Writing Never Written: 2023 Art Writing Symposium
When we talk about writing in and for the Arts, we rarely consider the content that never gets written. Inspired by the book, Photographs Never Taken, a compelling collection of short essays by photographers who retell the stories that underlie the images they never made, this one-day symposium considers the wide variety of reasons that underscore art writing never written. From content perceived to be too political, to geographies that are under-represented, to media and artists that continually receive short-shrift, the presenters at this year’s Art Writing Symposium embody an interdisciplinary approach to exploring modes of writing in and for the Arts from the perspective of arts administration, art history, curatorial studies, art studio, journalism, dance, science, creative writing, and beyond.
Program Schedule
9:00 Doors open with coffee
9:30-9:45 Greetings and Introduction
Colin Robertson and Brett M. Van Hoesen
9:45-10:30 Introductory Alumni Keynote
Jeannette Martinez
Finding Terruño: Landscape, Memory-making,
and Belonging
Moderator: Brett M. Van Hoesen
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:15 Panel 1 – The Politics of Art Writing Across
Cultures and Geographies
Emily Hobson
The AIDS Quilt in Prison: Care Work in and
against the Carceral State
Juan Carlos Guerrero Hernández
The Woman, the Migrant, and the Cyborg in In-
Pulse
Chris Lanier
Comics Genre and Graphic Invisibility: Alex
Niño’s Innovations in the Margins
Moderator: Kelly Chorpening
12:15-1:15 Box Lunch
*included in program cost
1:15-2:00 Reading by Visiting Author
Cathy Linh Che
Moderator: June Sylvester Saraceno
2:00-2:15 Break
2:15-3:45 Panel 2 – On Communication and Translation In
Writing Across the Arts & Media
Rosie Trump
Blank Space: Looking at Notorious Dance
Reviews
Jared Stanley
The Dream of Stopping
Fil Corbitt
“The Wind” (Live)
Kelly Chorpening and Adam Csank
The Hybrid Space of Annotated Drawings
Moderator: Colin Robertson
4:00-4:15 Break
4:15-5:15 Finalé Keynote
Maria Elena Buszek
Toward a Scholarship of Risk
Moderator: Sudeep Chandra
5-6pm Reception
This event was made possible by generous funding from the Bruno and Edna Benna Endowment for Excellence in the Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno. Special thanks for additional funding and support from the Nevada Museum of Art, the University’s Department of Art, Art History & Design and the Ozmen Institute for Global Studies as well as the Writers in the Woods Program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.
Image Credit:
David Maisel, Terminal Mirage 18, 2003/2007, Dye coupler print, 48 x 48 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, The Altered Landscape, Carol Franc Buck Collection © David Maisel
Land, Water, Place: An Art and Science Collaborative
Join us for a symposium where scholars, curators, academics and students present interactive discussions focused on our complex relationships to land, water, place. Doors open at 9:30 am with coffee. Box lunch included. Beer reception to follow.
Keynote: Creative Ecologies and the Art of Climate Justice
TJ Demos | Director, Center for Creative Ecologies, UC Santa Cruz
The Nevada Museum of Art: A Museum of Ideas
Ann M. Wolfe, Chief Curator | Associate Director, Nevada Museum of Art
Student Snapshot
Amy Smith | Poet and Student, Low Residency MFA, UNR, Lake Tahoe
Sarah Lillegard | Artist and Graduate, Low Residency MFA, Interdisciplinary Arts, UNR, Lake Tahoe
Betta Manalo | MS Student, Geography, UNR
Lunch
Field Work and Walking: Experiential Models for Interdisciplinary Research and its Impact on Teaching
Adam Csank | Geographer, Chair of Geography, UNR
Rick Parsons | Artist, Director of the Holman Art and Media Center, UNR
Kelly Chorpening | Artist, Chair of Art Department, Art History and Design, UNR
Art, Cognition, Landscape: The Center for Art + Environment
William L. Fox | Director for the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art
Student Snapshot
Bobby Lee | Landscape Photographer, Book Artist, MFA Student, UNR
Break
The Politics of Water: Equity, Ecology, Creative Expression and Connection
Kate Berry | UNR Professor, Geography
Sudeep Chandra | Biology, Professor of Limnology, Director of the Ozmen Institute for Global Studies
Rene Henery | Ecologist, Artist, Writer
Case Study: Drawing in Social Space
Art + Geography Collaboration by Noureddine Ezarraf and Qanat Collective, Morrocco presented by Kelly Chorpening and Adam Csank
Closing Synthesis
Colin M. Robertson | Senior Vice President of Education and Research, Nevada Museum of Art
Hosted Beer Reception
Courtesy of Ozmen Institute and Global Water Center
Symposium presented by University of Nevada Reno in collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art with support from the Benna Arts Excellence Endowment.
