An Artist Residency Experience at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

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Completing an artist residency in a large resort on the Las Vegas Strip has definitely been one of the most interesting art experiences to date. The P3Studio residency is a partnership between The Cosmopolitan of LasVegas and Art Production Fund in New York City. The residency program is designed to provide guests with an interactive art experience, so there is always a participatory element to each project and artists change monthly.

When I open the studio doors to visitors for the first time on Wednesday, December 11, I am not sure exactly what to expect. I have produced two previous audience-participation collage projects – the first took place over a few hours at the London Biennale in Nevada satellite project and the second over a few days at the Life is Beautiful Festival. However, the House of Paper Birds project at The Cosmopolitan spans a few weeks, and at the end of the residency period, I estimate that visitors will have completed two collage panels inspired by the fruit of the Joshua Tree and a large reverse-glass window collage where bird-women reign over a desert landscape. I provide a starting point for each of the works, then with a little guidance, the visitors do the rest.

I hope that during the process, visitors will also enjoy the opportunity to browse a range of fashion, lifestyle and art magazines in the adjoining Reading Room. This area is inspired by the MOCA Grand Avenue Reading Room in Los Angeles and is designed for me by Patina Décor. I also envision conversations taking place around the large studio table amongst friends old and new, as visitors source collage material from the stacks of magazines.

As it happens, my hopes for cultural interchange are exceeded. The P3Studio visitors are of all ages and from all over the states, with many from other countries also. Christmas is fun. I Skype with family in New Zealand on our Christmas Eve, and spend Christmas Day in the studio meeting many family groups who are enjoying the bright lights and festive events on the Strip. There are little toddlers who paste paper strips onto the window collage and charm me by blowing me kisses. There are teenagers who talk about their love of art and leave me little drawings. Some people stay for a few minutes, some stay for an hour or more. And at the end of the residency, the collaborative collage works seem to almost vibrate with the convergence of their collective energy.

I am joined in the weekends by invited special guests who bring elements of the House of Paper Birds to life; artist Shelbi Schroeder appears as an aloof black swan watching us watching her, burlesque entertainer Lou Lou Roxy demonstrates the skilled techniques of the fan dance, fashion designer Mina Kahn exemplifies the exotic in her feathered creations on models Kathy C Liu and Tarah Una Robinson, and entertainer/fashionista Devi Amuro stages an intergalactic fashion invasion of the Reading Room with models Starza and Lashonza Ferguson.

In the same way that collage combines disparate elements and creates something fresh, the residency has brought together my favorite aspects of Las Vegas – fashion, flamboyance, performance and the dramatic desert environment – and created a singular experience within the wider cultural experience of The Cosmopolitan itself. In addition to the residency program, The Cosmopolitan curates the public art program Pause, also in partnership with Art Production Fund, where moving image works by artists such as Tracey Emin, TJ Wilcox and Laurie Simmons periodically take over the large-scale LED signs. The Cosmopolitan brings a wealth of contemporary visual art to Las Vegas, while incorporating local artists into the mix and offering visitors the opportunity to participate in building this creative culture. The positive energy I experienced in this process is something that will always stay with me.

 

The Traveling Miracle Show Crosses the Great Divide

JK Russ is now a blogger for The Huffington Post and has written up The Traveling Miracle Show's road trip from Las Vegas to Reno. We stopped at a number of cultural attractions and small towns en route, including the hauntingly beautiful ghost town of Goldfield, NV, where Matthew Couper photographed me beside a pair of marooned subway entrances. S.B.

