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ETIRING AND RETIRED seniors have varied interests in the arts and provide many contributions to the Omaha community.
Retired UNO professor Bonnie O’Connell has a love of books and the art of printing. In her career, she taught book arts—letterpress printing, typography, book design, bookbinding, and papermaking—and she continues to create and exhibit the art of books in her renovated home studio. Jesse Neese, a nuclear ink tattoo artist, says that tattoos are becoming more popular with seniors. They are the largest growing demographic for tattoos. There are a variety of reasons why people obtain ink, including tattoos for medical reasons. Interestingly, insurance will sometimes even pay for tattoos to cover surgery scars. A common interest in the arts unite two couples from different eras. George and Sarah Joslyn came to Omaha in 1880, and Roberta and Bob Rogers arrived here in the 1950s. Neither were artists themselves but were motivated to support and grow the arts in Omaha. Their unique, but combined, stories is our Nostalgia piece this month. You will want to be sure and read our story about Joe Cabral, a prominent member of the Omaha Chapter of the GI Forum. This club was formed in 1948, and has been going strong since. The affable Cabral serves as an unofficial membership coordinator and historian, and can often be seen playing his trumpet at the club.
Contributing Editor
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FEATURE // STORY BY SANDRA MARTIN // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY
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acclaimed and accomplished artist in the Omaha art scene, Bonnie O'Connell has been a professor of book arts at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for over 30 years.
Her “passionate” love affair with books began in her childhood, when she discovered how much she loved to read. “As a young girl, I was often happiest when I was reading,” O'Connell recalls. “One of my favorite places to go was the library.” O'Connell says she has always been drawn to the intricacies of language and the way her imagination could be engaged by a great writer. “Also, I loved the physicality of books... the way they had their own beauty and tradition,” she says. “I became fascinated by letter forms and calligraphy and the way books were designed and presented.” It was in college in the late '60s that her appreciation for books eventually led her to consider the possibility of making them. So she switched her major from journalism to art, with a focus on design. Today, this field of study is known collectively as “book arts,” and includes letterpress printing, typography, book design, bookbinding, and papermaking. At the time, her classes included lettering—which would be called calligraphy today—and letterpress printing. “Once I started taking those classes, I was pretty much hooked,” O'Connell recalls. “I had decided this was what I wanted to do. I just wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do it.” After graduating in 1969 and paying off student loans (which she says you could actually do in those days), O'Connell moved to Chicago and went into advertising, where she did prep work for commercial printing. “Back then you didn't design everything on the computer, so I worked with drafting tables and T-squares. I learned a lot,” she says, “but I was not very happy doing it.” In 1971, at 25, O'Connell got married and the couple moved to Illinois. It was there that O'Connell met a University of Illinois professor who published poetry. “He offered me an apprenticeship with him,” she says. “Since I didn't have a job and was newly relocated where I didn't know anyone, it was a real stroke of good fortune.”
When her husband was accepted into the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the couple moved to Iowa City in 1972. “We bought a big farmhouse, which had plenty of room for a studio,” she says. “So I bought a press (it was relatively cheap, as letterpress printing was becoming obsolete) and some paper and started my own printing business.”
O'Connell, who retired last May from her long and illustrious teaching career, says she is looking forward to having more time to devote to her own works of art. Her eclectic creations—which fill her office from floor to ceiling in an overwhelming display—include assemblages, collages, relief prints, and other unique art forms.
Over the next 12 years, O'Connell published 23 collections of contemporary American poetry (about 150-200 copies per collection), doing all the typesetting and printing herself. “I couldn't afford to pay employees,” she says.
“I'm always searching for evocative materials to use in my work,” she says. “I've tapped the natural world as well as flea markets for all sorts of printed journals, postcards, talismanic objects, framing devices, and other unique and interesting items.” Recently, O'Connell's work has become more "activist" in theme, stemming from her desire to make a statement. She also produces art for what's known as portfolio exchanges, where printmakers collectively produce a grouping of work that becomes the basis for an exhibition.
“This type of printing is known as small press printing,” she explains. “It was small compared to commercial literary productions but big for press done by hand.” She also says that small press was the major way for poetry to get published in those days, unlike today when writers have multiple online publishing choices. “Printing a writer's poetry was a mutually beneficial arrangement,” O’Connell says. “The poet's work would get published and circulated, and I was able to receive grants from organizations that supported the publication of contemporary poets.” Eventually, O'Connell began tackling bigger print jobs, but when she started teaching at UNO in 1985, she phased back. “I couldn't keep up that type of production, and I was also becoming more interested in other aspects of books, such as making paper,” she says. “I love the tactile qualities of paper, even though it's incredibly difficult to make uniform sheets refined enough for small press printing.”
