Kristen Peterson

Art Reporter

Contact Kristen via e-mail

Call Kristen at 702-259-2317.

Story Archive

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.
Artist Danielle Kelly: Like Vegas, always evolving: Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people in the Las Vegas Valley
A look at womanhood: Exhibit explores feminine side of life; Friday, Aug. 7, 2009; When a gallery exhibit falls through at the last minute and the curator has only one week to find a replacement, there’s no telling what will end up on the walls, particularly with a group exhibit where multiple artists’ works must be sensibly corralled.
A boost for UNLV gallery: When the Las Vegas Art Museum closed, its donated Vogel collection was left in limbo, until now; Friday, Aug. 7, 2009; A collection of art given to the Las Vegas Art Museum last year is being sent to UNLV’s Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery. The decision was made by the original donors after they learned the museum had closed its doors in February.
Singer-songwriter: 'It’s not overwhelming. It’s inviting.': Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley.
Curb and animal appeal: Wednesday, July 29, 2009; Art collectors Milo Miloscia and John Nelson bought a desert modern-style house in Las Vegas about four years ago. The home was perfect for their collection of contemporary art and high-end design, but they wondered what to do about the addition out back. The building with its open floor plan overlooks a pool and was added by the home’s second owner as a gallery to showcase his personal art collection.
Playwright: 'Everything I do comes back to this': Tuesday, July 28, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley.
Bernice Fischer, arts patron: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, July 21, 2009; Born in Brownsville, Texas, Fischer had little exposure to the arts. While in college she attended her first important concert: Brazilian opera singer Bidu Sayao and Spanish pianist Jose Iturbi.
Museum pieces to ﬁll masterpiece architecture of Ruvo Center: Proceeds from rotating exhibitions of contemporary art to be funneled back into patient care, research; Saturday, July 18, 2009; The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has hired Libby Lumpkin, former executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum, to amass and curate a rotating art exhibition. Proceeds of admissions and sales will be funneled back into the institution and its clinical care and medical research.
Artist Vicki Richardson: Multiculturalism, front and center: Tuesday, July 14, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people in the Las Vegas Valley
Artist to exhibit her flower power: Friday, July 10, 2009; There’s good news for Mary Warner fans. This month the artist has two shows — at UNLV’s Donna Beam Gallery and with artist Helga Watkins at the West Wing gallery at Rosemary’s Restaurant.
Why Ruvo’s a sight to see — right now: Friday, July 10, 2009; When friends or family visit from out of town, I like to take them to the Arts District to show them another side of Vegas — see a gallery exhibit, eat at a downtown restaurant or stroll the neighborhood examining buildings, signage and history.
Six questions for Lynnette Sawyer: Wednesday, July 8, 2009; The Hispanic Museum of Nevada (El Museo Hispano de Nevada) has been around for almost 20 years. Its programming includes art exhibits, film festivals, performances and artifact displays.
Kevin Cardiff, violin maker, repairman and restorer: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, July 7, 2009; Cardiff played 12 years in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as assistant principal violin. He knew as a child that he wanted a career as a violinist.
Comic book has subject with a tragic side as well: Stories, graphics are all about getting drunk, including in Las Vegas; Monday, July 6, 2009; Bar stories are notoriously exaggerated, somewhat rambling and occasionally nonsensical. The best are amusing. The worst are depressing.
Revisiting the building blocks of their career: Thursday, July 2, 2009; It’s 100 degrees. Everyone is sweating.
If you failed driver’s ed, this salon may not be for you: Wednesday, July 1, 2009; Getting Las Vegas residents out of the strip-mall frame of mind is no easy task. Getting them downtown is even trickier. James Reza and Staci Linklater knew this when they opened Globe Salon in 2000.
People in the Arts: Shakeh Ghoukasian: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, June 30, 2009; As a child, Ghoukasian was immersed in government-sponsored culture — ballet, opera, philharmonic. She attended music school until her family left Armenia in 1979 for Los Angeles.
Unabashedly inappropriate trio of artists reemerges: Monday, June 29, 2009; Ripper Jordan gave us Abe Lincoln muttering, “God, how I hate live theater,” riffs on the F-word, juggling Jesuses and cartoons of the well-known savior uttering colorful phrases about running the world.
A ‘camp’ for refugees of the recession: Organizer says free event will help people chart their own way to employment; Thursday, June 25, 2009; After seven years working as a multimedia designer for slot manufacturer IGT, Las Vegas resident Michael Baker left to start his own multimedia company. When the economy tanked, he needed to figure out a few things, so he headed to LaidOffCamp in Los Angeles.
Why not have a walkable arts cluster? We do, sort of: Downtown offers a lot, but people will still wonder, ‘What if ...’; Wednesday, June 24, 2009; Wouldn’t it be something if the city’s contemporary galleries, artist studios and boutique stores were clustered in one area? Add a coffee shop, a book store, maybe a restaurant and, wow, imagine the possibilities.
Going for 100: Conductor has no plans to retire at premature age of 88; Tuesday, June 23, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley.
At City Hall, artists from 50 states salute, or chide, their homes: Monday, June 22, 2009; Most Las Vegans have in common that they are from somewhere else — Texas, Florida, California, South Dakota, wherever.
Forget paint canvases, substitute skateboards: Friday, June 19, 2009; Don’t let the name fool you.
Artist Justin Favela: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, June 16, 2009; Family, culture and television play out heavily in Favela’s art. His father is from Mexico, his mother from Guatemala.
