Five artists will be presenting Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar lectures this fall in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Art, Art History and Design. The series begins with Husker alumnus Trent Claus on Sept. 7.
The School of Art, Art History & Design’s Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series brings notable artists, scholars and designers to Nebraska each semester to enhance the education of students. Each lecture takes place at 5:30 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15. The lectures are free and open to the public. Follow the School of Art, Art History and Design’s social media (@unlart on Instagram) for Zoom availability for each lecture.
Claus is an award-winning visual effects supervisor with Lola VFX. He has worked on more than 120 feature films, including 19 Academy Award nominees for Best Visual Effects (four winners), 10 nominees for Best Picture (1 winner) and with a cumulative worldwide box office of more than $44 billion. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Visual Effects Society (VES). In 2012, he was awarded the VES Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture for his groundbreaking work on “Captain America: The First Avenger.” He was nominated once again in 2020 for his work on the film “Captain Marvel.”
Claus’ collection of original artwork from popular films, animated television series, comics and trading cards is currently on display in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall. As part of the Lincoln Collects series, “Building a Narrative: Production Art and Pop Culture” is on display through Oct. 7.
Following his lecture on Sept. 7, the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery will be open until 7:30 p.m. for audiences to view the works in person.
“What everything shares in common is that it’s a piece of art that was generated on the way to the final product,” Claus said. “So a lot of the pieces don’t get seen a lot by the general public, and a lot of the artists aren’t known by the general public. It’s exciting to shed a spotlight on them and their work and see all of the artistry and collaboration that goes on behind the scenes of the things we all know.”
The remaining lectures in the series are:
Sept. 21: Ric Heitzman, visual artist and TV creator. Working in multiple mediums, Heitzman has had a long career in the arts, media and popular culture.
Oct. 26: Christine Hult-Lewis, art history. Hult-Lewis is the interim pictorial curator at the Bancroft Library, the special collections library at the University of California Berkeley.
Nov. 9: Sama Alshaibi, photography. Alshaibi works between photography, video, performance and installation. In 2021, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow in Photography.
Nov. 30: Aaron Spangler, sculpture and printmaking. Spangler is best known as a sculptor, where he reimagines the traditional medium and technique of woodcarving with a contemporary eye.
Underwritten by the Hixson-Lied Endowment with additional support from other sources, the series enriches the culture of the state by providing a way for Nebraskans to interact with luminaries in the fields of art, art history and design. Each visiting artist or scholar spends one to three days on campus to meet with classes, participate in critiques and give demonstrations.
For more information on the series, contact the School of Art, Art History & Design at 402-472-5522 or e-mail schoolaahd@unl.edu.
