The Traveling Miracle Show @ Momas N Dadas

There was a great response to The Traveling Miracle Show at Momas N Dadas New Genres Project House in the Las Vegas Arts District. The First Friday festival brought in an audience who enjoyed the installations, unicorn rides and a Sin Eating feast. Seen here is Nathan Coté's, 'Self Watering Suspended Lawn' and Brent Holmes' 'Sin Eater' also featuring Yasmina Chavez and Ashanti McGee. DJ Cyril Noir and burlesque performer Ella Mental rounded off the evening in style. For further coverage, see the article and footage by Sonya Padgett and Chase Stevens of the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Greetings from Silverado Belle – ‘The Bandit Queen Curator’ from the wild western town of Las Vegas, Nevada….

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I am honored to be invited to guest host this long-running Arts Journal, established in 2005 by my artist friend and partner-in-crime Jo Russ. My focus as a curator is on artists, exhibitions and events shaped by the local culture. SB

From the heart of a miraculous metropolis in the desert…

For my first post, I would like to introduce a one-night art installation and performance event ‘The Traveling Miracle Show’ which I have assisted with in a curatorial role. It opens 6pm this First Friday April 5^th at the new Momas and Dadas New Genres Project House, in the heart of the Las Vegas Arts District. In the tradition of the historic traveling medicine shows, the audience is promised ‘Astonishing Spectacles’ and ‘Miraculous Events’, including a mystical beast, human cacti, an infinite fountain of alcohol, and a cure for melancholia.

            I have enjoyed working with these seven exciting Las Vegas-based artists to develop this touring show which been awarded funding from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Participating in the show are Artist Michael Barrett, Nathan Coté, Matthew Couper, Brent Holmes, Jenessa Kenway, JK Russ and Jevijoe Vitug. These artists have established reputations in the fields of video, performance and installation. Couper, Holmes, Russ and Vitug participated in the 2012 ‘London Biennale in Nevada’ performance event, proclaimed “an avant-garde success” by Las Vegas City Life. Barrett and Kenway were featured in the 2012 ;Off the Strip New Genres Festival’ at the Las Vegas Contemporary Arts Center. Coté has just concluded his MFA Thesis show  ‘If you can understand this, I’m sorry. The mystery is lost to you.’

            Details for the Las Vegas event are below, and the artists will then take The Traveling Miracle Show on the road to Reno Art Works for the night of Friday April 19^th.

First Friday April 5^th 6:00 – 11:00 PM

Performance Schedule:

6:00 PM onwards ‘Sin Eater’ performance

7:00 – 8:00 PM ‘Desert Bloom’ performance

8:00 – 9:00 PM ‘Unicorn’ performance

Free entry.

Momas and Dadas New Genres Project House, 926b South Casino Center Blvd, Las Vegas, NV89101

momasanddadas.wordpress.com

Transferring to Facebook Arts Journal page

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog posts here over the years. It is time for a change, having begun posting here in December 2006. I find the new Blogger format is not flexible enough for posting a number of photographs. So, for now, I am going to post new arts journal entries on my Facebook Arts Journal page here.

Night Sky at the USA Lounge

Los Angeles-based artist Alison O'Daniel brought her touring film 'Night Sky' to the iconic USA Lounge, in conjunction with Pop Up Art House, Henderson. The screening began with live sign by Lisa Reynolds and the theme of hearing and communication continued throughout the film. For me, the star of the film was the white boxer 'Deafinite' - a ghostly shape running through the desert. Beautifully filmed, 'Night Sky' delivered leisurely, but compelling, viewing.
O'Daniel, Reynolds and Deafinite were then heading to The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, and eventually to the Cleveland and Detroit art museums.
The USA Lounge's vintage-style popcorn maker was popular with the younger members of the audience, and musician Zach Ryan played a great farewell set for Las Vegas, before heading out to Nashville, TN.

Wildlife Divide

Having taken part in Wildlife Divide's Video and Sound Art workshop at Mt Charleston, it was an enjoyable experience to make another journey into the mountains for the opening reception exhibiting the results of the three recent workshops.
The exhibition will also travel to Emergency Arts with a reception October 6th 3-6pm.
The exhibiting artists are:

Janice Barrow, Cynthia Behr Warso, Raul Capitulo, David Carter, Benton Corder, Rhonda Cribbs, Joseph Guadamuz, Jenessa Kenway, Eri King, Orlando Montenegro, Oxana Petrov, Magdalen Rodriguez, Miguel Rodriguez, JK Russ, David Sánchez Burr, Javier Sánchez, Keri Schroeder, Erin Stellmon, Sarah Warso.

Instructors
Stacey Torma
Erin Stellmon
David Sanchez Burr 

some shows seen recently...

