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Steve Marcus
At LVAM’s “L.A. Now” show, which closes with the museum on Saturday: “S.O.S.,” from left, is acrylic on canvas by Wendell Gladstone; “Half Knot,” by Jared Pankin, uses wood, sawdust, synthetic fur and glass eyes; and “Country Boy” by Wayne White is mixed media.
Published Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 | 4:22 p.m.
Updated Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 | 6:02 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Strapped Las Vegas Art Museum plans to shutter (2-21-09)
- Las Vegas Art Museum closing next week (2-20-09)
- New, on display, from L.A. (12-12-2008)
- With Lumpkin’s exit, museum must be ‘creative’ to survive, interim director says (12-5-2008)
- Museum gift shop will be missed, but it’s gone for good reasons (12-3-2008)
A conversation between two Las Vegans after last week’s announced closing of Las Vegas Art Museum. Dave is saddened by the closing. Jim, not so much.
Dave: Did you hear that they’re closing LVAM? Not enough funding. Two million people live here, and only 1,000 paying members. That’s really sad.
Jim: LVAM. LVAM. OK, I give. What’s LVAM?
Dave: The Las Vegas Art Museum. It’s the city’s art museum, essentially. It started as a kind of art club in 1950. It might be resurrected when the economy recovers, but we’ll see. It’s a sad time.
Jim: I thought that place already closed. That’s Steve Wynn’s deal at the Bellagio, right? He tells you all about Andy Warhol through a little handheld radio thing. My aunt and uncle went there a few years ago …
Dave: No. That’s the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, and it’s still open, but Steve Wynn doesn’t own it anymore. He doesn’t own the Bellagio anymore, either, actually …
Jim: Right. That’s where he slammed his elbow through the painting, Revved. The Revver, or whatever.
Dave: That’s actually his own piece, Le Reve, by Picasso. He accidentally hit that painting with his elbow a couple of years ago at a party at the Wynn, but it’s been repaired. It’s never been part of any LVAM exhibit, though. It’s at the Wynn Macau at the moment. You’re way off …
Jim: Wait. Motorcycles! This LVAM is where the motorcycle show was, right?
Dave: No, that was the “Art of the Motorcycle” show at the Guggenheim Las Vegas at The Venetian. That museum closed years ago. So has the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, the smaller museum at The Venetian.
Jim: The motorcycles closed? I can’t believe that. I would think that the motorcycles would have gone on forever.
Dave: It did pretty well, actually …
Jim: I still need to hit that big Harley shop out on Warm Springs.
Dave: Yeah. Well, the show at the LVAM now is called “L.A. Now.” No motorcycles. It’s all work by several emerging artists from L.A.
Jim: After they emerge, what? They go back to L.A.? They get called up to the bigs?
Dave: They’re just providing work for this show, and it’s really inventive. There’s one multimedia piece called “Country Boy” by a guy named Wayne White, who was a set designer for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” He won an Emmy for his work on that show, actually. This “Country Boy” has a peephole built into the back that shows a forest, and you can just gaze into it and pick out all the detail work. It’s fascinating.
Jim: I loved “Pee-wee’s Playhouse!” Ha-ha! Ha-ha! La-la-la!
Dave: You should check out this “L.A. Now” show, then, before the museum closes on Saturday.
Jim: OK, maybe. Where is this place? Is it in the First Friday area? Shuttle over from The Griffin?
Dave: Uh, no. It’s out on West Sahara Avenue, west of Village Square, east of Town Center.
Jim: I thought you said this place was in Las Vegas.
Dave: The museum itself is located inside the Sahara West Library.
Jim: There is a library out there?
Dave: Yeah, you can check out books, reserve computers, the whole nine.
Jim: I haven’t been out on West Sahara in forever, since Z Tejas closed. That place had the most awesome happy hour. What’s the cover charge at the LVAM, anyway?
Dave: Six bucks for adults.
Jim: Six bucks, gas from Henderson all the way out to Summerlin, practically. And how much time out of my life?
Dave: I spent about an hour there yesterday.
