Join Bretton Rodriguez, Ph.D. and Edward Schoolman, Ph.D. as they explore the relationships between medieval cultures and their weapons. The development of new and better martial technology shaped the nature of warfare in the medieval and early modern worlds, and it transformed the practical, decorative, social, and metaphorical values of weapons of war. 

Bretton Rodriguez, Ph.D. is a teaching assistant professor of Core Humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a specialist in the literature, history, and culture of medieval and early modern Iberia. His research focuses on the use and manipulation of the past in historical narratives.

Ned Schoolman, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the History Department at the University of Nevada, Reno.  His current research centers on facets of nobility, the process of migration, and environmental change during the Middle Ages in Italy.

The Art Bite lecture series is supported by Nevada Humanities with additional sponsorship and free admission for students supported by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Carter E. Foster presents a broad overview of Edward Hopper’s creative process. Starting with his early work in New York and his formative travels to Paris, Foster will explore the ways in which Hopper developed his mature style as well as his love of ambiguity and the uncanny. Using suites of drawings for major works, Foster will delve deeply into how Hopper conceived certain paintings, and how observation of the real world combined with his imagination created the disquieting atmospheres for which he is celebrated. During the presentation we will explore Hopper’s masterpieces, including Early Sunday Morning (1930), Nighthawks (1942), New York Movie (1939), and Office at Night (1940).

In a museum career spanning twenty-eight years, Carter E. Foster has specialized in the history of drawing and the continuities of artistic practice from the Renaissance to the present, and has organized dozens of exhibitions covering this range of art history. He started his position as Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Blanton Museum of Art in September of 2016. Carter worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art for over 11 years, serving as the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawing, and he was on the team curators who developed the Whitney’s inaugural display in its new building, America is Hard to See. He developed the 2013 exhibition Hopper Drawing and edited and co-authored its catalogue. Prior to the Whitney, he held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This program will be held in the Wayne L. Prim Theater.

Join us for an exhibition walkthrough of “The World Stage, Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” led by JoAnne Northrup, Curatorial Director and Curator of Contemporary Art. Guests will enjoy a guided walkthrough of the exhibition which includes canonical 20th century artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, as well as leading 21st century artists such as Jeffrey Gibson, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley—an artist best known for his portrait of President Obama which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. Northrup will discuss her motivation for selecting these 100 artworks, drawn from Schnitzer’s collection of more than 14,000 works, and introduce visitors to some of the lesser-known artists in the mix.

The Art Bite lecture series is supported by Nevada Humanities with additional sponsorship and free admission for students supported by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Stories come to life through the art of cinema. Join us for a discussion about the art of filmmaking with Elspeth Summers and James Coleman from Tweaking Reality Studios as they discuss their creative process with collaborator Caitlin McCarty of the local dance company Collateral and Co. Program will include a preview of the short dance film “The Space Above.”

The Art Bite lecture series is supported by Nevada Humanities with additional sponsorship and free admission for students supported by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Georgia O’Keeffe famously painted the flowers that grew in her gardens, so how did the tropical and exotic hibiscus and plumeria find their way into her work? Join Theresa Papanikolas, Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art at the Seattle Art Museum, as she traces the genesis and development of O’Keeffe’s floral paintings, follows in the footsteps of her 1939 journey to Hawaii, and reveals how she interpreted nature in modernist terms to reflect her intense—even spiritual—reverence for the American landscape.

Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D. joined the Seattle Art Museum in 2019 as its Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art. Prior to that, she was Deputy Director of Art and Programs and Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, where she led the reinstallation of its galleries and organized the exhibitions From Whistler to Warhol: Modernism on Paper (2010), Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: The Hawai?i Pictures (2013), Art Deco Hawai?i (2014), and Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West (2017). She was also the curator of the New York Botanical Garden’s 2018 exhibition, Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii. At SAM, she is curator of Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstract Variations, forthcoming in 2020.

Dr. Papanikolas has worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Rice University; holds degrees from USC (BA) and the University of Delaware (MA, Ph.D.); and completed a Fellowship at the Center for Curatorial Leadership (2016).

The Art Bite lecture series is supported by Nevada Humanities with additional sponsorship and free admission for students supported by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

This program will be held in the Wayne L. Prim Theater.

A specialist in firearms preservation, Richard Moll, Chief Conservator at the Autry Museum of the American West, will discuss preservation for both museums and the private collector. Presentation will include an overview of the methods, materials, and ethical considerations when preserving historic objects.

Ashley Hlebinsky, Robert W. Woodruff Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, discusses the evolution of collecting since the 16th century, and examines how private passion impacts public display. Hlebinsky explores how collectors have been perceived throughout the years, and how collectors have had a historic role in the establishment of museums and methods of firearm display over the centuries. 

The mythos of the Wild West has long inspired the nation.  During the 30s and 40s, America’s appetite for films about the West seemed insatiable.   In answer, the big studios created a steady stream of big budget Western films with established stars.  Meanwhile, on the back lots of mini studios like Republic and on ranches in the Simi Valley, a sub genre was putting out hundreds of smaller films a year. These were the B Westerns and they would launch the careers of cowboy stars like Hopalong Cassidy, Tim McCoy, Hoot Gibson and The Durango Kid himself, Charles Starrett. This genre of Western film, vastly popular in its time, is nearly forgotten now. Screenwriter, producer and film buff, Tim Kirk, will discuss the careers of Hollywood’s gunslingers and the changing attitudes towards the West.

The Art Bite lecture series is supported by Nevada Humanities with additional sponsorship and free admission for students supported by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Michael Heizer is among the greatest, and often least accessible, American artists. As one of the last living figures who launched the Land Art movement, his legacy of works that are literally and metaphorically monumental has an incalculable influence on the world of sculpture and environmental art. But his seclusion in the remote Nevada desert, as well as his notorious obduracy, have resulted in significant gaps in our critical understanding. Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments spans the breadth of Heizer’s career, uniquely combining fieldwork, personal narrative, and biographical research to create the first major assessment in years of this titan of American art.

Join us as Fox discusses Heizer’s work with Alan Rapp, the Editorial Director at Monacelli Press in New York, publisher of Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments. Rapp is an editor, writer, and visual book developer. He earned an MFA in Design Criticism at School of Visual Arts and formerly served as a senior editor at Chronicle Books.

*Doors open at 5:30 pm. Book signing to follow.

Jack Malotte makes artworks that celebrate 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. Join us for informal conversation in the gallery before the exhibition The Art of Jack Malotte closes later this month. Coffee, book signing and short film will be offered in the adjacent Founders’ Room. 

NOTE: This is an informal opportunity to connect with the artist Jack Malotte. The book “Jack Malotte” is available for purchase in the Founders’ Room or in the Museum store.