An avid futurist with an interest in technology and social communities, Michael Mikel joined Burning Man in 1988 and initialized much of Burning Man’s progress over the years. In 1991 he drove the first art car to Burning Man and in 1992 he founded the Black Rock Rangers. In 1995, he developed the logo design which has become the symbol of the Burning Man community. Join Michael Mikel as he discusses the history and origins of Burning Man and the archives at the Nevada Museum of Art.

A special preview of the Burning Man Archives will be on display in the Charles N. Mathewson/IGT Founders’ Room from 5:30 – 6:00 pm for guests attending this event. 

Join us for a live panel discussion and film presentation featuring those who worked behind the scenes to fabricate and install Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains. A discussion led by the Nevada Museum of Art’s Director of Communications, Amanda Horn, will include a behind the scenes peek at the installation of the monumental public artwork, Seven Magic Mountains in the Las Vegas desert. Hear from the Museum’s Curator of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northrup; Director of the Center for Art + Environment, Bill Fox; and other important guests who made this work possible.

NOTE: This event is now sold out. Please click here to register for the live video simulcast in the Museum’s Founder’s Room. Tickets to the simulcast are limited. 

Michael Branch, writer, humorist and environmentalist unveils his newest book “Raising Wild: Dispatches from a Home in the Wilderness,” creative nonfiction reflecting on raising children in an extreme desert landscape.

Reception and book signing to follow presentation. Live music following talk by Shiloh.

The Nevada contemporary art scene does not evidence a singular aesthetic permeating artists’ work, but rather a wide array of practices and media. Join us for a panel discussion with Northern and Southern Nevada artists featured in the exhibition Tilting the Basin.  This panel will feature artists Galen Brown, Justin Favela, David Ryan, Brent Sommerhauser, Rachel Stiff and Curators JoAnne Northrup and Michelle Quinn.

Join artist Leiko Ikemura, architect Philipp von Matt  and Curator of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northrup for a panel discussion on how landscape, the female figure, and the animals that inhabit the natural world impact her art and process.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities.

Join Curator of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northup for a walk through of the feature exhibition Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities.

Las Vegas artist Rachel Stiff explores how pollution and light create a unique atmosphere that impact artistic perspective.  Join us as she discusses life from the edge of town, her process and work featured in Tilting the Basin.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council and Nevada Humanities. 

Due to popular response, a live simulcast of the Temple Grandin talk has been extended to the theater.

World renowned author, autism researcher, and animal scientist Temple Grandin explores the psychology of animals and how they think in this premiere program associated with The Horse.

Temple Grandin will be signing books following the talk.

Support for education and public programs during The Horse comes from Wells Fargo. Exclusive sponsorship for the live simulcast is provided by Sandy Raffealli, Bill Pearce Motors. 

Las Vegas based artist, Brent Sommerhauser’s sculptural and drawing work utilizes a variety of constructed and invented tools and processes to create non-traditional installations and works on paper. Join us as Sommerhauser explores the tools and processes he designs to create his drawings and three dimensional sculptures featured in the exhibition Tilting the Basin.

Support for the Art Bite series comes from Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities & The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Impressionism emerged as a style in 1870s France and very quickly spread among artists throughout Europe and the United States.  In this talk, Brigid Barton will explore the beginnings of Impressionism in and around Paris, as well as the variants of Impressionism which proliferated in artists’ colonies in America in the years before World War I. 

Brigid Barton is an art historian specializing in modern European art.  She is a retired professor from Santa Clara University and now teaches outreach courses for Stanford University, Santa Clara University, and the Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto.  She also lectures at the Stanford Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.