Las Vegas and Art*
Compiled by Jeanne Brown, UNLV subject specialist for art and architecture

Information about Las Vegas and art is for the most part scattered, being found in book chapters, periodical and newspaper articles, and web sites. The information collected here will hopefully be of use to the researcher, and to the art enthusiast as well. These web pages serve to suggest approaches to finding information, to collect information on Las Vegas artists and art into one place, and to highlight specific pieces of art.

UNLV Libraries holdings

The UNLV Libraries have books and articles on Las Vegas and art. For books, a keyword search is best, since much of the material is a chapter here and a chapter there [http://webpac.library.unlv.edu/search~/]. "Las Vegas Art" will get you started. Subject headings include Las Vegas Art, Las Vegas Artists, and Las Vegas Arts.

Articles on the topic of Las Vegas and art can be found by searching Art Index Online and Art Full Text [http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html, available to UNLV faculty and students only]. There are a couple of theses on the topic, including Metaphorically Speaking: Putting Las Vegas on the Cultural Map by Ester Sara O Fearghail, Masters of Arts Degree, UNLV Anthropology Department, 1999 [available online to UNLV faculty and students through Digital Dissertations http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html].

Some materials are non-circulating in the UNLV Libraries Special Collections, including

• Las Vegas Allied Arts Council archive
• Young Electric Sign Company archive
• Donn Arden collection which includes costume and set designs
• Las Vegas Murals Project (archives of a 1977 murals project, including list of projects, sketches, photos)

Information/reviews on art exhibits, the art scene

Articles on Las Vegas and art have appeared in the LA Times and the New York Times, among other national papers. The papers below provide local and regular coverage. Articles may cover a specific exhibit, issues of concern to the arts community (such as tax support for the arts), or views on Las Vegas’ cultural development.

• Las Vegas Weekly http://www.lasvegasweekly.com
• Las Vegas Review Journal Neon (weekly). Arts Section. http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/neon/showsevents/showsevents_arts.html
• Las Vegas City Life http:// www.lvcitylife.com/

Arts Agencies in Las Vegas

• Nevada Arts Council http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/arts/
• Directory information for the Las Vegas office at http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/arts/
• Las Vegas Arts Commission http://www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us/1353_1362.htm

Venues for art

One of the distinct aspects of Las Vegas and art is the multiplicity of types of venues. From commercial spaces to educational, from galleries to open air, Las Vegas fits in art in some obvious but also some out-of-the-way spots. High art or low, original or reproduction, fine or applied - Vegas is eclectic!

Galleries

• Bellagio Art Gallery: click on Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art at this page:     http://www.bellagiolasvegas.com/pages/frameset_noflash.asp
• University of Nevada Las Vegas Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery http://www.unlv.edu/Colleges/Fine_Arts/Facilities/Donna_Beam_Gallery/
• Community College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus http://www.ccsn.nevada.edu/artgallery/
• McCarran Airport Gallery http://www.co.clark.nv.us/Parks/C_%20Gate_Exhibition_Area.htm
• Clark County Government Center Gallery http://www.co.clark.nv.us/Parks/Art_at_the_Government_Center.htm

Museums

• Las Vegas Art Museum http://www.lasvegasartmuseum.org/
• University of Nevada Las Vegas Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History http://hrcweb.lv-hrc.nevada.edu/museum/
• City of Las Vegas Neon Museum http://www.neonmuseum.org/pages/1/index.htm
• Hermitage-Guggenheim Museum Las Vegas, and the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum Las Vegas. Designed by architect Rem Koolhaas. Located at the Venetian. http://www.guggenheimlasvegas.org/
• Clark County Heritage Museum http://www.co.clark.nv.us/Parks/Clark_County_Museum.htm
• Liberace Museum http://www.liberace.org/museum.html
• Nevada State Museum and Historical Society http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/museums/lv/vegas.htm
• MAIN (Museums and Attractions in Nevada) Nevada Museums http://www.nevadaattractions.org/

Hotels

• Bellagio: Dale Chihuly’s glass ceiling sculpture titled "Fiori di Como" and Rauschenberg paintings on either side of the reception desk
• Venetian façade by Treadway Industries artists.
• Sunset Station’s Gaudi Bar. According to Buildings of Nevada (Oxford University Press, 2000), Sunset Station’s Gaudi Bar is "a marvel of stained glass, tile, and curvilinear forms reminiscent of Antonio Gaudi’s Casa Mila in Barcelona."
•  MGM: Lion at entrance
• Rio: art commissioned from regional artists such as Lee Sido, Larry Williamson, Minnie Dobbins, and Robert Beckmann. Some is placed in the hallway to the convention center.
• Caesar’s Palace: good copies of Italian sculpture, e.g. the David, imported from Italy and located in the old part of Caesar’s; Leroy Neiman 1960s and 1970s paintings with gambling subjects.

