the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, August 26, 2005 7:00 pm
Twelve local artists and 12 Lincoln families have been selected for Stories of Home, a year-long creative venture in which families’ stories will be told through art. Friday, the Lincoln Arts Council named the artists and families.
The artists and families will begin work following an Oct. 4 workshop on Cultural Awareness by Lincoln author Mary Pipher, whose nationally acclaimed book, “The Middle of Everywhere,” looks at the 30,000 immigrants and refugees who have settled in Lincoln in the last two decades.
The teams will be aided by students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Union College.
Each team will have eight months to explore the family’s history and experiences and for the artist to transform that story into sculpture. Artists will create two-by-three-by-four-foot crates in which their artwork will travel from venue to venue.
Internationally known artist Pepón Osorio, of Philadelphia, will visit Lincoln seven times during the course of the project to mentor and guide the artistic process.
From June 2006 through the end of February 2007, the sculptural works will travel together and individually throughout Lincoln.
The 12 works will be shown together at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the nine-month exhibition period.
During the remaining six months, the pieces will be shown separately for two-week periods in homes, businesses, neighborhood centers, schools and other settings where viewers can look closely and respond to the stories communicated.
In a recent address, Lincoln Mayor Colleen Seng voiced enthusiasm for the project.
“I am so excited about the impact the Stories of Home project can have on Lincoln. This project has the capacity to bring people together and to unify our community,” Seng said.
The Arts Council is working with the Lincoln Public Schools to integrate Stories of Home into its curricula, with the city’s universities to enrich student opportunities, and with arts organizations to develop related literary, dance, musical, theatrical and video productions.
“We consider Stories of Home a gift to the community,” said Deb Van Horn Weber, executive director of the Lincoln Arts Council. “We believe the arts have the capacity to transform lives, and Stories of Home will achieve that in a very personal and dynamic way.”
The Lincoln Arts Council is seeking financial and volunteer support from the community. For further information, please visit the council’s Web site at www.artscene.org or call 434-2787 or 429-7447.
And the names are . . .
The Lincoln Arts Council named the 12 local artists and 12 Lincoln families selected for Stories of Home, a year-long creative venture in which families’ stories will be told through art.
Artists for the project are: Caitlin Applegate, Kate Brooke, Santiago Cal, Larry Gawel, Ann Gradwohl, Robert Hillestad, Kristen Martincic, Deborah Mitzlaff Koenen, Leora Platte, Larry Roots, Rana Schmitz and Robert Schwieger.
Spokespeople for the families are: Khamisa Abdalla; Zainab Al-Baaj; Barbara Baier and Lin Quenzer; Laura Edmonds, representing the town of Hallam; Anne Harrison; Maida Kapetanovic; Lela Knox Shanks; Teresa Nguyen; Jan Peregrine; Marietta Sanchez; Susan Stevens, and Leo Yankton. Alternates are Marilyn Haley, representing Habitat for Humanity, and Patricia Neujahr.