Decorative Arms: Treasures from the Robert M. Lee Collection includes more than 190 objects dating from as early as the 1500s through the modern era that showcase the skills of some of the most renowned arms makers and engravers in the world. Featuring historical suits of armor, antique firearms, swords, and modern arms, the exhibition is drawn from the private collection of Mr. Robert M. Lee — known to an international community of enthusiasts as one of the finest arms collections in the United States.

The artistry of embellishing arms is one of the most challenging of all artistic endeavors, with a rich history that reaches back to the Medieval and Renaissance eras. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the artistry of talented arms engravers from England, Italy, Belgium, and the United States who incorporate historical decorative traditions into their craftsmanship today. The design process involves collaboration among sculptures of steel and wood, goldsmiths, silversmiths, and engravers. These talented artisans create mythological, hunting, and wildlife scenes that are enhanced by ornamental designs on what have often been described as “miniature canvases.”

This exhibition was organized by the Nevada Museum of Art with curatorial support from Conor Fitzgerald, Guy Wilson, and Signa Pendegraft.

To learn more about the exhibition and related programs, read the press release.

Lead Exhibition Sponsor

Whittier Trust, Investment & Wealth Management

Major Sponsors

The Bretzlaff Foundation
The Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation
Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority

Sponsors

Anonymous
Clark/Sullivan Construction
John C. Deane
Jackson Family Foundation
Nevada Gold Mines
Jenny and Garrett Sutton | Corporate Direct

Supporting Sponsors

Debbie Day
Matt Day, Sr.
Tammy and Michael Dermody
Lance Gilman Commercial / Industrial Real Estate
Haynie & Company

Additional Sponsors

Anonymous

Media Sponsors

Western Art & Architecture
The Big Reno Show

Reno Engraver Spotlight: Guy Leutzinger

For many years, northern Nevadans entrusted their personal firearms to local engraver Guy Leutzinger (1903-1972) who built a worldwide reputation for his fine craftsmanship and high-quality engraving. An employee of R. Herz & Bro., a family-owned jewelry store owned and operated by Richard and Carl Otto Herz beginning in 1885, Leutzinger worked out of the shop’s Virginia Street storefront servicing the engraving needs of locals and tourists alike.  Leutzinger worked for R. Herz and Bros. from 1947 to 1965 while maintaining his own freelance engraving business. A selection of Leutzinger’s engraved firearms are on loan from his son, Reno resident, Robert Leutzinger.

Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern takes a new look at how the renowned modernist artist proclaimed her progressive, independent lifestyle through a self-crafted public persona—including her clothing and the way she posed for the camera. The exhibition expands our understanding of O’Keeffe by focusing on her wardrobe, shown for the first time alongside key paintings and photographs. It confirms and explores her determination to be in charge of how the world understood her identity and artistic values.

In addition to selected paintings and items of clothing, the exhibition presents photographs of O’Keeffe and her homes by Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Philippe Halsman, Yousuf Karsh, Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol, Bruce Weber, Todd Webb, and others.

The exhibition is organized in sections that run from her early years, when O’Keeffe crafted a signature style of dress that dispensed with ornamentation; to her years in New York, in the 1920s and 1930s, when a black-and-white palette dominated much of her art and dress; and to her later years in New Mexico, where her art and clothing changed in response to the surrounding colors of the Southwestern landscape. The final section explores the enormous role photography played in the artist’s reinvention of herself in the Southwest, when a younger generation of photographers visited her, solidifying her status as a pioneer of modernism and as a contemporary style icon.

Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern is organized by the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and curated by Wanda M. Corn, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in Art History, Stanford University. The Nevada Museum of Art is the only venue in the western United States to host the exhibition.

