Saturday began with fruitlessly seeking yogurt to go with our fruit at the Old Market’s Farmer’s Market which turned into a trip around the block to Cubby’s* where success, in the form of their sole yogurt, awaited…with that there was breakfast, soon followed by figuring out how to access the show and get the lights on as Linda’s ‘fob’ wasn’t working on the weekend and accomplished, thanks to Jax’ sotto voce help from inside a board meeting, through the

library as not only Jim but Brian and Dana wanted a last look at what all agreed was a truly monumental and historic celebration of 56 years of extraordinary work.  Here again is

“Park Place”, contextualized by contemporaneous small drawings adjacent [the ones on the left

wall lay out the original 1967 piece], as well as “Singularity”, the models and

the ever enticing “Gossamer”.  l left the rest for another visit as although considerable cleanup had been done in the night much Event Residue remained in evidence.

A little after noon, the unanimous opinion being that this had to be a once in a lifetime and amazingly unique realization, Brian and Dana left to catch their flight to San Francisco

and we, still aglow, took off up the street with Jim

for another lunch at Plank, the steamed PEI mussels excellent.   Afterwards, wandering towards the Old Market, we parted ways, Jim to get his plane to Denver while L. and I, following

a quiet not-very-much-left-of-the afternoon, Ubered west to Farnam Court where our Huerfano neighbors Robert and Joan were holed up with their friends the author Meredith Fuller and ceramicist/former oceanographer Jim Luyten, who had relocated some years ago from the east coast to a pair of highrise apartments near the University with their art collection [a complicated and fascinating story in its own right].  We had a grand tour of their treasures [the Vermeer

at the end of the hall being Robert’s, with Joan represented even more extensively], which extended across the hall into Jim’s studio, before contorting into an allegedly six-passenger

[mini-]van for the ride to Yoshitomo where I was pleased to discover they had the Arizona sake I’d read about in Smithsonian and after that was more than content to let the most knowledgable Mr. Luyten do all the ordering which, augmented by occasional prompts from the very youthful chef, brought a nearly endless array of exquisite bites to the table in the course

of a couple of very enjoyable [and, given the company, hilarious] hours.   Such a night!

Sunday we experienced yet another extraordinary Omaha experience when the Soireé’s co-chair Jeffrey Gold, whose remarks on that evening made a moving analogy comparing the blood of the body to the essential nature of art in human society, a metaphor worthy of the cardiovascular surgeon he once was, picked us up to show us some of the artworks in his particular domain which, as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, turned out to be vast indeed.  He was nonetheless nearly as intimately connected with them as Jim and Meredith with theirs. One of the local artists represented substantially was of course our host and benefactor Jun Kaneko, who in addition to his heroic ceramics is to my mind ever the

amazing painter [see above] as well as one reason Omaha – fun fact! – is home to even more ceramic artists than billionaires, both of which are relatively thick on the ground here although the latter are more responsible for, as Dr. Gold pointed out that morning, not only all the privately endowed art we were to see but the entire medical facility in its state-of-the art glory as well.  I managed only a few random pictures as we walked miles of corridors experiencing work ranging from the concert hall acoustics and giant reliefs in the main reception area to mesmerizingly restful videos in the [deliberately small, to keep waiting at a minimum] waiting rooms so here only have, above, a painted ceramic by Jun [whose huge column adorns the turnaround outside] and “Sandhills on the Platte”, below, commissioned from Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman in 2021 when he was 91, which caught my attention as we moved on

to Dale Chihuly’s  light-filled three story “Sanctuary” in the cancer treatment center;

The facilities and art went on and on – a long hallway of wildlife photography, paintings, antiquarian books on science and medicine, historical exhibits and, approaching the furthest

extent of our tour, “Convergence” by the Jenny Sabin Studio, here seen from outside

a four story glass atrium linking one of the original buildings to new architecture.  Eventually we wound our way back to the lobby, where another impressive Chihuly [not shown] hung above

yet another intimate waiting area…circling the giant Kaneko column on the way out Jeffrey dropped us back downtown, leaving us wishing someone like him could be OUR doctor.  An amazing human, compassionate and wise for sure.

