Georgia O’Keeffe saw the modern world in unique ways, including the way in which she perceived the sky. Blue tones, clouds, and unusual perspectives of the horizon characterize much of her work. This talk will focus on O’Keeffe’s representation of the southwest sky in her paintings and fashion as well as in photographs of the artist.

Dr. Brett M. Van Hoesen is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The Art Bite series is supported by Nevada Humanities.

From an early date, Georgia O’Keeffe’s reputation as an artist was tied to her image; a public person crafted principally through photography. Central to this was her relationship, beginning in 1917, with Alfred Stieglitz. But Stieglitz was not the only photographer who made her a frequent subject. Friends, including Ansel Adams and Todd Webb, captured O’Keeffe in more candid moments. This talk focuses on photographs from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s collection. 

Dr. Ariel Plotek is Curator of Fine Art at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to this, he served as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the San Diego Museum of Art, where his projects included Gauguin to Warhol: 20th Century Icons from the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition, The Art of Music, Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture, Modern Masters from Latin America, and Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold. He received his undergraduate degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, in London, and his PhD from the New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts where he studied under Linda Nochlin and Robert Rosenblum. In addition to his research, he is also an artist and writer. 

The period when Georgia O’Keeffe crafted her signature style of dress was also one of great development and change in American fashion at large. Against the background of war in Europe, a worldwide Depression, and the rise of Hollywood, America’s nascent fashion design industry sought to develop a distinctly American style to break free from the perceived dominance of French fashion.  This talk will look at the elements and sources of O’Keeffe’s signature wardrobe and locate them within the larger story of American fashion of her era.

Melissa Leventon, a founding partner of Curatrix Group museum consultants, is a specialist in European and American fashion and textiles.  Formerly Curator-in-Charge of Textiles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco she has organized exhibitions involving art media ranging from contemporary glass to the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Melissa has been a consultant to museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, The Textile Museum, and the Chicago History Museum. Since 2006 she has also served as a senior consultant to the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok.  

Melissa has authored or contributed to numerous publications and was recently featured as an on-screen expert in the “California” episode of PBS’s Craft in America series.  In addition to her curatorial and appraisal work, Melissa teaches fashion history and theory at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

The Art Bite series is supported by Nevada Humanities.

Join artist Galen Brown and Curator of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northrup  in the gallery for an informal conversation regarding Sine Cere. Take this special opportunity to meet and engage with the artist in this retrospective exhibition.

The Art Bite series is supported by Nevada Humanities.

Published in 2019, This Side of the Divide is an anthology reflecting the diversity and complexity of the American West. This volume of twenty-five authors, curated in part by MFA students in the Creative Writing program at the University of Nevada, Reno, presents writings about the lives, work, aspirations, fears, and ethnic roots of a diverse population. This Side of the Divide is a celebration of culture, a humble attempt to tap into that golden vein of contemporary literature thriving in the American West.

Join acclaimed authors and contributors, Chanelle Benz, Brian Evenson, and Vanessa Hua, as they read their stories and discuss the diversity of the contemporary West. A panel discussion will follow the readings and is moderated by Christopher Coake, author and director of the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

A book signing will follow the program. 

This program is presented in partnership by Baobab Press, the publishing arm of Reno’s Sundance Books and Music, with the Nevada Museum of Art and Nevada Humanities.

Join us for a gallery conversation in “Without You I Am Nothing” as guest curator Alberto Rodríguez Garcia shares his perspectives about selections from the Museum’s permanent collection dealing with labor and class.

The Art Bite series is supported by Nevada Humanities.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s sartorial style became an intimate part of her artistic identity. She dressed like she painted, highly valuing abstraction, simplicity, and seriality. In a lecture titled, “Dressing for the Photographer: Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Clothes,” art historian and Living Modern guest curator, Wanda M. Corn will explore the way O’Keeffe used her distinctive taste in clothes to model for photographers, creating a public persona for O’Keeffe that still dominates the American imagination today.

Doors open at 10:30 am with complimentary coffee. Book signing to follow discussion.

Wanda M. Corn is the Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in Art History at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. At Stanford, she held the university’s first permanent appointment in the history and American art and served as chair of the Department of Art and Art History and acting director of the Stanford Museum. Active as a guest curator, she has produced various books and exhibitions, including The Color of Mood: American Tonalism 1990-1910 (1972); The Art of Andrew Wyeth (l973); Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision (1983); The Great American Thing, Modern Art and National Identity 1915-1935; Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition (2011); Seeing Gertrude Stein, Five Stories (2011-12); and most recently, Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern (2017-2019).

Sponsorship: To recognize the Scholls in perpetuity, the Nevada Museum of Art has established The Debra and Dennis Scholl Distinguished Speaker Series to present prominent visiting speakers on contemporary art and visual culture. This ongoing series is a fitting association as the Scholls continue to encourage Museums to push the boundaries in the art world.

Additional sponsorship: Enid A. Oliver, ChFC®, CLTC, Private Wealth Advisor, Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

Jack Malotte’s artworks celebrates the landscapes of the Great Basin, with a unique focus on contemporary political issues faced by Native people seeking to protect and preserve access to their lands. Malotte infuses wry humor into his work, even as he delves into subject matter that is sometimes serious and sobering. Malotte’s most recent work reconsiders historical narratives and myths of the American West, refers to Western Shoshone and Washoe traditions and legends, and highlights longtime political, environmental, and legal struggles of Native communities. Join us for a conversation between Jack Malotte and Ann M. Wolfe, Andrea and John C. Deane Family Senior Curator and Deputy Director. 

Doors open at 10:30 am with book sales. Signing to follow the talk.

Join author, photographer and co-founder of Burning Man, Will Roger as he reveals his newest book which includes a substantial collection of Roger’s aerial photos chronicling the ever-changing cityscape and transformation of the temporary Black Rock City. This program will feature a panel discussion between Will Roger, Crimson Rose, Tony Coyote Perez-Banuet and William L. Fox, Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, moderated by James Stanford.

Doors open at 5 pm with bar. Book signing to follow.

Textile artist Toni Lowden uses fibers to explore color, texture and pattern in her large-scale weavings. Join us for a discussion about the use of textiles to communicate a narrative. 

The Art Bite lecture series is sponsors by Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities