Students to present at weekend’s conference

The annual Mari Sandoz Heritage Society Conference is scheduled tonight through Saturday afternoon in the Student Center. The conference, which will focus on the Mari Sandoz book “Son of the Gamblin’ Man,” will also include a variety of speakers and a small exhibit of art by Robert Henri, a Cozad native.

In addition to a variety of professional speakers, four students will also be featured at the conference. Rob Foresman, junior of Papillion, will give an address on his interpretation of Sandoz’s novel, while Lesley Billingsley, senior of Bayard, Mitchell Robertson, sophomore of Lincoln, and Monica Eaton, sophomore of Askov, Minn., will present readings of selections from the Great Plains Literature course.

“We have people traveling across the country and internationally to Chadron for this conference,” Sarah Polak, director of the Mari Sandoz Center, said.

“[CSC] put a lot of time and financial resources to make this a good conference,” Polak said.

Henri’s art will be available to view throughout the weekend in the Mari Sandoz Center. The art includes four paintings, as well as a drawing and a print.

Kristin Gebhardt, the ARTreach coordinator at the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, helped to organize the exhibit.

“He wasn’t afraid to show art that was not pretty. You can feel a lot of the emotion in his paintings,” said Gebhardt.

The conference is free to CSC students, faculty, and staff. For more information, contact Polak at 432-6401.