The London Biennale in Nevada exhibition opened at the Contemporary Arts Center, showing works by the individual artists and the documentary of the July performance event by film maker Jakob McCarthy. Documentary DVDs and the catalog of the event are available at the CAC.
Blackbird Studios are featuring great shows from Enrique Nevarez, Joel Spencer and Eva Steil. And around the corner on Imperial, Photo Bang Bang showcase the photography which has earned them an enviable reputation.
Last, but definitely not least, Matthew Couper's one-night preview 'Skins & Teeth" at Alios gallery space, along with the publication launch of the catalog Thirty-Three.

Less Popular Music

Indiana-based artist Aaron Nemec performed in the Off the Strip New Genres Festival 2012 on Sunday, and his show Less Popular Music opened on Preview Thursday at the Contemporary Arts Center.
Nemec received his MFA in the Electronic and Time-based art program at Purdue University in 2011. His projects explore the complex listener-performer relationship in pop music culture. Works in Less Popular Music include 'Solo Faces' - a video montage of facial expressions made while playing guitar solos, and 'Bass Rally III' - a radio transmission of bass tones, broadcast from the CAC window. Passing cars can pick up the signal on 101.3 FM.

Off the Strip 2012 ... the event ...

In the Shadow of the Strip

"The Contemporary Arts Center’s Off the Strip New Genres Festival exists in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip’s seductive glamour and addictive charms.

The city of Las Vegas is a nucleus of entertainment, risk and romance. It is known for its wedding chapels and since 1911, it’s liberal divorce laws - in other words, the full spectrum of relationships.

Beyond the Strip, Las Vegas is a vast, sprawling city, which most tourists visiting Las Vegas have little concept of. And beyond the city itself, is the Mojave Desert – a vast, inhospitable expanse that many city dwellers never visit.

Nevada in many ways is still the Wild West. It can be a tough place to survive in, let alone thrive in, but the city permits the possibility of fun along the way.

The artists in the Off the Strip festival, whether local, national, or international; have all created works that reflect the glamor, the grunge, the struggles and intricate relationships that are the foundation of Las Vegas and its burgeoning art scene."

- from my Introduction to Off the Strip 2012.

Co-ordinating an entire festival program has been an interesting - and sometimes challenging - experience, but I couldn't have done it without the skills of Demecina Gray, Contemporary Arts Center Gallery Assistant, and the great crew of dedicated volunteers. And most importantly, all the participating performers and video artists who made this such a memorable event.
At the festival opening party on Friday night at Emergency Arts. Multiplexer launched the Intercept 5:7 video program and 5th Wall Gallery featured Jevijoe Vitug's now-titled installation, along with the Nuclear Weapons Testing Legacy: A Tale of Two Cultures project.
And shown here at the weekend events at the CAC are performing artists Miguel Rodriguez, Artist Michael Barrett, Lou Lou Roxy, Amanda Haymond, Aaron Nemec, visiting Polish film maker Slawomir J. Milewski, and Justin Favela at the satellite venue The Mini Market.

Off the Strip New Genres Festival 2012 - this coming weekend...

I've been posting a little less often recently as I've been working to bring together the video and performance events for the Off the Strip New Genres Festival 2012. The main program takes place at the Contemporary Arts Center on Sept 1 and 2, with satellite events at Multiplexer and 5th Wall Gallery in Emergency Arts and The Mini-Market in North Las Vegas.
Performing artists featured are Artist Michael Barrett, Justin Favela, Amanda Haymond, Aaron Nemec, Daniel Oshima, Miguel Rodriguez and Lou Lou Roxy.
Video artists include Candy Warpop with director Ryen McPherson, Austin Dickson, Julia Holden, Jenessa Kenway, Kid Meets Cougar with directors Mike and Jerry Thompson, Slawomir J Milewski and Ronnie van Hout.
The festival will provide opportunities for Q&A with participating artists including attending UK-based experimental film maker Slawomir J. Milewski and artist/musician Aaron Nemec from Indiana.

Image above from The Ecstasy of St Agnes by Slawomir J. Milewski.

Red Kross play Double Down Saloon

Supported by Seattle band Night Beats (top left), Red Kross played the Double Down Saloon aka 'a clubhouse for the lunatic fringe' (as stated on the venue website). The venue has real character, and although it's not that far from the Strip geographically, it wouldn't show up on any of the mainstream tourist maps.
The crowd was fortified by event sponsors Sailor Jerry, but was still fairly restrained as Vegas crowds often are. Red Kross, however put on a high energy performance, and showed that after 34 years playing their own unique brand of punk rock n' roll, they're not planning on slowing down anytime soon.