A Reopening Message from our CEO
The past three months have brought profound changes to our world. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic collapse, combined with a collective reckoning with racism and social injustice in America, offers an historic opportunity to listen, learn, grow, change, and invest in new ways to serve Nevada’s increasingly diverse communities. Now more than ever, art museums are essential to a civil society.
We are pleased to announce the start of a phased reopening of the Nevada Museum of Art this week, keeping the health and safety of our guests and employees the highest priority. This phased approach includes a FREE Community Day on Saturday, June 20, courtesy of the Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation.
In April, the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force asked the Museum to draft an Operating Reopening Plan to share with other arts and culture organizations throughout the state. An internal nine-person committee incorporated guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), State of Nevada, Washoe County School District, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the American Alliance of Museums. By nature, accredited museums like the Nevada Museum of Art are highly regulated facilities with clear protocols and controls in place to ensure health, safety and security. The plan was reviewed by the CEO of Renown Health, the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare network, and also praised by the Governor’s Office.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Museum closed its doors in mid-March, just as we were opening our newest exhibition: The World Stage: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.
Organized by JoAnne Northrup, the Museum’s Curator of Contemporary Art, The World Stage showcases 90 artworks by 35 renowned contemporary American artists of diverse backgrounds. The exhibition title, The World Stage, is inspired by the name of a series of paintings by Kehinde Wiley, an artist in the exhibition who is best known for his presidential portrait of Barack Obama that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
We have extended The World Stage through early 2021 to provide additional space to reflect on the content and themes found in the exhibition. The extension, prompted by the Black Lives Matter movement, provides a backdrop and platform to amplify the voices of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists celebrated in this exhibition, and supports critical dialogue between the artists, members of our community and Museum staff. Specific information about these programs will be released in the coming weeks.
The Nevada Museum of Art is deeply committed to elevating the artistic voices of BIPOC communities in our galleries, collections, and through our award-winning publications. We are also committed to continuing the vital conversations we’re having both internally and externally, which will help to inform and shape a path towards thoughtful change and healing.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our community. The Nevada Museum of Art is your museum. It will always be our honor to serve you, and to help enrich the lives of all Nevadans.
David B. Walker
CEO | Nevada Museum of Art
Health and Safety First
The Museum has updated its policies to ensure your visit is memorable and safe. Admission is available online in 30-minute increments through Advance Ticketing. This will minimize contact and limit attendance to allow for social distancing.
As part of the phased reopening approach, the Museum Shop will open for onsite purchases, but online shopping and curbside pickup will continue. Our onsite restaurant, chez louie, plans to reopen July 7.
See our full Covid-19 Reopening Plan, and prepare to know before you go.
Reopening Weekend
Thursday, June 18 | 10 am – 8 pm
Members’ Day
The Museum will host a reopening day for Members. Join today to reserve your advance ticket.
Friday, June 19 / CLOSED
Closed in observance of Juneteenth to recognize the end of slavery and to celebrate the culture and achievements of African Americans.
Saturday, June 20 | 10 am – 6 pm
FREE Admission
The Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation is sponsoring a FREE Community Day in honor of the Museum’s reopening weekend. Reserve limited capacity FREE admission tickets here.
Sunday, June 21 / 10 am – 6 pm
Treat Dad to Father’s Day at the Museum. Reserve limited capacity advance tickets here.
IMAGE CREDITS: Kehinde Wiley, Marechal Floriano Peixoto II, from The World Stage: Brazil series, 2009, Oil on canvas, 107 x 83 inches. Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy of Roberts Projects; Hung Liu, Official Portraits: Immigrant, 2006, Lithograph with collage, 30 1/4 x 30 inches. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. © Hung Lui. Courtesy Shark’s Ink; After Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Head), edition PP 1/5, 1983/2001, Screenprint, 40 x 40 inches. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Standing in Solidarity
“The museum field not only has a responsibility to ask the hard questions and learn from each other, we have a unique duty to listen, to chronicle the lessons and histories of our communities, and to educate future generations so that we might stop this senseless violence”
– American Alliance of Museums | June 1, 2020
If anything, the coronavirus pandemic has taught museums how to collaborate, cooperate, learn and listen. It has also shown us that we can do better in so many ways. The Nevada Museum of Art stands in solidarity with our community and our colleagues across the country in response to the tragic death of George Floyd. We join museums in rejecting racism and violence. We are pausing digital communications in order to create space for important dialogue. We are grieving and listening to the symphony of voices in our community that must be heard – because we want to do better.