For now, O'Connell is facing the daunting challenge of moving her many years of accumulated materials, prints, 2,000plus books, supplies, etc. into a home studio that is being renovated to hold it all. She says the next year will be one of transition after teaching for so long, but she will continue to create and exhibit the art that has been so much a part of her life. “I happen to be in that small group in the art world who finds their passion for artistic expression through making a book, versus perhaps making a painting or a sculpture,” she says. “That's my passion...that's my art.”
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HEALTH // STORY BY WILL PATTERSON // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY
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Jesse Nesse
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YNN AND THOM SINNETTE,
both in their 60s, received tattoos from Nuclear Ink tattoo artist Jesse Neese around five years ago.
“I didn’t go in looking to have half of my chest done, but then I went in and spoke with Jesse,” Lynn says. For years Lynn disliked a poorly done tattoo on her chest. Neese offered a cover-up solution. He worked with her to craft a tattoo that was visually appealing but also effectively concealed the old tattoo. “You can have an awesome idea, but not have the art experience to flesh it out,” Neese says. Neese uses his tattoo experience and art degrees to work with clients. He believes the best designs are made when he and the client collaborate on a final product. Neese and client Michael Rolf have a friendly relationship. They talk consistently during the hours it takes Neese to work on Rolf ’s tattoo. The tattoo stretches across his chest and onto both his arms. It features Alaskan wildlife and scenic imagery in honor of the trip he and his wife planned on taking. The tattoo serves as a memorial for 55-year-old Rolf. His wife passed away three years ago, and they always wanted to take a trip to visit Alaska together. Rolf and his son went on the trip in her memory.
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“I get asked by seniors frequently if their skin is difficult to work on,” Neese says. “Really it depends on the area of the body. The only time it ever is difficult is when there has been a lot of sun exposure.” The tattoo industry has been held to higher standards since the the time when today’s seniors were getting tattoos in their teens and 20s. It’s one of the reasons some clients are surprised by his workplace sanitation. Rolf recalls a time when he was younger where he hosted “tattoo parties.” During such parties, a tattoo artist would come over and give quick, small tattoos to people. “If I think of it now, it's horrifying,” Rolf says. “Because, like, he would tattoo me, dip the needle in alcohol, and start on the next guy.” That practice is a stark contrast from current sanitation standards. Neese teaches a seminar for fellow tattoo artists on how to prevent the transmission of disease in a tattoo parlor. “It’s made me a bit particular about things,” Neese says. Joseph “Smitty” Smith of Big Brain Productions says the senior group is their largest growing demographic each year. He attributes that to several factors, such as no longer having to worry if it will affect their career or standing with their neighbors. But he thinks there are often deeper motivations. “Once you’ve collected some experience in life, you kind of want to celebrate that, and things that motivate people to get tattoos are, like, the birth of a loved one…Or maybe at that age they’ve survived a health problem, like breast cancer.” Those with a few more years are likely to have a few more surgical procedures. More invasive operations can leave scars people carry for the rest of their lives.
“I’m very pro-tattoo now that I’m older,” Rolf says. “I can make more responsible decisions, and I know what I want.”
Smith says tattooing over scars is “100 percent safe,” as long as the artist knows what they’re doing.
Neese has built up a strong reputation as an Omaha tattoo artist. Some clients find him from out of state or keep returning to him after they move away. While Neese has customers from all demographics and backgrounds, he has a notable number of loyal, older clients. And they have some concerns.
“It’s just different from the rest of the skin on your body and that poses a challenge, because you’re going from regular skin—so your machine is running at a speed of a depth that would be suitable for regular skin—and then you hit that
scar tissue and it would be too deep," he says. "So if you go over it too fast or too hard, you can damage it pretty easily. It takes a little bit of experience to be able to control that with your hand and with your eyes—with the feel—instead of just setting up your machines to run on that.” Neese says that many people don’t realize that their insurance provider can sometimes pay for tattoos that cover up surgical scars. Whether clients are tattooing a scar to match their skin tone or covering it with colorful art, the tattoo can be claimed as a necessary part of the healing process. Doctors can help their patients secure an insurance payout for a cover-up tattoo if it could improve their patient’s mental health. “It can really help someone reclaim a lot that has been lost through a surgical process,” Neese says. As it turns out, seniors face the same hurdles as other age groups when approaching a tattoo parlor. Foremost, though, medications have to be compatible with the tattooing procedure. Blood thinners usually need to be skipped in the preceding days. Smith says diabetes can also affect healing, specifically on extremities, such as the ankle or foot. Neese recommends all his clients speak with their doctors beforehand if they take any medication that might cause extra bleeding or hinder healing. Making tattoos last into the golden years can be difficult—especially for those who enjoy spending their days under the sun. Lynn always makes sure to protect her tattoos with sunscreen when catching some rays. She says that she has not noticed any of the colors fading since she initially got the work done years ago. As for those who might be on the fence, the Sinnettes have this advice for anyone contemplating a tattoo: “If you’re a senior and you want a tattoo, just go for it,” Rolf says. “It’s your body. Don’t let anyone tell you shouldn’t have tattoos. I love my ink.” “You live once, what the heck,” Lynn says. “Just get a good one.”
