Traveling art show comes to CSC

The Sheldon Museum of Art exhibit “The Romance of the Moon: Science Fiction Invades Art,” opened at CSC’s Memorial Hall’s Main Gallery Feb. 29.

The Sheldon Art Museum was founded in 1888 and holds more than 12,000 artworks. The artwork is of a variety of different mediums and is located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The museum coordinates an educational outreach program which presents works from the museum’s collection and teaches the importance of arts.

The pieces in this show are from a number of artists from many different backgrounds. However, the theme of the show feels like something straight out of a science fiction novel.

The range of mediums adds to the variety and shows that anything from a still photograph to an oil painting can portray an other-worldly feel.

One specific piece, “Judy on the Beach,” a color screen print done by Kenny Scharf in 1987, seems to jump out from the wall with bright colors and abstract shapes. The piece is both colorful and interesting, but not too busy. This is the brightest piece of the group and looks like a cartoon drawing. It was created while the nuclear arms race was at it’s peak and the fear of doom comes out with the large pink mushroom cloud.

Another interesting highlight from the group of artwork is “Small Worlds III (Kleine Welten III). (from Small Worlds (Kleine Welten)).” This color lithograph, done by Wassily Kandinsky in 1922, shows a different viewpoint of the world. It seems to portray many different universes and each one being unique and completely itself.

“Starwatcher VIII,” a color silk screen created in 1998 by Moebius (Jean Giraud), lends another take on the show’s theme.

This piece is actually in the form of a graphic novel page and because Moebius was such an influential member of the illustrators in the 20th century, this piece is a must-see. The Starwatcher character is as his name portrays, an observer.

The exhibit will be open until March 29, is free and open to the public from 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Along with the display, the Sheldon Museum offered a free art education workshop Wednesday, March 2 that featured practical connections with classroom objectives and take-home resources. A public talk followed the workshop.

The workshop was led by specialists in museum education, art and curriculum and helped workshop attendees understand and appreciate these types of artwork.