Down, never out: Centennial mural is artist’s way of saying Las Vegas always rises anew; Friday, June 12, 2009; Commemorating a centennial with a public mural creates an expectation of certain themes — history, culture, people, industry, progress.
Saxophonist interested in more than music: Tuesday, June 9, 2009; Phil Wigfall grew up on Nellis Air Force Base in a home filled with music — Motown, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck and the like. Wigfall zeroed in on the saxophone, first enamored of its beauty, then taken in by its sound.
For members of one artist residency, the desert is their muse: Sunday, June 7, 2009; Suzanne Hackett-Morgan sounded out of her mind five years ago when she proposed an artist residency near the ghost town of Rhyolite, just outside the gateway to Death Valley.
First Friday scales back to its roots for slower months: Friday, June 5, 2009; If you notice something oddly familiar about tonight’s First Friday, then you’ve probably been around a few years.
Ingenuity, born of necessity: Orchestra’s leaders, musicians forge new bonds with audience, donors; Friday, June 5, 2009; Last month musicians from the Las Vegas Philharmonic got together to make phone calls to subscribers about renewing for next season. The calls began something like this: “Hi, this is DeAnn Letourneau, concert master for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.”
Rich heritage of exotic dance: Thursday, June 4, 2009; That the annual Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend takes place in Las Vegas seems logical — what with the boas, the costumes and the Strip’s all-around “sex for sale” mentality.
Preserving dance, one student at a time: Tuesday, June 2, 2009; Kelly Roth heads the College of Southern Nevada’s dance program. He is artistic director of Kelly Roth & Dancers and director of Dance in the Desert, an annual dance festival in Las Vegas.
Biscuit Street Preacher: A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley; Tuesday, May 26, 2009; Appliance yards, industrial offices and factories are prevalent in Biscuit Street Preacher’s narrative paintings.
Exhibit fitting for gallery's final bow: Friday, May 22, 2009; “Black Vegas and Fool’s Gold,” is the gallery’s last exhibit before it moves to Laguna Beach, Calif. Guests are here to see the work, but some came to pay their respects to a closing gallery.
Sewing and friendships nurtured at art exhibit: Workshop gives artists a chance to connect, lifts community morale; Thursday, May 21, 2009; It’s the final night of Danielle Kelly’s exhibit at Henri and Odette on Sixth Street. The gallery has turned into a production line of sorts, an informal artists workshop — a sewing circle with beer and wine.
Bulgarian cab driver has a special gadulka song for you: Tuesday, May 19, 2009; Bulgarian folk music was on the radio and in the streets from morning to night when Angel Gadzhev was growing up in Rakovski, a small town near Plovdiv in southern Bulgaria.
Art will give new mode of transit some eye-appeal: Friday, May 15, 2009; The Regional Transportation Commission says it’s less than a year from launching its Gold Line, an aerodynamic rapid transit service connecting downtown Las Vegas and the Strip.
Trombonist to the stars: Tuesday, May 12, 2009; Nathan Tanouye was 10 when his dad brought home a trombone he had bought for him at a garage sale. Never having played the instrument, Tanouye’s first concern was that he wouldn’t have enough “air.”
Two big departures from the local art scene: Tuesday, May 12, 2009; Naomi Arin, owner of one of the most significant contemporary art galleries in Las Vegas, is moving to California, creating another huge hole in the local art scene.
On the road, and over the river: Follow this couple on a photographic tour of Arizona’s Route 66 and the Grand Canyon; Friday, May 8, 2009; The Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon and the famous Route 66 near Kingman, Ariz., both splice landscapes in the Southwest. They’re celebrated, lined with unique life and somewhat isolated.
Pete Contino: Blues accordionist is a travelin' man: Tuesday, May 5, 2009; Pete Contino likes to be on the road, sleeping past noon in a room blacked out by curtains, the air conditioning blasting and no alarm clock in sight.
CityCenter’s crown jewel: Vivid, boat-centric sculpture in roundabout is complete; Sunday, May 3, 2009; Artist Nancy Rubins stands in the middle of the CityCenter construction site — a vast valley of gravel, concrete and machinery surrounded by towering glass architecture.
CityCenter's art collection was never in doubt, even when it was itself: Sunday, May 3, 2009; When MGM Mirage and its partner Dubai World almost missed a payment on CityCenter in March, there was concern that the more than $8 billion project would come to a halt.
In Las Vegas, the past tends to disappear fast: Catch these signs of our time before they’re gone; Friday, May 1, 2009; To celebrate Archaeology Awareness and Historic Preservation Month, the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office encourages residents to take historic walking tours and visit archaeological sites throughout the state.
Director waves bye to Liberace Foundation: Museum attendance way down, chairman says; Thursday, April 30, 2009; The executive director of the Liberace Foundation left his post this week as the nonprofit group tries to cope with the economy.
Jerry Schefcik, director of Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery: Tuesday, April 28, 2009; "I get emotional about the artists. They’re here for a purpose, to do something, get a degree, find out who they are. I see myself in support of them, of service to them."
No time for arts events? Consider these: Subtle and edgy, old and new, pleasure trips abound; Friday, April 24, 2009; The banter over cultural offerings and local support of the arts is ongoing. It has been for years. Some complain that cultural enrichment is not a priority here. Others say it’s impossible to get people out of their homes.
Her tapestry saga is no yarn: For 3 years, woman wove in solitude, making portrait of Vegas; Thursday, April 23, 2009; In a tiny apartment across from the Hard Rock Hotel, a 72-year-old nomadic artist who goes by the single name Sola has spent the past three years weaving a vibrant tapestry of Las Vegas that will blow your mind.
JW Caldwell, artist and preparator: Wednesday, April 22, 2009; A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley