This post was last updated on April 17. Keep sending in your vids and your other other art-from-home content, Nevada. I’ll keep posting them until we can all go out again. —KV
“After Gov. Steve Sisolak’s March 17 mandate to close most businesses in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, most art venues are not accessible to the public. I invited artists, galleries and museums to send video tours of their canceled shows—and some venues have come up with other creative ways to stay engaged with viewers while social distancing, too.
If you’re an artist or art space director in Nevada or Tahoe and you’d like to show us what’s on your walls right now or share your initiative to keep your viewers engaged with art, send a short video (or other media) to kris@doublescoop.art.
Carson High photography
Capital City Arts Initiative is hosting Photo Finished 2020, a group exhibition by Carson High’s advanced photography students. Here’s a tour of the show.
Quarantine interviews from the Lilley
The Lilley Museum of Art at UNR launched an interview series on Instagram TV, Quarantine Interview Sessions. In the first episode, Director Vivian Zavataro spoke with Shen Wei, an artist based in based in New York and Shanghai. More to come on the Lilley’s Instagram channel and YouTube channel.
Fit to print
Capital City Arts Initiative’s Ink, Paper, Print is practically a who’s-who of Northern Nevada printmakers, past and present: Carol Brown, Galen Brown, Katherine Case, Teal Francis, Mary Kenny, Eunkang Koh, Jim McCormick, Cathryn Powell, Phyllis Shafer, Mick Sheldon, and Rachel Stiff. The venue, Carson City Community Center’s Sierra Room, has been closed to visitors, but CCAI’s Christel Passink sent this video tour.
Vignettes of a lonely world
Las Vegas artist Diane Bush is among photographers worldwide who contributed to an album of COVID-life photographs called “When You Can’t Find The Words …” The album is hosted by CEPA Gallery Photography & Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, New York. Submissions are still open.
A photo from Diane Bush’s series, “Wish You Were Here,” images of seniors using VR.
Poets and artists show the many sides of grief
From the Nevada Humanities Gallery in Las Vegas. More details and images on Nevada Humanities website.
A window into a photograph
UNLV’s Barrick Museum started a series of virtual tours on the College of Fine Arts Youtube channel. Each video examines specific pieces from the Barrick’s collection, and the narration is geared toward those who are new to art viewing. (Teachers! Take note. These vids are readymade introductions to teaching art history in extremely manageable, short segments.) This one takes a minute-and-a-half-long look at UNLV alum Kathleen Nathan’s 2012 photograph “Evening” from her series Inside Brooklyn.
True colors
Las Vegas artist Nancy Good sent nine soothing minutes of her colorful, geometric abstract paintings at Core Contemporary Gallery.
Nevada Museum of Art: “Reigning Queens”
Britain has Elizabeth. We have Beyonce and Oprah. This American take on royalty is one of the many notions about our national identity that the NMA’s current show, The World Stage, explores. Here’s a glimpse at one section of the exhibition, “Reigning Queens,” with artworks by Andy Warhol, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, and Mickalene Thomas.
Peter Whittenberger’s festival flick
Peter Whittenberger, a digital artist who teaches at UNR, has a video piece accepted to the FILE Festival, en electronic arts festival in São Paolo, Brazil. The event has been canceled, but Peter sent his piece to Double Scoop, too. Here’s how he describes it: “Set in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and overlooking the scenic Truckee Meadows, ‘All Possible Futures’ is a journey through time that focuses on the possible impact of forgotten nuclear waste storage on three fictitious societies, existing many millennia in the future.”
A peek into Stremmel Gallery
Parker Stremmel sent some photos of work in the main gallery.
Elaine Parks’ Tuscarora studio
Here’s a preview of some of the work Elaine plans to show at Oats Park art Center in Fallon beginning in July. From her studio in remote Tuscarora, north of Elko, there’s easy access to open space, where Elaine walks daily. Her sculptures contain objects she finds outside—like animal bones and century-old metal scraps—objects she makes from clay, and domestic objects, such as pearls.
A glimpse into Wally Cuchine’s everyday world
Wally Cuchine spent decades amassing what is probably the largest collection of work by Nevada artists anywhere. He donated the bulk of it to the Ely Art Bank, where it’s on public display, but his Eureka home is still filled wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with art. If you’re not yet familiar with Wally and his collection, Jules Moreno and Shevawn Von Tobel’s 13-minute film, Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection, is a fantastic introduction. And here’s some of the Nevada artwork that still lives with him.
Paula Chung at Courthouse Gallery
Capital City Arts Initiative’s Sharon Rosse sent this tour of Paula Chung’s exhibition, “Impact” in Carson City. Paula starts with images of X-rays and MRIs, then “draws” them with her sewing machine, in painstaking detail, onto large pieces of paper. Also recommended: Chris Lanier’s insightful essay on Paula’s work. It has some great descriptions of her process.
Homero Hidalgo at UNLV
UNLV MFA student Homero Hidalgo’s work is reminiscent of European painters like Picasso and Miro, who used geometric abstractions and showed different sides of a subject, all on one flattened plane. He also has this goal: “To capture contemporary time and reflect our contemporary light.” (That’s from his artist’s statement.) Homero’s allegiance to art history doesn’t stop his work from looking fresh and contemporary. His thesis show was up at UNLV’s Donna Beam Gallery from March 1-14. To see more, follow Homero on Instagram.
Back to the drawing board
Campuses have closed, and art teachers have adapted quickly by taking their lessons online. Rossi Todorova, a drawing instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, posted her drawing lessons online. This one’s a detailed class in portraits and how to plan them from the start so that the proportions work. If you’re a beginner, check out Rossi’s YouTube channel, and start with one of the “thumbnails” videos.
Emily Kray’s BFA show, the hands-off version
UNR BFA student Emily Kray makes artwork you can play with—a jigsaw puzzle, blocks, Rubik’s cubes, and a game with multi-sided dice with facial features that end up arranged in different configurations. These artworks are part of her exploration into how we construct our identities. Emily installed her BFA thesis show, “Nurture,” in the Student Gallery at UNR, which is now closed. This quiet, 3-minute walk-through conveys a strong sense of the show’s atmosphere and details.
Classical Minimalism (at first glance, anyway)
UNR BFA student Mariah Vargas sent a tour of her thesis show. Be sure to pause on her artist’s statement. She has a fresh take on how Minimalist sculpture can represent human figures in a way that the first wave of Minimalists from the 60s and 70s probably did not foresee.
Clay dragons
Here’s a quick look at UNR BFA student Sandra Kramp’s thesis show, “From Sunset to Sunrise.”
The Barrick wants you to keep making art
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV invites anyone and everyone to keep drawing. For more details, visit @unlvmusuem on Instagram.
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