walk with long string -- drawing 2019

      One day when I was a student at the Seward Public High School -- some classmates of mine went with me at the City Park in Seward, Nebraska -- to walk with a long string. My father recorded the event. Double click on images to enlarge.

A follow-the-leader activity. Everyone holds on to the long string and goes for a walk.

 
City Park, Seward, Nebraska. Circa 1973. (photo by Reinhold Marxhausen)

My classmates Jeff Bowman and Herb Jensen lead the rest.


Three years later --- in 1976 I attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. I lived in a dormitory on 16th Street. The Centennial Educational Program was housed in Love Hall, next door to the Neihardt Residential Center. I took independent study classes thru Centennial.

On afternoon in 1976 --- a dozen students from that complex met together to go for a walk. A walk around the campus while holding a long string. Dubbed the "String Walk." It was ad-lib. Impulsive. Creative. Something us centennial-ites enjoyed doing. Laughing. Exploring.

There were no photographs of that outing.    It was spontaneous.

When I talked with Vicki Van Steenburg over the phone 43 years later -- the fun and excitement of my Centennial years came back to me. Energy from those wonderful memories egged me on to do a pencil composition at my desk.

Last month the inked 18 by 24 inch illustration was complete and mailed to the planning committee in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Here are portions of that work.

 (rampark parking garage and elevator. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019)

(up and down front steps of Nebraska state capitol. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019)

(front door to back door, through department store. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019) 

 (the string itself. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019)

(going through Nebraska football fans, outside the Lincoln stadium. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019)

(starting at the beginning, front steps of the Centennial College. Ink on paper. Karl Marxhausen. 2019)


Two ink works will be on display in Love Library on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Centennial College Reunion will be held October 11 and 12, 2019.

The two day reunion with full details CLICK here. 

free spirit

In the new year 2012, I have been enjoying music by the tUnE-yArDs.

Watch video of You Yes You, four minutes (above).
More works by Merill Garbus, click HERE
More about her, click HERE
http://www.tune-yards.com/
Watching her sing on stage reminds me of my second year in college.

Being an art student I put together and pulled off a few "free spirited events."
The year was 1975. I was enrolled in the Centennial Educational Program, while at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln.

One Saturday morning I staged an impromtu happening in the Nebraska Student Union lounge. My roommate Bob Winkler (above) and I stacked blocks of scrap wood and invited others to do the same.
This was what an art student with lots of zeal did when he was out on his own. The memories do not stop there.

Our dorm room on the second floor of Love Hall became an art project itself. From the paper strips that hung from the ceiling (right) to the flattened refrigerator cardboard boxes

boxes I dragged from off-campus and lined our walls (left). To draw and build on, of course. Obviously influenced from the "basement wall" I grew up with in my parents' house. (See a clip of their wall, click HERE.)

Friday nights when students were out visiting their friends on our floor, Bob and I talked fellow students to enter our room to see the hung ceiling and watch their response to it. That same year 1975, I had found a way to pull the paint layer out from our room wall. Very carefully I stuffed portions with small piece of tissue and resealed it (left and below).

Here is another memory about Centennial. That same year I organized, scripted and filmed a 40 minute super-8 movie as an independent study project at Centennial. The story followed a traveling salesman as he went from room-to-room with his suitcase. Each room presented a different odd scene. He met a scuba diver, a troupe of human flowers, a foosball champion, and many others. Fellow students in Centennial were asked for their ideas and many acted in the film. All the scenes were shot within Centennial. My advisor gave me full credit for it.

Centennial was in the (north) Love Hall end of the John G. Neihardt Residential Center. I remember setting up a number of "peoples concerts" to showcase the musical talent from our dorm and the Neihardt complex. I borrowed sound equipment from the Nebraska Union. There was a concert held in the Neihardt snackbar in the basement of our dorm, and one in the lounge of Raymond Hall, because it had a grand piano there. There was a concert also in the South Crib Room of the Nebraska Student Union. Here is a list of some of that talent. (I have added current available links where I could find them.) Jon Swift on guitar, Tim Roper 1  and 2 on violin, Jeff Binder 1   and 2,  Ray Walden on piano, Jim Williams on piano, Rick Nelson on guitar, Tim Booth on piano, Vicky Thomson on piano, Dave Mosley on piano, Steve Petersen on guitar, Pat Collins on guitar, Brian Nyquist vocals, Mark Willy on piano, Bob Popek, Jeff Taebel 1  and 2  on guitar and 3, Paul Marxhausen 1  and 2  on guitar, myself on piano, and others.














One more memory.
(below) That's me kneeling on pages torn from












a discarded phone book. (In photo, Jon Swift is seated second from left, and Tim Roper seated just above my kneeling figure) In the darkened space Dan Swinarski (above, left) cast light on the dancing strips of paper for all to see.
With a free spirit and in total silence, the community watched and enjoyed the spontaneity of the event.