By Angel Trinh
Nov. 29, 2017
On Nov. 3, The LUX Center for the Arts opened its annual winter show, “Gifted.” The center transforms its large gallery into a delightful holiday shop with brand new art and fine craft from local, regional, national and international artists for people to purchase through Dec. 24.
Gifted has gone on for most of the 40 years that the center has existed. Starting as a “craftsy” show, the exhibit has become more focused on supporting the works of artists, in a variety of mediums that include ceramic place settings or tableware, blown glass, textiles, jewelry, drawings, and paintings. The name “Gifted” was given to the display in order to let people know that the center’s intent for the holiday show is to encourage people to come and buy fine art and craft gifts for their friends and family during holiday times. People are able to come in and buy something, have it wrapped and take it home that night. Every purchase supports the artist and supports the LUX’s mission of providing great art experiences to children, adults and families.
KZUM is the media sponsor for the event. Associate Director Joe Shaw explained that partnering with the station helps LUX get the word out.
“KZUM’s listeners are the kind of people who support music and art and believe in giving back to the community,” he said. “That’s perfect for this show.”
Gifted is a big show for the LUX Center but the biggest fundraiser of the year is its Annual Art Auction—Eat Drink Art—held at Nebraska Innovation Campus, coming on Friday, May 11, 2018.
LUX Center for the Arts, 601 N. 48th St., is a community arts center that serves as a vital resource for the visual arts in Nebraska. The center is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. It offers year-round art classes for children, youth and adults in ceramics, painting, drawing, glass, printmaking, pottery and jewelry. These classes are taught by artist/teachers in their Artist-in-Residence program which annually brings four professional, well-educated, emerging artists/teachers to Lincoln to teach in exchange for studio space, materials, and a solo exhibition.
The mobile program—the Art Van deLUX—takes art classes to at-risk youth, low-income schools, the elderly, cancer patients and others that benefit from having a first-hand art experience. The LUX’s services are supported through donations and its public, private and foundation partners.
The Center was originally organized as the University Place Art Center in 1977 to provide a cultural focal point for the University Place neighborhood. After ten years, it moved to its current location, the old University Place city hall, after benefactor, artist, and arts educator Gladys M. Lux purchased and donated the building for arts education purposes. The center purchased and expanded into an adjacent building which created classrooms and studios to improve its ability to offer programs in 2000, being renamed in honor of Gladys Lux’s generosity.
In June 2017, the first phase of a capital campaign added a parking lot and a new Ceramics Center with two new classrooms—the Lee and Debbie Stuart Foundation Handbuilding Studio and the WRK Family Foundation Wheel Throwing Studio—doubling the amount of classroom space at the LUX. The Ceramics Center also features a plaster room, a kiln room, a glaze room, a space for future outdoor kilns and the Steve Wake Student Gallery. The second phase of the capital campaign will renovate the 103-year old main building through updates in the heating, cooling, and electrical systems.
For more on Gifted or the Lux’s capital campaign, visit LuxCenter.org.
Angel Trinh is an editorial intern with KZUM.
