their new surroundings home.
“You move to America, but you always think, we’re going to go back. It’s home, but it’s home temporarily.”
She said that way station attitude was her family’s, too, “until we moved back to Mexico for a year and realized we didn’t fit there.”
“Things didn’t work out.”
When she was in her late teens she and her family made that aborted move – she completed her junior year of high school in Mexico – before deciding to return to America.
“It’s a different way of life down there. Once we came back, this was home. It’s a different mindset. We can always go back to visit – but this is home.”
Edward James Olmos
Always something new
El Museo annually hosts six or seven traveling exhibits.
“My new favorite is whatever I have up now,” Garcia said. “Over the years there’s been some really special ones and we’ve featured some major artists.”
The 2001 Smithsonian exhibit, Americanos: Latino Life in the United States, featured 120 photographs depicting the diversity of Latino life.
To promote the exhibit, Garcia selected “an image of this peasant man posed against a field of flowers.”
“He’s holding these beautiful yellow tulips in his huge hands. It was the most beautiful representation of who our working people are out in the fields.”
The size of the show maxed out the museum.
“We used every inch of space in our galleries. We even used the stage.”
A special added attraction with the show was the participation of actor-activist Edward James Olmos, who helped organize and promote the exhibit and appeared at each opening on its national tour.
“He was here for the opening,” Garcia said. “I got to pick him up at the airport. He was like, ‘Mija!’ – just like you saw him in Selena. It was wonderful to meet him. He spent two days here. He wanted to talk to our youth, so we contacted the Boys Club and they brought several vans full of kids. We filled a big room.”
Other notables who’ve visited include network television journalist John Quiñones and civil rights leader and former president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Raul H. Izaguirre. Nebraska community leaders and elected officials have also visited.
Another Smithsonian exhibit, Our journeys, Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement, showed at El Museo in December 2006 through January 2007. Two of the portrait subjects attended the opening.
With whatever exhibition is up, the museum programs related workshops and events around it. For this past summer’s contemporary textiles exhibit by artist Marcela Diaz, whose work represents the traditional textile fiber art of the Yucatan Region using natural fibers of cactus and coconut, the Yucataz artist came to present a fiber art workshop. Other artists did subsequent workshops.
The Diaz textiles show continues through December 16.
The annual Day of the Dead exhibit will run from October 13 through November 17. It will be complemented by traditional paper-cut workshops,
Also showing this fall is a photo exhibit by Garcia’s old friend and colleague, Humberto Chavez, titled TESTIGOES. from October 20 through December 1.
In January, the museum presents Tintes Naturales, an exhibit of natural tints textiles from Mexico.
Whenever there’s a show related to the Mexican Revolution, dance program students learn the dances of the period and perform them to live music.
“They research how people dressed, they create costumes. It’s almost like the men and women frozen in time in photographs jump from the wall as you see the dances and hear the music of the period,” Garcia said. “All of a sudden it comes alive through several art forms. Combining them is fantastic.”
El Museo’s dance program and troupe are among ongoing activities that happen year-round.
“It has a life of its own, It’s youth and adults. When the museum opened that was one of the first programs we started with. It’s been a standing program ever since.”
Taking stock
Institutionally, Garcia said, “we continue to grow –
maybe not as fast as we should.” “Programmatically,” she said, “there’s more requests coming in, so I’m trying to find a way to grow to the next level where we can be reaching out to the community to many more people. I want it to grow. That’s what I want.”
More staff’s needed and that means more funding.
“We can’t now go to very many schools to bring programs there. We need somebody to manage contracting and developing more outreach. It’s still a small group managing all that now.”
Things may not be as far along as she’d like, but 25 years educating and entertaining the public is no small feat. All she has to do to know the museum’s making a difference is to look at who’s enjoying it.
“This summer we had an outdoor screening of Coco and the courtyard was full of families. To plan something and then see the reaction of people is satisfying.”
Seeing visitors, especially children, walk through the galleries and respond to the work, she said, “makes the exhibit worthwhile and makes the museum worthwhile.”
“If we can only touch one student, it’s worth it.”
When school groups arrive she knows kids are not yet sold on being there. “But once you start talking to them and sharing information and they start asking questions, you’ve got them engaged, and that’s fantastic,” she said.
