Ellsworth Kelly is an American abstract painter, sculptor, and printmaker recognized for his bold use of color and form. Join us as Carter Foster, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at Blanton Museum of Art, discusses Kelly’s practice.

Peter Goin, Foundation Professor of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno looks at the American West through the lens of photographer Robert Adams. Join us for a discussion around how Adams and his peers in the 1970s began to stray from the picturesque images of the American landscape and begin to document the New Topographics, a less romanticized view of industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and emphasizing human impact on the land.

Thought on Tap is a public engagement series that brings together diverse panelists from the University of Nevada, Reno, and the larger Nevada community for important conversations around timely topics. The 2022-2023 season of Thought on Tap explores the American Experience, while examining concepts from the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States such as “a more perfect Union,” “the general Welfare,” and “the Blessings of Liberty.” This event will delve into the phrase “insure domestic Tranquility.”

Join Erica Roth (Deputy General Counsel to Governor Sisolak), Ignacio Montoya (Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics, UNR), and Katie Wolf (Ph.D. Student, UNR English) in a lively discussion moderated by Nasia Anam (Assistant Professor of English, UNR) on the various ways “insure domestic Tranquility” can be interpreted today. 

Some questions that will be addressed are: How did the framers imagine “tranquility” would look in the new nation of the United States? How are we as a people tasked to “insure” the tranquility of our fellow Americans now? How do we interpret the term “domestic,” both in terms of our nation-state and our individual homes and families? How does our modern government “insure” domestic tranquility through legislation? How is the concept of the “domestic” complicated by questions of gender, race, and indigeneity? 

*Cash bar open from 5 – 7:30 pm

Thought on Tap is presented by Core Humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno. Click here to learn more about upcoming programs. 

Join us in examining the tensions between designed placemaking and bottom-up cultural meaning making in our built environments. Using Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center as a regional case study presenters will share findings from a multiyear interdisciplinary place-based research project that contextualizes tales of the wild west, booming industry, and a radical envisioned future. Together we will discuss human-centered approaches to community creation.

Presenters include: Dr. Jan English-Lueck, Dr. Kerry Rohrmeier and Tracy Fish, MFA.

*Doors open at 5 pm with hosted beer. Program begins at 6 pm.

Presented in partnership with Black Rock Design Institute.

This program will be held in the Wayne L. Prim Theater.

NOTE: This event has been canceled and will be postponed for a future date, still to be determined. Please contact claire.munoz@nevadaart.org with questions.

Sydney Cain (aka sage stargate) (she/them), is a visual artist born and raised in San Francisco, CA. Their work reflects encounters with unseen realities. Cain’s work draws on their family’s genealogy, and the intersections of urban renewal and displacement on the psychic, spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing of marginalized communities. Cain’s work, And They Are Not Afraid of the Night Because They Are the Color of It, 2021 is part of the Museum’s permanent collections and currently on view in the exhibition, In Frequencies. Join us for a presentation followed by a discussion moderated by Lance L. Smith.

Join us for the opening of the 2022 Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl as author Aimee Nezhukumatathil discusses her work, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments.

This year’s Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl features dozens of readings of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry on and around California Avenue, workshops, panel discussions, art, family-friendly activities, and a few surprises! Access to all events is free, and all ages are welcome to participate.

To register for the opening keynote and to view the full schedule of programs, please visit Nevada Humanities. 

For 50 years, Robert Adams has made compelling, provocative, and highly influential photographs that show the wonder and fragility of the American landscape, its inherent beauty, and the inadequacy of our response to it. Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, discusses American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams. This program will explore works from not only the artist’s most important projects but also lesser-known ones that depict suburban sprawl, strip malls, highways, homes, and stores, as well as rivers, skies, the prairie, and the ocean.

*Doors open at 5 pm with cash bar. Event hosted in the Nightingale Sky Room.

Debra and Dennis Scholl Distinguished Speaker Series

Sarah Greenough is senior curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Prior to coming to the Gallery, Greenough received her B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico where she studied with the noted photographic historian Beaumont Newhall. In 1978 she was awarded a Samuel H. Kress Fellowship at the Gallery where she has worked ever since. In 1990 she became the founding curator of the department of photographs and has been responsible for establishing and growing the National Gallery’s collection of photographs, which now numbers more than 21,000 works made between 1839 and the present. She also established the program for photography at the National Gallery, which now presents two to three photography exhibitions per year in the museum’s dedicated photography galleries, as well as many smaller installations. 

Artist Sonia Falcone joins us virtually to discuss her work Campo de Color (Color Field). Currently on view, this colorful and immersive installation made from spices, salt, and other raw materials, is not only a multi-sensory experience, but also a commentary on the ways that foods continue to connect people, cultures, and regions in our increasingly globalized world.

This is a virtual program, hosted on Zoom. Pre-registration required. 

Program support and free program registration for students is provided by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Artist Sonia Falcone joins us virtually to discuss her work Campo de Color (Color Field). Currently on view, this colorful and immersive installation made from spices, salt, and other raw materials, is not only a multi-sensory experience, but also a commentary on the ways that foods continue to connect people, cultures, and regions in our increasingly globalized world.

This is a virtual program, hosted on Zoom. Pre-registration required. 

Join Stacey Burns and Lorri Chasing Crow in a program exploring how language, song and dance support the preservation and transmission of ancestral knowledge. Enjoy dances by members of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony while learning about the traditional and modern practices of Great Basin Indigenous Tribes

Program support and free program registration for students is provided by the Core Humanities Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.