Image Credit: Peter Goin, The Lady of the Lake, Cave Rock. (From The Nature of Lake Tahoe, A Photographic History 1860-1960), 2021.
DICE | A Conference for Creatives
Returning for the first time since the global pandemic, DICE (Design Innovation Creativity Energy) is a multidisciplinary design conference exploring the power and potential of good design. This year, DICE focuses on the theme of Imagine: Gathering Creative Minds to Inspire a More Thoughtfully Designed Future.
For the past 13 years, DICE has served as a platform for all design disciplines and how they improve our future. This year, DICE explores how design re-imagines and re-envisions ideas of the past and fits them into contemporary environments. Design professionals, Reno’s creative community, and art and design students are invited to attend a multi-disciplinary design conference in northern Nevada examining the ways great design empowers individuals, inspires the masses, and enriches entire communities.
2023’s DICE Design Challenge: Bench of the Future: A Design for Every Person
Design a bench that is humane and comfortable. Imagine a future where every person is valued: the need for respite is weighed against the need for recreation and contemplation.
How can your design help promote and better community?
The competition is open to anyone, regardless of age, experience, or
professional affiliation. This allows anyone with a creative vision to participate and contribute to the design
of the Chair of the Future.
See the DICE website for more information on the speakers and requirements for the Design Competition
Through the Lens: Honoring the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams
Paul Revere Williams was the first licensed African American architect to work in the western region of the United States. His work in Nevada spans from the 1930s through the 1970s and his architectural contributions collectively helped to define the built environment of the region. Contemporary photographer Janna Ireland has spent the past year documenting Williams’ structures throughout the state of Nevada and her images are featured in the exhibition Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams.
Williams’ architectural body of work in Nevada includes churches, commercial properties, residential homes for the state’s wealthiest residents, and planned communities for working-class citizens. His most notable designs in Nevada include the La Concha Motel (now The Neon Museum) in Las Vegas, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist (also known as the Lear Theater) in Reno.
Join us for a special program at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, where we will hear from contemporary photographer Janna Ireland, independent curator and former Director of Architecture and Design at the Palm Springs Art Museum, Brooke Hodge, and Nevada historians Dr. Alicia Barber and Claytee White.
Special guests include exhibition curator, Carmen Beals, Associate Curator and Outreach Manager, Nevada Museum of Art, Aaron Berger, Executive Director of The Neon Museum and Hollis J. Gillespie, Director of the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.
NOTE: This event will be held at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas located at 309 S Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89107
FREE, Advanced registration recommended.
Symposium – Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity
The first retrospective exhibition of one of midcentury America’s most innovative artists to occur in nearly sixty years, Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity features approximately 120 works that span Adaline Kent’s entire career and chart major thematic developments in the artist’s work as it progressed from figuration to abstraction. Join us for this half-day symposium as we explore the life and legacy of Adaline Kent (1900-1957), her love for the outdoors, her connection to the region, major thematic developments from figuration to abstraction.
Presenters include:
- Apsara DiQuinzio, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art
- Jeff Gunderson, Archivist and Librarian for the San Francisco Art Institute
- Alexander Nemerov, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University
- Jenni Sorkin, Professor, History of Art & Architecture, UC Santa Barbara
- Elaine Y. Yau, Associate Curator at the UC Berkeley Art Museum
An accompanying book, published by Rizzoli Electa and designed by Purtill Family Business will be available for purchase.
Doors open at 9:30 am. Program begins at 10 am. Morning coffee and a buffet lunch are included with registration. A no host bar will also be available for guests.
Scholarships are available. Please email Claire Muñoz for more information.
A program of the Debra and Dennis Scholl Distinguished Speaker Series
Through the Lens: Honoring the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams
Paul Revere Williams was the first licensed African American architect to work in the western region of the United States. His work in Nevada spans from the 1930s through the 1970s and his architectural contributions collectively helped to define the built environment of the region. Contemporary photographer Janna Ireland has spent the past year documenting Williams’ structures throughout the state of Nevada and her images are featured in the exhibition Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams.
Williams’ architectural body of work in Nevada includes churches, commercial properties, residential homes for the state’s wealthiest residents, and planned communities for working-class citizens. His most notable designs include the La Concha Motel (now the Neon Museum) in Las Vegas, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist (also known as the Lear Theater) in Reno.
