Lance's Journal: A Capital City Art Pioneer, Jan. 14

By: Lance Schwartz - Email

Posted: Mon 7:44 PM, Jan 14, 2013

THE BURKHOLDER PROJECT
719 P Street
Haymarket District
Lincoln, NE 68508

Gallery Hours

Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 4pm
Saturday: 11am - 3pm
(9am - 3pm during Farmers Market)
Monday by appointment Phone: 402-477-3305

So many words can be used to describe Lincoln's Anne Burkholder...artist, visionary and risk-taker, among the many. She's been an absolute force of nature in the Capital City arts scene for more than 30 years.

Anne single-handedly started the reclamation of the Haymarket area back in the 1980's.

You'd never know it by looking at it today. But not so very long ago, the Haymarket area was a pretty scary place.

Instead of today's great eateries, classy art shop and brand new arena - the Haymarket was filled with deserted warehouses and transients.

Anne Burkholder would not be deterred.In 1987, she bought the old Woods Brothers building and the rest, as they say, is Lincoln art history.

Anne was born in 1940 and found her calling very early on, "I just always remember being very interested in drawing and painting. My first set of oils was when I was like 6 or 7 years old. It was grown up oils and painting on grown up canvas."

And more than a thousand canvases later, this 72 year old trail blazer is still working on 4 or 5 oil paintings at a time. Most of them having something to do with landscapes in her beloved Nebraska, "I have been so lucky that I have been able to do this in my life because I do love it so much."

Anne was right out of art school when she had a studio in the downtown area, "And I kept thinking how fantastic it would be if I could work and live and show my work, be accessible to the public all in one place."

26 years ago, the Burkholder Project came to life at 7th & P streets.

Over the past quarter century more than 125 artists have rented space at the Burkholder Project.

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