Nebraska's Artist of the Year!

The Nebraska Arts Council has announced the recipients
of the 2010 Governor’s Arts Awards and Flatwater's Artistic Director

Bob Hall

has been named Artist of the Year.

This honor is awarded to an individual artist practicing in any discipline whose work or career has made a significant contribution to her or his art form and to the state of Nebraska.

From the NAC citation: Bob Hall is a multifaceted artist with a professional career in both theatre and visual arts. Since earning his degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Bob Hall has crafted an impressive and influential body of work as a director, designer, administrator, and visual artist. Bob is the Artistic Director of the Haymarket Theatre in Lincoln and Artistic Director of The Flatwater Shakespeare Company. He is also a professional artist and writer, who has contributed work for Marvel, Valiant and DC Comics’ graphic novels. He has drawn Spiderman, Batman, Thor, and Captain America among many others, and has also drawn original characters and written stories to accompany them. Pages from his Armed and Dangerous, a gritty, noir-style crime comic, along with Joker-centric Batman stories, have been presented in recent gallery shows at the Project Room in Lincoln, and at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. As a visual artist he has also exhibited his figurative drawings. He teaches a course in graphic novel creation at Hastings College. As a teacher, he inspires actors and visual artists to enrich their craft, inspires audiences to deepen their love of theater, and inspires readers and viewers to see the world more imaginatively. With the Flatwater Shakespeare Company, based in Lincoln, he has brought Shakespeare’s own theatrical practices vividly into the 21st Century. He applies the principles of Shakespearean stagecraft to present-day circumstances. As a theatrical director, visual artist, and writer he demonstrates the ability not only to communicate, but to fully immerse his audience in the artistic experience through a variety of media.

All of the 2010 awards will be presented by Governor Dave Heineman at a noon luncheon on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. Recipients of other awards include Jennifer Boomgaarden of the Omaha Symphony, Barbara Zach of the Lincoln Symphony, John Mangen of the Omaha Nation School in Macy, actor-producer John Beasley, and musician / music-sponsor Keith Heckman, among others.

For ticket information, visit the Nebraska Arts Council webpage for the event:

www.nebraskaartscouncil.org/Programs/?page=governorsAwards