Tour groups are the museum’s lifeblood. Some 50,000
patrons visit the museum yearly.
“We know people are coming from all over the metropolitan area,” Garcia said. “A lot of them are coming from outside Omaha,”
Harvesting heritage
El Museo Latino is a direct expression of Garcia sharing her love of heritage with others.
“It is paying tribute, it is focusing on our culture, our traditions. It is satisfying.”
It’s also a reminder of how she never abandoned her roots. She said relatives from Mexico who’ve visited the museum told her, “When you left for the United States we thought you were going to forget about everything. How can you so far away have come full circle to have a passion for who you are and your roots when there are many of our own kids that don’t care or value it?”
Garcia is familiar with the pattern of people distancing themselves from their past.
“You see it there, you see it here,” she said. “They view it as something they left behind – we don’t want to know anymore about it because we want to become mainstream Americans.”
But Maggie and her museum celebrate the totality of what it means to be human.
“The whole idea of this is that you can be whoever you are without forgetting where you come from and without denying this rich culture that we have. That doesn’t mean you have to choose either loving your county or loving your roots. You do both. You can be all of that.
“I’ve always been proud of my heritage. I’ve never denied coming from Mexico. At the same time, America is home.”
Her whole family’s volunteered there. Her sister Silvia Wells is managing director. As each Garcia Girl’s found success, the whole family’s shared in it. Their legacy lives on in part through the museum.
The museum’s commemorating its 25th anniversary throughout the year, including an Open House on Saturday, October 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visit http://www.elmuseolatino.org.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
Life Itself XIV: Art stories through the years
August 4, 2018
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Life Itself XIV: Art stories through the years
Brigitte McQueen Shew
Free North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl features variety of art forms – Friday, August 10 at select North 30th Street Corridor venues
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/07/25/free-north-omaha…-corridor-venues
Process equals passion for migrant Bemis resident artist Trevor Amery
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/03/08/process-equals-p…ist-trevor-amery
Sculptor Benjamin Victor gives shape to Ponca Chief Standing Bear’s enduring voice
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/05/01/sculptor-benjami…s-enduring-voice
Mural Man – Artist Mike Giron captures heart of South Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/05/02/mural-man-artist…t-of-south-omaha
A Fluid Life: Dana Oltman Goes With the Flow
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/08/03/a-fluid-life-dan…es-with-the-flow
New Artist Residency Program at El Museo Latino supports the practice of local Latino artists
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/06/10/new-artist-resid…l-latino-artists/
Art in the heart of South Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/09/22/art-in-the-heart-of-south-omaha
©“Crucifixion” triptych by Leonard Thiessen
Brigitte McQueen Shew’s Union of art and community uses new Blue Lion digs to expand community engagement
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/06/26/brigitte-mcqueen…unity-engagement/
South Omaha Museum: A melting pot magic city gets its own museum
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/04/13/a-melting-pot-ma…s-its-own-museum
Artist Erin Blayney: The Great Reveal
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/08/03/artist-erin-blay…the-great-reveal/
Omaha Fashion Week & SAC Federal Credit Union: Building the fashion eco-system via business focus
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/08/05/omaha-fashion-we…a-business-focus
Leonard Thiessen social justice triptych deserves wider audience
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/01/21/leonard-thiessen…s-wider-audience
©Crosses and prayer stations by Pamela Jo Berry and pottery by Katie Cramer
Harmonious, luminescent pairing of art – “Prayer” and “Share” – on exhibit at Florence Mill ArtLoft Gallery
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/09/12/harmonious-lumin…-artloft-gallery
Mural project celebrates mosaic of South Omaha culture
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/07/19/mural-project-ce…th-omaha-culture/
Los Dias de Los Muertos festival offers three weeks of exhibits and events
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/10/16/los-dias-de-los-…ibits-and-events
My Joslyn Art Museum Community Pick is Thomas Hart Benton’s “The Hailstorm”
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/08/03/my-joslyn-commun…s-picked-and-why
Bright Lights: Teen designer Ciara Fortun mines Filipino heritage in Omaha Fashion Week collection
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/07/29/bright-lights-te…-week-collection
Yolanda Diaz success story with Little Miss Fashion nets her new recognition
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/05/05/yolanda-diaz-suc…-new-recognition
