UNO Creatives: The Innovation of Laine Knowles

Eddie Okosi STAFF WRITER

For this guest, I traveled by foot from my car in the East Parking Garage all the way to the Weber Fine Arts Center. The inside of the building is a must see — it’s the place where art on campus thrives and breathes. I met our guest Laine Knowles in room 226. The space itself is uncannily reminiscent of one of those artsy New York lofts seen in indie movies. Being a part of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program means Laine gets her own space in the studio. She credits the space as being a great place to dump her “stuff,” for lack of a better word.

Laine has been drawing for as long as she can remember. When she decided on art, it made so much sense to her, and now she can’t imagine doing anything else. The artist remembers a pivotal moment in her art career as a child attending private art classes until elementary school. At age seven, she made a chalk oil pastel drawing that was so good, her mom framed it and put it on her wall.

“That was probably the first piece that I can remember being proud of doing,” says Laine.

It is at this point where I’m immersed in Laine’s perspective. She has shown me her art, and I note the gorgeous surrealism and mechanical parts. Her artworks are like puzzle pieces, a complicated connection of mystery, personal stories, and inspirations, different mediums each posing its own identity.

One of Laine’s recent projects has been the opportunity to paint an album for one of her friends. It’s free reign, and she loves how the album cover is cohesive with her art style. The art doesn’t stop in the room, either, as Laine also took up painting her car. It’s a little something she’s doing for herself.

Do you feel obligated to tell people what your art is about, or do you enjoy it when people look at your work and try to find CONTINUE STORY ON PAGE 17 the story themselves?

My artwork is very personal to me; the symbols I create are specific, so I don’t expect people to understand what I am talking about when I make something. I enjoy when people come to their own conclusions. If I am explaining an emotion through the artwork and people can pick up on that, they can make the image their own and that’s special. I want to make art that people can find themselves in, because I certainly find myself in my art.

I went through your Instagram, and I do notice a lot of symbolism with things like keys and birds. What is the power of expressing stories through symbols, and how did the symbols become your known motifs?

There are certain things everyone is drawn to. I liked birds and I had a parakeet as a pet as a child. I developed an affinity for their feathers and the way that they fly, and I like swords because

I read a lot of “Star Wars” as a kid. These are certain images that I start to associate with other things and it’s unconscious, to be honest.

Would you consider art to be your life and something that is healing, almost?

For me, being an artist is part of my identity more than it is like a job or a hobby. I feel like it’s one of the core parts of who I am. So, I would say I identify as an artist first before I even identify as a woman.

When you are about to embark on making a new piece, do you have a specific story, or are you more inclined on making something in the moment and putting the puzzle pieces together when it’s finished?

It’s more impulsive and intuitive. I make something, then I usually don’t know what it means until I finish it. It’s more about just what feels right at a certain time in a certain spot. Afterward, I look at it and can kind of see how certain spaces connect and where the ideas came from what I am listening, doing or reading at the time.

What is printmaking and how did that interest come into fruition for you personally?

Basically, printmaking is just complicated, glorified stamps. The basis of printmaking is carving out negative space, so you only have the image left. Then you have ink, and roll it on the newly created image. I like printmaking because there are so many different things you can do; I feel like I’m always learning something with this art form. I took a class in printmaking about two years ago and my professor was really encouraging, and I enjoyed learning and carving and the ability to make multiples of something.

With the topic of printmaking and accessibility — for so long art was considered to only be enjoyed by an exclusive audience. What is your take on this idea and why do you feel that art should be inclusive for everyone?

People have an idea in their head about what modern art is, but contemporary art is not just one thing. The way we talk about art and the way the art market talks about itself really determines how included people feel in it. A lot of times, if a person can’t understand what the art is, or if they don’t understand the meaning of it, it makes them feel excluded or disinterested.

How do you think art can become more inclusive over time?

I do think that art is for everybody, and one idea that people have to let go of is that art has to be beautiful to be considered art. Sometimes people make art about things that aren’t pretty, but it’s still artwork. The more people are exposed to different types of art work, I think artists also need to know how to explain their work to people instead of trying to sound smarter than they are.

