From the organizers:

“Omaha Creative Week is about head-turning, groundbreaking creativity. Whether you make games, petit fours, films, music or sentences, Creative Week wants to help you reach out and expand your community of all things creative.”

Be sure to check out events during the week, like…

• Creativity through Movement Public Workshop Thursday, September 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Hot Shops Art Center, 1301 Nicholas ($10 at the door)
  “Creating theatre out of nothing, but each other.” Facilitated by Joel Egger, the workshop focuses on a sense of play and experiment using nothing more than the other actors/participants in the room or the simplified impulse of the performer. The time will concentrate on a technique of improvisation providing a vocabulary for thinking about and acting upon movement and gesture. In addition to that technique, participants will experiment with text, song, music, and the physical space to inform the story they’ll tell.  Pre-registration appreciated by e-mailing marjorie@omahacreativeinstitute.org

• Discount admission to the Joslyn Art Museum. Mention “Omaha Creative Week” and see endless fine art for just $5.

• Werd. Competition:  a visual artist competition that challenges artists of all walks of life in an exercise to create a visual piece based on one word. We want submissions from chef’s, photographers, painters, designers, engineers, film makers, etc. Jury will select words submitted by public via twitter/facebook. Seven words will be selected and then will be placed in hat and drawn on Monday afternoon the 6th, contestants will have until Thursday evening at 7pm on the 9th to submit digital copy of artwork. That evening a public vote will take place and jurors will select there favorites. On Friday awards will be given in the following categories: Concept, Execution, Aesthetic, Best Of Show,and The People’s Choice.

• “Stack Creative UnConference” – Tuesday, September 7 at Nomad Lounge. This 1st annual event is all about grouping with your peers in open forums to talk trends, challenges, and the future of our business. Learn new things and build new collaborative networks. Register online at www.omahacreativeweek.com.

• HDC10 – Wednesday-Friday, September 8-10 at Embassy Suites, La Vista. HDC is one of the nation’s premiere software design and development conferences. This 7th annual event will draw over 500 attendees from across the US. For a link to HDC registration, visit www.omahacreativeweek.com.

• Creative Spacewalk - Wednesday and Thursday, September 8 and 9 – Board the bus starting at Westroads Mall and travel the city! The tour will include Phenomblue, Oxide Design Co., Rebel Interactive, What Cheer, Secret Penguin, Minorwhite Studio, CAMP, SKAR, Bozell, DAAKE and Turnpost Creative Group.  It is free, participants must register at www.omahacreativeweek.com.

• Fireside Photographers Discussion – Friday, September 10 at 7 p.m. at Minorwhite Studios in the Mastercraft Building. Our goal is two-fold: Create a stronger sense of community among local image makers; and have a venue where we can talk candidly about photography with a large, diverse group of image makers into the wee hours of the morning. Again, register online at www.omahacreativeweek.com.

• Omaha Startup Weekend – Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11. Startup Weekend Omaha is a community building startup event. Participants get together with local developers, marketers, designers, enthusiasts and start companies in just 54 hours. More information will be available on this soon. Register online at www.omahacreativeweek.com.

• Glassblowing with Ed Fennell – Saturday, September 11 at 10 a.m. at Hot Shops Art Center. This is one of Omaha Creative Institute’s events for the week. Glassblowing is always a favorite; register today online (at this website!).

• Poetry and Performance with Matt Mason – Saturday, September 11 at 2 p.m. at Film Streams. The very, very talented Matt Mason has recently joined the Omaha Creative Institute team. Workshop students so far have loved his workshops! Register online today.

• Omaha Poetry Slam – Saturday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Omaha Healing Arts. It’s the longest-running poetry slam in Omaha, often featuring some of the best performance poets in the nation. Open mic starts at 7:30 followed by the poetry slam. Hosted by Omaha Creative Institute workshop instructor Matt Mason. $7 suggested donation.

Omaha Creative Week: Chamber of Commerce from minorwhite studios, inc. on Vimeo.

Q: Tell me about yourself as an artist and how your path crossed with Omaha Creative Institute.

My path as an artist is actually fairly recent. I was a music and theater major in college and then spent several years in the business world. As I got more and more involved in business, I had less time for my theater and music, so I thought, ‘Let’s try an art class.’ I took one class, one night and was hooked. I quit my job and spent two years researching and I thought ‘I can’t be the only person that wants to create and have fun without so much of a time commitment, so that’s why I created Adventure in Art. Classes are geared toward people who just want to create, have some fun while they do it and take away the intimidation factor that art classes can sometimes bring.

