State of the Union: Omaha Public Art Discussion Panel
Be our guest for a FREE panel discussion led by three of Omaha's most influencial creators: Watie White, Sarah Rowe, and George Garrett, III.
Our artists will discuss the current state of public art in Omaha, their recent projects and the themes these projects represent to our collective citizenry, and the possibilities our new creative arts district (the Castle & Cathedral District) offer.
This panel discussion is offered FREE to the public prior to that evening's performance of "Hemingway and the Lost Generation." The performance is ticketed.
Seating is limited and first come, first served.
Doors open at 5:45pm and the discussion will begin at 6pm.
About our panelists:
Watie White
Watie is an omaha-based painter, printmaker and public artist. Since relocating to Omaha in 2006, Watie’s studio and public practice has created site-specific, socially engaged installations and murals that have led to collaborations with over a dozen schools and more than a hundred murals with non-profits and neighborhood communities throughout the midwest
Watie’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR), the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN), Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE), Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE), the Telfair Museums (Savannah, GA), The Mint Museum (Charlotte. NC), The Frist Center for the Arts (Nashville, TN) and the Dixon gallery and Gardens (Memphis, TN).
Watie is currently serving as the Castle & Cathedral District Artist in Residence.
Sarah Rowe
Sarah is an interdisciplinary artist based in Omaha, Nebraska. Her work opens cross cultural dialogues by utilizing methods of painting, printmaking, textiles, performance, and Native American ceremony in unconventional ways. Rowe projects her vision of contemporary Indigenous experience into the mix with an offbeat enchantment. Her imagined landscapes are bold and vibrant, containing a shape-shifting bestiary of tales both familiar and strange. Rowe holds a BA in Studio Art from Webster University, studying in St. Louis, Missouri and Vienna, Austria. She is of Lakota and Ponca descent.
George Garrett, III
George is an African American /Native American artist from the midwest. He enjoys working with all types of mediums. He mostly works with acrylic paint on all types of surfaces that ranges from paper, wood, upcycled artwork. Recently he has been experimenting with with acrylic ink , acrylic paintmarkers and waterbvased ink brush markers.
George is the Executive Director of an local art center called Cali Commons located at 518 N 40th Street in Omaha. Ne. The focus at Cali Commons is to focus on emerging arrtists. George sits on the committee of the Castle Cathedral Art Distrect here in Omaha, Ne.
George is a huge advocate of art awareness, that he knows that needs to be brought forth in the schools and the world. Art is the 5th oldest occupation in the world.
The Art and Literary Festival is presented with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council, Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.