We have big news about Judy Chicago
Artist, feminist, educator, and intellectual, Judy Chicago first got to know the Nevada Museum of Art in 2018 when her Atmospheres were included in Laid Bare in the Landscape. The exhibition brought renewed focus to her connections to Land Art. Since then, the Museum has been working with Chicago to acquire her fireworks archive for the Center for Art + Environment Archive Collections.
At long last, we have finalized the acquisition. The archive, Judy Chicago: Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks, contains materials from her extensive work with dry ice, colored smoke, and fireworks from 1967 through the present. A set of 12 Atmospheres and On Fire exhibition prints is also included.
The Museum now joins Penn State University, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, as the stewards of Judy Chicago’s archives. These materials are accessible through the Judy Chicago Research Portal.
The archive will debut publicly next October with Judy Chicago: Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks Archive, which will serve as a major backdrop for the 2021 Art + Environment Conference focusing on Land Art: Past, Present, and Futures.
Learn more about this exciting news by exploring below.
Share your thoughts on social: @nevadaart @judy.chicago #JudyChicagoFireworks
Interview: A Fireworks Story
In this dynamic, short video, Judy Chicago recounts how she sought to “feminize” the landscape, and why she is “thrilled and delighted” that her fireworks archive has joined the Museum’s collections.
ARTnews
Alex Greenberger talks with JoAnne Northrup and William L. Fox to learn more about how Judy Chicago: Dry Ice, Smoke, and Fireworks opens up a new vista for thinking about and collecting Land Art archives.
The Art Newspaper
David Walker, CEO, and JoAnne Northrup share thoughts on how Judy Chicago’s historically significant contributions are critical to the larger global conversation currently happening around art and environment.
Artforum
Read how Judy Chicago’s archive will build upon the core strengths of the Center for Art + Environment in this art world dispatch.
Image Credits: Judy Chicago, Birthday Bouquet for Belen Smoke Test, 2019. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, New York. Courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, New York; Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; and Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles; Judy Chicago, Smoke Bodies from Women and Smoke, 1972 Fireworks performance, Performed in the California Desert, © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Photo courtesy of Through the Flower Archives, Courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, New York; and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; Judy Chicago, Immolation from Women and Smoke, 1972, Fireworks performance, Performed in the California Desert, © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Photo courtesy of Through the Flower Archives, Courtesy of the artist; Salon 94, New York; and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco. Judy Chicago, Santa Barbara Museum, 1971. Fireworks performance. Performed at the Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo courtesy of Through the Flower Archives.
Rediscover and celebrate the work of Anne Brigman
In 2018, the Nevada Museum of Art organized a major exhibition featuring the photography and poetry of Anne Brigman (1869-1950), who was best known for her groundbreaking work in the Sierra Nevada in the early 1900s.
Anne Brigman: A Visionary in Modern Photography, was slated to open in New York City at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University last month. Unfortunately, the world had other plans.
Nevertheless, this occasion has once again drawn attention to this visionary of modern photography. From a major article by an internationally acclaimed magazine to a reprint of the book and a new documentary, there is lots of exciting Brigman news to share.
Virtual Exhibition Video
You can now revisit Anne Brigman’s life story and her love for the High Sierra in a recently produced short documentary on the artist’s work.
Get the Brigman book
The previously sold-out book Anne Brigman: A Visionary in Modern Photography is now available in a second edition. This must-have for lovers of photography, nature, and the High Sierra may now be ordered through our new online SHOP.
In the Press: The New Yorker
Recently, The New Yorker published a “Photo Booth” celebrating the photography of Anne Brigman that features a thoughtful essay by Sarah Blackwood, a writer specializing in nineteenth-century American literature and visual culture.
Revisit the art hike
During the 2018 exhibition, Museum guests joined artists, musicians, dancers, and poets near Donner Pass for an unforgettable 2-mile art hike organized by Trails & Vistas, an art-in-nature nonprofit.