As far as crossing paths with Omaha Creative Institute – sometimes the artist network within Omaha is very small. There is another glass artist, just down the street, who hooked us all up and gave me this opportunity to teach with Omaha Creative Institute.

Kristi Pederson: my path as an artist from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: What can students interested in your workshop look forward to?

A: Fused glass, to me, is one of the only art forms where you don’t even have to know what it is and your first project can be gorgeous. So they can look forward to something relaxing, knowing their project is going to turn out and they can do it in one class. It’s going to be empowering. I always say, ‘I don’t teach art, I teach empowerment.’ By teaching people how to create, they can apply that to other areas of their life and create other things, as well… In addition to learning about fused glass.

Q: Just what is fused glass all about?

A: Glass fusion is the art of layering glass. So, basically, students will learn what makes fused glass different from stained glass, or window glass, or blown glass. Students will learn about the different elements of that. They will also learn the art of layering and how to get something to look enhanced rather than just kind of covered up by layering. Students will also learn how to cut glass and put it all together. From there, I put it in the kiln and fire it for them.

Q: What media do you typically work with?

A: I do mosaic and some painting, with the strength being glass, but the bottom line is we like to have fun, so squirt gun painting is another class we offer, where we load up squirt guns with paint and people go after each other… It’s the non-violent paintball. And that’s actually how it happened. A Girl Scout came to me and said, “Kristi, we want to do violent art” and I thought “Ay, ay, ay!” I got to thinking about it and thought – squirt gun painting and washable paint. It’s an easy clean-up and very fun. With the mosaic, we do stepping stones, address stones. We also work with metal. Copper being, basically, the new silver, because silver and gold have gotten so expensive, so we work with copper a lot and learn how to work with copper sheeting – cut it, file it, pound it – to make jewelry as well. We also do some of the precious metal clays, which is turning clay into a metal. You work with it just like normal clay – you can stamp it, roll it, pound it – do whatever you want to with it. Put it in the kiln and fire it. It comes out 99% pure silver or pure copper or bronze. And a lot of people will come in and make their own beads and make a glass pendant and make their own complete piece of jewelry with fused glass and silver.

Q: How do you break down the intimidation people often have about taking art classes?

A: It’s word of mouth. Someone will ask “Oh, I love your necklace, where did you get it?” “I made it!” And that is so empowering to say that you made it and if it comes from a friend or co-worker, they say, “If I can do it, then you can do it.” That takes down that intimidation factor and usually that’s what will lead them toward taking a class.

Kristi Pederson: art minus intimidation from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

We’re kicking things off early with Tom Kerr’s Introduction to Drawing workshop at 2 p.m. To register online for Tom’s workshop, click here. From there, you can expect artist demonstrations every half hour (starting at 4 p.m.) in such art forms as drawing, Native American Flute, watercolor painting, oil painting, lost wax casting, and ceramics. This is a great opportunity to get a free taste of which upcoming workshops you would most enjoy!

Omaha Creative Institute will also have information about August and September workshops and what we have been up to lately. We’d love to chat with you!

To check out everything that is happening, visit http://www.northdowntownomaha.com/day/.

See you this Saturday at Hot Shops Art Center (1301 Nicholas Street)!

Q: Mark, can you tell me about your experience as a musician?

A: I started playing guitar when I was in fifth grade and have played for most of my life. And in 2007 I decided to go back to UNO for a music degree. So I just finished that last fall, so I now have a music performance degree with a technology emphasis. Ukulele is an easy instrument to learn. It’s one of those things where the more you scratch at the surface, the deeper it becomes. So having a theory background allows me to do things on the instrument that people might not think you can do on a ukulele. I like all kinds of music to begin with. I think my style is jazz standards. I love playing old jazz standards. They’re really fun for me to play.

Q: For those interested in your workshop, what will they learn?

A: I think what a newcomer to the instrument would want to learn is how to play! I really, fully expect that within two hours people will go home with enough information to actually play music – strum and sing along. I think that is what is great about the instrument: within 30 minutes, we will be playing. We’ll have fun. We’ll learn how to play chords and a little bit about rhythm and in the second hour we will progress into more difficult chords and keep adding to that repertoire. I want people to leave with the ability to play and sing a couple of songs.

Q: What musical experience level is most appropriate for your ukulele workshop?

