The Spirit of Nebraska mosaic drew upon artist Reinhold Marxhausen's undergraduate work in geography and geology. It includes symbols for agriculture, the hard work required to settle the plains and the Strategic Air Command.

Stephanie Croston

    You can't see it from the street, but it's there behind the house-a beach-house-style studio originally built for one purpose.
     It was constructed in the spring of 1965 so Reinhold Marxhausen could build a mosaic for the Nebraska State Capitol.
     The house at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Lincoln Street in Seward didn't have enough room for Marxhausen to build the 13- by 18-foot mosaic. So, Dorris Marxhausen agreed to sacrifice half of her garden area.
     Reinhart Mueller of Missouri actually built the studio, which was based on a photo of a beach house Dorris had found. As they excavated, they moved the dirt into the backyard, which ended up a foot higher than it started.
     The mosaic itself was part of a set of six commissioned by the Capitol Murals Commission in 1964. The commission searched for artists to make the mosaics and, after reviewing submissions from 35 different artists, chose four to make the six pictures.
     The subject matter was originally selected by Dr. Hartley B. Alexander, a professor of philosophy at the University of Nebraska and thematic consultant for the Capitol when it was built in 1924. When the building was completed, blank spaces were left for the artwork.
     The theme was "Life of Man in Nebraska," with the subjects "The Blizzard of '88," "The Building of the First Railroad," "The Spirit of Nebraska," "The U.S. Survey," "Tree Planting" and "The Building of the Capitol."
     Marxhausen, the only Nebraska artist selected, was chosen to construct "The Spirit of Nebraska." In 1965, the Legislature appropriated additional funds to complete the murals and asked Marxhausen to do "The Building of the Capitol."
     He used Venetian and Byzantine glass to make the mosaics, as well as found objects like pieces of wood and bricks. Dorris said the glass pieces or tesserae were ordered and delivered by mail.
     On June 27, Tom Kasper, preservation architect at the Capitol, and Roxanne Smith, tourism supervisor at the Capitol, came to Seward to visit Marxhausen's studio and see if he still had pieces of the glass that could be used for repairs.
     He did.
     In the northwest corner of the studio stand rows and shelves of two-liter and other bottles, each filled with the tiny pieces of multicolored glass. By noon that day, Smith and Kasper had numbered and sampled 75 bottles and estimated they had at least that many to go.
     "Everything's here," Kasper said. "This is daunting."
     In addition to the tesserae, a white rectangle painted on the floor reminds visitors of the size and scope of the mosaics.
     "You forget how big it is until you see it laid out," Kasper said.
     Refurbishing and cleaning the mosaics is phase two of the projects at the Capitol. Phase one consisted of the artwork in the rotunda, Kasper said. Phase three will be the Dolan painting in the law library.
     He said they have found isolated incidents of the tesserae that are loose or missing. He said the Marxhausen murals seem to be fairly sound with only pieces missing or loose at the points where the mosaics are attached to the walls.
     "There are more tiles in the Marxhausens than in the Reynals," Kasper said, adding that Jeanne Reynal used more of a painting technique in her two pieces than a true mosaic.
     Even after the mosaics were installed in the Capitol, Smith said, Marxhausen would come to check on them and tell stories about their construction and what the pieces symbolize.
     For example, the hands kneading bread in "The Spirit of Nebraska" represent agriculture and the work required to settle the prairie.
     That particular mosaic incorporates Marxhausen's background in geography. It includes the aquifer, the fossil layer and rock strata, as well as the Strategic Air Command, which was very new at the time the mosaic was designed.
     In the piece about building the Capitol, Marxhausen used brown wood for the old building and orange, pink and gray glass for the new, Smith said. She always wondered about the colors, thinking they were odd, until she realized that at dawn and dusk, the sunlight on the building makes it look pink and orange.
     "The architect understood that, and of course the artist saw it," she said.
     Smith said Marxhausen would also do presentations with elementary students about creating artwork.
     "He had a wonderful gift of talking on any level," she said.
     Because his pieces use objects that he found in everyday life, Smith said visitors can more readily identify with his works and see art as more accessible.
     "Every student of Marxhausen who comes to visit always identifies themselves as one of his students," she said.
     Smith said the mosaic cleaning and repairs should be done by August.