Artist Vicki Richardson: Multiculturalism, front and center

Steve Marcus

Vicki Richardson, artist and owner of the Left of Center Gallery and studio, poses in the gallery in North Las Vegas Thursday, July 9, 2009. The gallery is a hub of activity for many artists who work together in the studio. It has mentoring programs and focuses on promoting the visual arts as an educational tool to enhance inter-cultural understanding of social issues. It is administered by artists and educators who are committed to cultural exchange.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Vicki Richardson, artist, director of Left of Center Gallery

Age: 64

Education: Bachelor’s degree in art, Fisk University; master’s in art education, University of Chicago

The gallery: Richardson opened Left of Center as a commercial gallery 20 years ago. It’s now a multicultural hub with artist workshops, mentoring programs, gallery exhibits, studios and a permanent exhibit of African art. Its original group of artists, including Richardson, Harold Bradford and Sylvester Collier, are still there.

Education and multiculturalism: Richardson considers art a tool to enhance intercultural understanding of social issues. It’s a path she’s been on for decades. As an art student at Fisk University, she was involved with the civil rights movement. In Chicago, while getting her master’s degree, she lived among rioting and racial tension, taught in gang territory on the city’s South Side and developed an art curriculum for inner-city students. Though the city was going through volatile change, it was also a time of political art, she says, and an exciting time to be teaching. Later, Richardson helped prepare white teachers for integrated classrooms.

Getting to Vegas: When Richardson came to teach here in 1978, she’d hoped to land in an inner-city school. The School District was busing and said there were none. Other sources told her that Rancho High School had a large Hispanic and black population and she asked to teach there. “They were surprised,” she says. “I don’t think anyone asks to teach at Rancho.”

At Rancho she taught art in a shed behind the high school. No air conditioning. No intercom. But the shed opened to an athletic field where students set up their easels. She says she loved it. As one of few black women with a master’s degree, she says she was encouraged to move toward a career in administration. But she didn’t want to leave the classroom.

On teaching: “I took teaching art very, very seriously. It was never a playground in there.”

Living in Vegas: “It took me awhile to get used to Vegas. I didn’t automatically love it. That wall of heat hits you and you think that nothing can survive here. But you learn to appreciate it, the openness, the ability to see great distances, the flowers in the spring, Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire.”

Going rural: Concerned about the stigma of Las Vegas, Richardson chose to raise her family on the outskirts of town. At one time Left of Center, off I-15 and Cheyenne Road, was on the outskirts, with plenty of space, a beautiful view of the mountains and an occasional horseback rider. The gallery is now surrounded by suburban gated communities. “I always knew the city would catch up,” she says.

Art in Vegas: “It’s not easy doing art here in Vegas. I’ve seen so many places close and they were excellent galleries. But there is a core of people who have been fighting the good fight for a long time.”

Richardson says arts districts have been a vital part of every city she’s lived in, but doesn’t believe the arts have to be located in one district. “There can be pockets of art. I’m a big proponent of community art. I don’t want to take art out of this area. It’s a source of pride for this community.”

Making it last: Keeping an arts center open for 20 years is no easy task in Las Vegas. What’s the secret? Left of Center is all-inclusive, nurtures young artists and reaches out to retirees, Richardson says. “So many people here have done things that maybe they would not do without encouragement. The gallery gives them courage to step out of the comfort zone and go for it. It’s a nurturing place.”

On public art: “It grounds the community. It gives a sense of permanence.” Richardson oversaw two public sculpture projects, “Ancestral Gateway” at the Doolittle Senior Center and “Reach” at the Dr. William U. Pearson Park, which will be dedicated Friday. Both projects were collaborative efforts by artists Dayo Adelaja, Adolfo Gonzalez, Sylvester Collier and Denise Duarte.

Favorite artists: Aaron Douglas and Georgia O’Keeffe

Sticking around? “Yes. Las Vegas has been good to me. I love it here.”