Lincoln’s newest fine art gallery is now a non-profit 501-c-3 corporation!

After our first two and a half years as a single owner gallery space to showcase my work and the work of like minded artists we’ve now created a non-profit corporation in order to be more inclusive. With new exhibitions opening monthly and special events, screenings, gallery talks and receptions, this will be a place to experience and engage with art, artists and ideas. And it’s got what every artist needs more of – WallSpace-LNK.com

Consider making a tax deductible donation to support our work going forward. 100 % of your gift will be used to help artists other than me afford exhibitions and to connect with new audiences. Thank you!

Retirees who have to take annual Required Minimum Distributions from their IRAs can opt for a Qualified Charitable Distribution gift that counts as a portion of the RMD and can have distinct tax advantages. Check with your financial advisor about how this could work for you. And let us know if we can help.

Our Federal Tax ID: 99-0650832 Mailing address WallSpace for Artists & Audiences, 1624 S. 17th St. Suite 300, Lincoln, NE 68502

– Michael Farrell

Donations via PayPal have a smaller percentage fee (or the option to add the fee to the total) than the credit card option.

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Our hours are:

Friday, Saturday & Sunday from noon to 5 pm. First Friday evenings to 8pm and special exhibition receptions as announced

or by appointment. text 402 429 3684 or email mfarrell.1st@gmail.com

We’re at 17th and Sumner. Parking out front. Next to Conner’s Antiques and Indigo Bridge Books.

News

• Robin Smith’s Still Life and Landscapes is October’s exhibition

  

  New work by noted Nebraska painter Robin Smith will be featured at an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. First Friday, October 4, at WallSpace-LNK Fine Art Gallery, 1624 S. 17^th.  Smith’s vibrant still life paintings make common objects a joy to behold. Bright red Bialetti espresso makers and shimmering silver coffee pots offer a visual “fix” without the caffeine. Clear and blue glass vessels reflect the light in Smith’s Chadron studio, and in some cases, the painter himself. Vast scenes and skies from Nebraska’s Pine Ridge landscape offer a compelling, different view of Smith’s painting prowess. The exhibit is open Fridays-Sundays, 12-5 p.m. October 4-27.

  

  The still life works are part of a series “connected by motif,” Smith notes. “Currently I employ medium sized canvasses (40 x 30 inches) with objects in the middle of the picture plane on a table.” His scenic paintings reflect a lifetime of personal experience.  “Growing up on Cape Cod gave me a sense of the vastness of the landscape. The influence of the light and landscape is exacerbated by my surroundings in Western Nebraska.”

  A former Chadron State College faculty member, Smith studied painting at the Skowhegan School and the University of Massachusetts before the MFA program at UN-L. He went on to earn a doctorate in visual ethnography from Arizona State. He also plays a mean banjo.

  

  Robin Smith’s work has been shown at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, the Sheldon Museum of Art and other regional museums and galleries. His paintings are part of many private collections and are held by MONA and Sheldon.

  

  The exhibit is supported in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and contributors to the non-profit WallSpace for Artists and Audiences. Paintings are available for viewing and purchase Friday-Sunday, 12-5 from October 4-27 or by appointment by emailing doctor.robin.smith@gmail.com. 

  

  This exhibition has been underwritten by

  Laurie Richards and Dan Worth

  and with support from

  

• Craig Roper’s “The Good The Bad The Ugly” in September

  Opening reception Friday, Sept. 6, 5-9 PM

  

  “The Good The Bad The Ugly,” 20 years of unconventional explorations by artist Craig Roper will open from 5:00-9:00 p.m. First Friday, September 6 at WallSpace-LNK, 1624 S. 17th Street, Lincoln.

  

  Roper’s exhibition will debut four large paintings from 2002-04 that have never been exhibited. He notes, “there will be lots of good work, some bad, and plenty of ugly. We’ll leave it up to you to decide which is which.” The debut works were inspired by tiny drawings Roper’s then-13-year-old son Miles created. 

  

  The exhibition runs Fridays-Sundays through September 29. Roper promises, “As is typical of my exhibition history, you can expect the unexpected. I’ll be changing things up throughout the show as well. If you are easily triggered you may want to skip this one.”

  

  A long-time supporter of WallSpace-LNK, Roper hopes sales will help the non-profit gallery. “I can price things very low with the hope of finding homes for my work and kicking something back to the gallery. Lincoln is very fortunate to have a new art exhibition showcase like WallSpace-LNK that gives voice to the many talented artists in our region. Please swing by, bring friends, and spread the word.”

