Learn how to make your own beats with Whitney Myer. Whitney will be developing a new song with the help of the audience on Sunday, July 28 at 5 p.m. at The Holland Project. She will demonstrate in detail how to put together a track. This will be an interactive and informative session on one aspect of the creative process that anyone can try at home with a computer or iPad. The Holland Project is located at 140 Vesta St.
Set against the backdrop of one of America’s most notorious crimes-the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case, Violet Sharp is about an immigrant domestic servant that is suspected of committing the crime of the century.
If you go: Violet Sharp
When: Through March 24
Where: Reno Little Theater, 147 E. Pueblo St.
The paintings of Hans Meyer-Kassel (1872-1952) have hung in the castles of kings and the homes of presidents. Still today, decades after his death, his artwork can be found in state capitols, university campuses, historical societies, court houses, government buildings and museums across the United States and Europe.
This exhibition includes more than 70 paintings, with additional drawings, photographs, ephemera and artifacts drawn from private and institutional collections.
If you go:
What: Hans Meyer-Kassel, Artist of Nevada, exhibit
Where: Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St.
When: Through Sept. 2, 2018
| Thank you. Reno, for the support over the past 4 years! We have evolved from just an online arts calendar to so much more. We now offer FIVE docent-led tours of public art and murals in Downtown and Midtown Reno. Our website has art and theater reviews and an enlightened blog every month.
Celebrate with us by coming to our events this month. The Midtown Mural Tour is on Sat. May 12, 11 a.m at Nameless Coffee. (32 Cheney St.) All tickets are $10 per person. And we hope to see you throughout the year. Art Walk Reno is every First Thursday and starts at 5:30 p.m. at Metro Gallery (1 E. First St.) with an after-party with Loud As Folk at Pignic Pub and Patio. Every first Saturday, we’re downtown alternating the Public Art Tour and the Reno Mural Expo These walks begin at 10 a.m. at City Plaza. (10 N. Virginia St.) See you on one of the fun docent-led an art tours! |
The current art exhibit at Sheppard Gallery in the University of Nevada, Reno’s Church Fine Arts Building is inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination and explores the visual cultures of black America.
“Only Light Can Do That: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.” includes the newly acquired major work by African American artist Elizabeth Catlett. The exhibit also includes two video/sound pieces by Mwangi Hutter, the collaborative artist duo Ingrid Mwangi and Robert Hutter who are based in Germany and Kenya. Their work confronts issues of race, identity and gender. Ingrid Mwangi will be in Reno April 25 and 26 for a film screening and lecture.
Don’t miss this exhibit, the last in the gallery before it closes in May and Mwangi’s visit.
If you go:
What: Film film screening of selected work by Mwangi Hutter.
When: Wednesday, April 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center
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What: Guest lecture by Mwangi Hutter
When: Thursday, April 26 at 6 p.m.
Where: Scrugham Engineering and Mines Building (SEM), room 101
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What: “Only Light Can Do That: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.” exhibit
When: Through May 10
Where: Sheppard Contemporary Gallery in the Church Fine Arts Building
Gallery hours: Noon to 4 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
I’ll never forget the first time I walked into DePaul Vera’s studio, one, because of how many dicks lined the walls, but two because of his infectious energy that electrified the room whenever he spoke about his work. Hailing from a small town in Kentucky (Cadiz), Vera felt unable to make the work that he longed to create while studying at Murray State University; so when he moved to Reno to attend the University of Nevada, Reno’s Master of Fine Arts program, he went a little (dick) crazy. Fast-forward three years; Vera now presents “MY SOUL TO KEEP,” a representation of his growth as an artist and the culmination of his three years of study.
