Artists say goodbye to Catherine Borg and Stephen Hendee with collaborative show

By Kristen Peterson

Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 | 11:19 a.m.

Rarely does a Downtown art exhibit, showing works by notables in the art scene, come with so many tears and so much hugging. But that was the scene Saturday night at Freedom>Force at Alios on Main Street.

The exhibit was designed as a one-night show to say goodbye to Catherine Borg and Stephen Hendee, two influential artists within the community, who have recently moved to Maryland.

The fact that 38 artists created and installed works for the couple inspired gallery owner Todd VonBastiaans and other organizers to keep the exhibit up for First Friday.

“They had such an impact on the city. They are so important to the community and so are these artists,” VonBastiaans says. “The fact that the room looks really good is a testament to them as a collective.”

Assembled organically, artists dropped off their works at the gallery and installed them on their own wherever there was space. The send-off exhibit, held last Saturday, drew more than 100 artists, writers, collectors, UNLV faculty and students. Locals, including Dayvid Figler, did short performances.

The best thing about Las Vegas is the people,” Hendee said to the group. “It’s been very hard for us to leave.”

Their departure highlights a history of infighting and questionable decisions at UNLV’s very divided College of Art. Frustration turned to shock and outrage when Hendee was denied tenure. The process, said one tenured professor who originally voted to deny tenure, was flawed. Citing a “string of procedural errors and evidence of bias” and violations of departmental bylaws, professor Louisa McDonald stated that there was enough evidence to “reverse the negative tenure decision.” The tenure process is well documented in files released by UNLV’s Office of General Counsel. Jeff Koep, chair of the college of fine art, and provost Michael Bowers said that they were aware of the bylaws and allegations, but signed off on the decision, as did the Faculty Senate Grievance Committee, which did not return calls for comment.

Then department chair Mark Burns, who led the process and was often referred to by students as a divisive faculty member, took a buyout at the end of the last school year.

Hendee accepted a job at the Maryland Institute College of Art where he is teaching 3D studies and contemporary practice in MICA's Foundation's Department. Former students, including New York City artist Yo Fukui and Las Vegas artist Justin Favela, described Hendee as one UNLV’s best professors:

“He helped me think more professionally, took me to a different level and changed how I think about art. I’m still following it,” Fukui said last fall.

Favela says the loss is a blow to students at UNLV’s College of Fine Art, which gained national and international attention when art critic Dave Hickey taught there: “Without Stephen, I don’t know that I would have learned about contemporary art the way I did. Stephen really pushes students to think critically.

“Catherine was responsible for bringing really great shows to the Government Center. They affected so many people’s lives.”

Borg, who works mostly in video, audio, photography and sculpture, focused much of her artwork here on the transforming environment of Las Vegas and paid homage to its past. Her 2008 exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center, included videos of the chain-linked, boarded-up Queen of Hearts casino, tourists ambling on the Strip and a survey of the storied Commercial Center at Maryland Parkway and Sahara Avenue. “I only have stars for you; you only hold stars for me” details the implosion of the Stardust with a soundtrack of revelers observing, mourning and celebrating the event.

In spring 2006 she collaborated with New York artist Amy Yoes on a video installation, Experiment Phantom Area, presented one night inside the Peppermill’s Fireside Lounge.

Her murals, projected at night, were illuminated through the windows of Nevada State Bank as part of the Las Vegas Centennial mural project. Other public commissions included “Stop and Glow,” a project of artist-designed bus shelters and “ornamental,” a 120-foot work outside SoHo Lofts, made of reflective and transparent laser-cut acrylic, replicating the stone mid-century modern walls surrounding many downtown homes of the area. One of her Vegas-inspired video works was featured at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.

Hendee has shown locally, nationally and internationally, is in collections in art museums around the country and is known mostly for his translucent “environments,” large, glowing architectural structures made of polycarbonate plastic and black tape. Barrick Museum, Springs Preserve, Las Vegas Art Museum and Dust Gallery were among the local gallery spaces that showed his work.

His “Monument to Simulacrum” (stainless steel, 12 feet high and 9 feet in diameter), located in Centennial Plaza next to the Fifth Street School, was recognized by Art in America magazine as one of 2007's best public art projects.

Both were active in other art-related projects in Las Vegas. Borg curated shows at Winchester Gallery and the Clark County Government Center.

For Saturday’s surprise going-away party, artists brought in work they created while he was their professor, work inspired by him and work that referenced his last show.

“Several UNLV students, faculty and friends wanted to say goodbye to them,” VonBastiaans says. “This is the way we decorated for the goodbye party.”

In return, Catherine and Stephen did a small mixed media installation, which will be unveiled tonight at Alios, as a thank you.

Freedom>Force includes work by artists Angela Kallus, RC Wonderly, JW Caldwell, Erin Stellmon, Shawn Hummel, David Sanchez-Burr, Jesse Carson Smigel, Shannon Eakins, Chad Brown, Thomas Willis, Brian Swanson, Andreana Donahue, Lance Smith. Diane Bush, Daniel Samaniego and Mary Warner.

The show was named after a title that a group of graduate students who attended Hendee’s seminars gave themselves.

“A lot of these pieces talk to each other,” artist and Weekly contributor Danielle Kelly said of the exhibit. “All the people came together and you could see the common denominator.”