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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.