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NOSTALGIA // STORY BY KARA SCHWEISS // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY
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John Rogers and artist Denise Brady
-John Rogers
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Well before the museum opened in 1931, the couple fostered the art community in their home built in 1903 near 39th and Davenport streets. Much of the diverse art the Joslyns collected later seeded the art museum Sarah created as a memorial to George, who died in 1916. Some of it was unconventional at the time for a couple of their stature, Bello says, representing no particular style or era and including everything from traditional landscape painting to depictions of commoners in everyday life to the relatively new medium of photography. Not only did the Joslyn home serve as an unofficial gallery of sorts, Sarah often worked behind the scenes for several visual and performing arts organizations. “The Joslyns were also big proponents of Omaha’s early theater scene as far back as the 1890s.
arrived in Omaha in 1880. Bob and Roberta Rogers arrived to the city in the late 1950s. Although the two couples were from different eras and never met, they both embraced their adopted city, were successful entrepreneurs, and supported the arts—especially the visual arts—but didn’t create art themselves. Most importantly, they both created lasting legacies: the Joslyns through Joslyn Art Museum and Joslyn Castle; and the Rogerses through Gallery 72, now transitioning to a namesake nonprofit gallery called Roberta & Bob Rogers Gallery (RBR G). Omaha wasn’t even 30 years old when Vermont natives George and Sarah Joslyn relocated so George could open a branch office for a printing company that had hired him the year before. Within 16 years, he owned the company he renamed Western Newspaper Union and subsequently built a fortune selling preprinted newspaper pages to publishers, who added their own local content. The Joslyns became some of Omaha’s earliest art patrons, says Kelli Bello, Joslyn Castle Trust’s manager of communications and development. “While they loved Omaha deeply, they saw a lot of needs, and one of the greatest needs was a house for creative pursuits for all people to enjoy art,” she says. “Obviously, their most important notable gift was the Joslyn Memorial [now the Joslyn Art Museum].”
They turned what was a cow pasture across the street from the castle into what was the first community playhouse, donating land and seed money to develop a physical structure for the pursuit of theatrical arts,” Bello says. Sarah was active in the arts through her final years, and the home was bequeathed to the Society for Liberal Arts to serve the community after her 1940 death. Bello says. “Sarah Joslyn felt that art supported the spiritual needs of the community just as much as any church.” Roberta and Bob Rogers—who were from Gulfport, Mississippi, and Ottumwa, Iowa, respectively—arrived in Omaha in the late 1950s when Bob was offered a job managing a local factory. “And we just ended up staying here,” their son, John, says. Like the Joslyns, the Rogerses were successful entrepreneurs, although their business was a Mister Donut franchise they sold in 1971. As they were building their business in the 1960s, they also began amassing a collection of art through their travels and eventually started selling some of it out of their home. “They both had a strong interest in contemporary art, from the mid-century forward,” John says. “You’d probably get some arguments from a few people, but my parents were the ones who really set the tone for contemporary art in Omaha. They said, ‘we’re going to have a full spectrum of contemporary art styles.’”
In 1972, they opened Gallery 72 on 72nd Street just south of Dodge Street. Through the years, Gallery 72 exhibited and represented established and emerging artists with a mission to build a supportive and cohesive arts community, John says. Their diverse collection included works from notables like Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali, but the Rogerses also opened their space for artist community gatherings, public events, and performances. Bob and Roberta were honored with the Governor’s Arts Award in 1990. Gallery 72 moved to 27th and Leavenworth in the mid-'70s. John, a retired high school physics teacher (brother Bob Jr. became a photographer), began assisting his parents with “backroom” tasks in the mid-'90s and took on a larger role after his mother’s death in 2001. The year after his father’s 2012 death, John moved Gallery 72 to its current location at 18th and Vinton streets, where he is now transitioning the commercial gallery to the nonprofit RBR G and carrying on his parents’ legacy. “Every year since 1972 there has been a show under the auspices of Gallery 72,” John says. “Part of my motivation for doing this is that I think visual artists need facilities to show their work, and to support the artists they need gallery space and representation so patrons can find their work…There is a dearth of good galleries in Omaha and there’s gobs of pop-up galleries that do interesting things and they’re good to have around. But Omaha could use another three or four commercial galleries if Omaha would financially support those galleries.” Like the Joslyns before them, neither Bob nor Roberta were artists themselves. “Their art was their gallery,” John says, adding that none of the four [George, Sarah, Bob, and Roberta] were motivated by the desire to promote their own work, but to simply support and grow the arts in Omaha. And their vision went beyond just a gallery or just a museum. “If you’re a big-minded city, you have to have these things," John says. "Big cities have active visual arts and performing arts, and lots of interesting things in the community.”
