Multi-media artist Edgar Arceneaux’s (b. 1972) artistic approach begins with three guiding principles that propel his work forward—a material investigation, a rigorous engagement with history, and his own personal connection to the given subject. A protean artist who engages many different styles and subjects, his practice encompasses drawing, painting, performance, video, sculpture, and installation.

This exhibition highlights Arceneaux’s series Skinning the Mirror, which he started in 2021. In this expansive body of work, he uses the mirror as a device to explore the formulation and fracturing of identity, specifically in relation to memory. Using found mirrors, Arceneaux separates the reflective substrate from the sheet of glass, which he then applies to a prepared canvas. The process of “skinning” a mirror becomes an exercise of control and chance, often leading to imperfections. Cracks, flaws, and small shards of glass remain on the fabric’s surface during the decoupling. The resulting works resemble traditional abstract paintings while maintaining an alluring, reflective quality. Once the separation is complete, Arceneaux places the paintings at sites tied to a historical narrative he is investigating. Over time, the atmosphere of the selected locale alters the surface of the canvas, imbuing it with the environment so that the work itself becomes a part of the history that Arceneaux is exploring.

Previously Arceneaux’s Skinning the Mirror series has reflected the changing of the seasons, riverways in the Midwest, and the often fraught and conflicting spectrum of racial, political, and cultural perspectives that transform a location into a place of interest. While in Reno, Arceneaux will investigate a new, historically significant site that inspires his work.

SPONSORS

Pamela Joyner and Fred Giuffrida

Cross disciplinary artist Thomas J Price (b. 1981) confronts preconceived attitudes towards representation and identity, foregrounding the intrinsic value of the individual and subverting structures of hierarchy. Celebrated for his large-scale figurative sculptures, Price draws our attention to the psychological embodiment of his fictional characters, highlighting nuanced understandings of social signifiers and predetermined value. Drawing from multiple sources, the works are developed through a hybrid approach of traditional sculpting and digital technologies. Price balances methods of presentation, material and scale to challenge our expectations and provide cues for deeper human connection.

The work Grounded in the Stars (2024) included in the exhibition, depicts a full-figured representation of a fictionalized Black woman dressed in leisure attire with braided locks of hair. The female subject stands on a plinth in a calm, everyday pose, which contrasts with ideals of how subjects are often glorified in monumental, sculptural form. The serene expression on her face invites guests to reexamine their own culturally coded perceptions, interrogating how we are seen, understood and valued. In extension of this exploration and Price’s wider conceptual practice, a new painting will also be included, made as part of Price’s residency at the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection. Together, the works explore themes of presence and connection.

Thomas J Price lives and works in London, UK. He studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. The artist will have his first solo exhibition in New York, entitled Resilience of Scale, at Hauser & Wirth in April through June this year. Concurrently, a large-scale, 12-foot bronze sculpture of Grounded in the Stars (2023) will appear in Times Square in New York City shown in tandem with the artist’s Man Series, six video animations that will be displayed on surrounding billboards as part of the Times Square Art Midnight Moment program.

Sponsors

Pamela Joyner and Fred Giuffrida

This collaborative wall project by Tadáskía (b. 1993) and Ana Cláudia Almeida (b. 1993) explores the spiritual dimensions of visual forms through hybrid approaches to painting and drawing. Tadáskía’s graphic tangles of colors and lines incite us to accompany the winding forms as if following a path of a traveler who mediates a familiar earthly world and a far-off mystical space. Through prints, paintings and drawings, Almeida creates movements on fabric and paper that record reflections on religion, nature and sexuality, and the constant mutability that underlies life and artistic making. Both artists emphasize change, in their material processes—through the transference of gestures across different supports—and in the transitive, ever-shifting images. Though abstract, their work sparks associations with otherworldly landscapes and trance-like visions. As a sort of ritual enactment of their processes coming together, Tadáskía and Almeida render a panoramic tableau sprawling along the wall in the Museum’s Theater Gallery.

Tadáskía and Ana Cláudia Almeida both live and work in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Tadáskía’s first solo exhibition in a museum in the United States is currently on view at MoMA, New York until October 14, 2024. Her work was featured in the 35th São Paulo Biennial, choreographies of the impossible (2023), with a large-scale installation featuring her wall drawings and sculpture. Ana Cláudia Almeida is currently an MFA candidate in painting and printmaking at Yale University. She has had solo exhibitions at the galleries Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel and Quadra in Brazil. This is her first project in a US museum.

SPONSORS
Pamela Joyner and Fred Giuffrida

Jimmy López Bellido, a world-renowned, Finnish-trained, Peruvian-American composer, was invited by Laura Jackson, Music Director of the Reno Philharmonic, to work with curators at the Nevada Museum of Art to select photographs from the Museum’s Carol Franc Buck Altered Landscape Photography Collection to inspire his brand-new composition, Symphony No. 3: Altered Landscape.

The symphony explores the dynamic interconnectedness of humans and the Earth and envisions a hypothetical future where people exist in harmony with the natural environment.

Join us for a discussion with Jimmy López Bellido, Laura Jackson and Director of the Center for Art + Environment, William L. Fox. For tickets to the world premiere symphony, please visit renophil.com

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten–until now. Summer of Soul shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and more.

Summer of Soul is presented in partnership with Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society. 

Run time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Free. Advanced registration is required.

In 1906, Goldfield was Nevada’s largest and most prosperous city and the epicenter of America’s last great gold rush. On September 3rd of that year, Baltimore’s Joe Gans, the first African American champion, defended his lightweight crown against Oscar “Battling” Nelson, a white brawler, in a fight that had no scheduled duration. It was a fight to the finish.

In this film, documentary filmmaker Ted Faye introduces the story by exploring Goldfield at its boom, the impact, and importance of the fight, and the way in which residents have memorialized its history.

Film is approximately 30 minutes in length. A panel discussion will follow the screening and includes Kenny Dalton, President, Our Story, Inc., Dr. Elisabeth Raymond, Professor of History, Emerita, UNR, Mike Martino, Nevada Boxing Consultant, and filmmaker, Ted Faye.

Produced in association with Our Story, Inc. with support from Nevada Humanities.

Dr. Brett M. Van Hoesen, Associate Professor and Area Head of Art History at the University of Nevada, Reno, explores three key lessons in conjunction with Picasso’s ceramics: the importance of playfulness, the necessity for experimentation, and the culture of collaboration.

NOTE: Pre-sale in-person tickets have sold out. Please join us virtually.

CLICK TO JOIN VIRTUALY: 
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81956495207?pwd=RFBEYmFhNWE0M3lUV3RZaTdnMUlsQT09
PASSCODE: 975563 

Beginning in 1890, thousands of American Indian children were sent to Stewart Indian Boarding School in Carson City, Nevada as part of the U.S. government’s policy of forced assimilation. This community forum provides an opportunity to learn about and discuss this history and the traumatic legacy that remains. Participants include Stacey Montooth, Executive Director of the Nevada Indian Commission;  Dr. Debra Harry, Associate Professor in the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity, University of Nevada, Reno; and the debut of Jean LaMarr’s performance, They Danced, They Sang, Until the Matron Came. 

This program is a hybrid presentation. 

Co-presented by Stewart Indian School Cultural Center & Museum, Carson City, Nevada 

For questions about registration, please email claire.munoz@nevadaart.org