{"id":1187,"date":"2024-09-10T19:30:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T19:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/art\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2024-09-16T15:51:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T15:51:00","slug":"professor-emeritus-mel-zeigler-new-projects-and-sandhills-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/art\/professor-emeritus-mel-zeigler-new-projects-and-sandhills-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Emeritus Mel Zeigler – new projects and Sandhills Institute 10th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mel Ziegler (Paul E. Schwab Chair of Fine Arts, Professor Emeritus<\/em>)<\/strong> has been busy in his retirement from Vanderbilt University as co-director the Sandhills Institute – a civically-engaged art program and residency integrated in and around the agricultural community of Rushville, Nebraska. Ziegler has worked with leading artists forging bonds with the Rushville community of ranchers and farmers developing experimental programs grounded in collaborative research and creative expression. The Institutes goal is to strengthen economic, environmental, and cultural fabric of the area while celebrating its historic and varied cultural heritage. Learn more about the Sandhills at their website: https:\/\/www.sandhillsinstitute.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sandhills Institute is celebrating its 10 year anniversary (2014-2024) and new projects have made their public debut.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Art aRound Town<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

Sandhills Institute celebrates its 10 year anniversary with an exhibition on Main Street, Rushville, Nebraska<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cA<\/em><\/strong>rt<\/em> a<\/em>R<\/em><\/strong>ound <\/em>T<\/em><\/strong>own<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sandhills Institute, dedicated to integrating art and community, has sponsored three artists and one educator this summer to participate in what the Institute entitled \u201cArt aRound Town.\u201d Elaine Bradford, Myranda Bair, Jared Steffensen and Gordon-Rusvhille Language Arts teacher Niki Waugh have traveled to Rushville from Nevada, Utah, Texas, and nearby Gordon to engage and showcase the latent artistic skills of children and of 6th<\/sup>\u00a0grade students, and they have insinuated themselves into commercial enterprises in surprising, intriguing and often delightful installations.<\/p>\n

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Elaine Bradford, “Feeling Soft in the Hardware Store,” 2024, Sandhills Institute, Rushville, NE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elaine Bradford<\/strong><\/em> of Houston is known for transforming the craft of crochet into the realm of art. In her exhibition, Feeling\u00a0Soft in the Hardware Sto<\/em>re, she has installed her own version of tools in and amongst the hard-edged metal tools of Hinns\u2019 Hardware Store. Friends in Houston donated their old, timeworn tools to Elaine who crocheted over them in bright colors and patterns. The effect is to see these tools\u2014hammers, shovels, pitchforks, numerous hand tools, and a lawnmower\u2014in new light.\u00a0 Relieved from their chores, these tools\u2014always handy and dependable\u2014can be appreciated for their myriad shapes and for the perfection of design that has made them the go-to\u00a0 implements for hundreds of years.\u00a0 The Hinn family facilitated and guided her placement of objects in and around their store.<\/p>\n

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Myranda “Hometown Slice,” 2024, Sandhills Institute, Rushville, NE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Across the street and a few steps uptown, the Twisted Turtle Pub\u2019s owners, Tosha\u00a0and Courtney Fuller, welcomed artist Myranda Bair<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s idea of inviting Rushville children to design images for the blank faces of white Take Out pizza boxes. The project, which she calls\u00a0Hometown Slice,<\/em>\u00a0attracted over twenty-five children, each bringing his or her idea of what should be on the box.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Myranda presented the young artists with long tables filled with crayons, pencils and stacks of drawing paper.\u00a0 Although she is a consummate artist, illustrator, and teacher, she did not intervene or place any restrictions on\u00a0<\/em>their work. It was an approach that resulted in a flurry of creativity, interrupted only by occasional breaks for pizza, generously provided by the Fullers.\u00a0 Myranda has now collated all the drawings, using them to tell charming stories to be printed on both large and small pizza boxes.\u00a0 They are now available for \u201cTake Out.\u201d at the Twisted Turtle Pub.<\/p>\n

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Jared Steffensen, “Landscape Shoes,” 2024, Sandhills Institute, Rushville, NE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just across the street, at Willy Moc\u2019s Shoe Store, there is another instance of art and commerce intermingling. In a project called\u00a0Landscape Shoes<\/em>\u00a0Jared Steffensen<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s installation consists of pairs of shoes that have been altered to depict imagined landscapes. They are meant to be a nod toward \u00a0where the wearer might have worn them. They range from rocky mountaintops to tree-lined fields and rolling hills.\u00a0 Some of the shoes represent personal landscapes, tapping into the places the wearers think\u00a0of as \u201chome.\u201d\u00a0 They speak about place, homesickness and the desire to take \u201chome\u201d with you wherever you go. Because Erk and Jodi Milton, who design, make and sell shoes in their Main Street store, are artists themselves, they allowed the altered shoes to be placed on shelves with shoes of their own making.\u00a0 So, Jared\u2019s shoes are there, seemingly minding their own business, yet likely to cause many a double take.<\/p>\n

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Niki Waugh, “I am from..”, poetry from 6th grade Rushville students, 2024, Sandhills Institute, Rushville, NE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back during the Spring semester of her 6th grade language arts class at Gordon-Rushville Middle School, teacher Niki Waugh<\/strong> <\/em>received an interesting request from the Sandhills Institute: Would she consider asking her 6th<\/sup> grade students to write a poem about where they are\u00a0from to\u00a0help develop a project that would find its way to the napkins at the Bunkhouse Bar and Grill in Rushville. She responded enthusiastically and gave the assignment with the prompt \u201cI am from . . . \u201c and asked the students to take it from there. The responses from this simple question resulted in poems that were so richly descriptive\u2014 places, landscapes and hard work, parent\u2019s names (and their advice), flowers and machines, jeans and Wranglers, brandings and meals\u2014 even chicken fried steak\u2014 that the prompt might have been called \u201cThings I love . . . \u201c Because the ideas (place and love) were so intertwined, the Sandhills Institute selected 12 quotes from a variety of poems to highlight those emotional touchstones. With the collaboration of Bunkhouse owners Tom and Tawnie Eichenberger, who have embraced the project, there is every reason to believe that their patrons will unroll napkins and suddenly find themselves wondering where they are from.<\/p>\n