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.

“Back in Otoe County,” a collaboration by photographer Michael Farrell and former State Poet Twyla Hansen is on display May 3 – May 26.  This exhibition features 26 previously unseen images as well as a dozen of Twyla’s poems printed on high quality paper paired with small versions of the images that inspired them.

Michael Farrell’s large-format black and white landscape photographs capture scenes in rural Otoe County, many along minimum maintenance dirt roads. Twyla Hansen’s poems were inspired by the same scenes. They offer a clear-eyed assessment that stems from her rural roots and her studies and employment in organic farming certification. 

A new third edition of the previously sold-out book of 61 photographs and 30 poems “Seen in Otoe County,” will be available for sale. This signed and numbered edition includes a brief introductory essay and notes by the collaborators. Don’t wait to get your copy. This book will become a collector’s item once these have sold.

While the pictures and words depict Otoe County, Nebraska, they reflect realities in many of our nation’s rural areas. The issues and circumstances here in the heart of the heartland are found throughout farming America.