Friday art news roundup

Welcome to the Friday Art News Roundup! This week, there are new opportunities for artists, a new board member for the Nevada Arts Council—a UNLV professor with an out-of-this-world poetry and performance resume—and an update from Meow Wolf on the locals involved. 

To submit news for next week’s roundup, email kris@doublescoop.art. (The roundup generally does not include exhibitions, events, or calls for artists. You can post those here on our statewide visual arts calendar any time.)

Nevada First Lady relaunches artist showcase program virtually

This month, Nevada First Lady Kathy Sisolak relaunched “The First Lady presents…,” as a virtual, monthly program showcasing Nevada artists and artifacts in collaboration with the Nevada State Museum, Carson City.

Las Vegas painter Gwaylon Leaf is the featured artist for February. He uses a visual language synthesized from Chinese Taoist coded language and talisman.

Here’s the project’s website.

UNLV director of African American Studies joins Nevada Arts Council board 

Javon Johnson, director of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has joined the Nevada Arts Council Board.

Johnson is a three-time National Poetry Slam champion with a doctorate in performance studies. He’s appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Café and CNN’s United Shades of America, and has written several books.

You can learn more about Johnson’s in his UNLV bio.

UNR + Great Basin National Park announce artist-in-residence program

UNR’s School of the Arts announced the Great Basin National Park Foundation-University of Nevada, Reno Artist-in-Residence Program this week. Nevada/Utah/Great Basin-region artists, writers, and musicians are eligible to apply. Resident artists will camp in Great Basin National Park for two to four weeks this summer and present programs in the park and in their communities.

The application deadline is March 15. Details here.

Meow Wolf lineup includes lots of Vegas locals

[UPDATE—My initial list of artists in involved with Meow Wolf was incomplete. I updated it on Feb 13. If you know of any more Nevada artists I missed, please drop a comment here or let me know by email. Thank you! —KV]

Meow Wolf announced its full lineup this week. The 325+ artists include several from Las Vegas:

A press release described the project as having “4 vast anchor spaces and 60 additional unique environments, such as installation-filled rooms, terrains, and portals to other worlds.”

Here’s more info for artists who’d like to participate.