Humans rarely appear in the photographs on view in this exhibition, yet their presence is undeniable. In these photographs, drawn from the permanent collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, photographers reveal the ways that individuals and industries have marked, mined, toured, tested, developed, occupied, and exploited landscapes over the last fifty years. While the images take various approaches, together they offer a panoramic sweep of the contentious social and political debates that have shaped contemporary discourse on the changing environment. Both cautionary and confessional, they also define challenges facing our global future.

Much has been written recently about landscape photography’s paradigm shift in the 1970s and the integration of the medium into larger arenas of contemporary art. In an effort to depart from idealized notions of scenic beauty and the romantic sensibilities of modern nature photography, a small group of photographers working mostly in the American West turned their cameras toward everyday, mundane landscapes. These image-makers, referred to now as the New Topographic photographers, made works that framed industrial structures, suburban developments, and other ordinary subjects with unprecedented matter-of-fact realism. Around the same time, practitioners of the Dusseldorf School pushed the technical limits of photography in their production of large-format color images that were globally oriented toward revisionist interpretations of social space. Both groups inspired artists around the world, who adopted their photographic strategies and visual vocabularies to make images that revealed landscapes as suitable places for social and political inquiry.

The Altered Landscape Photography Collection is the largest focus collection of the Nevada Museum of Art permanent collection. Since its establishment in the early 1990s, the collection has included images that address and engage issues related to land use and the changing landscape. In 1998 an endowment for Altered Landscape acquisitions was established through the generosity of the Carol Franc Buck Foundation.

The paintings of Cedra Wood can be interpreted as fables: she uses a realistic approach to portray herself and others in exotic and fictionalized places that leave viewers seeking greater meaning. Dreamlike and mythical, her paintings are peaceful yet threatening puzzles to be deciphered. As complicated as they may be, however, the artistic practice that she employs to produce them is even more involved.

For many months of the year, Wood traverses places ranging from the Outback of Australia to the glaciers of Svalbard. She drives desolate roads, sometimes camping or staying at science stations along the way. She weaves and sews costumes during her travels—often from native materials collected on site. She then constructs mysterious narratives for her photographs. At the same time she sketches and writes elaborate journals, miniature letters in bottles, and on other objects found along the way.

Wood’s paintings are influenced by folk music, science fiction, and Celtic mysticism, as well as surrealism and contemporary performance art. They are compelling because she never reveals their meaning. Rather, she offers viewers glimpses of a world where one’s imagination is free to discover meaning based on personal experience and free association.

From 2012 to 2014, Wood was a Center for Art +Environment Research Fellow. Many of the materials shown here are drawn from her archives at the Center.

David Taylor began photographing along the U.S. Mexico border between El Paso/Juarez and San Diego/Tijuana in 2007. The border is demarcated by 276 stone obelisks, most of which were installed from 1891-95. In 2014, Taylor finished documenting all of the monuments that mark the international boundary west of the Rio Grande. This undertaking led to encounters with migrants, U.S. Customs and Border Protections agents, human smugglers, members of the civilian border-watch group known as the Minutemen, and residents living along the border.

Taylor traveled both alone and in the company of agents, and his photographs were published in the book and portfolio Monuments, which contains views of all the border obelisks. While Taylor worked on this project, the Border Patrol doubled in size and the federal government constructed more than 600 miles of pedestrian and vehicular fencing, and added seismic sensors to detect the government has attained “operational control” in many border areas—but people continue to cross. Much of that traffic occurs in the most remote, rugged areas of the southwest deserts.

In 2014 Taylor and internationally-renowned Tijuana artist Marcos Ramírez ERRE undertook a second border project, tracing the original 1821 northern boundary of what was then the newly independent Mexico. The line stretched from present-day northern California to the Gulf of Mexico, west of New Orleans. That boundary was never surveyed or physically marked and exists only as a reference on historic maps. For DeLIMITations, ERRE and Taylor marked the 1821 border between Mexico and the western territories of the United States by installing 47 sheet metal markers to mimic the existing monuments. The artists asked the question: “What would Mexico and the United States look like had that boundary been fully realized?”

Monuments and DeLIMITations presents the selections from the border monuments portfolio, one of the markers designed for the mapping project done by ERRE and Taylor, and extensive historical and contemporary materials drawn from the project archives of the Center for Art + Environment Archive Collections.

Nevada Museum of Art Curatorial Director and Curator of Contemporary Art JoAnne Northrup has partnered with Las Vegas-based art advisor Michele Quinn to co-curate Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada. The exhibition bridges the divide between Northern and Southern Nevada communities and provides a wide-ranging overview and understanding of the most accomplished work being created by more than thirty artists living and working in Nevada today.

The first nationally significant exhibition presenting art made in Nevada occurred in 2007 with Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland, on view at the Las Vegas Art Museum, which has since closed. Organized by the well-respected art critic and curator Dave Hickey, the exhibition celebrated the work of twenty-six artists, all of whom received their degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and studied with Hickey between 1990 and 2001 when he taught art theory and criticism in the Department of Art at UNLV.

Fast forward almost ten years later. After more than fifty artist studio visits in both Northern and Southern Nevada across Nevada, spanning Las Vegas to the south, Reno and Carson City in the north. Northrup and Quinn’s research revealed that the Nevada contemporary art scene does not evidence a singular aesthetic permeating artists’ work, but rather a wide array of practices and media. Nevada artists are creating innovative work ranging from painting, sculpture, and installation, to photography, interactive, and sound art. Their work is informed by popular culture, the natural environment, and landscape, as well as cultural identity, politics, and current events.

Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada aspires to provide contemporary dialogue aimed at enlightening our broader audiences to the richness of our entire arts community and how it can be a powerful tool in the growth of the great state of Nevada. The exhibition highlights the work of six artists in depth, showing several examples from each in a variety of media. Featured artists include Galen Brown, Justin Favela, Katie Lewis, David Ryan, Brent Sommerhauser, and Rachel Stiff. The remaining artists’ work will give visitors a wide-ranging picture of the art being created across Nevada today, including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, mixed media, street art, installation, sound performance, fiber arts and new media. Some work, like that of Reno photographer Megan Berner, will live exclusively on social media. Berner plans to take daily photographs of the Northern Nevada sky for the eleven-week duration of the exhibition. The images will post to the Nevada Museum of Art Instagram account, allowing the community to view the body of work as it develops over time.

Additional collaborations and offsite installations are planned as well. Las Vegas-based artist Brent Sommerhauser will collaborate with Reno-based Holland Project and Nevada Museum of Art E.L. Cord Museum School to create small ‘sketches’ in glass by layering rich color combinations of glass powder, glass strings and other glass elements over handmade glass tiles that Sommerhauser will fire on-site in his kiln. The resulting tiles will be photographed and shared on the Nevada Museum of Art Instagram account and displayed in the E.L. Cord Museum School. The combined tiles will contribute to a growing work that will serve as a participant record. Performance art elements of the show include Justin Favela’s Family Fiesta.

Tilting the Basin: Contemporary Art of Nevada will be reprised in Las Vegas in 2017. Artists chosen for the exhibition have not before had work prominently displayed at the Museum:

#TiltingTheBasin

Las Vegas

Chris Bauder, Mark Brandvik, JW Caldwell, Matthew Couper, Gig Depio, Justin Favela, Sush Machida Gaikotsu, Shawn Hummel, Wendy Kveck, JK Russ, David Ryan, David Sanchez Burr, Sean Slattery, Brent Sommerhauser, Brent Holmes, Krystal Ramirez, Rachel Stiff

Reno/Carson

Megan Berner, Rebekah Bogard, Galen Brown, Erik Burke, Nate Clark, Tim Conder, Joseph DeLappe + Pete Froslie, Russell Dudley, Jeffrey Erickson, Jen Graham, Ahren Hertel, Katty Hoover, Eunkang Koh, Nick Larsen, Katie Lewis, Sarah Lillegard, Omar Pierce

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Premier Sponsor

Stacie Mathewson and Doors to Recovery

Lead Sponsor

Wayne and Miriam Prim

Major Sponsor

Jacqueline Black

Supporting Sponsors

Maureen Mullarkey and Steve Miller; Nevada Arts Council; The Private Bank by Nevada State Bank

Sponsors

Kathie Bartlett; Elaine Cardinale; Barbara and Tad Danz; Dolan Law, LLC; Tammy M. and Brian E. Riggs; Sari and Ian Rogoff

Media Sponsors

Getaway Reno-Tahoe; Juxtapoz Magazine; KUNR Reno Public Radio; Nevada Magazine; Reno-Tahoe International Airport; Tahoe Quarterly; Western Art and Architecture

Since 1999, Northern Nevada middle and high school students have been invited to submit their artwork to the Scholastic Art Awards competition. The Museum’s annual presentation of the Scholastic Art Awards is scheduled in conjunction with the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a national program designed to identify America’s most gifted young artists and writers. This program has honored some of our nation’s most celebrated artists including Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Michael Sarich, Cindy Sherman, Robert Redford and Andy Warhol.

More than 1,400 submissions were evaluated this year by a panel of judges made up of local artists and art professionals. Exceptional works were awarded Gold Key, Silver Key or Honorable Mentions. Gold Key artwork goes on to compete in the national Scholastic Art Awards competition. Select award-winning regional entries are exhibited in a month long exhibition at the Holland Project Gallery at 140 Vesta Street in Reno. American Visions Nominees will be displayed in the Donald W Reynolds Grand Hall at the Museum.

All award winners are invited to a ceremony at the Museum attended by over 400 students, parents, teachers and members of the community. National award winners have the opportunity to attend a ceremony in New York City.

View the complete list of regional winners: Scholastic Art Awards 2016.

