In an effort to enhance the educational value of Impact exhibits and further involve the viewer, each artwork includes a brief descriptor.
Descriptors may describe an unusual artistic technique, tell a story, give insight into the artist's thinking, or provide other educational background material. Following are examples from each show.
Kooser Exhibit
Artists respond to poems by the 13th United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer recipient, Ted Kooser.
PATSY SMITH
Brady, Nebraska
A New Spin On Spring Plowed Fields
Acrylic
‘Spring Plowing’
a poem by Ted Kooser
“West of Omaha the freshly plowed fields
steam in the night like lakes.
The smell of the earth floods over the roads.
The field mice are moving their nests
to the higher ground of fence rows,
the old among them crying out to the owls
to take them all. The paths in the grass
are loud with the squeak of their carts.
They keep their lanterns covered.”
All Things Botanical Exhibit
PAT SCHEMMER
Valentine, Nebraska
Pollination
Photography
Photography is a medium in which the artist can show the viewer a “snip” of time.
“Pollination” is one of those rare photos that shows a progression of time.
Skyscape Exhibit
JULIA NOYES
Lincoln, Nebraska
Aurora Borealis
Acrylic / Mixed media
This painting was inspired by an Aurora Borealis I saw in Alaska. I thought it looked like an abstract expressionist painting. The Aurora Borealis, known as the Northern Lights, is a result of electrons colliding with the upper levels of the Earth’s atmosphere. Layers of blues, purples, gold, blacks, fuchsias, and oranges move across the sky, creating a magical skyscape.
Nebraska Roots Exhibit
The Nebraska Roots Exhibit celebrates both our past history and the joys of rural life.
KEN HOSMER
North Platte, Nebraska
Gone Fishing
Oil Painting
"I remember fishing at the lake as a boy.
I would tie my favorite lure and cast my line forward;
my younger brother would hook a worm
and lob his line nearer the boat.
As we watched the ripples and waited for that gentle tug,
old Uncle Joe would tell stories of when he was a boy.
Thus the lazy day gradually unfolded: shared peanut butter sandwiches, tangled backlash from the old reel,
hushed obscenities, another funny story.
And in the end it was about much more than fishing."
© by Ken Hosmer
Impact Best Exhibit
ROBERTA BARNES
Halsey, Nebraska
Daybreak
Swedish Knot Tapestry
The Dawn of morning is sometimes not loud and glorious but sometimes subtle and soft.
The process of Swedish Knot Tapestry is a rare fibers technique dating back to the Crusades. The weaving is completed using half hitches across the warp. It is an “off loom” technique worked in the reverse. So I don’t get to look at the image to see the colors interact. The weaving is worked from side to side with colors changed through a locking technique. The process of weaving is challenging with hopes that the image turns out. The best part of the weaving is when finished, cutting the warp threads and looking at the final product.