Yolanda Diaz works on a skirt in her Little Miss Fashion shop in Omaha. (©Photo by Mike Tobias, NET News)
The Designers: Omaha’s Emerging Fashion Culture
https://leoadambiga.com/2014/02/02/the-designers-om…-fashion-culture
A Passion for Fashion: Omaha Fashion Week emerges as major cultural happening
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/09/21/a-passion-for-fashion
Coming Home: Watie White’s public art installation tells stories of North Omaha home and family
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/02/07/coming-home-wati…-home-and-family
Art and community meet-up in artist’s public projects; Watie White mines urban tales
https://leoadambiga.com/2014/09/24/art-and-communit…ines-urban-tales
Home exterior art installation by Watie White
The Artist in the Mill: Linda Meigs brings agriculture, history and art together at Florence Mill
https://leoadambiga.com/2014/08/01/linda-meigs-brin…at-florence-mill/
Opera Omaha enlists Jun Kaneko for new take on “The Magic Flute” – co-production of Mozart masterpiece features stunning designs setting the opera world abuzz
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/02/01/opera-omaha-enli…pera-world-abuzz
Isabella Threlkeld’s lifetime pursuit of art and Ideas yields an uncommon life
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/04/isabella-threlke…an-uncommon-life
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Isabella Threlkeld
Omaha arts-culture scene all grown up and looking fabulous
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/03/06/omaha-arts-culture-scene-grows-up
Artists running with opportunity to go to the next level; Carver Bank resident artists bring new life to area
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/05/20/artists-running-…new-life-to-area
Carver Building rebirthed as arts-culture haven; Theaster Gates, Rebuild and Bemis reimagine North Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/12/05/carver-building-…gine-north-omaha
North Omaha synergy harkens new arts-culture district for the city
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/06/26/a-synergy-in-nor…ict-for-the-city
Inaugural group of Carver Bank resident artists
Change is gonna come: GBT Academy in Omaha undergoes revival in wake of fire
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/14/a-change-is-gonn…the-wake-of-fire
Community-builders Jose and Linda Garcia devote themselves to a life promoting Latino art, culture, history
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/09/30/community-builde…-culture-history
The Wonderful World of Artist and Social Entrepreneur Jeffrey Owen Hanson
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/01/01/the-wonderful-wo…frey-owen-hanson
Matter of the heart: Pamela Jo Berry’s love for community brings art fest to North Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/08/08/pamela-jo-berry-…-in-diverse-work
Old Market Pioneer Roger duRand
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/12/26/old-market-pioneer-roger-durand
©Work by Wanda Ewing
Wanda Ewing Exhibit: Bougie is as Bougie Does
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/12/08/wanda-ewing-exhi…s-as-bougie-does
Color Me Black, Artist Francoise Duresse Explores Racial Implications
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/06/17/color-me-black-a…ications-of-race
Artist-Author-Educator Faith Ringgold, A Faithful Conjurer of Stories, Dreams, Memories and History
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/04/18/artist-author-ed…ries-and-history
Old Market-based artist Sora Kimberlain: A life in art
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/07/20/old-market-based…in-a-life-in-art
Artist Claudia Alvarez’s new exhibition considers immigration
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/03/23/artist-claudia-a…ders-immigration
For artist Terry Rosenberg, the moving human body offers canvas like no other
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/03/23/for-artist-terry…as-like-no-other
©Works by Terry Rosenberg
Fine art photographer Vera Mercer’s coming out party
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/02/18/artist-vera-merc…coming-out-party
Exhibit by photographer Jim Krantz and his artist grandfather, the late David Bialac engages in an art conversation through the generations
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/10/28/photographer-jim…-the-generations/
A very young Jim Krantz with iconic mentor, Ansel Adams, ©photo Jim Krantz
Touched by Tokyo: Hairstylist to the Stars Tokyo Stylez
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/08/27/touched-by-tokyo…ars-tokyo-stylez/
The Troy Davis Story: From Beyond the Fringe to Fringes Salon
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/12/27/the-troy-davis-s…to-fringes-salon/
Hair stylist-makeup artist Omar Rodriguez views himself as artisan
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/05/13/hair-stylist-mak…mself-as-artisan/
Young artist steps out of the shadows of towering presence in his life
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/03/a-young-artist-s…ence-in-his-life/
Eddith Buis, A Life Immersed in Art
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/06/11/eddith-buis-a-life-immersed-in-art/
Artist Bernard Stanley Hoyes explores the lamentations and celebrations of Jamaican revival worship
