Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/53644
2B Daily News – Thursday, January 26, 2012 Pastimes As part of Black Histo- ry Month events taking place on campus, CSU, Chico will mount the nation's first formal exhibit of historical pho- tos of predominantly African American citi- zens taken in Lincoln, Nebraska between 1910- 25. These photo works, part of the Douglas Keis- ter Collection of Glass Plate Negatives, 1910-25, will be displayed publicly for the first time February 1-24 in the Humanities Center Gallery in an exhi- bition entitled Black and White in Black and White. Joel Zimbelman, Dean of the College of Human- ities and Fine Arts at CSU, Chico, coordinated efforts to bring this histor- ical collection to The Humanities Center Gallery. As Keister and Zim- mer's book notes, Lin- coln, Nebraska, circa 1910-25, while being the state's second-largest city, was also home to Nebras- ka's second-largest African American com- munity—a "small town" within the mid-western city. Local race relations were a study in contradic- tions. Public education and residential neighbor- hoods were relatively integrated; employment and social institutions were increasingly restrict- ed. Within this setting, a laborer named John John- son—a native of Lincoln and son of an African American Civil War vet- eran—produced remark- able images as an itiner- ant photographer of the Lincoln scene, especially of its black community. Johnson left very little written record, so knowl- edge is fragmentary of his working techniques and of his collaborators or assistants. But his visual legacy takes people through the streets, onto the front porches, and into the backyards and living rooms of a vibrant com- munity. Because of the large size of the glass negatives and their mostly pristine condition, many of the photos will be shown in large-scale, some as big as 40 inches by 60 inches. It is anticipated that the impact of the large sepia- tone photos mounted on gator board on the white walls of the gallery will create a powerful visual experience between image and audience. Viewing the photos will be like taking a trip through time, noted Zim- The story of how Keis- ter came across the glass negatives and the eventual confirmation that they were indeed historical artifacts spans some 30 years. When Keister was a junior at Lincoln South- east High School in Lin- coln, Nebraska in 1965 he acquired the negatives from a friend who had purchased them at a yard sale. He used the nega- tives to make some of his first prints in a darkroom he constructed in his par- ents' basement. Three years later he went off to California to pursue a career in photog- raphy. The glass negatives were put in boxes and stored away for over thir- ty years. In 1999, a student in Lincoln who was doing research on African American-owned busi- nesses discovered 36 glass negatives in some- one's closet in Lincoln and the story of this "sig- nificant find" ran in the Lincoln paper. Keister's mother saw the story and sent him the clipping. He contacted the Nebraska State Historical Society and soon after his 280 negative collection was deemed a State Treasure. Keister, who now lives in Chico, is looking for- ward to the exhibit. He will give a talk prior to an open- ing reception at the gallery on Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.; a pre- sentation by Ed Zimmer, Historic Preservation Plan- ner for the Lincoln/Lan- caster Planning Depart- ment, takes place Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall. The exhibition and all events associated with it are free and open to the public. The Humanities Center Gallery is located in Trin- ity Hall (the "bell tower" building) and will be open during the exhibition Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Keister has put a web site online with examples of some of the photos that will be displayed; it is at http://bit.ly/y0vjTc. A YouTube video by Keister with more information on these historical photos can be found at http://bit.ly/uuWBnn. For more information, please contact Zimbelman at 898-5351. Arts & entertainment College to display historical photos Stand-up comedy belman. The schedule for Still Standish — An Evening Of Stand-Up Comedy featuring Aaron Standish, Liz Merry and Roland Allen will be as follows: • Saturday, Feb. 4-Manton Corners •Sunday, Feb. 12-Duffy's Tavern, Chico • Saturday, Feb. 18-Old City Hall, Redding • Saturday, March 3-Chico Women's Club Admission $10 • Saturday, March. 10, State Theatre, Red Bluff, $10 advance or $12 at the door. All Shows Start At 8 p.m. Suggested for mature audiences. For more information, visit http://www.merrystan- dish.com. Downtown Pacific Flyway art exhibit, reception The public is invited to the exciting Uptown/Down- town Pacific Flyway Art Exhibit and Welcome Recep- tion from 5- 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27. This special evening is one of the featured events of the Snow Goose Festival and offers admirers of art and nature a chance to view artwork featuring wildlife and habitat along the Pacific Flyway. Works of 45 artists in a variety of media, including sculpture, clay, oils, watercolor, acrylics, mixed media, glass and photography will be shown and offered for sale. The Uptown/Downtown Exhibit and Reception is housed at two Chico galleries: Avenue 9 Gallery, 180 E. Ninth Ave., and Chico Art Center, 450 Orange St., Suite 6. The Friday evening reception offers a chance to mix and mingle, admire art, meet the artists, and enjoy live music and refreshments. Leave your car behind and enjoy the courtesy trolley rides between the galleries every half hour. Pre-registration admission is $10/adult, $5/youth. At the door, $5 additional. Running Jan. 26-29, the Snow Goose Festival, a four-day event that celebrates the local and migratory waterfowl of the Northern Sacramento Valley, offers over 80 field trips, workshops and activi- ties for birding and nature enthusiasts young and old. Register for the Reception and other Festival events online at snowgoosefestival.org or call (530) 345-1865. Toys: The Inside Story, Noise and Larger than Life If your parents never let you break open your Etch A Sketch to find out how it works, if you've always wanted to create your own movie soundtrack but didn't know how, or if you want to see an up close and personal view of flowers, leaves and mystery items, then you'll want to explore Gate- way Science Museum's new spring exhibits. The new exhibits — Toys: The Inside Story, Noise and Larger than Life opened Jan. 21 at Gateway Science Muse- um in downtown Chico. Toys: The Inside Story includes 12 hands-on stations illustrating the simple mechanisms commonly found in toys, and lets visitors create their own toy-like combinations of gears, pulleys, linkages, cams, and circuits. Visitors will discover the worm gear and cam mechanisms that make Jack jump out of his box, learn why it takes a steady hand to win at the classic game Operation and create crazy opti- cal illusions by connecting movable pulleys. In the South Gallery, visitors can investigate the science of sound, music and hearing with noise. Visitors can create the soundtrack for a science fiction film, generate intricate designs in sand without ever touching the sand, and explore the inner workings of the human ear. There are 11 hands-on activities, including a scream chamber for visitors to mea- sure the decibel level of their loudest scream, learning to play the pipe organ via PCP tubes and much more. Larger than Life explores a variety of subjects in the nat- ural world through the unique perspective of photographs taken zoomed in at high magnification. Gateway Science Museum, 625 Esplanade, is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday – Sunday. Admission is $5 adults, $3 children and free for museum members. For more informa- tion visit www.gatewayscience.org or check out its Face- book page.