#okeeffemodern

Lead Sponsor
Wayne and Rachelle Prim

Major Sponsors
Nancy and Harvey Fennell | Dickson Realty
The Jacquie Foundation

Sponsors
Denise and Tim Cashman
The Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation
I. Heidi Loeb Hegerich
J. P. Morgan Private Bank
Nancy and Brian Kennedy
Linda and Alvaro Pascotto
Sandy Raffealli | Bill Pearce Motors
Elizabeth and Henry Thumann
Emily and Joe Wieczorek

Supporting Sponsors
Anonymous
The Chica Charitable Gift Fund
Jan and David Hardie
Charlotte and Dick McConnell
Mulvaney Family
Enid Oliver, ChFC, Private Wealth Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

Additional Support
Elaine Cardinale
Linda D. Frye

Media Sponsor
Tahoe Quarterly

Like a blind date, In Conversation stages an encounter between two people who never met but whose work and lives share a deep affinity. The work of Alma Allen and J.B. Blunk blurs the line between design and sculpture, with both men creating evocative organic work from natural materials. It also draws a line between contemporary practice and the mid-century when Blunk began his practice.

Alma Allen (b. 1970) is a sculptor and designer who until recently was based in Joshua Tree, California. His early work includes small, tabletop-scaled objects such as bowls, trays, and vessels in wood and cast bronze. Organic and talisman-like, these small objects eventually led Allen to the much larger work he makes today. Elegant and amorphous, and sculpted from marble, travertine, bronze, and walnut, Allen’s current work is made with the assistance of a giant robotic arm.

Pairing Allen’s work with that of J.B. Blunk (1926–2002), the Northern Californian artist and designer who seems an obvious precursor and inspiration to the younger sculptor, establishes a dialogue between two sympathetic voices. Blunk began making work in 1962—mainly furniture and sculpture in redwood and cypress, some of which is monumental in scale. He also worked in clay, stone, and cast bronze, and like Allen, his work blurs the line between furniture, functional objects, and sculpture. Blunk’s work is also organic in nature but has a rougher, more rustic quality since his tool of choice was a chainsaw and he wasn’t interested in polishing his pieces, preferring a more natural aesthetic. Both men designed and built their own homes as well as many of the furnishings and objects in them.

In addition to small early pieces, large-scale works, and process models, the exhibition features photographs of the homes and studios of both Allen and Blunk, creating a parallel conversation between the work and point of view of two contemporary photographers, Lisa Eisner and Leslie Williamson.

“In Conversation: Alma Allen and J.B. Blunk” is organized by Palm Springs Art Museum and curated by Brooke Hodge.

Sponsors Barbara and Tad Danz

This major retrospective exhibition rediscovers and celebrates the work of Anne Brigman (1869-1950), who is best known for her iconic landscape photographs made in the early 1900s depicting herself and other female nudes outdoors in the Sierra Nevada. Brigman’s photography was considered radical for its time. To objectify her own nude body as the subject of her photographs at the turn of the twentieth century was groundbreaking; to do so outdoors in a near-desolate wilderness setting was revolutionary. Although the term feminist art was not coined until nearly seventy years after Brigman made her first photographs, the suggestion that her camera gave her the power to redefine her place as a woman in society establishes her as an important forerunner in the field.

Brigman’s significance spanned both coasts: in Northern California, where she lived, she was known as a poet, a critic, a proponent of the Arts & Crafts philosophy, and a member of the Pictorialist photography movement. On the East Coast, her work was promoted by Alfred Stieglitz, who elected her as a fellow of the prestigious Photo-Secession. From 1903 to 1944 Anne Brigman maintained ongoing correspondence with Alfred Stieglitz, exchanging nearly 100 letters during this time. Brigman is also noted for her honest art criticism and opinioned voice on cultural and fine art topics, and as a published poet.

This exhibition, the largest ever undertaken, brings together over 300 works spanning the entirety of Brigman’s career from the collections of Michael Wilson and the Wilson Centre for Photography in London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the George Eastman Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, MoMA, New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and many private collections.

The exhibition is curated by Ann M. Wolfe, Andrea and John C. Deane Family Senior Curator and Deputy Director at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Due to its popularity, this previously sold-out book is now available in second edition. Co-published by the Nevada Museum of Art and Rizzoli Electa this 400-page, heavily illustrated book is a must have for lovers of photography, nature, and the High Sierra. Visit shop.nevadaart.org to purchase.

