“In one way or another,” says artist Larry Gawel, “I’ve been photographing water for the better part of twenty years.” Gawel’s exhibition, (se)escapes, will be featured at The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts gallery beginning April 16.

Larry Gawel is a professor of photography at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. His work is exhibited widely and held in the collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, and the Camera Austria Archive in Graz. A fascination with water beginning with a 1977 flood has brought the artist to focus on water each time he experiences a new region.

“For the time being, I’ve settled on making photographs of large bodies of water that are completely out of focus. For me, the lack of focus tends to make the water appear more like a memory than a document and allows the scene to be rendered free of the distractions of human intervention.”

Gawel received a BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1991 and an MFA from the Pennsylvania State University in 1994. His honors include artist residencies in Arizona and Nebraska, merit and purchase awards in various exhibitions, and a Nebraska Arts Council/Lincoln Arts Council Impact Grant. Recently, Larry was selected for the Lincoln Arts Council community art project Stories from Home.

In conjunction with Gawel’s exhibition, inexterior photographs by Joe Vavak and Benjamin Richter, an exhibit curated by Gawel, will be shown at The Art of Music, 707 Central Avenue in Nebraska City. Richter’s images are of “ordinary vacant interiors.” His photographs frame “… shadow and line on a pale canvas.” Vavak’s images are of “simple objects and compositions that take on new meaning within the limits of the square photograph.” Vavak and Richter are both graduates of Metro Community College. Their images are traditional color photographs in square format.

(se)escapes and inexterior run April 16 through May 24. The public is invited to meet the artists and enjoy refreshments at receptions for the artists at both venues on Saturday afternoon, May 5, 1 - 4:00 p.m.

The Art of Music hours are Monday through Friday 11 to 7 and Saturdays 11 to 5. Call 1-866-662-7046 for information.