Collection Spotlight: Lita Albuquerque, Stellar Axis
Lita Albuquerque’s “Stellar Axis” installation was the first large-scale artwork created in Antarctica. This milestone of contemporary land art, widely acknowledged to be both a stunning and ecologically sensitive intervention on the continent, has received international acclaim. The archive for “Stellar Axis” is in the Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, Center for Art + Environment Archive Collection. In 2014, the Museum organized an exhibition showcasing the archive, and, working with SKIRA Rizzoli, published the first book on Lita Albuquerque. In this Collection Spotlight, William L. Fox, director for the Center, shares valuable insight into this historic project.
Purchase the book Lita Albuquerque: Stellar Axis
Lita Albuquerque: Stellar Axis (CAE1042) is in the Collection of Nevada Museum of Art, Center for Art + Environment Archive Collections. Gift of Lita Albuquerque. Stellar Axis was photographed in Antarctica by Jean De Pomereu.
Collection Spotlight: Sonia Falcone, Campo de Color (Color Field)
Bolivian artist Sonia Falcone creates an immersive sensory experience with her installation, Campo de Color (Color Field). This colorful, fragrant artwork was first on view during the 2017 exhibition Unsettled, which explored a super region called the Greater West. Now, Campo de Color is part of the permanent collection, thanks to a gift from the Robert S. and Dorothy J. Keyser Foundation. JoAnne Northrup, Curatorial Director and Curator of Contemporary Art for the Museum, explains more about Falcone’s work in this Collection Spotlight.
The Future Looks Bright
The creativity of the amazing young people in our community shines. Since 1999, Northern Nevada middle and high school students have submitted their original artwork to the Scholastic Art Awards. The Museum is proud to host this prestigious national program that honors America’s most gifted young artists.
From more than 2,000 entries, a panel of judges selected five American Visions winners, 160 Gold Key winners, 317 Silver Key winners, and 801 Honorable Mentions. The top winners advanced to the national competition. We are pleased to announce that one of our regional winners received two national medals. Read more about them below.
It’s not only the winners who deserve recognition. All of the students who participate demonstrate true courage by putting something of themselves into their creative work and sharing it with all of us. The teachers that encourage and inspire them to create also deserve an abundance of appreciation.
Zoe Mansfield wins National Gold and American Visions Medals
Artist Zoe Mansfield’s work Theodora won not one, but two, national medals, the most prestigious honor an American teen can receive for their creative work. Learn more about this young artist by watching the KTVN Channel 2 News story below.
Rewatch the 2020 Ceremony
From the moving speeches to the cheering crowd, the Scholastic Art Awards Ceremony will make you smile. And you just might see someone you know.
The Holland Project
The Museum proudly partners with The Holland Project on many teen initiatives, including the Scholastic Art Awards exhibition. Select Gold Key winning artworks were recently on view at Holland, while the American Visions works were displayed in the Museum.
View images from Holland here.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
We are able to advance arts education in our community thanks to the contribution of partners like those that supported the 2020 Scholastic Art Awards:
Sponsors
City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission
Nell J. Redfield Foundation
Heidemarie Rochlin
Supporting Sponsors
Wild Women Artists
A Message from David B. Walker | CEO
The Nevada Museum of Art will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year. During this time of quarantine, I’ve reflected on our institutional history and imagined life on the other side of this historic crisis.
It’s interesting to note that the Museum was founded in 1931 by community volunteers during the depths of the Great Depression. And in late 2008, at the height of the Great Recession we founded our internationally recognized Center for Art + Environment. Further back, Nevada’s statehood occurred in 1864 during the American Civil War. Crisis moments have produced extraordinary results in Nevada.
I am optimistic now more than ever, that we are poised to elevate the stature of our artistic, cultural and educational resources. The pandemic will not diminish our determination to scale-up our programs and services for all Nevadans.
Many of you recall the 2014 exhibition we organized on the occasion of Nevada’s sesquicentennial. I encourage you to take a few minutes to view the documentary we produced that accompanied The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey from Territory to State. It stands as an inspiring reminder of the courage, empathy and spirit shown by the people of Nevada through the years.
Although our doors are temporarily closed, we can’t thank you enough for being a friend of the state’s only accredited art museum. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Watch the documentary
The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey From Territory to State
In celebration of 150 years of statehood, the Museum honored the “Battle Born” state with a significant exhibition detailing the journey toward October 31, 1864. This short documentary explores this history through the objects that came together to tell the story.
Here’s looking at you.
The 36th Star unfolded with memorable celebrations from a star-studded dinner to a steampunk soiree. Revisit the dresses, costumes, and smiles by exploring the photo albums below.