Kristen Peterson

Art Reporter

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Story Archive

Late bloomer finds home on bass: Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley.
Local museum maven says history’s things have a place: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009; With budgets pared to bare essentials, museums are feeling the pressure.
Rainbow Company director like a theater mom: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley.
New sign installed for Las Vegas Arts District: Friday, Nov. 20, 2009; Installed this morning on Casino Center Boulevard near Coolidge Avenue, the yellow, red, blue and white sign reads "18b Arts District" and is an interpretation of a logo designed about four years ago by the Las Vegas Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
A 20th Century Experience: Conductor says Gershwin, Bartok works go together well; Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009; The pairing of George Gershwin and Bela Bartok might have some Las Vegas Philharmonic ticket holders scratching their heads.
A painter who explores nationalist symbols: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009; Sean Russell is known mostly for his large-scale paintings and public art projects.
Historic, by local standards: Clark County Museum to celebrate reopening of chapel from the Strip; Friday, Nov. 13, 2009; It survived a tricky journey across town, required more than $250,000 in renovation, including a new steeple, scavenged furnishings and electrical rewiring.
Artist’s exhibit hits pause button on Vegas life: Friday, Nov. 13, 2009; Street photographer Ken Lamug is bent on capturing life’s moments and places, knowing full well that in Las Vegas everything is ephemeral. A fitting example of the ever-changing Las Vegas is a photograph in “Beyond the Neon: Street Exposures” in the Image Gallery of the College of Southern Nevada’s Telecommunications Building. The photograph taken by Lamug shows a woman sweeping the steps of her one-story cottage home in a deteriorating neighborhood in downtown Las Vegas. She’s bent over, focused on her task, wearing a short floral skirt and sleeveless top. Next to her door, propped against her crumbling home, is a painted sign that reads: “I was born this way.”
A place to buy a piece of CityCenter style: Design center will feature works of notable artists, architects; Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009; CityCenter officials announced this week that a design center will be created to stitch together the high-end architecture, design and public art program at the $8.5 billion project.
Noelle Garcia, visual artist: Art without faces: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009; In her studio Garcia has a handful of decaying photos, Polaroids taken in the prison yard for $1 when she was a child and would go to visit her father.
A new way to look at books: In this electronic-information age, artists’ focus on literary medium is timely; Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009; Two art exhibits held in conjunction with the Vegas Valley Book Festival present books as art in ways diverse enough that the works could appeal to those not normally fond of the usual “book art.” “Inscribed/Messages” features art that is created mostly in book form. “Altered States: Artists Re-imagine the Book” features art created by using the book as medium.
Vegas Valley Book Festival: Finding our own voice: Local writing scene is displayed in works of authors, professors and journalists; Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009; In its eighth year the Vegas Valley Book Festival is plucking from local waters for most of the five-day festival that begins today in downtown Las Vegas.
Local man has the instinct to dance: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley
Festival to honor dead, and traditions: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009; Amid the paintings of skeletons and flowers in this year’s Day of the Dead community art exhibit is a strikingly peculiar sculpture by artist Julie Mahorney-Saenz, a composition as wild as it is contained.
On a shoestring, arts group strives to stay relevant: The Contemporary Arts Center, a fixture of the local scene for years, looks to remain on vanguard; Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009; The current exhibit at the downtown Contemporary Arts Center is not immediately accessible.
Mundo Juillerat: 'Life in pursuit of guitar solos': A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009; Juillerat started out playing ukulele in Hawaii and became a “shredder” — a rock guitarist who plays fast — in various bands and production shows.
Some films to interest the Whole Foods set: Festival of shorts includes at least two on organic farms; Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009; Hosted by the Nevada Wilderness Project and Nevada Conservation League, the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival — an offshoot of the larger festival held each year in Nevada City, Calif. — looks at individual efforts to reclaim land, save energy or preserve wildlife.
Janis McKay: Spotlight on the bassoon: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009; “Composers have started writing music without bassoon because there are not very many of us. That concerns me."
Zombies your thing? Read on: Friday, Oct. 16, 2009; There’s nothing like a rotting corpse slogging toward you with an empty gaze and flesh-eating desire. Its limbs fall with abandon, its hair is atrocious, and that muted, low, aching groan is alarming to say the least. Zombies wipe out entire towns by eating the decent citizens.