A: Any experience is welcome. If you’ve played guitar, you have a leg up – or any other string instrument. If you can read music, that helps a lot, too. But you don’t need musical experience or music reading abilities. There won’t be many charts where I will put notes in front of someone. So it will be more like words with ukulele chords above them. You just change chords when the word has a chord over it. That’s all the musical background you need. It’s very simple and a lot of fun.

Q: How did you get started with the ukulele and where has that taken you?

Mark Gutierrez: from guitar to ukulele from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

A: I got my first ukulele in 2000 – kind of on a joke. I had played guitar forever and a friend of mine who owns a music store, gave me a ukulele and it was like “Let’s see if you can play that.” The more I played the more I realized: this is not a toy; this is a serious instrument. That’s where I really got hooked on the instrument and then from there it was like, can I play classical? Yea, I can. What about Louie Louie? Yea, I can. And then it was like what about jazz – that is pretty sophisticated stuff? No problem. That’s how I got started and then it evolved into going to ukulele festivals around the United States. I’ve been to Hawaii for a couple; I teach and perform at those. So I have a lot of experience teaching the instrument and also performing on it. I have a local trio here that is doing well – we’re having a ball. It is a ukulele, violin and an upright bass. So very, very different, but we are being successful, so it works out well. We had a CD release recently – the Four Strings of Swing: In Your Mama’s Kitchen. It has jazz and blues on it with some Latin tunes as well.

For more information about Mark’s music, visit www.spankyukulele.com.

Mark Gutierrez: ukulele sampling from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: As a chef, how did you get involved with Omaha Creative Institute?

I was cooking in New York for twelve years. I went to culinary school there and we came back to raise our family here, in a more relaxing atmosphere so I wanted to start a business and wanted to do soups. Last year I wanted to test some of my soups to see what types of soup people liked, so I went to Facebook and put out a notice that said I was doing soups for the holidays – let me help you with your holiday entertaining needs and people could order soups by the gallon. I made a list of five different kinds of soups. I got in touch with Susan through a friend of a friend. She ordered soup and loved it. We connected from there.

Q: Tell me about yourself as a chef.

I went to the French Culinary Institute in ’96 but I had been cooking in Breckinridge, Colorado before that as a means of paying my bills and snowboarding. The thing was that you could snowboard all day, change your clothes and cook at night. The cooking was a dream job at that time, but then I met a woman named Jenny Martin and she had gone to the French Culinary Institute. She was the head chef at a restaurant called the Saint Bernard Inn and she taught me to cook. Like really, really cook. For instance, pan sauces and traditional northern Italian cuisine – it was awesome! And she talked me into applying for culinary school. So I went to the French Culinary Institute. It was my first choice. I was a little scared of New York City, but I wanted a really classic training and the French Culinary Institute was amazing. I just fell in love with it. It was the first thing in my life that I did well and it changed my life. It was awesome. I stayed in New York for 12 years. While I was there I did a lot of catering and private events – cooked with Martha Stewart and cooked for President Clinton. That was really cool. I had a really awesome time in New York. But Omaha is ready for it. Omaha has a great culinary vibe going on. Metro Community College helps with that. I’m just really excited to bring some of my past in New York to Omaha.

Q: What do people interested in your workshops have to look forward to?

I am a practical person and my cooking in really practical. It’s not totally by choice – I am oohed and aahed by all of the culinary trends that are emulsifying and frothing and those techniques, but that is not me. My food is pure and simple and my techniques are the same. The Farmers Market is a great way for me to feature my style of cooking, so my three workshops will all tie in with the Farmers Market.

Sara DeMars Cerasoli: panzanella from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

The first class is one of my favorite dishes: panzanella, an Italian bread salad. The great thing about panzanella is that there really is no recipe – it is a grilled bread salad with summer vegetables. So you can go down to the market and say, ‘Wow, check out this zucchini – let’s do this,’ or ‘I haven’t seen these herbs look this good,’ or ‘They’re doing 2 for 1 – let’s take this.’ Panzanella is a great way to feature that. So we’ll focus on knife skills and different ways to chop the vegetables and ways that you can create your own style of an Italian bread salad.

The second workshop – I hesitate because this is one of my secrets: condiments. If you stock your refrigerator with certain types of condiments, you can basically put together a gourmet meal. For instance, caramelized garlic. I will teach you how to pick your garlic at the Farmers Market, the technique to slowing caramelizing the garlic and how to properly store it in your refrigerator on a regular basis. I’ll show you how to use it to turn your meal into something special. Compound butters are awesome – lemon, thyme compound butters; basils – all sorts of things that you can store in your refrigerator on a regular basis. Say, someone comes over and you want to do a quick pasta salad. Pasta salad is easy, but what can you throw in that will make someone go, ‘Holy cow, this is great!’ Condiments is my favorite class and I hesitate because people are going to see just how easy it is to make something delicious.

