Water By Design

August 20, 2022 - March 19, 2023

Barbara and Tad Danz Gallery | Floor 3

Water plays a key role in the global economy, informing agricultural, commercial, residential, and industrial development. It also sparks conflict, protest, political debate, activism, and conservation. Our collective dependence on water—and acknowledgment of its dwindling supply—demands innovation, new technologies, and creative solutions. Water by Design, drawn primarily from the permanent collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, explores the ultimate design challenge: sustaining humanity while preserving a limited natural resource.

This exhibition examines water through the lens of artists who have documented the use, exploitation, and preservation of this precious commodity. Artists include Edward Burtynsky, Pilar Cereceda, Robert Dawson, Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, Ann Johnston, Maya Lin, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Richard Misrach, Mary Miss, Mark O’Connell, Cara Romero, Juane Quick-To-See-Smith, Oscar Tuazon, Takako Yamaguchi, and many others. Their diverse perspectives offer insight into how artists, designers, Indigenous knowledge keepers, engineers and scientists have worked across disciplines to power innovation, question existing systems, and seek visionary solutions to help navigate the future.

This exhibition is organized in conjunction with the 2023 NV STEAM Conference, a statewide education conference focused on exploring ideas and strategies that incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math education into innovative classroom practices that foster student creativity and innovation. The NV STEAM Conference is presented in partnership with the Desert Research Institute. Learn more or register at nvsteam.org

Lead Sponsor

Tesla

Major Sponsor

Waste Management

Additional Support

Truckee Meadows Water Authority

IMAGE 1: Oscar Tuazon, Water Map (Bahsawa bee, Spring Valley, NV) (detail), 2018, India ink, watercolor, marker on paper, 24 x 36 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, The Robert S. and Dorothy J. Keyser Foundation Art of the Greater West Collection Fund. IMAGE 2: Takako Yamaguchi, Hundred Year Flood, 2000, Oil and gold leaf on paper, 52 3/4 x 52 1/4 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from Volunteers in Art (VIA). IMAGE 3: Maya Lin, Secchi Point (detail), 2014, Cast glass, 32 elements, dimensions variable. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collections Committee 2015 and funds from deaccessioning. IMAGE 4: Pilar Cereceda, Fog Catcher Model #3, 2011, Wood, wire, paper. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, Center for Art + Environment, Gift of Rodrigo Perez de Arce. IMAGE 5: Cara Romero, Oil Boom, not dated, Archival pigment print, 40 x 40 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, The Altered Landscape, Carol Franc Buck Collection. IMAGE 6: Robert Dawson, San Francisco's Entire Water Supply Flows Through This Pipe, Near Mather, California from the "Water in the West Project", 1992, Gelatin silver print, 13 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, The Altered Landscape, Carol Franc Buck Collection. IMAGE 7: Washoe Susie, Water Bottle, not dated, 6 7/8 x 4 13/16 inches (diam.). Courtesy of Nevada State Museum, Carson City.