Opener celebrates all that’s new with the Nevada Ballet: Friday, Oct. 16, 2009; When Nevada Ballet Theatre opens its season Saturday with “Timeless Innovations,” audience members will get a taste of new artistic director James Canfield, if not a better understanding of who he is.
Painting causing stir at UNLV: It’s not an original, artist’s attorney says, and he’d like it removed; Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009; For more than a decade, UNLV thought it had a valuable Frank Stella painting hanging in the lobby of the Judy Bayley Theatre. The painting was something of a mystery. The owner, who loaned it to UNLV, died. Someone called shortly after to claim the painting, but never responded with proof of ownership. So there it hangs. Unsigned, undated, tattered and torn with a broken frame and no official provenance. Theatergoers pass beneath it. Professors have questioned its preservation — or lack thereof. Students study it.
But is it really a Stella?
King of all things vintage, kitschy and camp: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009; The November exhibit at his new gallery, Alios, at 1217 S. Main St., which also houses his business, coincides with the Vegas Valley Book Festival and features the work of Las Vegas artists who created “Drunk, a Comic About Bar Stories.”
Sculpture at CityCenter's Aria designed to provoke thought about water: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009; Artist Maya Lin watches as her 87-foot rendition of the Colorado River is installed behind the registration desk at CityCenter’s Aria.
Ceremony spiked as debate swells over how gays should celebrate law: Friday, Oct. 9, 2009; Earl Shelton, associate publisher of a local gay publication, accepted an invitation from the Erotic Heritage Museum to celebrate the effective date of Nevada’s landmark domestic partnership law with a commitment ceremony honoring his nine-year relationship with his partner.
Ethereal paintings evoke feelings of longing, loss: Friday, Oct. 9, 2009; A child in a skeleton costume sits on his Big Wheel and shoots bubbles from a ray gun.
Chamber music man anchored in Las Vegas: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009; Born in Valdivia, Chile, Fernandez grew up listening to classical music on the radio and Victrola
Audience invited for part in the show: Friday, Oct. 2, 2009; Audience members at last month’s Las Vegas Philharmonic concert were almost hurling themselves at the stage after Giora Schmidt’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
Photographer’s Old Vegas work to be at center of upcoming events: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009; Dennis McBride knew about a collection of photographs given to the Nevada State Museum, but only recently did the curator of history and collections realize the richness of the supply left behind by photographer Jay Florian Mitchell.
Vikki Baltimore-Dale: The continuum of her life: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley
Shelled 'Peanuts': Trio of artists stylize iconic comic strip characters by stripping them of detail; Friday, Sept. 25, 2009; Over the summer, a trio of artists known as Ripper Jordan created a piece titled “Nine Paintings of Paintings.”
Unashamed to explore eros: Museum gives people ‘permission to be themselves’; Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009; The Erotic Heritage Museum opened on Industrial Road in Las Vegas a year ago.
Won over by 'Zumanity,' now here to stay: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley
A peek at coming attractions: Bellagio gallery exhibit showcasing art and design of CityCenter; Friday, Sept. 18, 2009; At the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art an art handler is on a ladder making some final adjustments to a Jenny Holzer installation while colleagues look on with anticipation.
Another art gallery scales back its schedule: Despite steps taken to bring customers in, Henri & Odette forced to end open hours; Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009; Jennifer Harrington sits inside her gallery on a summer afternoon and talks about her failed efforts to draw people into Henri & Odette.
Locals defend 'sketchy' area slammed on TV by ‘The Office’ star: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009; An actress who plays a ditsy office gossip on TV has a Las Vegas neighborhood in a lather. Mindy Kaling of TV’s “The Office” appeared on “The Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on Friday night and trashed the neighborhood of the venerable Luv-It Frozen Custard. She told Ferguson she was a little mad at his recommendation that she visit the tiny blue shop in the shadow of the Stratosphere. “We went to this frozen custard place in I believe the most dangerous and sketchy neighborhood I’ve ever been to in my entire life,” Kaling said.
Ricardo Cobo: 'Guitar was bewitching': A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009; Cobo debuted at 17 with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota, then went on to become an award-winning, internationally known classical guitarist. He toured nonstop, sometimes performing as many as 130 concerts a year — solo and with orchestras.