The last class is focusing more on food as an art style. I love flowers, but they are more expensive, so I like to use the food that I am going to prepare in my meals that week. So if I’m making chicken noodle soup, I like to have a big bowl of onions sitting in the house with carrots, thyme and celery. So I use my display to store my food. Then, also, I wanted to do some hors d’oeuvres plates. So if you just wanted to put out something really simple. For instance, a cheese plate – ways to display your food in a really natural way. This workshop will discuss food as art and highlight the beauty of food. It will be really open to whoever is the class and the way that they want to learn to style food.

You can take all three- they will all be very different. It would be fun for people to take all three so that I can take their questions and comments and incorporate them into the next class.

Q: How does someone find success with cooking?

Sara DeMars Cerasoli: Food is easy from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Food is easy. Cooking is easy. It shouldn’t be intimidating. With a few small techniques, you really can do anything. Cooking is art. It is open to interpretation and if you keep that attitude, then you really can succeed at it.

Q: Tell me about the types of work you do as an artist.

A: I do a lot of different types of work. My grandfather was an artist – more of a fine artist. I’ve always liked having a sense of humor and being playful. I love to do cartooning, but I also love to do fine art like portraiture and that sort of thing, so I’m not one sort of an artist; I am adaptable in many areas.

Q: Professionally, where has your art taken you?

A: A lot of it has been me having things that I want to do and me going off and convincing people they should let me do them. Professionally, I have worked mainly with newspapers for most of my career, so a lot of the work I did for newspapers was illustration, cartooning, design work – it was all over the place. One of the fun things about working at a newspaper is that you can do different things, so I’ve done everything from cartooning to sculpture for a newspaper and that has really been fun. I have even done television animation.

Q: What can students in your workshops expect from a session with you?

A: There are two things I really want people to take away. One is I want them to start looking at things differently. The other is I want them to have fun. Especially when you get into an area like art; you have to be passionate about it or love it and want to have fun. One of the things I want them to do is seriously start looking at shapes. I want them to start adapting ideas and being able to communicate on paper, because I think that is a huge thing – being able to take an idea that is in your brain or an expression that you feel and get it into visual forms. So that’s part of it. The other is I just want people to go away and say ‘That was a lot of fun.’

Tom Kerr: workshops with Tom from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: What do you recommend to people looking for an idea to get them started creating?

A: Ideas are everywhere; you just have to have your antenna up. My antennas are constantly up, so I am always looking at a face. I am always looking at a situation and looking to adapt whatever is around me, into a setting I can use for my art. I think your mind has to be in a certain place to be able to get that. Even looking at an inanimate object and suddenly seeing that it can be a character. Even more bizarre: if you’re at the dentist’s office and they have got a ceiling with all of that sound equipment – the acoustic ceiling – you start to see faces in it or patterns. It’s just like you have to clue your brain into it. Everything is there. It’s all around us.

Tom Kerr: keep your antenna up from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: How did you get involved with Omaha Creative Institute?

A: It is a very new relationship. One of the things that I like to do is teach and work with people and this is a perfect opportunity for me to get out and work with people. I do a lot of my work in the studio, but I’m also a really social creature and this gives me an opportunity to really work with people that have the same kind of interest. They don’t come to a class, unless they really want to, so we can sit there and talk work, create and explore ideas – and play! It is a time to really kind of play. So class with me is going to be fun!

Q: Can you give a quick run-down of your various work?

A: I’ve done children’s books, magazine illustration, newspaper illustration, caricature, portraiture… I do a lot of different things. A lot of it is being able to visually explore the things that are in my life – and hopefully make a living out of it, too.

Q: As an artist specializing in wood, what types of projects have you worked on in the past and what type do you typically work with now?

A: I’ve been working with wood for probably about 25 or 30 years. I’ve dealt with everything from some cabinet-style woodworking, furniture and things like that. I got into lathe work, which is one of my primary types of work and with that, just uncovering the grain that is inside the wood is really captivating to me. So that’s really what has kept me going. I got involved with doing some of the traditional types of wood turning – dealing with a lot of the classic types of things with furniture and then I got into more artistic pieces and eventually got into dealing with veneers and marquetry and parquetry.