Jim: OK, that’s just not gonna happen. How long am I supposed to stare at the Pee-wee guy’s artwork? Twenty minutes?
Dave: This is the problem, Jim. In some circles, we call this attitude “contempt before investigation.” You have no idea what’s out there, do you?
Jim: Guilty. I don’t know. But I don’t need to know, you know? Look, I don’t like seeing the place close, but my neighbor is a landscaper, and he hasn’t worked in six weeks. I feel sad for him.
Dave: You think that somehow the closing of this museum is going to help your friend find work? I’m not following you.
Jim: It’s like this: When you have a friend die, you are really sad because you knew this person and were close to him and you feel a sense of real personal loss. When a stranger dies, especially when the stranger is a great person, you might feel sadness that someone great has died. But you’re not crying over that person. Your friend, that’s who you’re crying for.
Dave:So, it’s like you don’t know this museum well enough to shed a tear.
Jim: Not this kid, nope.
Dave: I think a whole lot of people in this city, probably most of them, feel the same as you.
Jim: It is what it is, bro. But I’m sure there is a lot of culture still around in Las Vegas.
Dave: Yeah, true. We still have the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
Jim: What! You’re telling me there’s a philharmonic in this town … ?
Nice conversation and so true. There is so much ignorance in this city. I have had the same exact conversation many times with sooo many people in this town. Sometimes I wonder why I stay. Oh I know why? I was born and raised here and I care about Las Vegas and its future. The closing of the Las Vegas Art Museum is a sad reality but we will recover from this much stronger than before.
I've visited the museum many times over the years, enjoying many interesting and well staged exhibits. Yes, the location is not central to the valley, but that is no excuse for lack of support. The building was clean, serviceable and easier to access than others. LVAM needs to connect with the corporate community (for cash) as well as the local and visiting community. I hope it is able to re-open its doors before the end of the year.
Yup, Las Vegas has a large Audience C (not interested) for many things cultural. But any program will quickly marginalize itself if it looses touch with Audience B (casual and emerging supporters) by catering too heavily to Audience A (the diehard, sophisticated audience). For example, LVAM dropped its regional sponsorship of the 80 years running national Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. So instead of annually hosting an overflow crowd of emerging young artists and their parents in the auditorium and auxillary gallery at the LVAM, those hundreds now gather at CSN's Horn Auditorium and have their work displayed at The Image Gallery. (Do see their exhibition, now on display at the Cheyenne campus). Talk about a lost opportunity for new memberships! Luckily, dedicated former volunteers, instructors and employees have rekindled their efforts at other arts entities. Want to see what they pulled off? Try the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Arts on the 2nd floor of the Neonopolis, for one. There you will find what happened to the LVAM Gift Shop, as well as get reacquainted with many docents who dropped out of LVAM.
Good point, Mr. Reese. I do hope the odd marriage of fine art and Neonopolis works. I have heard for years that the LVAM location was too large an obstacle to overcome. At least most Las Vegans know where Neonopolis is located. I think.
Wondering if the above Gary_Reese is the same Gary Reese that sits on the Las Vegas City Council. If so, it is explains a lot of about how the mundane and mediocre continue to plague our Las Vegas Valley. You, sir, if you are an elected official give me compelling reason to want to leave this city I call home. Not only have you insulted the people who have dedicated themselves to excellence, you have insulted the very fabric of the fine art community. The only thing that is more frightening than the above comment is the idea of you becoming mayor of Las Vegas. It is clear that Gary_Reese should stick to worrying about speed bumps.
