LV art museum will be relocated to library

Bob Shemeligian

Friday, July 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

It's official: Las Vegas soon will have a bona fide art museum.

"We're very excited," Sharon King, president of the board of directors of the Las Vegas Art Museum, said Thursday after the Las Vegas-Clark County Library Board voted to negotiate a contract with the nonprofit museum to lease 30,000 feet of space at the Sahara West Library.

Construction is nearly complete on the $16 million library, once touted as the crown jewel of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District but hampered by construction delays and other problems.

Still, King said she is delighted with the prospect of moving the nonprofit art museum to the library.

"We finally have enough space to display our exhibits, and we hope to attract major touring exhibitions from other museums," King said.

Las Vegas Art Museum officials have been looking for space ever since they were notified of their eviction from their Lorenzi Park home of 30 years to make room for a senior citizens center in August.

Nearly 500 patrons frequented the museum each month when it was located in the 6,000-square-foot facility at Lorenzi Park.

Since then, the museum has displayed some of its art in the lobbies at the Community College of Southern Nevada. Other art is displayed in a small storefront at 6130 W. Charleston Blvd. Still other items are in storage at various locations throughout town.

The museum was founded 45 years ago as a private arts league, and 15 years later the league evolved into the museum, King said.

"We've been a museum for some time, but we never had the space for proper exhibitions. Now we do," King said. "And the community gains a place where residents can come in and see really fine art."

King said she hopes to move into the Sahara West library by October.