W PICKS W sus’ meeting and subsequent exorcism of the daemons at Gerasene. From his artist’s statement: “These demons have always existed, and they can often appear ascendant over our better angels. But as in Gerasene their multitude has been exposed and cast into a doomed vessel.” Ondina’s style has also been greatly influenced by Cuban art and culture. “The primacy of emotion over intellect, the power of less, and the importance of nuance are just some of the traits Cuban art has impressed upon me,” he wrote in a 2017 guest post for University of Southern Florida’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
May 1 - October 10
feature fresh, healthy produce, high-quality herbs, prepackaged foods, prepared foods and crafts. For COVID-19 safety measures, the first hour of the market is reserved for seniors, people with underlying health conditions and expectant mothers, and the use of face masks is encouraged.
Omaha Farmers Market
The Old Market Aksarben Village
—Alex Preston
May 7
Legionaire Petshop Over the years, the Omaha Farmers Market in the Old Market has become an important tradition and economic fixture in the city. On 11th Street, between Jackson and Howard Streets, vendors sell their goods at the same site where growers sold their fruit, vegetables, herbs, plants and all sorts of fresh produce almost a century ago. This year’s farmers market season opens on Saturday, May 1, and continues each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., until Oct. 9. The Sunday market will run at Baxter Arena in Aksarben Village 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Oct. 10. As always, the farmers market will
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This May, Benson’s Petshop presents Legionnaire, paintings by Eric Ondina of Tampa, Florida. Ondina’s egg tempera paintings, spanning 2019 through 2021, are described by the gallery, as “observ(ing) the American Myth as it experiences the American Crisis.” Artist and teacher Ondina cites the biblical account of Je-
May 2021
The opening reception for Legionnaire is Friday, May 7, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The reception coincides with other First Friday events in the area. The show runs from through June 25. Petshop is located at 2725 North 62nd St. Visit bffomaha.org/petshop. html. —Kent Behrens
May 7
This year, five regional jurors have quite a challenge narrowing nearly 1,000 stylistically unique submissions into a group of fewer than 100 selected exhibiting works. The temporarily anonymous jury is composed of artists, art historians or season curators from Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha. The biennial will travel to the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney later in the year. The 2021 Nebraska Artist Biennial opens on May 7 and will run to August 1 at Gallery 1516. Located on 1516 Leavenworth St., gallery hours range from Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment. Visitors need to wear a mask and follow social distancing guidelines. For more information, visit gallery1516.org. —Jonathan Orozco
May 8
Weird Therapy The Little Gallery
Shared ‘Biennial’ Gallery 1516
Less than five years ago, Gallery 1516 decided to revive a largely forgotten institution: the Nebraska Artist Biennial. The original had a lofty run from 1932-1988 at the Joslyn Art Museum, and though it disappeared for whatever reason, it had the mission to unite the best art made in, or by artists with a connection to, Nebraska.
|Blackstone Recent media exposure about pandemic-related anxiety and depression has triggered crucial conversations about mental health and related antidotes — the conventional, unconventional, outright dangerous and, sometimes, the just plain weird. The Little Gallery | Blackstone presents for this year’s May-June