#ConfrontingTradition

Lead Sponsor

Wayne and Miriam Prim

Major Sponsors

The Bretzlaff Foundation; Carol Franc Buck Foundation; the Satre Family Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Nevada; Louise A. Tarble Foundation

Sponsors

Carole K. Anderson; Barbara and Tad Danz; Nancy and Harvey Fennell | Dickson Realty; Nancy and Brian Kennedy; Mercedes-Benz of Reno, an AutoNation Company; Whittier Trust, Investment & Wealth Management

Supporting Sponsors

Brigid S. Barton; Denise Cashman; the Chica Charitable Gift Fund; Mimi Ellis-Hogan; Jan and David Hardie; the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation; Keith and Sheila McWilliams; Eleanor and Robert Preger; Jenny and Garrett Sutton | Corporate Direct, Inc.; Lash and Gigi Turville

Additional Support

Kathie Bartlett; John C. Deane

Media Sponsors

Getaway Reno-Tahoe; KUNR Reno Public Radio; Reno News & Review; Reno-Tahoe International Airport; Tahoe Quarterly; The Believer powered by the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute; Western Art & Architecture

The Nevada Museum of Art is the largest provider of arts education in the State of Nevada. As such, one of our primary goals is to give Museum visitors the opportunity to see masterful artworks in an intimate setting and facilitate fluency in the language of art. Manet to Maya Lin presents artworks drawn from the collections of the Nevada Museum of Art, augmented by select loans from private collections. These include paintings by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Mark Rothko, among others. Visitors are encouraged to experiment with visual arts literacy tools known as close looking; recognizing technique; and discussion to develop a deeper connection to these extraordinary artworks.

We live in an increasingly visual world, where images are superseding words as our primary form of communication. The ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from images impacts our capacity to successfully navigate language, communication, and critical human interaction. As one of the older forms of human communication, the language of art has always been a vital component for navigating our own visual literacy. In this light, constructing meaning from art becomes less an elite skill reserved for the halls of academia and more of an essential aptitude to succeed in a digital world.

Through personal engagements with both historically significant and experimental contemporary artists, we learn to look for details and we recognize important artistic processes and techniques. Most importantly, we learn to actively construct meaning through conversation.  Manet to Maya Lin has the power to show us the ways we create meaning from art: By walking through the galleries and experiencing the works of art on display, we open ourselves to the possibilities of a visually literate society.

Sponsor

Louise A. Tarble Foundation

Marking the Infinite presents the work of nine of Australia’s leading Aboriginal women artists. While many of them have established reputations in Australia, for many this exhibition represents their American debut. Revered as matriarchs in their communities, the artworks made by these women are proud assertions of who they are and represent the pride they have in their communities. This strength of vision is immediately evident in works that shimmer and swirl, that assert their authority like lightning bolts, or sparkle like the night sky.

Although hailing from some of the most remote communities on the planet, the work of the nine women artists in Marking the Infinite speaks loudly and clearly to our contemporary age. The artists are: Nonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angeline Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu, and Nyapanyapa Yunupingu. The works in Marking the Infinite are drawn from the collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl, Miami-based collectors and philanthropists.

The exhibition was originated by the Nevada Museum of Art, where it was organized by William L. Fox, Director, Center for Art and Environment, and Henry Skerritt, Curator, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.

Exhibition Tour Schedule for Marking the Infinite:
Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA: August 20, 2016 – December 21, 2016
Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL: January 28, 2017 – May 14, 2017
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV: February 17, 2018 – May 13, 2018
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC: June 2 – September 9, 2018
Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, November 2018 – February 2019

Lead Sponsor

The Collections Committee of the Nevada Museum of Art:

Barbara and Tad Danz
Martha Hesse Dolan and Robert E. Dolan
Dolan Law LLC
Maureen Mullarkey and Steve Miller
Kathie Bartlett
John C. Deane
Turkey and Peter Stremmel
Nancy and Harvey Fennell
Linda Frye
Marcia and Charles Growdon
Sari and Ian Rogoff
Darby and David Walker

Sponsors

Sandy Raffealli/Bill Pearce Motors of Reno

Supporting Sponsors

Maria and Mark Denzler

Media Sponsors

The Believer powered by the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute; Western Art & Architecture