Here is an abridged write-up from the Huffington Post:
In April we took an adapted version of The Traveling Miracle Show on the road to Reno, Nevada -- 450 miles north from Las Vegas across the arid Mojave Desert. Although we were following in the hoof prints of the traveling medicine shows of old, we had the benefits of bitumen and a hired Dodge Caravan, allowing us to make the trip in a day.
Our aim was to explore the broader arts and culture of Nevada and to forge personal connections with other artists to help bridge the gap between Southern and Northern Nevada that stems from more than just geographical distance. Competition for steadily decreasing state funding is one of the issues causing division, but we viewed this as even more of a reason for artists and organizations to work together to share knowledge and resources in order to realize projects.
Our first stop was Goldwell Open Air Museum, adjacent to the ghost town of Rhyolite, where we enjoyed responding to the sculptural installations, including German artist Sofie Siegmann's mosaic sculpture Sit Here!. The history of this 15-acre sculpture park dates back to 1984 when Belgian artist Albert Szukalski created his Last Supper installation. Goldwell also offers an artist residency program in the Museum's nearby Red Barn Art Center.
We also visited the historic Oats Park Art Center in the town of Fallon, 60 miles east of Reno. The former school building, built in 1914 has been beautifully restored and now comprises three galleries, a lounge bar and 350-seat theater. There were also interesting works on display by Michael Sarich, Joan Arrizabalga and Patrick Zentz among others, from the private, non-profit Churchill Art Council's regional art collection.

Having navigated the 'Great Divide' between Southern and Northern Nevada, we arrived in Reno just as the sun was setting over the snow-capped mountains and the famous neon lights were blinking on.  We headed straight to Reno Art Works based in the industrial Dickerson Road area that has become a hub for creative enterprises. Founded by Aric Shapiro and Pan Pantoja -- two artists sharing a strong social conscience -- Reno Art Works hosts regular exhibitions, open studios and multi-disciplinary events. After a tour of the venue, we were back the next day to set up for the Reno version of The Traveling Miracle Show. By the time the sun was again setting, Mayra Padilla and I were positioned in the entrance way, as a pair of contemplative human cacti. Behind us, Matthew Couper's painting monkey worked on an animated version of Albrecht Dürer's Melancholia, and Artist Michael Barrett, in minimalist athletic attire, labored to deliver A Truckload of Paradise one shovel-load at a time. His growing trail of sand tracked past Nathan Coté's images of plants miraculously grown from vacuumed dust and Jenessa Kenway's endlessly flowing High Life video installation. Later, 'Ginger Healer' Jevijoe Vitug concocted a restorative, magical brew to share with audience participants.
The short video The Traveling Miracle Show @ Reno Art Works gives a little taste of the event.

The Cosmopolitan art program...

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has been building a solid reputation for supporting new genre art. The eight 12-foot-high digital columns in the lobby are dedicated to showing a changing program of moving image works which, in conjunction with agency Digital Kitchen, earned them the Digital Design Grand Prix at Cannes last year.
I have posted on two previous artist residencies in the Cosmopolitan's 3rd floor P3 Studio - the most recent artist being Wendy Kveck who works across a range of mediums - painting, collage, sculpture, video and performance.
Continuing her interest in food rituals and excess, Kveck's installation 'The Pageant of the Amuse Bouche', featured giant cake sculptures that referenced the ancient Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion at the Acropolis in Athens. Three 'caryatids' wearing delectable headpieces posed prettily at the closing reception and read poetry to guests.

Leor Grady alongside The Bumbys

P3 Studio at The Cosmopolitan "is committed to building a platform for art and culture as an integral part of the guest experience" and it was certainly a hub for conceptual art when we visited, with two projects running side-by-side.
Israeli-born artist Leor Grady, now based in New York, created "Untitled (Bedroom)" - an installation incorporating items integral to the hotel environment. Visitors were invited to give a one-word summary of the work which was then machine-embroidered onto a souvenir handkerchief and will eventually be incorporated into a follow-up text-based installation.
Next door were performance artists Gill and Jill Bumby, also incorporating text in their work by offering typewritten appraisals of visitors' appearances. Hiding their own identities, they make use of wit and charm to describe each visitor. Gill began my appraisal with: "You look like you're the travel or the lifestyle editor for The New York Times and you carry the responsibility very tactfully.... " Well, maybe one day...
Photo of me being 'Bumbied' courtesy Matthew Couper.

The Three Wise Guys visit P3 Studio

The lounge area in front of the P3 Studio at The Cosmopolitan was a very comfortable venue to listen to readings by The Three Wise Guys - Dayvid Figler from Las Vegas, Gregory Crosby from New York and Geoff Carter from Seattle. Current P3 Studio artist-in-residence Jerry Misko invited the trio to perform and created a signature print to commemorate the occasion.