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/08/28/artist-bernard-s…-revival-worship
©”Flow with the Rhythm” by Bernard Stanley Hoyes
Catherine Ferguson’s exploration takes her to Verdi’s “Aida” and beyond
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/01/artist-catherine…-aida-and-beyond
Therman Statom works with children to create glass houses and more
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/05/31/glass-artist-the…kids-art-brigade
Blizzard Voices: Stories from the Great White Shroud
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/07/27/blizzard-voices-…eat-white-shroud
African presence in Spanish America explored in three presentations
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/03/25/african-presence…ee-presentations
Jose and Linda Garcia find new outlet for their magnificent obsession in the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/03/25/jose-and-linda-g…-of-the-midlands
Timeless Fashion Illustrator Mary Mitchell: Her Work Illustrating Three Decades of Style Now Subject of New Book and Exhibition
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/01/07/timeless-fashion…k-and-exhibition/
Mary Mitchell in her studio, @photo Jim Scholz
A Passion for Conservation: Tara Kennedy
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/11/25/a-passion-for-co…ion-tara-kennedy
Nancy Kirk: Arts maven, author, communicator, entrepreneur, interfaith champion
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/10/21/nancy-kirk-arts-…erfaith-champion
Art as revolution: Brigitte McQueen’s Union for Contemporary Art reimagines what’s possible in North Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/10/25/art-as-revolutio…e-in-north-omaha
“Portals” opens new dimensions in performance art – Multimedia concert comes home for Midwest premiere
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/10/06/portals-opens-ne…midwest-premiere
Open Minds: “Portals” explores human longing in the digital age
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/04/15/open-minds-porta…-the-digital-age
©Triptych designed and painted by Bro. William Woeger
Soon Come: Neville Murray’s passion for Loves Jazz & Arts Center and its role in rebirthing North Omaha
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/08/28/soon-come-nevill…hing-north-omaha
Inner City Art Exhibition Tells Wide Range of Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/01/an-inner-city-ex…range-of-stories
Art from the Streets
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/01/art-from-the-streets
Manifest Beauty: Christian Bro. William Woeger devotes his life to Church as artist and creative-cultural-liturgical expert
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/08/27/manifest-beauty-…-cultural-center
Photographer Larry Ferguson’s work is meditation on the nature of views and viewing
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/08/21/photographer-lar…iews-and-viewing/
Frederick Brown’s journey through art: Passage across form and passing on legacy
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/22/frederick-browns…ing-on-of-legacy
Jazz and blues artist Frederick J. Brown displays his painting “Stagger Lee,” in Kansas City, Mo.
A stitch in time builds world-class quilt collection and center-museum
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/21/a-stitch-in-time…nd-center-museum
Once More With Feeling: Loves Jazz & Arts Center back from hiatus
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/05/05/once-more-with-f…back-from-hiatus
Adventurer-collector Kam-Ching Leung’s Indonesian art reveals spirits of the islands
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/14/adventurercollec…s-of-the-islands
©Indonesian art piece, collection of Kam-Chieng Leung
Kent Bellows Legacy Lives On
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/10/13/bellows-legacy-lives-on/
Kent Bellows: Soul in Motion
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/09/21/kent-bellows-soul-in-motion
Rebecca Herskovitz forges an art family at Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/10/13/rebecca-herskovi…-for-visual-arts/
©Self-portraits by Kent Bellows
Art for Art’s Sake: Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/09/21/art-for-arts-sak…ontemporary-arts
Combat sniper-turned-art photographer Jim Hendrickson on his vagabond life and enigmatic work
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/30/combat-sniper-tu…d-enigmatic-work
Naturalist-artist John Lokke – In pursuit of the Timber Rattlesnake and In the footsteps of Karl Bodmer
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/09/02/naturalist-artis…s-of-karl-bodmer
©Painting by John Lokke
Art Missionaries, Bob and Roberta Rogers and their Gallery 72
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/06/19/art-missionaries
Photographer Monte Kruse pushes boundaries
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/22/photographer-mon…ushes-boundaries
From the Archives: Photographer Monte Kruse works close to the edge
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/10/13/from-the-archive…lose-to-the-edge
Artist Erin Blayney: The Great Reveal
August 3, 2018
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For visual artist Erin Blayney, who grew up in the great outdoors, it’s all about light and space. She has plenty of both at her Old Market apartment that doubles as her studio.
