Sigman expands his photo vistas

Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

Nobody has photographed our casinos' exteriors and interiors quite like Fred Sigman, who set out in the early 1990s to capture them as landscapes.

The elements are recognizable but not cliche.

A 1992 photo of the porte cochere at the Flamingo (then the Flamingo Hilton) is otherworldly with its high contrast, saturated colors and unusual, elevated vantage point. It projects a sense of vintage Vegas.

That photo in Sigman's Casino Landscapes series was his response to implosions and the feeling that nothing was sacred and history was dispensable. As a historian and a photographer, Sigman wanted not just to document, but to tell a story, one that continues in his late-1990s Las Vegas Wash series on the transformation of nature.

His latest is "Songlines: Photographs by a Globetrotter," on display through Jan. 19 at the Community College of Southern Nevada Fine Arts Gallery. The photographs depict Sigman's perspective of the icons and landmarks of Southeast Asia, India, the Peruvian Amazon and the Himalayas. As with his other work, they explore ideas of change through human relationships with the environment.

"It addresses ideas of pilgrimage, movement and transition," Sigman says.

"I'm not interested in landscape as static image, but as movement - how places change and how we change them," he said. "In India nothing has changed in 5,000 years, so you have to search to find where real change has occurred."

The works were taken during five years of travels and are part of an ongoing project. Currently Sigman, an art history professor at CCSN, is photographing Las Vegas from an apocalyptic view. A resident since 1965, he believes Las Vegas is dying. If that's the case, be sure to see his "Globetrotter" exhibit before it's too late. An artist's reception will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the gallery.

Details: 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, 651-4205. www.fredsigman.com.

JCC art tour

As the Las Vegas Arts District continues to flourish, various groups, organizations and social circles want to dabble in its offerings at times when they feel the most comfortable entering downtown. The Realtors who asked where their limousine should drop them off on a First Friday probably didn't stick around too long.

But the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada is a little more organized. On Jan. 18, it begins its every-other-month Third Thursday bus tours of the Las Vegas Arts District, visiting establishments that stay open to accommodate them. This month's stops include the Archinofsky Gallery, Dust Gallery, the Funkhouse and Gallery P.

Details: For reservations and pickup locations, call 794-0090.

The plan

The Las Vegas City Council has updated its Downtown Centennial Plan. Anyone moving downtown or looking to open a business in the Arts District can find the design guidelines and learn what's in store for urban pathways, lighting, signs and landscape in the area by purchasing a copy of "The Las Vegas Downtown Centennial Plan" or by finding it online at www.lasvegasnevada.gov, where it will be posted next week.