search articles:     from the issue of February 5, 2004         Sheldon opens Kees, ceramics exhibitions The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery is now presenting two exhibitions featuring works from its permanent collection of American art.   #18 by Weldon Kees, 1951; collage, oil & newsprint on board. This work is one of several by the Nebraska native on display through April 25 at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.   Weldon Kees: Works from the Permanent Collection and Form and Function: Ceramics from the Permanent Collection are on exhibit through the early spring. A small installation, Weldon Kees features paintings and collages by Weldon Kees, a Nebraska native who became a painter, poet, critic and musician. The exhibition coincides with the publication of a volume on Kees edited by Sheldon Curator Daniel A. Siedell. The First Friday Celebration from 5-7 p.m. Feb. 6 in the Sheldon Gallery will feature Siedell talking about “The Absent Presence of Weldon Kees.” Siedell will be available to sign copies of his book, Weldon Kees & the Arts at Mid-Century. The book is a critical interpretation of Kees’s diverse creative activities from painting to poetry, art criticism to films. Born in Beatrice in 1914, Kees graduated from the University of Nebraska and moved to New York City to advance his career as a poet. There, he also took up painting and became a member of the Abstract Expressionist movement. In 1950, Kees moved to San Francisco, where he made short films and wrote and performed jazz and folk music. In 1955, Kees reportedly committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, although reports have surfaced that a writer claimed to have spotted him years later in Mexico City. Weldon Kees: Works from the Permanent Collection closes April 25. Guest curated by ceramics artist and UNL art professor Gail Kendall, Form and Function: Ceramics from the Permanent Collection features works by artists such as Bernard Leach, Hans Coper, John Mason, Jun Kaneko and Peter Voulkos. The pieces trace the history and development of ceramics as a medium through the last half of the 20th century. March kicks off with an interactive First Friday Celebration. Kendall will speak from 5-7 p.m. March 5 about “Ceramics from the Permanent Collection” followed by tours of the UNL ceramics studios. The exhibition runs through March 7. GO TO: ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 5 ARTS HEADLINES FOR FEBRUARY 5 Sheldon opens Kees, ceramics exhibitions Canadian troupe brings Nomade to Lied Coming soon to the Ross Film festival celebrates Micheaux Films mark Black History Month Opera seminar tonight ‘Roses are Red’ at Lied’s Vinton show Theatrix presents Coyote on a Fence 731616S32825X