Natural light from six large, south-facing windows cascades over her easel and houseplants. “Not only is that perfect for the type of lighting I need to do my best work, it’s healthy for my overall well-being,” says Blayney.
Exposed brickwork, high ceilings, and an open floor plan contribute to a sense of spaciousness. Extra-wide windowsills provide great perches for her collection of succulents.
“I love nature and the outdoors,” she says. “This apartment allows me to integrate that love into my living quarters, and not feel cramped or experience cabin fever.”
Her spot above Urban Abbey in the historic Windsor Hotel building puts her right in the thick of things. “The Old Market for me is very welcoming, unique, and nourishes a diverse group of people of all ages and backgrounds,” she says. “It’s urban yet has some aspect of a small neighborhood as well.”
A Florida transplant and Art Institute of Chicago graduate, Blayney creates figurative drawings and paintings. She previously worked as an art preparator for California museums.
Her mother preceded her to Omaha to be near a sister, and Erin followed. “My mom lives three blocks away from me, so it’s wonderful to conveniently meet for coffee or go for a bike ride together,” she says.
This self-described “people person” is drawn to the human form. She variously works from live models or photographs.
“Drawing and painting people, mostly gestural, seems to be pretty consistent for me,” she says. “It’s capturing the physicality of a person expressed through facial expression or movement. I love capturing the realness of their character, even if it’s subtle.”
Recently, Omaha restaurant mogul Willy Theisen commissioned her portrait of his granddaughter for his new Paragon eatery in Dundee.
When approaching a new work, she says, “I never know how it’s going to look, so it’s a little adventurous. If I stop thinking about what I’m doing and just let it flow, it comes out naturally. That ‘diving into it’ mindset is what I have to be in for the work to really evolve. It’s mysterious.”
Blayney’s work is not all figurative. “Occasionally, I’ll do still life,” she says, gesturing to an in-progress oyster shell rendered in a swirl of pastels. She is contemplating an oceanic-themed series motivated by her love of the water, marine life, and nature.
“I was brought up on water. I swam in the Gulf of Mexico. So that’s in my bones.”
In Omaha, she has twice worked at Jun Kaneko’s studio (most recently in 2006 as a painting assistant). Of the celebrated artist, she says, “We had a good connection. He’s very quiet, polite, observant, receptive. He was very trusting of me. Like when I did some mixing of colors, pigments—he trusted my instincts. I’m not a ceramicist, but I felt in my natural element.”
She feels at home in Omaha, where she says, “The connections I’ve made are so important.” The same for her day job at Alley Poyner Macchietto, where she curates art shows. She admires the local art-culture scene.
“I feel the creative community in Omaha is very supportive rather than super competitive. The friends I’ve made here are very authentic, genuine, and loyal.”
She enjoys what the Bemis and Joslyn offer as well as how “smaller, contemporary, progressive galleries like Project Project and Darger HQ are pushing the envelope. I’m a huge fan of Garden of the Zodiac. 1516 Gallery is just gorgeous.”
In the spring of 2016, Petshop Gallery in Benson exhibited her portraiture work. She regularly shows in the Bemis Benefit Art Auction and had a piece in the October 28 show (she described the colorful abstract portrait as “a little mysterious looking”).
Blayney also contributed to the Old Market Art Project; hers was one of 37 banners selected (from nearly 300 submissions) to be displayed outside the Mercer Building as renovations followed the M’s Pub fire.
“It’s an abstract painting that took forever,” she says. “There’s a lot going on in it. Finally, it just came together. I collaborated with another artist in the process of painting it, and then I finished it.”
