Las Vegas gallery showcasing Boulder City artist’s ‘Angels’

By Becky Bosshart

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 | midnight

Janet Thimons doesn't think of herself as a symbol of divinity living on Earth.

But then she saw herself with angel wings in artist Montana Black's new collection "Angels Unveiled," which opened this week at the Sahara West Library.

"It was a little disconcerting," said the project manager for a Las Vegas glazing contractor. "It makes you introspective. When you hear divine you think 'god-like' perfection. But in reality it means we are all the same. We are all part of one being, although we do have imperfections."

Thomas is one of the 12 local models used in Black's collection of oil, pencil and acrylic paintings. It's a project that the Boulder City artist started in May with the assistance of her husband, photographer Ken Gerard. They took more than 1,200 photographs of family friends.

"I was using stock model photos but then I realized that was ridiculous," Black said. "I realized I needed to use people I know. My friends."

Each of her paintings, she hopes to eventually have 20 in the collection, contains a story of compassion. Black said Thimons has a bubbly energy that is focused on caring for others and for the environment. In the painting, Thimons is looking up in awe at a hummingbird alighting on a leafy branch.

"My goal was to illustrate compassion coming from the human to the environmental world," Black said. "So you'll see (the model) watching a hummingbird or holding a cardinal."

It's this environmental activism that caught the eye of Green Valley art collector Jonathan Schuyler.

"There's an energy in her work that inspires me," he said. He owns three of her paintings and has commissioned three more. "There's an aura in the house because of her work. It's art with intention."

Black wants gallery visitors to sit and consider their own majesty in the world, particularly in this time of economic upheaval and uncertainty.

"You're bigger than you think you are," she said.

Black, 42, is a UNLV bachelor of fine art graduate who studied under famed art critic Dave Hickey. Her original paintings range from $1,000 to $2,000. Prints are $20 to $40. Black's next project is a "Angels Unveiled" coffee table book and short essay collection.