Nichols exhibit extended to August 23
Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 11:12 pm
The artwork of "Nick" or "Shorty" as some folks called Floyd F. Nichols, will continue on display through Aug. 23 at the Legion Gallery of Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art.
The exhibition was set to end on July 31, but on that day, signs went up around David City that popular demand had caused the extension to Aug. 23. The museum is west of Sixth and E streets.
The news was welcome to Ruth Nichols, daughter of Floyd Nichols, who said it has been a longtime goal to see a broad collection of her father's work on display in his hometown.
"I'm 74," said Ruth, who is known in David City for her own artwork. "I thought if it isn't going to get done now, it isn't going to happen."
Some people who were lucky enough to get to see Nichols' work at his shop on E Street have related tales of his work.
The exhibition has been put together with the help of many people who owned Nichols' work and loaned them to the museum.
"Not one person said 'You can't keep them that long,'" Ruth Nichols said.
The extension also gives the museum a chance to bring in local school students to show them not only Nichols' creative works but also a piece of local history.
The museum also has a 1939 newsreel that features a segment on Nichols and his unique style of artwork using metal and an acetylene torch.
The works on view range widely from military knives to fine jewelry. Metal sculpture, woodcarvings, paintings, photographs, his personal biography and military history will also be on display.
Floyd F. Nichols (1897-1956) was a unique man with an adventurous spirit.
Born on a farm near David City, he served in the Army during World War I, stationed in France. He returned to David City to open a welding shop, and he married Stella Staroscik and together they raised five children in David City.
He was extremely creative and had a vision for artwork far ahead of his time.
He was involved in many facets of metal and woodworking beyond his welding trade. He is famously known for personalized combat knives, made for servicemen of World War II.
He made an estimated 1,800 knives, many of them special ordered by soldiers, for $15 each. The knives replaced the military issue knives in plastic sheaths.
His ingenuity allowed him to build his family a home and working studio from discarded concrete paving. This architecture is one block north of the David City Park on Highway 15.
To celebrate the Floyd Nichols exhibit, a rarely exhibited painting by his brother, Dale Nichols, is on view in the Permanent Collection Gallery.
"Platte Valley Summer" is on loan from Central Community College. The current exhibition on view in the Changing Exhibits Gallery is Simply Agrarian: Selections from Great Plains Art Museum, May 13-Aug. 30, 2009.
The Nichols exhibition is open Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday 1-4 p.m.