The exhibition examines and celebrates work by artists on both sides of the Mexican-American border to reveal a variety of cultural aspects as they emerged in the years after the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) to the present day. This unique survey of over 100 works takes a close look at paintings, prints and photographs created over the past eighty years. The works included are by some of the best-known Mexican artists—Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Gabriel Orozco, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Flor Garduño—as well as Mexican-American artists such as Judithe Hernández, Roberto Juarez and Robert Graham. Visitors to the Miradas exhibition will have the opportunity to observe the works of a number of artists who have been attracted to and inspired by Mexico’s ancient civilizations and modern artistic theories alike.

Many artists of Mexican descent working in the United States continue to implement social ideas and educational theories first taken up by modern Mexican artists at the end of the Mexican Revolution. They also understand and react to the sociopolitical climate in the United States and the global art and theories of the second half of the twentieth century, incorporating contemporary regional politics along with their broad understanding of their diverse heritages. The Miradas exhibition allows visitors to survey this rich trajectory.

This exhibition was originally curated by Cesáreo Moreno of the National Museum of Mexican Art in collaboration with Bank of America’s corporate art program staff. This exhibition is provided by Bank of America Art in Our Communities program.

A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America tells the story of extraordinary American folk art made in New England, the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and the South between 1800 and 1925. Created by self-taught or minimally trained artists, the works exemplify the breadth of American creative expression during a period of enormous political, social, and cultural change in the United States.

Rooted in the family as well as the preservation of personal and cultural identity, the diverse works on view showcase a distinguished collection of American paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts.  Highlights include rare portraits by such artists as Ammi Phillips and John Brewster, Jr.; vivid still lifes and landscapes, including a mature Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks; whimsical trade signs and figure and animal sculptures; and distinctive examples of furniture from the German American community. These unique works are drawn from the collection of Barbara L. Gordon who, over two decades, assembled a broad-reaching collection of American paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts of the highest quality.

This exhibition is drawn from the Barbara L. Gordon Collection and is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia.

Lead Sponsor

The Bretzlaff Foundation

Major Sponsors

Clark/Sullivan Construction; Eldorado Resorts; Sandy Raffealli, Porsche of Reno

Supporting Sponsors

Carol Ann and John Badwick; Blanchard, Krasner & French; Irene Drews in memory of J. George Drews; Whittier Trust Company of Nevada

Nevada Museum of Art Curatorial Director and Curator of Contemporary Art JoAnne Northrup has partnered with Las Vegas-based art advisor Michele Quinn to co-curate Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada. The exhibition bridges the divide between Northern and Southern Nevada communities and provides a wide-ranging overview and understanding of the most accomplished work being created by more than thirty artists living and working in Nevada today.

The first nationally significant exhibition presenting art made in Nevada occurred in 2007 with Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland, on view at the Las Vegas Art Museum, which has since closed. Organized by the well-respected art critic and curator Dave Hickey, the exhibition celebrated the work of twenty-six artists, all of whom received their degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and studied with Hickey between 1990 and 2001 when he taught art theory and criticism in the Department of Art at UNLV.

Fast forward almost ten years later. After more than fifty artist studio visits in both Northern and Southern Nevada across Nevada, spanning Las Vegas to the south, Reno and Carson City in the north. Northrup and Quinn’s research revealed that the Nevada contemporary art scene does not evidence a singular aesthetic permeating artists’ work, but rather a wide array of practices and media. Nevada artists are creating innovative work ranging from painting, sculpture, and installation, to photography, interactive, and sound art. Their work is informed by popular culture, the natural environment, and landscape, as well as cultural identity, politics, and current events.

Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada aspires to provide contemporary dialogue aimed at enlightening our broader audiences to the richness of our entire arts community and how it can be a powerful tool in the growth of the great state of Nevada. The exhibition highlights the work of six artists in depth, showing several examples from each in a variety of media. Featured artists include Galen Brown, Justin Favela, Katie Lewis, David Ryan, Brent Sommerhauser, and Rachel Stiff. The remaining artists’ work will give visitors a wide-ranging picture of the art being created across Nevada today, including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, mixed media, street art, installation, sound performance, fiber arts and new media. Some work, like that of Reno photographer Megan Berner, will live exclusively on social media. Berner plans to take daily photographs of the Northern Nevada sky for the eleven-week duration of the exhibition. The images will post to the Nevada Museum of Art Instagram account, allowing the community to view the body of work as it develops over time.

Additional collaborations and offsite installations are planned as well. Las Vegas-based artist Brent Sommerhauser will collaborate with Reno-based Holland Project and Nevada Museum of Art E.L. Cord Museum School to create small ‘sketches’ in glass by layering rich color combinations of glass powder, glass strings and other glass elements over handmade glass tiles that Sommerhauser will fire on-site in his kiln. The resulting tiles will be photographed and shared on the Nevada Museum of Art Instagram account and displayed in the E.L. Cord Museum School. The combined tiles will contribute to a growing work that will serve as a participant record. Performance art elements of the show include Justin Favela’s Family Fiesta.

Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada will be reprised in Las Vegas in 2017. Artists chosen for the exhibition have not before had work prominently displayed at the Museum:

#TiltingTheBasin

Las Vegas

Chris Bauder, Mark Brandvik, JW Caldwell, Matthew Couper, Gig Depio, Justin Favela, Sush Machida Gaikotsu, Shawn Hummel, Wendy Kveck, JK Russ, David Ryan, David Sanchez Burr, Sean Slattery, Brent Sommerhauser, Brent Holmes, Krystal Ramirez, Rachel Stiff

Reno/Carson

Megan Berner, Rebekah Bogard, Galen Brown, Erik Burke, Nate Clark, Tim Conder, Joseph DeLappe + Pete Froslie, Russell Dudley, Jeffrey Erickson, Jen Graham, Ahren Hertel, Katty Hoover, Eunkang Koh, Nick Larsen, Katie Lewis, Sarah Lillegard, Omar Pierce

Download the Press Release

Premier Sponsor

Stacie Mathewson and Doors to Recovery

Lead Sponsor

Wayne and Miriam Prim

Major Sponsor

Jacqueline Black

Supporting Sponsors

Maureen Mullarkey and Steve Miller; Nevada Arts Council; The Private Bank by Nevada State Bank

Sponsors

Kathie Bartlett; Elaine Cardinale; Barbara and Tad Danz; Dolan Law, LLC; Tammy M. and Brian E. Riggs; Sari and Ian Rogoff

Media Sponsors

Getaway Reno-Tahoe; Juxtapoz Magazine; KUNR Reno Public Radio; Nevada Magazine; Reno-Tahoe International Airport; Tahoe Quarterly; Western Art and Architecture

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

The Washoe people have lived in the Lake Tahoe region for countless generations. They referred to Lake Tahoe as DaɁawɁaga, or “edge of the lake,” because they lived around its shore. The term was eventually shortened to DaɁaw, from which the word “Tahoe” is derived.

Different Washoe groups gathered annually at the lake during late spring and summer where they caught fish and gathered plant foods. The Welmelti were from a territory located roughly north of the lake, the Ṕawalu or “valley people” lived to its west, and the Huŋalelti were from the southern region. During the winter months, they returned to the lake’s adjacent valleys where elevations were lower and temperatures milder.

The annual trip to DaɁaw was eagerly anticipated. Its pure waters offered more than simple benefits—it was the life-sustaining element for the land, the plants, the fish, the birds, the animals, and all the people who lived around it. Once the Washoe people arrived at DaɁaw, they blessed themselves and the water in celebration of the harmony that existed among the people, the land, and the water. Every notable geographic feature and stream had a Washoe name.

Today, Washoe people carry on the traditions of their ancestors and encourage younger generations to do the same. Programs related to Washoe language preservation, basket weaving, fishing, and other traditional activities are offered and encouraged through the Washoe Cultural Advisory Committee. Special access is also granted in areas around the lake where Washoe people continue to gather native plants and other resources. Lake Tahoe continues to be a special and sacred place to all Washoe people.