This is such a super cheesy question, but why do you make art?

I make art because it’s a compulsion for me. If I don’t do it, my hands get restless — it’s like an

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Nebraska Democratic presidential primary, resulting in a 10-1 victory margin according to a 1969 Gateway article.

As a student senator, Smith aided in the creation of UNO’s Black Studies department — one of the first of its kind, despite the protests and arrests that preceded it — and fought against discriminatory housing practices used against Black students.

At The Gateway, Smith first wrote for the sports section, before becoming the section’s editor for the 1967-68 academic year. He didn’t shy away from expressing his political and social views on the page either, at one point writing a fourpart series advocating for the legalization of marijuana, as ahead of his time as ever.

According to Llana, Rudy’s activism earned such frustration from the university administration that they mailed his diploma to him rather than allow him to attend his own graduation with the class of 1969. Their attitude toward him eventually gave way to appreciation, as he became the School of Communication’s first Black faculty member, and received both the UNO Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award and the College of Communication Lifetime Achievement Award.

Over his decades-long career at the WorldHerald, Smith took all kinds of photographs. He photographed musicians like Aretha

Franklin, Michael Jackson, and Miles Davis. He photographed Robert Kennedy campaigning in North Omaha weeks before his assassination.

Smith documented Omaha’s political and racial upheaval over the years. He photographed civil rights marches, demonstrations and protests; speeches, arrests and victories. In 1969, he covered the riots on North 24th street — no white photographers would approach the scene, but Smith accepted the assignment and covered the story alone. He took photos of burning buildings, firemen, and armed National Guard, until two of the latter intervened.

“They put a gun to my head,” Smith said in a 2013 interview. He was soon escorted away from the action, but a photo he took that night was featured in national newspapers.

Yet Smith also covered the smaller things. From children at a swimming pool to a game of dominoes, and so many portraits — to him, it was all historical. He took photos featured in Life, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and many more publications, but even the photos taken as a favor to a friend were composed with equal reverence. His style is subtle, not so concerned with making the humble mythic as it is bringing the larger-than-life down to our level. The photo of Robert Kennedy speaking with a crowd feels less like a scene to be awed by in a museum and more like a moment you remember living yourself, yet its significance is never lost.

Smith received more than 50 awards for his photography, and more besides. He was given the NAACP Freedom Fighter Service Award in 2013, and in 2022, a section of Lake Street was named in his honor.

Beyond photography and activism, Smith left a powerful mark. He served on Nebraska’s state affirmative action committee under multiple state governors, and as board chairman at the Great Plains Black History Museum. He and his wife Llana were married 52 years until his passing, and they raised three children together.

When Smith began his 45-year career as a journalist for the Omaha World Herald, Congress had not yet passed the Civil Rights Act. The year he retired, Barack Obama was elected President. Smith was as keenly aware of the progress that was made over those years, and his part in it, as he was that there was much still standing in the way of true equality. In an interview with Omaha Magazine, Smith compared the civil rights victory to the opening of a “door of change.”

“It’s up to us to step through that door still,” Smith said.

After his death, Smith’s book, “The Black Experience: Through the Lens of Rudy Smith” was published, showcasing over 45 years of his photography. Across hundreds of photos, spanning themes from civil rights to music to family, Smith paints a picture of love, pain, triumph, and struggle. Through his lens, it’s hard to imagine him spending his lifetime doing anything but advocating for his community — in a quote from the book’s opening pages, Smith seems to agree:

“Something had to be done. Someone had to do it. So why not me?”

KNOWLES CON’T, pg 17

itch. It’s not even a choice for me because it makes me happy; it’s something I am good at. Art is healing for me. I make art because I feel like I have to, because I don’t understand another way to be, but I always doubt that anyone else is going to enjoy it — it’s something that I have to deal with.

Walking away from the interview with Laine Knowles, I was taken aback by her enthralling and ever-present relationship with art. In a culture fueled by sacrificing passions in favor of the hustle and bustle, it brought me warmth to know there are