Published Friday
December 6, 2002

Woman, local artists 

donate 20 to 25 percent 

of painting sales to 

Omaha Food Bank

GREG JERRETT  Staff Writer

Art nourishes the soul and, starting this weekend, it will hopefully nourish a few bodies as well.

Peace of Art is a project of the Artists Cooperative Gallery, 405 S. 11th St., in Omaha. The gallery's artists get together and donate an average of 20 to 25 percent of their sales to the Omaha Food Bank for distribution to charities throughout the Omaha and Council Bluffs metro area. The show kicks off tonight at 7 and will run through January.

Jean Mason, Omaha painter and Co-op spokesperson, said the group of 33 artists / 10 of whom are from Council Bluffs and other cities in Iowa  like to work on projects that help charities, children and those who need art most of all.

"We do community service projects all the time," she said. "We bring grade school classes into the gallery for tours, we do community outreach projects and we work with the Omaha Public Schools Career Center."

Mason said the Omaha Food Bank is the Co-op's preferred charity because it helps a wide variety of people.

"We like to work with the Omaha Food Bank because they distribute to charities all over," she said. "They work with the Lydia House and Francis Sienna and distribute to anyone in need."

The Co-op is home to a variety of artists, all of whom will have works for sale in the gallery. There will be sculpture, jewelry, paintings, photos and pottery.

"It's a beautiful mix," said Mason, adding that roughly two artists are added every year as space allows, keeping the number of artists in residence at 33. "We keep a variety of artists around to keep the mix pretty interesting."

Mason is herself a painter. She likes translating music and the relationship between musicians to canvas. Her work is done in vibrant colors that almost make the music audible through color. Reds and yellows dominate while other primary colors dance around the edges, and somewhere behind it all seems to be the blackness of night. There is a happiness to the work that is joyful without being insipid or vapid.

"I paint all the time and basically have forever," said Mason, whose first oil painting was done at the age of 10. "My mom was a painter and she gave me the materials to keep me busy. I started formal lessons at 11 and sold my very first painting to a stranger for 50 bucks. It was like somebody actually wanted this; it's amazing."

Mason said giving up a painting is not as hard as some people think. For her, creating the piece is what art is about, not having the finished product in her hand. Occasionally, said Mason, things get strange when she is looking at an empty wall.

"Creation is what art is all about, so I don't mind parting with paintings I sell," Mason said. "I just did a series of 15, though, and they all went out in the same show. Sometimes when I clear out ... it's strange.

"What makes it OK with me is to meet the buyer. At the Co-op, we run the show. We are there for show openings and we get to meet the people who buy our work. You get to see the moment when people make that connection, when they get it."

Members of the viewing public can make that connection any time at the Artists Cooperative Gallery  clearly marked "Art Gallery"  at 405 S. 11th St. in Omaha's Old Market. There is no admission cost.

The gallery is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m..

Peace of Art's opening will be a two-day event, Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., but donations to the Omaha Food Bank will continue throughout January. Nonperishable food items as well as personal care items are welcome.