Dan Klima: various experiences with wood from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: How did you get involved with Omaha Creative Institute?

A: As far as getting involved with the Omaha Creative Institute, it was through relationships that I have formed over the years and with that, I was invited to be part of the class curriculum. It’s proven to be quite a good relationship, so I’ve enjoyed teaching quite a variety of people – people new to woodworking; people who have been working with wood, but not with a certain tool or process. It’s really been an enjoyable way of uncovering these new things for people.

Q: For those interested in your class, what skill level would be the best match? What do participants in your upcoming workshops have in store?

A: The best match for the class in anyone with interest. We take people from the ground up; people that have never really had any opportunity to work with wood. This is really a unique type of woodworking; it is quite historical in nature. We’re going to be dealing with some of the newer techniques and talking about some of the older techniques. We are going to be discussing two different types of veneer work. Marquetry – I kind of liken that to painting with wood because you are creating a pictorial arrangement of veneers. The veneers are quite thin and very flexible. We try to capture some of the grain within the veneer to help accentuate certain things, like bird feathers, leaves, a field with lots of rocks in it. There are various veneers that allow you to capture that type of grain to help you illustrate what you are looking for. You can deal with the natural qualities of the wood or dyed veneers. These come in a variety of colors that you can utilize within your pieces. So with marquetry, we will actually be using a fret saw and this allows you to cut through the thin veneers to create our pictures. Parquetry is more the geometric shapes. I liken this more to quilting with wood, so quilt patterns are a great source of patterns for creating your parquetry pieces. Parquetry can also be used as a border for your marquetry pieces. So you could have much more of a pattern dealing with different colors or just orienting the grain differently to get a look of a pattern. For one example of parquetry, we use the same wood but orient it so that the grain is in different directions, thus giving us the pattern look. It is much more subtle and great for a border. To create the parquetry pieces, we’ll cut the veneers, using a little block as one technique and a very fine-tooth saw, allowing us to cut the pieces in various angles and allowing us to keep those completely in form, which is very important. We’ll also make use of e-xacto knives as well.

Dan Klima: Parquetry as wood art from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: What does your personal work focus on?

A: My person work focuses on a lot of things. I do a lot of marquetry, parquetry and carving – both free form and more specific to a subject. I also do a lot with wood turning. So I really have a lot that I do. I’ve got pieces in galleries in the area and do some art shows and then I am here at Hot Shops, as well. I basically like it all. If it has something to with wood – the grain is really so captivating for me; that is what I really enjoy.

Q: How did you get started as an artist?

A: The most interesting thing that people find out is that I’ve not really had any formal art training. My mom was an artist and in fact she still does duck decoys. She started out as a painter and that is probably how I got started myself. I was very hyperactive as a youngster and with two sisters and a brother, she probably figured it was easier to keep my hands where she could see them and keep them busy, so that is probably how it started.

Q: Can you describe your artwork?

A: All of my work is primarily pen and ink for the drawing because that is my passion and it is black and white. I have tried colored inks, but they don’t seem to hold the color for very long, for whatever reason. With the real high quality inks, the color seems to fade; whereas the India ink stays pretty true to the grays and blacks. Occasionally, some drawings have turned a little sepia tone, but I think that was more the paper than the ink.

Nancy Lepo: the artists in all of us from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: What will participants in your “Travel Sketching and Journaling” workshop take away from the experience?

A: Well, hopefully they will feel comfortable right away. The biggest thing I want them to take with them, aside from several sketches, is the realization that anyone can draw. You don’t have to sit there and agonize – there is that line and that telephone pole and all that. It’s your picture – you can edit out what you want, you can put in what you want, you can leave out what you want. The biggest thing is to capture the feel of the place or even just what caught your interest. It doesn’t have to be a full-blown finished picture; it can be something you make notes on. In fact, some of the world’s best artists, Rembrandt being one of them, he did a lot of sketches that look like finished drawings. So that’s something I want people to take with them. Something that a lot of people say is, ‘I can’t even draw a straight line.’ Well, I can’t either, so I don’t. That’s the other thing – if it’s not something that interests you, then don’t draw it. Confidence.

Nancy Lepo: view Omaha as a tourist from Marjorie Maas on Vimeo.

Q: What areas or travel destinations are highlighted in your work?