After all those miles indoors we forewent the three flights of concrete steps to the loft in favor of lunch, fortuitously settling for the relatively new [and close]  Cibo Vino where,

most responsibilities dispensed with and an enticing Cerasuolo listed, we each indulged in a little midday wine to go with, in my case, a most refreshing and perfectly seared ahi salad.

So refreshing – and so close, as it was the first place around the corner once one descended those three flights of cement stairs – that after a lazing afternoon beginning packing we landed

there for dinner where they were so touched to see us again so soon that at the end of another most enjoyable meal we were comped homemade cannoli for dessert on the only occasion

all week where it was cool enough to eat outside as dusk turned to dark,

ending Sunday…

Monday on 11th Street, Omaha, after schlepping a few things downstairs to the Taco in the

parking lot, it was back to Experimenta de Vacuo Spatio

where I was finally able to listen to Linda’s “All my Studios” and watch the “Making Places” video as it cut in and out of all our places with the dogs of ten years ago [how much less stuff we had then!] as well as “Creekwalk”, above, and “Building the Dome”, below, while Stephan and Peter moved Soireé furniture out of the galleries into storage, ultimately making it possible

to document the Bow Truss spaces unimpeded while Linda gave an extensive virtual tour of the show to Luz, Christine and Izel via Iphone.  “Magdaburg Sphere”, 1997, cast bronze,

30x26x26″ with “Iconismus XI”, 1997, graphite on rag paper, 51×67″ behind it and, below, “Insinuation”, 1997, steel, 96x360x204″ with the “Sphere” beyond.

“Insinuation” with reading chair and books to its right and then, below, an overview of the room with “Sphere” in the foreground, reading chair, “Insinuation” with “Cloak of the Motion” and “Gramma Seed” behind in front of the soi-distant “Template” on the temporary wall.

Books, chair, “Cloak” and “Gramma Seed”; “Template” and, behind the Wall, Bow Truss 2;

“Reverberation”, 2023, wool felt, “Hachure”, 2022, stainless steel, Tnemec paint, 85x85x54″, an edge of “Waft”, 2018, chromed steel, 46×55″, “Fire and Ice”, 58x45x29″ /44x58x32″, “Valley Fog”, 2022, stainless steel, Tnemec paint, 65x117x101″ [both above and below].

But below here “Portent”, 2008, powder coated steel, 72x120x72″, “Reverberation”, “Hachure”, the still distant “Waft” and “Valley Fog” behind “Ice” and “Fire”…detail of “Portent” below that,

a detail of “Cloak of the Motion”, above, and, going out, a last last view of those seminal first

rooms…

Then it was across the street for a final trip up those cement stairs to collect our stuff

and down to the street to load it, an incredible week, with so many thanks to our hosts Jun and Ree for their hospitality and the extraordinarily helpful staff and crew at KANEKO for facilitating

and realizing the sort of exhibition that few if any artists let alone sculptors ever see…well maybe Ed “I Don’t Want No Retro Spective**” Ruscha at MOMA, but he’s pretty much a 2D guy and used to that sort of attention by now, though even he probably didn’t have as dedicated a guy as Jason, who worked tirelessly with Linda through countless facetime calls, along with the other gearheads [Tim with his motos, Peter of the ’54 Willys, even Stephan, now contemplating some crazy EV conversion] and Linda’s “Angels” the week she was there and before…

Gearheads and Angels; no surprise, really, given the range of expertise, from the Omaha Coupe to Jun to Duncan Aviation, that exists out there, eh?  It was, for her especially, a truly memorable experience.  As it will be, I think, for anyone who gets there to see it.

 

*The weekend parking lot barbecues sounded promising though we never went.

**Oh lordy how I hope that particular painting of his, after all these years, is in that MOMA show…probably not, though.