Join us for a symposium featuring contemporary photographer Janna Ireland in conversation with Daonne Huff, Director of Public Programs and Community Engagement at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Independent curator and former Director of Architecture and Design at the Palm Springs Art Museum Brooke Hodge will present her essay. Nevada historians Dr. Alicia Barber and Claytee White will present their most recent research on Paul Revere Williams in Nevada.
Doors open at 9 am with coffee. Lunch to follow the symposium and is included with registration.
Scholarships are available. Please email Claire Muñoz for more information.
This event is presented in-person. A recording of the symposium will be made public one week after the event.
Symposium Sponsored by the E.L. Cord Foundation
Virtual Symposium: I Heard the Song of My Grandmother: Art and Indigenous Feminisms
FREE VIRTUAL REGISTRATION
Join us for a gathering with artists, writers, and curators to consider how activist art continues to subvert stereotypes and advance rights for Indigenous women. Participants include Dr. Anya Montiel, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; Dr. Nancy Marie Mithlo, Professor, Department of Gender Studies at UCLA, Los Angeles; Kristen Dorsey, doctoral student, Department of Gender Studies at UCLA; and Las Vegas-based artist Fawn Douglas. Film screening of Purple Flower Girl, produced and directed by Tsanavi Spoonhunter.
Please note: A limited number of seats have been reserved for in-person attendees. In-person registration is now closed. We encourage you complete your free registration and join us virtually. For questions, please contact claire.munoz@nevadaart.org
I Heard the Song of My Grandmother: Art and Indigenous Feminisms
Join us for a gathering with artists, writers, and curators to consider how activist art continues to subvert stereotypes and advance rights for Indigenous women. Participants include Dr. Anya Montiel, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; Dr. Nancy Marie Mithlo, Professor, Department of Gender Studies at UCLA, Los Angeles; Kristen Dorsey, doctoral student, Department of Gender Studies at UCLA; and Las Vegas-based artist Fawn Douglas. Film screening of Purple Flower Girl, produced and directed by Tsanavi Spoonhunter.
This event is presented in-person and on Zoom.
Paid registration includes live in-person access to the symposium, hosted on the fourth floor Nightingale Sky Room. Paid registration also includes morning coffee/tea and lunch.
You may also access the symposium for free on Zoom. Click here to register in advance for virtual access.
*Scholarships available. Click here to apply for a scholarship, or contact claire.munoz@nevadaart.org for more information.
SOLD OUT – Softening the Land Art Scene: Judy Chicago’s Atmospheres
Judy Chicago’s response to the monumental Earthworks of the American West was nearly simultaneous with their production. Beginning in 1968, Chicago embarked on a series of ephemeral Atmospheres performances using colored smokes and fireworks in the desert that were intended to “soften that macho Land Art scene.” Long overlooked by art historians and scholars, Chicago’s Atmospheres offer a critical counterpoint and essential context to the predominantly male Land Artists working in the desert during the 1960s and 70s. Chicago will be in conversation with William L. Fox, Peter E. Pool Director, Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art.
Ticket includes a hosted reception following the program.
In person tickets for this program are sold out. To be added to the waitlist for this program please email christian.davies@nevadaart.org
This event is presented as part of the Art + Environment Season: Land Art Past, Present, Futures. Single event tickets to this program are open to the general public and Museum members. Admission is included for individuals who are registered for the Art+ Environment Season. For ticketing questions, please contact christian.davies@nevadaart.org
Special sponsorship provided by the Debra and Dennis Scholl Distinguished Speaker Series.
Oral History and Arts: A Conversation with Jean LaMarr and Jack Malotte
Southwest Oral History Association presents the Southwest Oral History Conference.
Join them for a conversation between two accomplished Native American activist artists about the role of oral history in their work, which is moderated by Las Vegas Paiute artist and community organizer Fawn Douglas. Both Jean LaMarr (Northern Paiute and Achomawi) and Jack Malotte (Western Shoshone and Washoe) have worked in multiple media, including printmaking, painting, pen and ink, and public murals, and they have been lifelong activists in service of their communities. Among the themes their art engages with are militarization, Native activism, treaty rights, environmental justice, kinship and tradition, and protecting sacred sites. In this conversation, LaMarr, Malotte, and Douglas will be able to discuss the role and importance of oral history in Native communities in Nevada and beyond, and how they have drawn on it in their art and their activism.
Fawn Douglas’s work will be on view at the Museum this fall in an exhibition titled In the Flow. In February 2021, The Art of Jean LaMarr will feature more than 100 works by the internationally recognized artist. The retrospective will be accompanied by a book. The Art of Jack Malotte, a 2019 exhibition and book organized by the Museum, is currently on view at the Western Folklife Center in Elko. Works by both LaMarr and Malotte are included in the Museum’s permanent collection.
Click here for full conference information and registration.