War Stories/Troubled Spaces presents works on paper by resident-artist Mary King and ceramic sculptures by University of Nebraska-Lincoln MFA candidate Nettie Locke Rogers. The exhibition opens on Monday, January 11, 2010, at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City.

Based on interviews conducted in Nebraska City and Chicago, Mary King’s images capture personal experiences of war. In 2007, as an artist-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson, King interviewed interviewed persons eighty and older who remembered both World War II and World War I. King’s stylized images capture a story’s essence, often made memorable in a simple statement such as: “There were German subs.” or “He didn’t dwell on it.” In Chicago, she continued her series, interviewing a younger generation involved in the Iraq War. “My plan in all the work was to honor the feelings of not just soldiers but all affected by war.” says the artist. “I hope I have done these potent experiences justice.”

Mary King has taught art in the public schools in Michigan and in a private school in Chicago for many years. Her teaching experience includes K -12 art, various types of special education art, and talented and gifted high school art. She has had one-person exhibitions of her own work in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. She will return to the Kimmel Harding Nelson for a short residency during her exhibition and will present a workshop for art teachers while in Nebraska City.

Nettie Locke Rogers’ Troubled Spaces sculptures are “miniature, surreal worlds that represent places and objects that have been thrown away, denied and forgotten. As I build a piece and carve the objects out of clay, I give respect to the things in life that are being disregarded.”

Currently in her second year of graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rogers is working in ceramics, intaglio prints, drawing and animation. She has worked and taught at Santa Fe Clay in New Mexico and at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine, and she maintains an active exhibition schedule.

The public is invited to meet Mary King and Nettie Locke Rogers at a reception on Thursday, February 4, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. War Stories/Troubled Spaces will remain on exhibit through Thursday, March 4, 2010.

The Kimmel Harding Nelson gallery is located at 801 3rd Corso in Nebraska City and is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. Appointments at other times are encouraged: please call ahead. Both the exhibit and the reception are free, handicapped accessible, and open to the public. Exhibited artworks are available for sale. For more information, call 402-874-9600 or visit www.khncenterforthearts.org.