Metro Arts Las Vegas

[Thanks to Fran at NAC for the tip! Click to enlarge.]

Paintbrush Gateways

Reed Whipple Cultural Center
821 Las Vegas Blvd. N.
City of Las Vegas

Dennis Oppenheim
Paintbrush Gateways and Other Projects

through April 3

Sponsored by the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission.

info: 702.229-1012

[Graphic from City press release. Caption: "Electric Kiss," 2009, rolled stainless steel, cast acrylic half round rod. 120" X 48" x 40."]

6 Sides 2 Every Story

Western Nevada College
Main Gallery
Bristlecone Building
Carson City Campus
2201 West College Parkway
Carson City

"More than 500 participants* were asked to illustrate their own perspectives by carving one side of a wooden cube. Each cube represents a current story found in a national/international article, internet posting, or magazine. The culminating project includes artists from the United States, Canada, England and South Africa. Within two years, 95 cubes were carved.

'By sharing a cube consisting of the same story, some artists connected with each other in their communities, while others shared one story with strangers in other places,' Nicol said. 'Participants responded to one another’s marks, their visual images and the initial story.'

[text and graphic from College press release.]

* CCAI Executive Director Sharon Rosse is among the 500+ featured artists!

A Tribe of Artists at the Burn

Nevada Arts Council
OXS Gallery
716 N. Carson Street, Suite A
Carson City

Geoffrey Nelson:
A Tribe of Artists: Costumes and Culture at Burning Man

"... featuring fourteen life-sized photographs and three mannequins. Nelson photographs Burning Man attendees in a portable, tent-like studio that he transports and constructs on the desert playa."

This exhibit is featured in the NTI-Traveling Exhibition Program.

[text and graphic from Council website. Click on image to enlarge.]

Save the Date! - "Work Bench Project"

Save the Date!

Artist Reception:
Friday, February 12 | 5–7 pm
CCAI Courthouse Gallery
"Work Bench Project"
Site-specific exhibition by
Jim McCormick

[Staff photo of artist Jim McCormick at work. January 2010. Click to enlarge.]

Let Freedom Ring!

[For the second year running, we present a recording of Dr. Martin Luther King's most famous speech on the occasion of the national holiday in his honor. From the Wikipedia entry for Martin Luther King: "I Have A Dream" is the popular name given to the public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites among others would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement."]

Eric Strain | BRDI | NMA

Black Rock Design Institute at the Nevada Museum of Art

January 21
Social hour with Silver Peak Beer at 5 pm. Lecture at 6 pm.

more

Lucy Raven | China Town

Nevada Museum of Art
160 West Liberty Street
Reno

Center for Art + Environment

Lucy Raven: China Town

"Begun while working as an artist-in-residence at the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Lucy Raven's video China Town traces copper mining and production from an open pit mine in East Ely, Nevada to the Yangtze River in China, where the semi-processed ore is sent to be smelted, refined, and spun into wire and used to electrify the nation. The video consists of an animated sequence created from more than 7,000 photographs, along with ambient sound that Raven recorded along her journey across the globe. China Town offers a stunning view of the relationship between the industrial landscapes of two countries, whose economies are intimately linked due to China’s increased demand for resources and electricity."

Through May 9

NB: Matt Coolidge, Center for Land Use Interpretation Director, will be part of CCAI's March 2010 Nevada Neighbors project, and will give a public talk on Wednesday, March 31 at 7 pm at the Carson City Library.

[Text from Museum website. Graphic from Mass MoCA web site. Click on image to enlarge.]

The Artistry of Western Ranching Culture

January 25-March 11

Western Nevada College
College Gallery
Bristlecone Building

“The Lingo of Our Calling: The Legacy of Cowboy Poetry”
Artists Reception: Wednesday, January 27 | 4:30-5:30 pm

"'The Lingo of Our Calling' offers a glimpse into ranching culture of the rural West through the lens of cowboy poetry and related art forms.

The multimedia show features cowboy poetry, music and gear, paintings, photography, posters, and quilting. Short films featuring the art and work of contemporary ranchers offer insight into the culture from those who work the land.

From the time of the open range and trail drives to today’s ranching generation, cowboy poetry, storytelling and music have been a means of entertainment and communication. Because of their universal themes – friendship, loyalty, connection to place, loss, loneliness and change – these art forms have an appeal that reaches well beyond the culture from which it emanates."