Lead sponsor

Bank of America

Additional support

City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission, Amerco, the Nell J. Redfield Foundation, the Hearst Foundations, and the Wild Women Artists

This installation consists of a dozen gilded bronze sculptures representing the animal symbols from the traditional Chinese zodiac. Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei drew inspiration for the twelve heads from those originally located at Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace), an imperial retreat of palaces and European-style gardens built outside of Beijing in the 18th and 19th centuries by Emperor Qianlong. Designed and engineered by two European Jesuits, Giuseppe Castiglione and Michel Benoit, the heads originally functioned as an ornate fountain clock that would spout water at two-hour intervals.

Once accessible only to the elite of 18th-century Chinese society, the garden was destroyed and looted by Anglo-French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War, displacing the original zodiac heads. The seven heads known to exist (Monkey, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, and Horse) have all been returned to China. Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold engages issues of looting, repatriation, and cultural heritage while expanding upon ongoing themes in Ai’s work of the “fake” and “copy” in relation to the original.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

As Lake Tahoe became a popular destination for vacationers and tourists in the early twentieth century, demand for souvenirs and other mass-produced items grew rapidly. Travel photographers and enterprising commercial firms began to cater to an ever-increasing demand for souvenir images. The rise of offset printing and lithography led to the proliferation of printed postcards.

Visitors came to Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra to enjoy a variety of recreational activities—including hiking, fishing, horseback riding, swimming, and boating. Increased access via railroad and automobile gave rise to tourism and a vibrant resort culture during the first half of the twentieth century. Just like today, visitors to Lake Tahoe in the early twentieth century, might have purchased postcards to send friends or to keep as personal mementos of their travels.

All postcards from the collection of Erik Flippo.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

Illustrations by BillyHawk Enos, Kevin Jones, Charles Munroe, and Mauricio Sandoval

The Washoe people have lived in the Lake Tahoe region for countless generations. They shared a common language, ancestral traditions, legends, and a great reverence for the lake.

Cultural preservation, and specifically language preservation, is important to the Washoe people and the Washoe Tribe today. In an effort to revitalize Washoe language and traditions for future generations, the Tribe’s language program—known as the Patalŋi Me?k’i Head Start Immersion Nest—recently published a series of children’s books with support from the Administration for Native Americans.

Four artists, BillyHawk Enos, Kevin Jones, Charles Munroe, and Mauricio Sandoval, illustrated the legends. The stories were retold and translated by Lisa Enos and Washoe Elder Melba Rakow. This exhibition features the original illustrations.

The books accompanying these original artworks are for sale in the Museum Store. Sales help to support Washoe youth language revitalization programs.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

The Washoe people have lived in the Lake Tahoe region for countless generations. They referred to Lake Tahoe as DaɁawɁaga, or “edge of the lake,” because they lived around its shore. The term was eventually shortened to DaɁaw, from which the word “Tahoe” is derived.

Different Washoe groups gathered annually at the lake during late spring and summer where they caught fish and gathered plant foods. The Welmelti were from a territory located roughly north of the lake, the Ṕawalu or “valley people” lived to its west, and the Huŋalelti were from the southern region. During the winter months, they returned to the lake’s adjacent valleys where elevations were lower and temperatures milder.

The annual trip to DaɁaw was eagerly anticipated. Its pure waters offered more than simple benefits—it was the life-sustaining element for the land, the plants, the fish, the birds, the animals, and all the people who lived around it. Once the Washoe people arrived at DaɁaw, they blessed themselves and the water in celebration of the harmony that existed among the people, the land, and the water. Every notable geographic feature and stream had a Washoe name.

Today, Washoe people carry on the traditions of their ancestors and encourage younger generations to do the same. Programs related to Washoe language preservation, basket weaving, fishing, and other traditional activities are offered and encouraged through the Washoe Cultural Advisory Committee. Special access is also granted in areas around the lake where Washoe people continue to gather native plants and other resources. Lake Tahoe continues to be a special and sacred place to all Washoe people.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

Tahoe’s hydrological impact extends far beyond its shores. The 400-square-mile greater Lake Tahoe watershed contains 63 tributaries, or streams, that flow into it from adjacent Sierra peaks. Lake Tahoe’s waters flow out and down the Truckee River 122 miles to the north and east before feeding Pyramid Lake, a terminus desert lake whose surface area rivals that of Tahoe and whose resources sustain the indigenous Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.

Nineteenth-century artists depicted the region’s water in abundance—as a plentiful resource that could seemingly never be depleted. Recreation and agriculture, however, began to impact the larger watershed system’s water levels, clarity, and ecological makeup. The politics of how the lake’s water is distributed outside the Tahoe basin continues to be a complicated matter.

Today scientists race to study human impacts on Lake Tahoe so that conservation measures can be implemented to help manage the diverse interests that depend on the lake’s output. Federal officials declared parts of the Tahoe Basin a natural disaster area in 2014 due to severe drought and lack of water from diminishing snowmelt. Many living artists have created works that reflect on how issues related to water quality, distribution, and conservation affect the lake’s future.