Arts and Business innovation is NOT dead in Vegas! I'm seeing success, but until now my experience with the arts organizations, such as a the ballet, art museum, is there "street" marketing to the masses, was all but non existent. In Vegas' transitory population out reach, brand identity building, web presence building, media events all seemed below the "Ivy tower or civil servant mentality of these organizations. In New York & LA, you see banners, for arts organizations everywhere, store windows, t-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, the same is needed here. I tried to bring these "Low brow" methods used in New york and LA here, which worked for ages to develop major theater companies etc. Arts marketing as Andy Warhol did, is a mass art, and that is what I see as the major reason, lack of "will" to reach out on the media and street level. Frank Gehry exhibit at the museum, yet, TV interviews, media push was weak. Certainly curators need to decide the art in the shows, but media marketing needs gutsy, daring, even edgy low art, Warhol style hucksters to make it work. Hundreds of small mini malls, could have displayed banners, posters etc, reaching the "masses" for example,
So, The arts in Vegas are drying up, or are they, where are the new innovative ideas? New innovative arts marketing? I have one global arts project that is growing rapidly using all forms of media to get itself out there. On myspace alone in our first month we had over 5000, organizations join our page. yet we are unknown as we grow on the internet and beyond. The project is called: "The Greatest Las Vegas". It is a giant sculpture, state monument (Nevada was the first state in U.S. to Legalize boxing and hold a world championship match in 1873), plus it offers a "living" memorial element, interactive digital archive museum, and merchandising, all with vast global reach. Maybe it's time to include new daring success building arts & city strengthening projects in your articles, versus failure and defeat. Even our "free" Rocky style hip hop song "The Greatest Las Vegas" is getting radio and Cable TV sports show play. Go to myspace see for yourself:
http://www.myspace.com/thegreatestlasveg...
See the statements by fans that it is rapidly becoming "a cause" for them, not just hyped marketing. We even have a solid, long term business model, capable of generating strong long term profits. Innovative thinking on a grand scale, maybe some of our ideas are needed not only in Vegas, but many other parts of the U.S.
Paul-Felix Montez
The Greatest Las Vegas Project
Las Vegas BIG art LLC
I think we have a lot to thank our elected officials including the mayor.
At least we can look forward to getting a mob museum and an overpriced city hall which both will bring numerous permanent jobs?
Las Vegas will continue to hold the award for being the largest US city without any culture or identity outside of gaming.
No, I am not the Gary Reese who is the mayor pro tem of Las Vegas. I'm the Gary Reese who owns Plaza Gallery in downtown Henderson, teaches photography at the College of Southern Nevada and is a local plant ecologist. My wife founded the ArtsWalk component of Henderson's Third Thursday - another example of a former LVAM volunteer who took their talents elsewhere. Our gallery hosts the studio of Karen Barrett, Libby Lumpkin's predecessor as Executive Director of the LVAM. Karen curated our Las Vegas Centennial exhibit at the LVAM. She also founded the Nevada Foundations for the Arts to help keep the Scholastic Awards in southern Nevada.
Plaza Gallery kicked off the 2009 Clark Co. Centennial with the first themed exhibit in the valley. We then took it to a variety of other Las Vegas venues, such as the Lloyd George Federal Courthouse, Henderson City Hall, West Charleston Library, and coming up at The Image Gallery and the Barrick Museum at UNLV.
So, while we morn the demise of the LVAM, it's not like there aren't other venues for public visual art exhibitions in Las Vegas. Besides gaining the SNMFA venue in the Neonopolis, we also gained an attractive little art gallery in the Ori-Gen Experience at the Springs Preserve. Along with its Patio Gallery sister, that facility drew in its first year twelve times the number of visitors that the LVAM has.
Perhaps its time for Henderson's mayoral candidates to reexamine the museum study it commissioned for that city. When a entity like LVAM looses its core of volunteers after a closure, you don't reopen anytime soon. Thus, an open door for Henderson. As the Springs Preserve is showing us, a museum can cater to more than a single mission at a time. How about Henderson taking their science themed museum idea and combining it with art? Too far fetched in our modern, highly specialized society? It wasn't for many of this nations greatest minds, who often combined science and art pursuits. That's "Interdisciplinary thinking." But then Reno has again beat us to the punch with the new Nevada Museum of Art's Center for Art + Environment.
Yup, we need a high profile art museum to attract high profile artists. But the irony is that dead artists seem to draw the biggest audiences. Funny how "historical art" never seems to enter into the tired academic arguments of what is more worthy: traditional versus contemporary art. Bring us some historically significant artists and some interdisciplinary exhibits and we'll meet the interests of Audience B, who can make or break political perception of success or failure.