  

   “The Good The Bad The Ugly” is open to all with support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Regular gallery hours: Friday-Sunday, 12- 5p.m. or by appointment (402 617-8365

• Wendy Weiss Weaving and Sculpture in August

  

  “Disrupting the Dust,”  a collection of weavings and sculpture by Wendy Weiss opens First Friday, August 2, at WallSpace-LNK, 1624 S. 17^th St., Lincoln. The Professor Emerita taught textile design at the University of Nebraska from 1986-2014 and directed the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery. New work as well as large weavings and sculptures she made while a professor will be on display. The exhibition opens at 12 noon, with a reception featuring the artist from 5-8 p.m.

  

  Viewers will encounter works that incorporate traditional, natural dyeing techniques into pieces that address historical and contemporary issues, as well as a large sculpture one can enter, with evocative screen printed images. As a Fulbright scholar in India, Weiss studied ikat, a method of dyeing threads bound with resists prior to setting up the loom to weave. This method requires careful planning to create specific patterns or imagery. Weiss’s woven-in words encourage viewers to expand their understanding of what weavings convey.

  

  Throughout the exhibit’s run, gallery visitors are invited to create their own weavings on portable laser-cut looms Weiss made at Nebraska Innovation Studio. This impromptu “walk-in weaving” instruction is available Fridays-Sundays 12-5 p.m., August 2-31. On Saturdays August 24 and 31, special guests from ECHO Collective will assist visitors from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Would-be weavers are welcome to bring their own thread and linear material to use in their personal take-home weaving, but materials will be available on site, free of charge. Yarn donations of wool and cotton threads will be accepted at the gallery during open hours in August. What is not used will be contributed to ECHO’s weaving program: https://echocollectivene.org/textile-weaving-project  

  

  “Disrupting the Dust” is available free of charge with support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Regular gallery hours: Friday-Sunday, 12- 5p.m. August 2-31, and til 8 on First Friday. or by appointment (402-810-4890). More information on Facebook or Instagram.

  

• “Grandmother Cottonwood and Her Clan” in July

  

  “Grandmother Cottonwood and Her Clan” is July’s offering at WallSpace-LNK. Digital color photographs taken over one year will introduce you to this very large, very old cottonwood tree and her relatives and their home at Nine Mile Prairie northwest of Lincoln. 

  

  Photographer Michael Farrell has made images of the Grandmother and other cottonwoods over several decades. The Nebraska State Tree, the cottonwood may live between 70 and 100 years, not unlike the humans who admire them. He notes, “time takes its toll on these trees. Wind breaks off limbs. Insects infest. Age wins and trees die because it is their time. Fungus and mushrooms grow on the remains. Here on the Nine Mile Prairie they have been allowed to begin, live and end their lives as Nature intends. We should all be so lucky.”

  

  Farrell made this particular work in conjunction with the Platte Basin Timelapse Project that Michael cofounded in 2011. Most recently he has been working with a modern version of twin lens stereo photography that uses a stereopticon viewer to mimic human depth perception. Some stereo images are included with more conventional color views. 

  

  “These groves are families. And they are like family to me,” he concludes. Become acquainted with this clan during regular gallery hours Friday-Sunday, 12- 5p.m. July 5-July 28, til 8 on First Friday, or by appointment (text to 402-450-9834).

  

  

• Small Gestures opens June 7

  

  Sometimes an overlooked or understated object can take on important symbolic and emotional meaning, both personal and universal. Artist Michael Farrell captures these “significant details” in an exhibition of color drawings and black and white photographs opening on First Friday,  June 7 at WallSpace-LNK, 1624 S. 17^th, Lincoln.  

  

  

  “Small Gestures” explores why out of all the stuff we encounter day by day, some certain things take on important symbolic significance. Something we’ve kept since childhood, an item that belonged to a departed friend or relative, something found on a hike and brought back from nature. Mementoes. Relics. Talismans.

  

  Highly detailed renderings in color conte crayon of things like a pair of wax candy lips or a child’s well-worn rubber toy car elevate these items beyond the ordinary. Equally well seen and executed gelatin silver large format photographs of evocative objects such as a baby shoe or a bird skull encourage the viewer to make meaning from small things.