She sees many opportunities for local artists in Omaha, but there is room for improvement, too. “There’s definitely room to grow—I’d like to see even more galleries because there’s so much talent here,” she says.
Going into the fall, several commission projects were “consuming” Blayney’s time. Her projects come from anywhere and everywhere. “Lately, it’s been more people coming to me and asking either for a portrait of themselves or of a family member. I can be surprised. I’ve given my card to someone and then a year later gotten a commission. It’s unpredictable.”
Visit erinblayney.com for more information.
Encounter
Categories: Art, Artists, Erin Blayney, Omaha, Writing
Art, Artist, Erin Blayney, Omaha, Omaha Artist, Painting
A Fluid Life: Dana Oltman Goes With the Flow
August 3, 2018
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Fluid.
That’s how digital graphic designer and fine art painter Dana Oltman describes her aesthetic.
As art director for Identity Marketing Group (she was previously at Rebel Interactive) she fulfills client project wishes. She says her branding design work consistently features “minimal, simple, clean” looks that, well, flow.
“Fluid is what I love,” she says. “Fluid is where I’m at now.”
Her abstract expressionistic fine art, especially her poured art work, is all about the swirls and natural organic fades of liquid flows.
“Most of the paints I use are acrylics,” she says. “which have as their base water, and so they’re very fluid.”
She invariably listens to music when painting in order to activate or induce that state of flow.
“What I do is based on whatever mood I’m in,” she says. “While design is very rigid—I like to have a plan and justify everything I do—painting is exactly the opposite. I like to work with the medium, just pick a paint, pick some colors, and basically put it on a surface and see what it does. It’s very much working with my medium to get random results, trying to affect it minimally as I go, letting gravity and fluid dynamics do the rest. It’s all very in the moment.”
If she does manipulate the image, she says, it’s for texture, and in those cases she may apply etching materials, resin, linoleum carvers, and even a culinary blow torch.
The images she creates on masonry board or wood panels and, occasionally, on canvas are often expressions of things found in nature–everything from nebulas in outer space to severe storm skies.
Her favorite skies appear after a storm at sunset. “The clouds are stacking up to the east after they’ve already moved through and the sun is shining from the west and you have orange, yellow, purple, red—which is my favorite color palette,” she says.
Her natural hair color is red, and she often sports highlights in different shades from her favorite palette.
In August, she drove to Beatrice, Nebraska, to catch the total solar eclipse, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before it shows up in one of her paintings.
Music is another source of inspiration for Oltman, 26, who loves going to local live shows and festivals.
Occasionally, her work is featured at local concerts and entertainment events. She did a live painting of a musician at an Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards showcase.
She’s also taken on art projects for local bands, including an album cover for The Big Deep.
Some of her paintings can be seen at Curb Appeal Salon & Spa in the Old Market. A broad sampling of her work is available on her website, danaoltman.com.
Additionally, she draws and makes photographs, which she shares on her Instagram page.
Other influences and inspirations range from high fashion to poetry. She did a multi-week study abroad in Japan learning that country’s visual culture. The Japan immersion naturally showed up in her work, and she intends returning one day.
She’s also a Francophile who’s visited Quebec, Canada, and France. She expects taking ever deeper dives into French culture and returning to France—the home base for her favorite art movement: Impressionism.
Oltman grew up in Bennington, Nebraska, and graduated with a fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She draws a clear distinction between graphic design and art activities. She loves both, but one’s her job and the other’s purely for pleasure. She likes the balance of producing on a schedule as part of an office team and creating art alone when she feels like it.
“Since I don’t have art hooked to a vocation, it’s in my court totally. I don’t have to rely on anyone,” she says. “If I don’t want to make stuff, I don’t make stuff. If I do, I do. It’s just totally free.”
On the design side, she’s finding her most satisfaction working on websites.
“It”s such an advancing field,” she says. “Websites are so versatile, and you can do so many things. And it’s just so nuanced. It’s a really pretty time for web design.”
Motion graphics and animation are two new areas she’s learning fast. Coding is another.
“I enjoy learning new things,” she says.
“I’m a learner.”
Oltman enjoys the meet-ups that the local American Institute of Graphic Arts chapter puts on, including BarCamp.
