Crimson Rose joins Maria Partridge to tell the story of public art and civic activity in Black Rock City and beyond. Interactive Community Collaboration is the context for creativity that blurs the distinction between audience and art form. People are transformed from spectator to participant and are given permission to become active contributors to the creative process.

Will Roger Peterson discovered Burning Man in 1994 and founded the Black Rock City Department of Public Works — a team of several hundred people responsible for pre-event and post-event construction logistics and production. Join Will as he shares stories about the creation, civic design, and future of Black Rock City.

Deon Reynolds is a photographer based in Eureka, Nevada, whose curiosity allows him to find quirky and unusual aspects in the wide-open spaces of the West.  His work, archived in the Center for Art + Environment, reveals the intricate engineering behind wind turbines while capturing the character of the land where they stand.  Join Deon as he discusses how his photography makes these sometimes harsh landscapes approachable and even humorous, and explores how renewable energy has become part of our landscape.

Thomas Bachand has been a professional photographer for over twenty years. His photography of Lake Tahoe captures the allure and fragility of this beloved landmark and destination. Join Tom as he explores his own body of work, the historic photography of Carleton Watkins, and how photography informs our perception of the landscape.

Peter Goin is a photographer best known for his work with transformed landscapes and is currently serving as Foundation Professor of Art in Photography and Time Based Media/(Videography) at the University of Nevada, Reno. Join Peter as he discusses his Nuclear Landscapes, featured in the Museums Altered Landscape collection, and the important and evolving role of the research artist.

Recipient of the Nevada Governor’s Arts Award and the Nevada Heritage Award, Great Basin buckaroo and braider Doug Groves makes finely crafted artisan horse gear.  Learning rawhide braiding from peers in the bunkhouse and beyond, he now passes on the skills and techniques for turning rawhide into beautiful and functional gear.  Join Doug as he discusses the history of rawhide, its traditional uses as horse gear, and how our ranching history is passed on with this skill through stories and folklore.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities.

The Nevada Woodchucks are dedicated to teaching the skills of woodworking to Northern Nevada.  Through the sharing of ideas, accomplishments, techniques and woodworking projects, this organization is keeping traditional craft alive and sharing the joy of handmade toys with children in the community.  Join Woodchucks President and avid woodworker Rick Barbieri for a lively discussion of toys, tools and community. 

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities.

Freyer believes that wood is one of nature’s riches gifts. It can be as light and luminescent as water or as dense and opaque as stone. Sculpted by a craftsman, wood expresses and inspires emotion by transcending its function to touch the soul. Join local wood worker Eric Freyer as he discusses the process behind creating studio furniture and the importance of craft and tradition in the community.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities.

NOTE: All seats in the Museum’s Theater have been sold to this event. This registration is for the simulcast presentation which will be a live video feed of Michael Branch’s presentation. 

Michael Branch, writer, humorist and environmentalist unveils his newest book “Raising Wild: Dispatches from a Home in the Wilderness,” creative nonfiction reflecting on raising children in an extreme desert landscape.

Reception and book signing to follow presentation. Live music following talk by Shiloh.

Join Barbara L. Gordon as she shares her journey as a collector navigating the wonderfully intuitive and accessible designs, colors and shapes that make up American Folk Art. From her first purchase of a particularly elegant birdhouse with a green painted tin roof, plucked from a row of items in a country field, to her triumphant and long awaited acquisition of Edward Hicks’ masterpiece, The Peaceable Kingdom, Gordon discusses the thrill of the hunt and the passion and discipline it takes to build a world class collection.