Mark NeuCollins: "a thousand ways ...."

a thousand ways . . . .
at the
Saint Mary's Art Center
55 North R Street
Virginia City



CCAI invites you to visit the Mark NeuCollins' residency exhibition at St. Mary's Art Center [SMAC] in Virginia City. Each spring, CCAI collaborates with SMAC to produce a two-week artist residency and exhibition. This year CCAI and SMAC hosted Mark NeuCollins from the Iowa heartland to experience life and art-making on the Comstock. Katie Grace McGowan wrote the exhibition essay "An Exquisite Balance" available in the gallery and soon online. The exhibition is open to the public Friday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm, through June 26.

NeuCollins' installation uses local natural materials, with a large earth mandala on the floor forming the centerpiece created from Virginia City's vivid native soils. Hanging paper made from sage brush and a gate made from branches adds to the sense of transition and ephemerality. NeuCollins said about the exhibition, "This is a meditation on the environment and our existence within it. By gathering local materials and making these materials the focus of the installation, I hope to create a sense of reverence for the beauty that surrounds us every day."

[exhibition photography by CCAI]

CCAI and SMAC present Mark NeuCollins' "a thousand ways ...."

You're invited to
Mark NeuCollins' residency exhibition reception

a thousand ways . . . .
Saturday, June 4, 4 to 6pm
at the
Saint Mary's Art Center
55 North R Street
Virginia City

The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] and St. Mary's Art Center [SMAC] enthusiastically invite you to the reception for Mark NeuCollins' residency exhibition at the art center in Virginia City. This year CCAI and SMAC hosted Mark NeuCollins from the country's heartland for a two-week residency to experience art-making on the Comstock. His exhibition, "a thousand ways . . . ." opens this Saturday, June 4, 4 - 6pm and continues through June 26. St. Mary's is open to the public Friday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm.

NeuCollins created a large earth mandala as the exhibition's centerpiece using local natural materials. Hanging paper made from sage brush and a gate made from branches adds to the sense of transition and ephemerality. NeuCollins said about the exhibition, "This is a meditation on the environment and our existence within it. By gathering local materials and making these materials the focus of the installation, I hope to create a sense of reverence for the beauty that surrounds us every day."

Note from the artist: "My how quickly two weeks flies by! I have been loving the time I have spent here “in the hills” of Virginia City, working in this fabulous Saint Mary’s Art Center building. I arrived here from Iowa with just a few tools and a lot of ideas, and have spent a lot of my time collecting local natural materials to use in my installation here in the “Under the Eaves” gallery. I am busy right now putting the finishing touches on it, and am quite pleased with this reflection of my Nevada experience. I hope to see you Saturday for the unveiling of the finished work, and that you take as much pleasure in the work as I have taken in making it." – Mark NeuCollins

An exhibition by northern Nevada's group Printmakers' Conspiracy also opens at SMAC this Saturday, June 4, 4 - 6pm and continues through August 2011. The exhibition includes work by Carol Brown, Amy Currier, Cindy Gunn, Valia Hylin, Rachel Kaiser, Susan Kotler, David C. Laws, Liz Paganelli, Carole Ricketts, Sharon Tetly, Sue Roberts, and Lynn Schmidt. St. Mary's is open to the public Friday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm.

[image and text from the Mark NeuCollins and from St. Mary's Art Center]

"Blue Skies & Green Vistas: Artists and the Environment"

Save the date!
Wednesday, October 20|7pm

Carson City Library
900 N. Roop Street
Carson City
ph. 775-887-2244

CCAI Nevada Neighbors Lecture Series:
"Blue Skies & Green Vistas: Artists and the Environment

Nevada Neighbors, the Capital City Arts Initiative's ongoing series of illustrated public talks, presents Mark NeuCollins.

In his talk, Mr. NeuCollins will discuss art as connected with the environment. His interest in conservation and the environment have led to research discoveries that he will present. He comments: "Understanding is an evolutionary process, and the creation of artwork is a journey of discovery."

[Graphic courtesy of Mark NeuCollins. Caption: "Standing"]