She also stays connected to the design community via social media.
As a self-identified millennial, she admits, “I definitely fit the label in respect to being super connected online, being liberal, wanting a meaningful career that isn’t too constricting and gives me creative output, focusing on experience over material things in life, etc.”
A couple years ago when legalizing same-sex marriage was struck down in Nebraska, Oltman made a graphic of the Husker “N” with the Human Rights Campaign logo imposed in it. “I’m for causes that focus on equal human rights,”
she says.
At UNL she was one of several art students who created a mural portrait of George Flippin, the first African-American athlete of note at the university. The mural adorns the campus multicultural center.
When not doing pro bono work for things she believes in, she donates to the American Civil Liberties Union and to disaster relief funds.
In whatever she does, she follows her passion. Her personal credo-tagline says it all:
“Doin’ me a life.”
This article appears in the November/December 2017 issue of Encounter.
Categories: Art, Artists, Creatives, Dana Oltman, Design, Graphic Designer, Omaha, Writing
Art, Artist, Creative, Dana Oltman, Design, Graphic Designer, Omaha, Painter
Free North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl features variety of art forms – Friday, August 10 at select North 30th Street Corridor venues
July 25, 2018
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Free North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl features variety of art forms
Friday, August 10 at select North 30th Street Corridor venues
When Pamela Jo Berry decided her Miller Park neighborhood needed more art options, she created the presenting organization North Omaha Summer Arts in 2011. Nonprofit NOSA is still going strong in 2018 and its annual culminating event, An Arts Crawl, takes place Friday, August 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. at several venues in and around the North 30th Street Corridor.
Berry, a writer, photographer and mixed media artist herself, calls the free Arts Crawl “a community celebration of visual, performing and culinary arts.”
In addition to the Arts Crawl, NOSA annually features women’s writing workshops and retreats, a gospel concert in the park and pop-up events.
Free eats and refreshments prepared by Omaha foodies and chefs are part of every event.
For the Arts Crawl, NOSA invites patrons to take a stroll or drive from Metropolitan Community College’s Fort Omaha campus to venues down North 30th Street to experience beautiful art and great food by visual, performing and culinary artists.
Al reception kicks things off at the Charles B. Washington Branch Library, 2888 Ames Avenue, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Area quilters will display their handiwork at the library.
All other locations are open from 6 to 9 p.m.
The Arts Crawl route:
Begins at MCC Fort Omaha’s Mule Barn (Building #21)
Proceeds north to Church of the Resurrection, at 3004 Belvedere Blvd.
Continues onto Nelson Mandela School at 6316 North 30th St.
Ends at Trinity Lutheran Church at 6340 North 30th St.
The venues will present a wide range of work.
A one-man show entitled Shapes and Shadows by the late printmaker Galen Brown is at the Mule Barn Arts Center, The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient served two tours of duty as a sniper in Vietnam. After returning home from war, he began making art as a way of emotionally healing himself. His images reflect the shapes and shadows of what he observed: war and peace, justice and injustice, landscapes, other artists’ work and his own cancer.
At Church of the Resurrection Fort Calhoun-based artist Cheri Oelke will demonstrate her acrylic painting and talk about her creative process and artist’s life. The church’s sanctuary is also home to a signature triptych, “Crucifixion,” by the late artist Leonard Thiessen, which visitors can view.
Children and adults will display their art at Nelson Mandela School.
Art created by Omaha refugee communities and other area artists will be showcased at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Live music performances will occur at select sites.
“All of us at North Omaha Summer Arts want the public to come sample and savor the many forms and faces of art,” Berry said. “This celebration of the human spirit through art expression also supports local artists.”
NOSA is in its eighth year of presenting family-friendly, community-based art opportunities and events.
For more information, call NOSA at 402-502-4669.
Follow at http://www.facebook.com/NorthOmahaSummerArts.
Categories: Art, Arts, Arts Crawl, North Omaha, North Omaha Summer Arts, North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA), North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl, Pamela Jo Berry
An Arts Crawl 7, Arts Crawl, Arts Event, Arts-Entertainment-Culture, North Omaha, North Omaha Summer Arts, North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA), North Omaha Summer Arts Crawl, Pamela Jo Berry
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