As a continuation of our discussion on the “State of the Arts,” we will speak with prominent Las Vegas gallerists and collectors to learn more about how we, as a community, can support the arts in Las Vegas and hear first-hand about what it takes to build a collection, educate the uninitiated, and cultivate a growing audience of patrons.

At the table:

Patrick Duffy, Collector

Marty Walsh, Gallery Owner. Trifecta

Todd VonBastiaans, Collector

Brett Wesley Sperry, Gallery Owner, Brett Wesley Gallery

Matthew Couper, Artist (Moderator)

We encourage an open dialogue from all in attendance and remind everyone that this is not meant to be your everyday panel discussion. Come listen, respond, discuss, and get your thoughts heard.

This year’s guest juror, Erin Cosgrove, is an artist and writer whose sculptures, drawings, multi-media projects and books have been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe including one-person shows at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Printed Matter, New York; and Espace Croise Centre d’art Contemporain, Roubaix, France. Her work has been included in shows and screenings at Institute of Contemporary Art in London; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She has received grants and fellowships from The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The Creative Capital Foundation, The Durfee Foundation, The Center for Cultural Innovation and other sources. http://www.erincosgrove.com

Participating Artsist:

Adam Schwieder, Alexander Solomon, Alisha Kerlin, Amber Hoy, Amelia Currier, Dan Hernandez,
David Mazure, Eddie Bragard, Eri King, Eun Kwang Light Park, Heather Goodwind, Jenne Giles, Jennifer Drinkwater, Jeremy Underwood, Justin Cameron, Kate Shannon, Kurt Dyrhaug, Linda Alterwitz, Michael Herres, Michael Roy, Nathan Cote, Peter Walker and Zach Collins

Our first topic of discussion will be in response to the recent Las Vegas Weekly article, State of the Arts, by Kristen Petersen. We look to delve further into the subject, addressing points that may or may not have been touched upon in the article, or during the follow up KNPR radio interview.

AT THE TABLE:

Erik Beehn, Artist, Adjunct Faculty at CSN
JW Caldwell, Artist
Matthew Couper, Artist
Scott Dickensheets, Editor at Las Vegas CityLife
Kristen Petersen, Arts writer for Las Vegas Weekly/Las Vegas Sun
Dana Satterwhite, TastySpace Gallery owner, Satterworx Creative Director
Michele C Quinn, Owner, MCQ Fine Art
Jenessa Kenway, Artist, freelance art critic with CityLife, Adjunct Faculty at UNLV

We want to encourage an open dialogue from all those in attendance and remind everyone that this is not meant to be your everyday panel discussion. Come listen, respond, discuss and get your thoughts heard regarding the State of the Arts in Las Vegas.

This historically important exercise in collaboration and technique is being organized as a benefit exhibition, with 100% of the proceeds to support the CAC and its future endeavors. It is simultaneously a celebration of the artists within the Las Vegas community, as well as homage to CAC’s existence as a collaborative organization that serves this community.

Based upon the premise of the original parlor game from the early 1900′s, Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative process in which artists are assigned a section of the body to draw, the paper is then folded to conceal the work and is passed to the next artist for their contribution. Through the Surrealist principle of metaphoric displacement, the final images only vaguely resemble the human form, and thus the Exquisite Corpse or Cadavre Exquis.

Artists:

Erik Beehn, Diane Bush, Susanne Forestieri, Brent Sommerhauser, Shawn Hummel, Joseph Watson, RC Wonderly, Sean Russell, Todd VonBastiaans, Justin Favela, Mark Brandvik, JW Caldwell, JK Russ, Matt Couper, Alisha Kerlin, Brent Holmes, Brian Swanson, Nancy Good, David Ohlerking, Su Limbert.

Special thank you to our event sponsors

Bachelor Portraits is an exhibition comprised of portraits from all regions of the United States and text pieces revealing what the camera cannot. The photographs present men and their desire to share the intimacy of their home with the world. Badach focuses on each man’s story and home, or  the safe places where they withdraw from the world to think, meditate, and exist; presenting highly personal, emotionally intense, and at times unsettling results. George (2008) is a piece within the series that explores the personal space of the subject, George. The image consists of a solitary middle-aged man, featured at a bar. With text accompanying the photograph, Badach further explains that George chose this peculiar space across the street from his apartment because it is where he feels most at home. The exhibition, consisting of a full range of stories and environments, creates direct points of contact between the artist and the man.

Justyna Badach was born in Leningrad and lived in Warsaw before immigrating to the United States. She holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has been nationally and internationally exhibited in highly acclaimed institutions including, NY Photography Festival (New York, NY), the Griffin Museum (Winchester, MA), Photo Center North West (Seattle, WA), The Australian Center for Photography (Sydney, Australia), and Art Wonderland Space (Copenhagen, Denmark). She has been awarded grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Leeway Foundation, Griffin Museum, and The Independence Foundation.