Curated by the Western Folklife Center in Elko, and presented as part of the Nevada Arts Council’s Nevada Touring initiative.

Gallery Hours: Weekdays from 9 am - 8 pm
Saturday 10 am - 4 pm

[text and graphic from WNC press release. Caption: "'The Legend of Pecos Bill.' 1948. Harold Von Schmidt (1893-1982). Courtesy of the Museum of Texas Tech University.]

In the Arts, Bigger Buildings May Not Be Better

[With thanks to SB in Carson City for the tip, reprinted in full from the December 12, 2009 New York Times. Note that the Capital City Arts Initiative is an organization without walls, working with local agencies including the Carson City Courthouse, Carson City Library and Classy Seconds Thrift Store to develop and present public programs.]

In the Arts, Bigger Buildings May Not Be Better
By Robin Pogrebin

Within months of its opening in 1997, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao had given the language a new term and the world a new way of looking at culture. The “Bilbao effect,” many came to believe, was the answer to what ailed cities everywhere — it was a way to lure tourists and economic development — and a potential boon to cultural institutions.

Municipal governments and arts groups were soon pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into larger, flashier exhibition spaces and performance halls.

Now the economic downturn has reined in a lot of these big dreams and has also led to questions about whether ambitious building projects from Buffalo to Berkeley ever made sense to begin with. Some are arguing that arts administrators and their patrons succumbed to an irrational exuberance that rivaled the stock market’s in the boom years.

Organizations were “blinded by the excitement of what it would be like to have this great new facility,” said D. Carroll Joynes, a senior fellow at the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center.

The recession, he said he believed, is not solely to blame for a recent wave of projects that have been delayed (like additions to the St. Louis Art Museum and the Cincinnati Art Museum); scaled back (like the new building of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, N.Y.); put into question (the new Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and the renovation of the New York Public Library’s main Fifth Avenue branch); or abandoned altogether (the expansion of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo).

In Mr. Joynes’s view, “The recession is exposing the weakness of a lot of institutions that were seriously overstretched” before it began.

“It’s exposing poor management and poor planning,” said Mr. Joynes, who is collaborating on a study of 50 cultural building projects completed from 1994 to 2008 and their planning processes. These were situations, he added, in which “nobody actually asked: ‘Is there a need here? If they build it, will they come?’ ”

Last month the University of California abandoned plans for a new 140,000-square-foot Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The project, designed by the high-profile Japanese architect Toyo Ito, was intended to replace a smaller existing building that does not meet seismic standards, but also to do much more: with its towering windows, huge interior spaces and curvaceous steel exterior, it was destined to become “an icon for the entire Bay Area,” Berkeley’s chancellor, Robert J. Birgeneau, said in 2008.

Less than half of the $200 million needed to build the Ito design had been raised, from private donors and the university, and the new economic reality put additional fund-raising in serious doubt.

But the museum was worried about more than just construction costs. While new wings and buildings can lead to increases in both visitors and donations, at least at first, they can also be a major drain on an organization’s operating budget.

“What has been thought of as a short-term asset can be a long-term problem,” said Jonathan Katz, the chief executive of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. “Facilities cost money to operate, and they deteriorate. The facility itself becomes a series of expenditures.”

Lawrence R. Rinder, the museum’s director, said the decision to build the Ito design came out of a “well-reasoned expectation” of what was financially possible before the recession. Still, he acknowledged, “the ongoing economic shock inspired us to evaluate not only the shorter-term capital campaign but also strategies for sustainable operation.”

The building, he said, would have increased operating costs 10 to 20 percent above the $8 million the museum now spends annually on all its operations. It is in the process of coming up with a “smaller-scale” plan for a new home, he added, which will probably cost about as much as the current building to operate.

Most arts professionals describe their building projects as born of necessity: they needed larger galleries to bring permanent collections out of storage; they needed audience amenities like larger restrooms and upgraded air-conditioning to draw ticket buyers; they needed a building that was up to current code. But some concede that it was hard not to be caught up in what Mr. Joynes called the “frenzy of building” made possible by the booming economy and spurred on by highly visible projects like Walt Disney Concert Hall, the expanded Museum of Modern Art and the new Alice Tully Hall.