“MY SOUL TO KEEP” avoids simple classification; equal parts archive, collage, and interactive installation, the exhibition is made up of personal ephemera, collected images, digitally rendered collages, works on paper, flags, and a loose recreation of the artist’s childhood bedroom including a bed, porn, and a Nintendo 64 which the viewer is invited to play. Play actually seems to be the ethos of the exhibition; the looseness and lack of slick, defined lines give the exhibition an air of innocence that is immediately put on edge by explicit nudity, “vulgar” phrases, and highly charged political imagery. In many ways, “MY SOUL TO KEEP” functions like a personal Tumblr, a scrapbook, an I Spy book, or even the walls of a teenager’s bedroom.
The layering of images and texts—in any section you may be asked to make sense of memes, images of the KKK, gay porn, and Lindsay Lohan crying next to a burrito—is what makes “MY SOUL TO KEEP” so complex and compelling. Rather than reducing his existence to the prescribed stereotypes that often define and dictate queerness, Vera presents every aspect of what it means/could mean to be gay, black, American, and male in any and all combinations.
It’s not often that an artist presents something with such honesty. “MY SOUL TO KEEP” avoids the gimmicky pitfalls of contemporary (queer) art and speaks with sincerity. I don’t have enough space to fully capture the depth of Vera’s oeuvre, you just have to go see it, experience it, and then go back multiple times, you might cry, you might have a panic attack, or you might laugh a little bit too much.
If you go:
What: “My Soul to Keep,” DePaul Vera’s MFA Thesis Exhibition
When: The exhibit runs April 16 – 26. The reception will be April 19, from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Student Galleries South, in the Jot Travis Building, University of Nevada, Reno
By Häsler R. Gómez
You may be familiar with Herbert Ross’s star-studded 1989 film, “Steel Magnolias,” and if you aren’t, you should be. What you may not realize is that the film was based on a play written two years earlier by Robert Harling. Although the film takes its own liberties with extra characters and scenes, the play is the original source of the soul that makes this story so damn heartfelt. Now, Reno Little Theater has ambitiously brought the production to their own stage.
Harling’s story takes place entirely in a cozy beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana owned by Truvy (Jamie Lynn Woodham). The set is faultlessly detailed down to every comb and barrette soaking in blue sanitizing solution. As Truvy’s friends arrive, we discover there has never been a tighter group of women. Annelle (Katie Hughes) is the waify new hire; Clairee (Moira Bengochea), is as sarcastic as she is refined; Ouiser (Evonne Kezios) is hot-tempered and takes nobody’s BS. They gather to help M’Lynn (Sandra Brunell Neace) and her daughter, Shelby (Greer Kukuk), prepare for Shelby’s wedding.
Each scene sees the women musing over a major event in M’Lynn and Shelby’s lives over the course of a year. The passage of time is suggested by indicators like Christmas decorations or tomatoes Ouiser brings in to share. The ladies’ hilarious, quick-witted banter carries the story along, keeping the audience tickled pink (Shelby’s favorite color) along the way. In fact, most –
if not all – of the infamous one-liners from the film are there to provide laughs throughout.
Yet beneath the humor is a vein of despair. We see the pain M’Lynn harbors quietly as she watches her daughter become her own person and make her own decisions. We understand the naïve hope Shelby has for her future but can’t help worrying with her mother. A tragic blow in the second act is punctuated by a gut-wrenching monologue delivered by Neace, sure to bring tears to your eyes. Humor and heartache intersect as these women endure poignant life lessons together.
There is an ironic beauty in how “Steel Magnolias” teases you with its comedic timing, then stretches you to the limits of sadness, only to turn your weeping back into fits of laughter in a split second. Each actress owns her character with gusto, all fresh and welcome departures from their more familiar big screen counterparts. The incredible cast of women has mastered the balance between comedy and tragedy that is at the core of Harlin’s story. Director Rachel Lopez nailed it with this one. It is a theater classic not to miss!
If you go:
What: “Steel Magnolias”
Where: Reno Little Theater
147 E. Pueblo St.
Reno, NV 89502
When: Jan. 19 – Feb. 11
By Owen Bryant