Ososurprising - O! Art Works

Below you can read the O! Public Art Project artists' descriptions of their work.

Artist: Kenneth Adkins	Title: Suffolk War Horse	Site: Florence Mill
Kenneth Adkins reflects upon his upbringing on a nearby farm, as well as Omaha's proud agricultural and western heritage, and the current war in Iraq by creating a mixed-media sculpture inspired by the Suffolk horse, a heavy draught horse typically employed in farming. In addition to being used for work, sport, consumer products and military operations, the horse also serves as a prominent figure in religion, mythology and art. "Suffolk /Warhorse" ties together all these meanings and provides a metaphor for the price of war.

Artist: Littleton Alston	Title: Omaha On My Mind	Site: Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce
This sculpture depicts the artist's self-portrait and is constructed from mild steel, resulting in an impressive work measuring nine feet high, by six feet wide and twelve feet deep. Alston envisioned the winds of change blowing through a net, which creates the portrait and animates the space surrounding the entire sculpture. He uses the O! symbol as a pure shape and a continuum, with the painted clouds referencing limitless possibilities.

Artist: Leslie Bruning	Title: Ephemeral Insite	Site: Hefflinger Park
Leslie Bruning sliced this O! into one-foot sections and suspended them by poles to create the ephemeral effect of floating off into space, a technique that adds more height to the structure. To emphasize this sculpture’s fleeting quality, he painted the poles and internal planes to look like a blue sky filled with fluffy clouds and the base’s top to mimic flowing water, both of which make the entire sculpture seem to float in mid air.

Artist: Jamie Burmeister	Title: Omaha Song	Site: Omaha Children’s Museum
Jamie Burmeister transformed this O! into an interactive sound sculpture by attaching tuned chimes and bars into an engaging visual arrangement. The chimes play by being struck by doorbell solenoids, which are controlled by a microcontroller, or small programmable computer. When the viewer sits on the chair within the O!, pieces of these songs about Omaha play “Omaha” (Fritz Al Carlson); “I Want to Grow with Growing Omaha” (Albert Adair); “Omaha Blues” (Big Joe Williams); “Omaha” (Counting Crows); “Omaha Stylee” (311); and “Omaha Flash” (Johnny Otis).

Artist: Santiago Cal	Title: eclipse	Site: Regency Parkway & Pacific Street
Santiago Cal based this O! on place and space. The sculpture also references social and his own personal development. The two dimensional rendering on the back combined with the three-dimensional object on the side reinforces the idea of place, while the “eclipse” in the center creates a sense of space. The black dots on the front and the ladder on the back represent social ascent, and the yellow mimics the color of the crops prevalent when Cal was driving across Nebraska’s countryside.

Artist: Gary Day in Collaboration with Anna Monardo	Title: Best Moments in Omaha	Site: Old Market - 11th & Jackson
Anna Monardo asked residents who relocated to Omaha from other countries to describe their favorite moments in the city. Gary Day painted the participants’ stories, recorded in twenty different languages, onto their O!, which has a diverse, narrative power.

Artist: Eddie Dominguez	Title: O! On Fire	Site: Millard / UMB Bank
Eddie Dominguez constructed this O! from wood, which he set on fire as an artistic “happening” symbolic of people joining together around a campfire or bonfire. The finished artwork is the remaining charcoaled O!

Artist: Wanda Ewing	Title: Wild Underneath	Site: Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo
The conservative grey surface of the O! has been torn away in places revealing an exotic leopard print. For me, this is representative of the city I grew up in. At first glance, it appears a very conservative place. When you look further and really dig underneath the city's skin, there are artists here that are energetic and exciting. The net symbolizes control and a need to tame this energy. However, no matter what obstacles are encountered, this wild creative energy gets stronger and stronger.

Artist: Bill and Reneé Hoover	Title: The Standard of Living	Site: Christie Heights Park
Collaborative couple Bill and Reneé Hoover use their O! as both frame and painting. One side depicts a vibrant daytime farmers market scene surrounded by flowers and birds. The other portrays lively masked musicians and people dancing under a brilliant starry sky.

Artist: Leslie Iwai	Title: sO!fa	Site: Nebraska Humane Society
Upholstered in mint green, brown and red vinyl, this O! is reminiscent of the comfort and rest of a favorite sofa or other cozy piece of furniture. Sabbath rest, as a vital part of a healthy life, is central to this O!. A bird takes flight from the peaceful rest represented by the sofa and is poised to fly through the sculpture’s center.

Artist: Susan Knight	Title: Light and Lines	Site: Gallagher Park
For this rail inspired O!, Susan Knight used toy train tracks to create a dramatic pattern and distinctive texture across the entire surface. Whether people arrived in Omaha to work on railroads or to labor in other occupations, newcomers created links that formed communities across Omaha, links symbolized by the joined tracks. The train tracks also represent Omaha’s long history as a hub for train travel and the headquarters for Union Pacific, one of America’s most well known railroads.