“Museums, when they saw how much money other museums were raising, said, ‘Oh, we can’t miss out on this,’ ” said Terry Riley, a former head of the Museum of Modern Art’s department of architecture and design, who helped oversee that museum’s renovation by Yoshio Taniguchi. In many cases, he added, “it’s almost as though money drove the decision.”

Maxwell Anderson, the director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which finished a major expansion in 2006 and is now completing a 100-acre park, said that “in part, all of us have been watching how these projects are perceived.”

“There is a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses quality to museum building,” he continued.

The Dia Art Foundation, which once had big plans for a 34,000-square-foot, column-free space at the entrance to the High Line in New York — before losing a board chairman who was also its main benefactor in 2006 — announced last month that it would instead build a 25,000-square-foot space on the site of a former garage it already owns on West 22nd Street in Chelsea.

Philippe Vergne, who became Dia’s director last year, defended the original plans: “It was what the world was — more was more.” But the recession “forced us to slow down” and really consider institutional needs, he said. What the foundation wants now is a simple, utilitarian space that makes art the main event.

“I want the ambition to be for the program, not the building — not, ‘Let’s go big because we’re addicted to big,’ ” Mr. Vergne said.

The economic downturn has had this effect on a lot of arts organizations, said Adrian Ellis, the executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the founder of AEA Consulting, a leading arts consultant.

“Cultural buildings became the way in which cities articulate their identity and vitality — they were driven not by the artistic community but by a civic agenda,” he said. Now the economy is pushing organizations into “deep reflection about what their purpose is and how best to realize it,” he said — reflection that can lead back to an arts-focused agenda, and to a renewed concern about “protecting their capacity to take artistic risks.”

“When you overexpand, you limit your ability to take those risks,” Mr. Ellis said. “Although expansion is usually seen as a sign of health, it is not always a sign of vitality.”

Mr. Joynes, of the University of Chicago, said that his study of cultural building projects aimed to explore this issue. “Do you do many more ‘Swan Lakes’ and take fewer chances artistically because you have big bills to pay?” he asked.

Cultural agencies and foundations are also reflecting on the institutions they help finance, albeit in more practical terms.

“We have become increasingly concerned about the sustainability of organizations as a result of these building projects,” said Alice L. Carle, program director of the Kresge Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations nationwide. Ms. Carle said her foundation had decided to prioritize “renovation and repair projects over new construction and large expansions.”

“We’re more interested in helping shore up what organizations have already built,” she said.

Many institutions, of course, managed to complete their big projects before the downturn, though some may be experiencing builders’ remorse. For example, the $461 million Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, designed by César Pelli — whose vision statement promised it would transform the city into “the cultural capital of the Americas”— ended its first year, in October 2007, with a $2.5 million operating deficit, thanks to low ticket sales and high operating costs. (It has been kept afloat with the help of a $30 million gift from a philanthropist, Adrienne Arsht, for whom the center has been renamed.)

In Chicago, the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies owes $43.6 million of the $51.6 million it borrowed for its new building on South Michigan Avenue, completed two years ago. The institute’s galleries are now open only on alternate Sundays and the second Thursday of every month, its Wolfgang Puck kosher cafe is closed, and 26 percent of the staff has been cut.

The institute had expected income from event rentals and catering to help with revenue, and still hopes to find organizations that want to share the space. “We counted on a whole lot of weddings, bar mitzvahs, private parties,” said Hal M. Lewis, who became president and chief executive of Spertus in July. “These have materialized with less intensity than anticipated.”

Mr. Lewis, who was not around when the decision to build was made, says it was well intentioned, but describes the result as “an operating model and a debt service that requires us to live beyond our means.” Much of his energy these days is spent on efforts to change that result, though he tries not to dwell on what might not have been.

“I wish my hair would grow back too, but I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it,” Mr. Lewis said. “Now I’ve got to go on.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 25, 2009
Because of an editing error, an article on Dec. 12 about building projects by arts institutions that have been delayed or canceled because of the economic downturn erroneously included one museum among those that have delayed plans to build additions. The Columbus Museum of Art says that while fund-raising has been delayed for its addition, the project itself has not.

==

[graphic from The New York Times. Caption: "# Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. A digital rendering of the canceled Berkeley museum’s exterior and pedestrian walkway."]