An infusion of art: Contemporary works from Los Angeles gracing UNLV’S Donna Beam space; Friday, Sept. 11, 2009; There may not be an abundance of contemporary art galleries in Las Vegas, but a small group of curators does what it can to get art to the people. This time it’s Jerry Schefcik’s turn. The director of Donna Beam Fine Art gallery at UNLV saw a gap in the gallery’s scheduling, contacted Los Angeles’ Western Project to see if UNLV could borrow works for an exhibit and put together the show in two weeks.
While you were at home passively watching TV: Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009; At the Fifth Street School auditorium, Swiss artist Christoph Draeger is delivering montages of titillating carnage, barbaric acts and natural disasters, merged with some of Hollywood’s best plane crashes and rampages.
Montana Black: Religious iconography plays a large role in work: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009; Early works included diners portrayed as holy places and triptychs of condiments and other diner ephemera — a coffee cup flanked by squeezable ketchup and mustard containers. Subjects in her figurative works are often surrounded by a glow or halo.
Lack of museum leaves gap in art education for Clark County students: Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009; Students from Pat Diskin Elementary School sat before a Donald Suggs sculpture at the Las Vegas Art Museum discussing symmetry.
Bloodshed, disaster, end of the world — it’s all part of Swiss artist’s work: Friday, Sept. 4, 2009; Swiss artist Christoph Draeger delves into the absurdity of contemporary media culture through photos, paintings, installations, videos and sculpture.
Passionate about art education: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009; Before joining the Smith Center three years ago Schneider spent 31 years connecting youth with the arts in the Clark County School District.
Investing in the District: Developer says he has a philanthropic goal in mind for his gallery; Friday, Aug. 28, 2009; Normally when people open a gallery in the Arts District, they lease a storefront space, put up a sign and hold an opening.
Linda Quinn, executive director of the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum: Three years after taking charge, Quinn muses on the past and the future of the museum; Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009; Linda Quinn moved here from Charlotte, N.C., three years ago to run the outdated, financially strapped Lied Discovery Children’s Museum. The museum, next to the Las Vegas Library in the downtown Cultural Corridor, has overhauled its exhibits, is now operating in the black and has been asked to move onto the campus of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Richard McGee: Conductor, trombonist: Another weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009; Richard McGee was 8 years old when he saw “The Music Man” on television. You could say it shaped his life. By the time he was a junior in high school, McGee knew he wanted a music career.
Toni Basil teaches street dance at 'Ballet Boot Camp': Friday, Aug. 21, 2009; Toni Basil is getting funky to a James Brown song in the Nevada Ballet Theatre studio. Her hair, artfully mussed, caps off the stylish and somewhat moneyed look of successful choreographer who has aged very little since her MTV days.
Pinball Hall of Fame a balm for the Vegas soul: It’s the anti-Strip — it reminds us of a simpler time; Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009; I’m hanging out with gun-slinging cowboys, trapeze artists, bowling queens and rock stars. Mike and Ikes litter the carpet. Flickering lights catch my eye as I load fistfuls of gumballs into my mouth and join in on the collective nostalgia that is the Pinball Hall of Fame.
Artist Amy Sol: Experimenting with paint: Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley: Sol’s work is impeccably clean, lyrical and illustrative. She merges manga, Japanese screen prints, children’s illustration and pure fantasy in finely detailed, imaginative landscapes, vignettes and portraits.
Artist capturing the look of a Vegas night: Bright lights and neon are dominant in native Las Vegan’s vibrant works; Friday, Aug. 14, 2009; Artist Jerry Misko sits on the back of a 1970s gray velour coach in his home studio — an annex off his living room. A laptop is open in front of him.
Artists shine light on cabaret: Benefit show aims to help acts thrive at Liberace Museum; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009; The Liberace Museum’s collection of rhinestone and mirrors is enough to make any fan of theatrical kitsch swoon. But who knew the museum’s little cabaret room would house such a coveted spotlight? Theater performers from the Strip have fallen so in love with the intimate space that they’re holding a benefit to raise money for a sound and lighting system to accommodate their cabaret shows, many of which are late-evening events.