Earning his MFA from Syracuse University with a focus in sculpture and his BFA in renaissance and medieval studies from the State University of New York, Entner has been nationally recognized for his work. His art has been exhibited recently at 621Gallery (Tallahassee, FL), Living Arts (Tulsa, OK), AnnMarie Sculpture Gardens and Art Center (Dowell, MD), Memorial Art Gallery (Rochester, NY) and the University Art Museum (Albany, NY).

Erik Beehn

December 6 – December 29, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 6 from 6-9 pm 

Focusing on the comfort found in the familiarity of the American vernacular, Erik Beehn’s work addresses this through depiction of everyday environments that one may digest on a daily basis, but give little time to stop recognize.  Middle-class environments that are disappearing from our daily landscape are celebrated in his oeuvre.  With his latest project, Nothing Stays Here, Beehn celebrates and embraces the aspects of change within the ever evolving Las Vegas landscape.

In response to the catch phrase, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, Nothing Stays Here identifies the transient nature of the Las Vegas culture, a culture built from tourism.  Beehn engages the viewer in a conversation with the history of Las Vegas while encouraging individual involvement through a physical interaction with the work.  In an environment such as Las Vegas, a city that has the capabilities to reinvent itself through facades and themes, the only consistencies are in individual memories.  With this installation, Beehn encourages viewer interaction by removing wall elements; each viewer is the last to see that specific state of the work, which allows for an individual experience, with only the first viewer able to see the work in its entirety. Slightly changing with each experience, an investigation begins of the loss and abandonment that happens with such a rapidly changing environment, the stains left in the local fabric. Nothing Stays Here identifies and celebrates the impermanence in Las Vegas culture, and the experiences such environments foster, allowing each viewer to leave the exhibition with a unique experience, and a distinctive relic that is relative to the individual aspect of a single piece to a puzzle.

DONATE NOW TO HELP US CONTINUE TO SERVE THE LAS VEGAS COMMUNITY

The Las Vegas Contemporary Arts Center continued to bring the best of the contemporary art world to the Las Vegas Valley in 2012. In addition to its traditional roster of top-quality exhibitions featuring local, national, and international artists, the 23-year old institution expanded its operations significantly with the creation of a new member’s gallery and reading room and transformed it’s street-facing window gallery into a community space highlighting the work of student artists and community projects. Some of this year’s highlights include:

• The 23rd Annual Juried Show: Featuring artwork from around the US and LA-based art critic Mat Gleason as the show’s curator and judge, the Contemporary Art Center’s annual  juried show not only spotlighted the work of 45 amazing artists but gave rise to a documentary short by Eric Minh Swenson, “Mat Gleason: The Hung Juror in Las Vegas”.
• Off the Strip 3: For the third time, the Contemporary Arts Center gathered work from the cutting edge of video and performance art, collaborating with other local galleries and the London Biennale to create a city-wide celebration of typically under-supported artforms.
• Eastside Gallery: After incredible installations by Su Limbert, Marc Mellon, KD Matheson, and others, the Charleston Avenue-facing window gallery was transformed into a learning space, allowing Las Vegas Academy art students to create installations playing off/with the exhibitions inside, extending the conversation to the street.
• Members’ Gallery and Reading Room: A fundraising drive in August allowed the Contemporary Arts Center to transform part of its space into a gallery for the exhibition of work by its members and a reading room with a library of books, magazines, and catalogues from institutions around the world.
• Workshops: The Contemporary Arts Center’s commitment to education and service to the arts community informs the development of a new set of educational opportunities, starting with a series of “Build an Online Portfolio” workshops offered by CAC boardmember Cynthia DesGrange in partnership with Fremont Street-based tech center, usr/lib.
• Website Redesign: Our new site is sleeker, more representative of the Contemporary Arts Center’s forward-looking sensibility, and better-organized, allowing for greater access to information and a stronger overview of the work we do and how you can get involved.

The Contemporary Arts Center is grateful to the support of its members and sponsoring organizations, without whose ongoing financial support none of this would be possible. We look forward to another year of ground-breaking exhibitions and events, increased collaboration with Las Vegas-area organizations, and expanded educational opportunities. With your support, we can offer more workshops, expand our art offerings, and strengthen the foundation of the Las Vegas-area arts community.

Help us win the Mozilla Challenge by donating now through January 10 to our year-end giving campaign. (And don’t forget #GivingTuesday on November 27!)

Donate now at our our website or by visiting our Crowdrise page.