Big-band jazz times two

Jan. 15

Brewery Arts Center
Performance Hall
511 W. King Street
Carson City
775.883.1976

Mile High Jazz Band & Carson High Jazz Band's 7th Annual Joint Concert "Big-band jazz times two"

Concert benefits Carson High Band programs.

Tickets: $12 general admission | $10 students and seniors | $5 for youth age 12 and under.

Information: 775-883-4154 or milehighjazz.com.

[Graphic from Google image search for 'Big band jazz.']

Devin Charles Hosselkus

[CCAI shares this sad news from Marjorie Vecchio and the UNR Art Department Sheppard Gallery Staff. Our deepest sympathies go to Devin Hosselkus' family and friends]

"Devin Hosselkus - our beloved friend, former gallery preparator and University of Nevada, Reno BFA graduate - passed away on December 30th from a yearlong battle with cancer. He would have been 25 years-old next month. As many of you know, Devin played a deeply integral part in our programming's success and he remains a favored student by all of our out-of-town visiting artists and speakers for the past three years. His loss is irreconcilable. Just a few months ago Sheppard Gallery began organizing a solo exhibition and catalog with Devin of his latest artwork for Fall 2010; this exhibition will still happen and you'll receive information when it approaches.

A memorial service is scheduled on Friday Jan. 22nd from 4 - 6:30 pm at the Nevada Museum of Art, with speakers beginning at 4 pm in the theatre. We hope you can attend and please spread the word. I also want to thank all of you who supported Devin and his family by participating in the Benefit Auction held for him last year by the generous folks at Studio on 4th. Devin and his family were extremely touched by the loving outpouring of our amazing Reno-area community.

For more information please see the Reno Gazette-Journal obituary cut/pasted below or call the gallery at 775-784-6658.

Marjorie Vecchio and Sheppard Gallery Staff"

==

Reno Gazette-Journal
January 8, 2010

Devin Charles Hosselkus
February 6, 1985 - December 30, 2009

Devin Charles Hosselkus, age 24, passed away on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at the University of California San Francisco Children's Hospital after a courageous and poignant year-long fight against Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Devin graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. He was a frequent contributor to the Reno community arts scene and worked as a lead artist for the Reno Youth Artworks program in 2008. In January of 2009 Devin opened a solo art exhibition at McKinley Arts and Culture Center in downtown Reno. He also worked as a preparator at the Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery at UNR for more than a year and illustrated a children's book written by a local author. When Devin was diagnosed with cancer in February, he was preparing to travel to Vermont for an artist's residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Throughout his extensive cancer treatments, Devin continued to create art in anticipation of applying to graduate school. Devin fought against his cancer with every thread of his being, without complaint. He was and is an inspiration to those who were fortunate enough to know him. His spirit survives in his artwork and he will be remembered and loved always.

Devin is survived by his parents, Chuck and Debbie Hosselkus and his sister, Erika Hosselkus. He is also survived by grandparents, Del and Emma Hosselkus, Dick and Linda Metcalf, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

A Tribute to Devin will be held at The Nevada Museum of Art, 160 West Liberty St., Reno, NV 89501 on Friday, January 22, 2010, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tribute will begin at 4 p.m. in the theater. Reception will follow in Reynolds Hall.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to UCSF Children's Hospital Inpatient Pediatric Oncology Service at UCSF Foundation Inpatient Pediatric Oncology Service, P.O. Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339. Please specify that your donation is in memory of Devin Hosselkus.

[Text from Sheppard Art Gallery. Graphic from Devin Hosselkus' Flickr site. Caption: "'Central Plaza.' Across Virginia Street from the mural is central plaza. Which is depicted here. On the upper left is the Sienna Hotel Casino complex and on the right is the U.S. Post Office which was built during the New Deal campaign. Painting measures 124 sq feet. (204" x 144")"]

La Velata

Nevada Museum of Art
160 West Liberty Street
Reno

Raphael: The Woman with the Veil
Through March 21

Raphael’s masterpiece painting "The Woman with the Veil," depicting a woman wearing a veil, embodies some of the high Renaissance master’s distinctive qualities: his control over pigment and color, and a serenity that contrasts with the style of his mentors and fellow icons of the era.

[Text from museum website. Caption: "Raphael (nee Raphael Sanzio), La Donna Velata or La Velata (The Woman with the Veil), c. 1516. Oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches. Collection of Istituti museale della Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino."]