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ACTIVE LIVING // STORY BY JOSEFINA LOZA WELLS // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN // DESIGN BY DEREK JOY
HE LUNCH CROWD FOR Taco Thursday is thick and talkative. Booming laughter bounces from every corner of the GI Forum restaurant on south 20th Street. Working-class clientele, families, and the occasional white-collar professional fill this old South Omaha standby. Among the aromas of seasoned beef and fried tortilla shells wafting in the air is Joe Cabral, a longtime musician and member of the club. Cabral is a regular at the Thursday lunches, and the club. Similar to a VFW post, the South Omaha Veteran’s and Community Club (formerly the Omaha American GI Forum chapter) started as a Mexican-American veterans and civil organization but is all-embracing and housed upstairs from the restaurant. Through the restaurant and other fundraising ventures, the club supports local military—both active and retired—and their families. At the national level, the American GI Forum was founded in 1948 by the late Dr. Hector P. Garcia of Texas— who served his medical internship at Creighton University's St. Joseph Hospital—to combat discriminatory injustices against Mexican-American veterans returning from World War II. Nebraska’s Omaha chapter was formed in 1957. Regulars have been returning to the GI Forum in South Omaha ever since. Any effort to learn more about the history of the GI Forum inevitably leads to Cabral, a cheery 81-year-old who is fiercely proud of the establishment. Cabral is a longtime musician and member of the military and community service club. He’s known for raising spirits and sparking astounding conversations. “I’ve always been blessed with friends,” he says, adding that his wife, friends, and music have kept him going. Many of his best memories are rooted at the GI Forum’s building at 2002 N St. In fact, Cabral was born in a house across the street and still lives nearby.
At one point in time, nearly ‘every Mexican from South Omaha belonged to the GI Forum.’ -Joe Cabral “The GI Forum, when it started, was just that little building on the corner,” he recalls. “[It was] half of our size now.” The building had a church basementlike setting, but with a bar and crowded tables and chairs that were rearranged on the weekend for dances. Back in the 1980s, then a young trumpet player in a polka band, Cabral would stop by the GI Forum to have a beer and entertain friendly banter. “I got involved mostly through music,” he says. Cabral met a few fellow musicians and began playing rancheras—traditional Mexican songs—at the military and community service club. Cabral pauses a moment, then begins rattling off member names whom he believes were influential to the music and social scene in South Omaha. At one point in time, nearly “every Mexican from South Omaha belonged to the GI Forum,” he says to illustrate how influential and important the club was to the growth, development, and cultural preservation of Mexican-Americans living in the area. To this day, the restaurant’s walls form a museum of the chapter’s members—decorated military service that spans decades—and the forum’s founding.
Many of those South Omaha people who belong to the club are there because of the affable trumpet player. “He’s a great member recruiter,” says Philip Lordemann, who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1977 to 1982. He was attracted to the club because of its core values, but he joined after hearing about how inviting its members were, he says. He heard it from Cabral. “He talked me into it.” says Lordemann, now the club’s commander. “I’m a friend of his son’s, and [Cabral] heard about my service and said, ‘you ought to join our club.’ He’s probably the number one reason I’m there.” Cabral not only takes care of ensuring continued membership of the club, he takes care of the club itself. “I make sure that we have coolant, and that we have air, and that the pavilion is nice,” Cabral says, downplaying his role as head of the maintenance committee. “I’ve been doing this since 2006 when we expanded the building.” Indeed, the building did expand. Thanks to Cabral and other’s recruiting efforts, the club doubled in occupancy from about 60-70 people to about 130. But its his love of music that people recognize. “He’s an entertainer first and foremost,” Lordemann says. “He enjoys playing at the club. One nice benefit we have is he doesn’t charge us to play.” And he’s willing to play whenever and wherever. “If it’s someone’s birthday, he’ll get up and play ‘Happy Birthday’ for them,” says Lordemann. “We’ve got our auto show coming up, chances are he’ll be up there playing. Any time there is something going on where music would make people happier, he’s there. It seems like he’s always got his trumpet with him.” Visit giforumomaha.org for more information.
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