Restaurants

• Mandalay Bay House of Blues Restaurant.  Southern-inspired food and  outsider art from the Deep South.
• Bellagio’s Picasso. Original Picasso artwork; food from the South of France and from Spain.

Libraries

• University of Nevada Las Vegas Lied Library http://www.library.unlv.edu/
• Las Vegas Clark County Library District http://www.lvccld.org/events/programs_exhibits/gallery_exhibits.htm

Churches

• Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer Stained Glass: Wilmark Studios

Art in the open air

• Art and Visionary Environments of Nevada: A CLUI Close-up http://www.clui.org/clui_4_1/lotl/lotlfw96/envi.html Includes a short description of an earthwork titled Double Negative by artist/sculptor Michael Heizer, as well as several other examples of land art. Heizer’s work is also described in the book Double Negative by Michael Heizer; foreword by Richard Koshalek and Kerry Brougher; essay by Mark C. Taylor. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art ; New York : Rizzoli,  1991.
• Green Valley bronzes by J. Seward Johnson Jr.            
• Rock art (petroglyphs): Nevada Rock Art Sites http://rockart.esmartweb.com/nevada.html

Public art

• Las Vegas Arts Commission http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/1353_1362.htm Map featuring public art in the downtown Las Vegas area coming soon.
• Robert Beckmann’s murals: Lied Discovery Children’s Museum; Winchester Community Center Theater
• "Public Works of Art Available in the City" Las Vegas Review Journal, May 6, 2001 http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/May-06-Sun-2001/news/16011735.html
• Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center: Spirit Tower by Rita Abbey
• Green Valley Library Serpent Mound by Lloyd Hamrol.
• Las Vegas Neon Museum http://www.neonmuseum.org/pages/1/index.htm
• University of Nevada Las Vegas Flashlight by Claes Oldenburg
• Aerial Gallery -– banners on light poles on Las Vegas Blvd between Charleston and Fremont St. http://cricketstudio.com/aerial
• Hoover Dam sculpture (e.g. Winged Figures of the Republic), metalwork and mosaic terrazzo floors: discussed in "The Grand Dam" by Julian Rhinehart, originally published in Nevada Magazine 1995.  http://www.hooverdam.com/History/rhinehart1.html

McCarran Airport Public Art

• Murals in McCarran International Airport D Gates (artists include Tom Holder, Mary Warner, Robert Beckmann)
• Greg LeFevre’s "Flights Paths" - in the rotunda’s terrazzo floor
• Tony Milici’s steel and glass sculpture at McCarran D Gates
• McCarran D Gates wall tiles of international skylines by sixteen Clark County fourth graders
• Clark County Wildlife sculptures at the D Gates, by David Phelps

Information on the web about Las Vegas artists

 Individual artists

• Roy Purcell http://www.purcellstudios.com
• JoAn Greinert http://www.joangreinert.com/Artist.htm
• Marty Walsh http://www.martywalshgallery.com/
• Vince Fodera http://www.lasvegasart.com/index.html

Artists in galleries

• Art Encounter http://www.artencounter.com/tour.html
• Contemporary Arts Collective http://www.cac-lasvegas.org/
• Aerial Gallery http://cricketstudio.com/aerial/  Artists’ names and sample of their work, for a six-month City of Las Vegas display.
• University of Nevada Las Vegas. College of Fine Arts. Art Department Faculty. Virtual Gallery. http://www.unlv.edu/Colleges/Fine_Arts/Facilities/Donna_Beam_Gallery/

Information on Las Vegas architecture and architects

• UNLV Architecture Studies Library http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/index.html

Information on Las Vegas historic preservation

• City of Las Vegas. Historic Preservation. http://www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us/1353_1368.htm
• Las Vegas Springs Preserve Cultural Resources Management Plan. http://www.springspreserve.org/
• Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort http://parks.nv.gov/olvmf.htm

*Art includes fine arts, popular arts, costume design, public art, graphic arts, neon, and other applied arts.