CCAI Courthouse Gallery Reception Tonight!

Reminder!
Tonight:

Friday, January 8 | 5 - 7 pm
CCAI Courthouse Gallery
885 East Musser Street
Carson City

Recycled Seconds CCAI Exhibition Closing Reception

Participating Artists:
Diamond Barker
Juliana Bledsoe
Rita Borsellis
Bryan Christiansen
Terra Coyan
Veronica Garcia
Kodi Fujii
Andrew Jones
Dominique Palladina
Genny Reuter
Gil Valdez

more:
FB Event Page
Earlier Blog Post

[graphic from CCAI photography archive. Staff photo by Christel Passink]

The King

[With all due respect to Michael Jackson, we take a moment to salute the undisputed King of Rock 'n Roll on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth. Rock on Elvis.]

Elvis Aaron Presley January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977

Below are links to an assessment of Elvis by the brilliant rock critic Ann Powers.

King vs. King: Debating Elvis Presley's best songs
King vs. King: Debating Elvis Presley's best songs Part II
Ann Powers LA Times

CVAC presents: Fishtank Ensemble

C.V.I.C Hall
1602 Esmeralda Avenue
Minden

January 22
6pm Reception
7pm Concert

Fishtank Ensemble

"For those in need of having their dervish whirled, the Bay Area's Fishtank Ensemble are the rompin',stompin' leaders of cross-pollinated Gypsy music."

Tickets: Members: $17 before the show
Non-Members: $20

Click here for a preview listen!

[text and graphic from CVAC Web site.]

Auditions: The Sound of Music

Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company

Wednesday, January 13 | 6 pm
Auditions: The Sound of Music

Sarah Winnemucca Hall
Western Nevada College
2699 Van Patten Drive
Carson City

"The beloved musical will play two weekends at the Carson City Community Center May 7-16. Rehearsals begin in February.

Roles to be cast include 17 principal and secondary roles, including seven children, as well as an ensemble.

Auditioners should come prepared to sing a song under one minute long. They should bring a taped accompaniment or provide the accompanist with a musical score – a capella auditions are not advised. Solo auditions are recommended.

Callbacks for some performers will follow on Friday evening.

The Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company [WNMTC] is a critically acclaimed regional theater company operated through the Performing Arts Program at WNC, drawing tour buses from all around Nevada and California. Previous productions have drawn as many as 6,000 people. Shows play in a 750-seat theater and are accompanied by a live orchestra. Stephanie Arrigotti produces and directs. Gina Kaskie-Davis is the choreographer.

Everyone accepted in either cast must register to participate in the productions. All credit students will receive a scholarship to defray half their tuition. Children need to register non-credit.

For more information, check the WNMTC website or call 775-445-4249.

[Text from WNC press release. Graphic from Google image search for "Von Trapp Family." Caption: "Trapp Family Lodge is owned and managed by the von Trapps, one of the world's best known and beloved musical families. The von Trapps, the inspiration."]

Recycled Seconds Closing Reception this Friday!

CCAI's first party of the year! You're invited!

Friday, January 8 | 5 - 7 pm
CCAI Courthouse Gallery
885 East Musser Street
Carson City

Recycled Seconds CCAI Exhibition Closing Reception

Please join us for the closing reception of "Recycled Seconds" CCAI's exhibition of DIY fashion by northern Nevada artists and designers.

What a great way to start the year _and_ the weekend. We hope to see you there!

Free | Invite everyone you ever met!

FB Event page r.s.v.p.

[Graphic from the CCAI Flickr Album. Caption: ""CCAI Recycled Seconds Benefit Fashion Show " at Classy Seconds. October 16, 2009. Carson City, Nevada."]

January FWAC!

First Wednesday Arts Coffee
Wednesday, January 6 | 4:30-6 pm

The Bliss Mansion

608 Elizabeth Street*

Carson City

Mark your calendar! This first FWAC of 2010 will again bring together area artists and arts supporters, gathering for CCAI's monthly arts coffee at the famous Bliss Mansion*.

All invited to convene for coffee and conversation at this spirited, caffeinated, CCAI trademark event!

Specials thanks, as always, to our hosts Cindy and Steve Brenneman.

* located at the corner of Robinson and Elizabeth Streets in Carson City's Historic District across the street from the Governor's Mansion.

[graphic from Google image search for 'coffee pot.']