ARTS NOTES

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Friday, June 23, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.

After two months of coloring its walls with Tim Bavington's visual melodies, G-C Arts is toning it down a tad with an exhibit of works by Los Angeles photographer Liza Ryan.

The show opening tonight at the gallery at 1217 S. Main St. is a survey of Ryan's introspective and often poetic vignettes created from mostly abstract images: objects, interior scenes or body parts set alongside gray skies, trees and other natural elements.

The show is the result of the partnership formed this year between Michele Quinn and Los Angeles art dealers James Corcoran and Bill Griffin of Griffin contemporary art gallery in Santa Monica.

The three dealers purchased Godt-Cleary Projects from Glenn Schaeffer, changed its name to G-C Arts and set out to expand the Los Angeles art scene to Las Vegas. Ryan is represented by Griffin, which has given her six solo shows since 1998.

The exhibit at G-C Arts is a survey of Ryan's work dating to the late 1990s. Quinn describes the collection as haunting, soft work that has an internal quality and is "really pretty."

Ryan's work is also on display at the 15th Biennale of Sydney, an art festival in Australia, and is part of the permanent collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. One of her pieces was purchased by the Nevada Cancer Institute for its permanent collection that Quinn curated.

Today's opening will be from 6 to 8 p.m. For information, call the gallery at 452-2200.

Musical tale

It took Dave Hawley, bass clarinetist for the Las Vegas Philharmonic, an entire summer to write an adaptation of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" for a small ensemble.

The effort was quite tedious, Hawley says, but proved fruitful. He and fellow musicians have been performing a quintet version for the past couple of years. On Saturday, Hawley will lead a septet version of the musical story at the West Sahara Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.

Hawley says the 26-minute production is a great way to experience "Peter and the Wolf." He cut 27 measures to "move it along" and gave parts normally played by strings to other woodwinds.

Hawley on clarinet represents the cat, Doug Beasley on horn represents the wolf, bassoonist Sam Pisciotta represents the grandfather, oboist Martin Radunz is the duck, percussionist Dale Rampton represents the hunters, and flutist Sherrie Parker is the bird. Actor Patrick Thompson will narrate.

The 10:30 a.m. performance is free and was made possible from a grant the Philharmonic received from the Hearst Foundation. For information, call the Philharmonic at 258-5438 or the library at 507-3630.

Mural unveiling

The last of the Las Vegas Centennial Murals will be unveiled at 5 p.m. Thursday at West Sahara Library. The dedication of "The Scarlet Letter," a mural by Alexis Smith, will be accompanied by an introduction by art critic Dave Hickey, an artist lecture, public discussion and reception. The 32-by-24-foot mural is a digital image on vinyl that includes the giant letter "A" over an upside-down depiction of an embroidered rendition of Thomas Lawrence's "Pinkie." The mural's allusion to adultery caused a stir among members of the Centennial Committee. Officials say they hope Thursday's ceremony will help heal hurt feelings.