Artist: Matt Lowe	Title: The Ascent	Site: Levi Carter Park
This sculpture represents a city on the move. The O! balances on an incline next to a chrome dot, something small but perfect holding up a larger form. The black leather symbolizes social class and a sense of adventure, and the chrome accents reflect features on cars, motorcycles and travel luggage, all of which suggest motion. Black diamond plate rubber, similar to no-slip material on running boards and airport walkways, serves as the sculpture’s foundation and also covers the wedge form. This represents the traction beneath our feet and Omaha’s dynamic progress.

Artist: Joey Lynch	Title: They Were Sacred to Astarte	Site: Dundee Business District
Lynch uses this O! to reaffirm and reassert the connection between ancient civilizations and the modern world. Rock doves served as powerful symbols of the great goddess Astarte in the ancient world and signified the transcendence of the soul and the victory of the human spirit over matter. Today, the dove, or pigeon, is more of a nuisance, pest and health hazard, and urban residents often forget its role in ancient worship.

Artist: Debbie Masuoka	Title: White Rabbit	Site: City County Building / Courthouse
The rabbit image has been a central theme in Debbie Masuoka’s work for over twenty years. She interprets an idea and form down to its basic elements, and in this way enables viewers to bring their own thoughts and ideas to her sculptures. With “White Rabbit,” Masuoka uses public art to communicate a universal language, appealing to both old and young, and especially to the child in all of us.

Artist: Yanna Ramaekers	Title: Laden O	Site: 24th & “L” Street
This O! represents the balance between our safe, protective surroundings contrasted against the desire to explore and grow. The focal point is the female form, which sits calmly in the O!’s cradle as if waiting. A blanket of riveted clay squares covers and protects her, like bandages or even armor, with the red exclamation point leaning in to guard her. Although the sculpture is secure in her world, the opportunity to move and to take flight exists.

Artist: Larry Roots	Title: Inspiration and Perseverance	Site: Dreamland Plaza
Throughout the history of civilization, man has transformed the conditions of his existence to make it a better place to live now and for future generations. “Inspiration and Perseverance” are essential attributes to that legacy and the future, and they serve as this sculpture’s title and concept. “Brick and mortar” at the base represent our historic architecture and the perseverance necessary to build the city of Omaha, while the light at the top symbolizes inspiration.

Artist: Craig Roper	Title: This Is Omaha	Site: Aksarben Campus
This celebratory and informational piece is about Omaha and the O! form itself. Roper incorporates historical, contemporary and visual information to engage interest and express Omaha's vibrant qualities. He downloaded numerous photos that depict satellite images of Omaha and used a decoupage technique to adhere them in a grid-like arrangement. Broad horizontal stripes unify the work and add decorative pizzazz. The artist also incorporated black-and-white photos of Omaha sights, neighborhoods and points-of-interest as well as words, historical facts and doodling to round out the piece.

Artist: Colin Smith	Title: promO!	Site: 10th & Capitol
Painter Colin C. Smith uses the universal shape of this O! to make a spatial reference through his own unique painterly language. He transformed the sculpture into a two-sided “painting” by outlining the shape in black paint, mimicking and repeating the ovals in bright, monochromatic shades of either green and magenta. In this way, the O!’s dramatic, graphic punch provides a narrative for the richness of tonal similarities and differences within the sculptures overall design.

Artist: Therman Statom	Title: O!	Site: Village Pointe
This O!, covered in square mirrored tiles, was previously located at one of Omaha's most scenic and picturesque gathering locations, Zorinsky Lake. It now rests majestically near the front entrance of the Village Pointe Cinema on the west end of Village Pointe Shopping Center.

Artist: Bart Vargas	Title: O!	Site: Traveling O!
This complex design represents both Omaha's unity and diversity as well as the city's vibrant energy, potential and future. The painted surface's design includes twenty-two randomly placed O!s, one for each sculpture involved in the O! Public Art Project. Five skin tone colors symbolize the diversity of both the American and indigenous Omaha population. The color red signifies the dynamic color of the O! Campaign as well as the common blood connection and origin of our great human family. Click for information on reserving the Traveling O!.

Artist: Liz Vercruysse	Title: O! my spiky O!	Site: Girls and Boys Town
Liz Vercruysse incorporates botanical details, such as microscopic hairs on a flower, grooves within tree bark and patterns on the underbelly of a mushroom, onto both the form and surface of this O!. She melds heavy texture with the red O! by covering it with spikes and carving circles onto the surface

Artist: Mary Zicafoose	Title: wO!ven	Site: Memorial Park
Mary Zicafoose brings her fiber process to this O!, which she encloses within a woven armature. She fabricated its “warp” from steel rod and rebar and the “weft” from various “ropes,” including willow and oak saplings, copper tubing and wires and native Nebraska prairie grasses. The weft can be changed seasonally using different native plant materials or can rely on the heavier metal components. Besides referencing weaving, "wO!ven" is also a metaphor for the diversity within our community. The sculpture intertwines many individual materials and components, which are simultaneously beautiful and dissonant, into a powerful icon far stronger than the sum of its parts.