A: I actually grew up as a service brat; I was born in Panama. So, of course being a military brat, we moved frequently. Then I went into the Air Force and that’s how I ended up in Omaha; I was stationed at Offutt. I do enjoy the Midwest and, of course, road trips are always a fun part of it – South Dakota, Kansas; Iowa. But even pretending to be a tourist in your own town, is a great way of seeing something for the first time, because a lot of times we get used to going the same places; traveling the same roads to get to work or to get to friends and we miss a lot around us. There is a lot here within Omaha: Fontanelle Forest, the Zoo, Joslyn Sculpture Garden – that’s wonderful. Even some of the wonderful buildings we have here in the downtown area. Just opening your eyes for something you might not always see. Just walk around as if you are a tourist and be aware of your surroundings.

Q: What got you involved with Omaha Creative Institute?

A: I’ve been at Hot Shops for quite a few years and I really like being around other artists and collaborating with other artists, but it is also nice to see that Omaha’s arts community is becoming a lot more lively and OCI is really doing a terrific job of making people aware of the arts community – people who might now otherwise see themselves participating in it one way or the other. So that was the biggest thing. Certainly it is nice seeing how they’re growing. They certainly promote Omaha artists and they work with us.

Q: What would you tell those interested in taking any Come Create It workshop through Omaha Creative Institute?

A: If think it is the same old classes that have ever been offered before in any place you’ve ever been, think again. Most of the classes are roughly about two to two and a half hours, so it is enough to let you decide whether it is a certain type of art you would consider doing and then the other thing is that they are reasonably priced, so it is not as if you need to go out and spend a lot of money only to find out you really didn’t care for it. I know I’ve done that before and I’ve ended up giving away a lot of art supplies because it wasn’t for me. Just even having a little bit of a two hour taste gives people enough of a feel in a comfortable setting with people who do make art.

These three workshops on poetry and related performance can be taken as a progression through the art form or independently. Poetry Slams have popularized poetry written to be performed. Learn about writing poems that are funny, political, personal, whatever you feel the urge to do, and get insight into how to take that poem and deliver it to an audience.

Matt Mason has won two Nebraska Book Awards, been published in over 150 magazines, competed on three National Poetry Slam teams, and run a poetry slam and done lectures in Minsk through the U.S. State Department.

We’ve included some footage of Matt at a slam poetry event below.  His website is: http://midverse.com/index.html

THE ART OF THE STEAL
Friday, May 21 – Thursday, May 27; Special Screening on Wednesday, May 26, 7pm

A contentious documentary about the controversial effort to relocate “The Barnes” — one of the world’s most celebrated and valuable collections of modern art, kept according to its namesake’s wishes in an educational institution outside of Philadelphia – to a new museum in the city.

On Wednesday, May 26 at 7pm, Film Streams will present a special screening of the film, a provocative (some argue one-sided) account of a legal battle that has drawn international attention to Philadelphia and raises fascinating ethical questions relevant to all communities where art and philanthropy intersect. Following the film will be a panel discussion moderated by Omaha World-Herald columnist Mike Kelly and featuring the perspectives of Jack Becker (the new Executive Director and CEO of Joslyn Art Museum), Hesse McGraw (Curator at the Bemis Center), and Lyn Walln
Ziegenbein (Executive Director of the Peter Kiewit Foundation and Film Streams Advisory Board Member).

To watch the trailer or purchase advance tickets, visit http://bit.ly/9V1kWz.

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS
One Night Only: Tuesday, June 15, 7pm

The story of how a group of likeminded outsiders — rooted in the subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk rock, hip hop, and graffiti — spawned a cultural movement transforming pop culture. Presented in collaboration with The Kent Bellows Studio & Center for Visual Arts. Following the film will be a discussion on the value of the youth voice in our community, moderated by Bemis Center Curator Hesse McGraw. Panelists will include: artist Miss Cake; bemisUNDERGROUND Manager Brigitte McQueen; artist Watie White; and Hugo Zamorano, a student at The Kent Bellows Studio& Center for Visual Arts.

To watch the trailer or purchase advance tickets, visit http://bit.ly/dzYJpL.

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP: A Banksy Film
Friday, June 18 – Thursday, July 1
The incredible story of how an eccentric French shopkeeper turned documentary-maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy – the British graffiti artist with a global reputation, who fiercely guards his anonymity to avoid prosecution – only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner, with spectacular results. “The more you think about this unusual film,” writes Kenneth Turan for the Los Angeles Times, “the more fascinating it becomes culturally and sociologically, dealing with notions of mania and obsession, art and commerce, hype and quality.”

For more information or to watch the trailer, visit http://bit.ly/cbPs0e.