News from the Art Program!
March 1st, 2022
Hello everyone!

I'm Sean Russell, the Program Director for the Art Program in the Department of Fine Arts here at CSN! Below is a small list of the various activities and events the CSN Art Program students and faculty are involved with this spring semester!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask - [email protected] - or x7630
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An easy way to keep up to date with the Art Program and our Art Galleries is to follow the social media links below!

Ellie Rush - Student Success

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You want an example of Student Success? Look no further than Ellie Rush!

​Ellie was a CSN Art Major until she graduated at the end of the Fall 2021 semester with a 4.0 GPA. One of the last Art classes she took was the capstone course I teach with Professor Chris Tsouras, Art 298: Portfolio Emphasis. The goal of that course is to prepare students to apply for further higher education degrees, art gallery exhibitions, public art projects, etc. Ellie went above and beyond and applied for numerous projects while in our class - one of them being Clark County's Zap! Project. The Zap! Neighborhood Art Project brings painted electrical and water utility boxes, created by local artists, to neighborhoods all over Clark County. There's probably a handful of them by your house right now! Anyway, Ellie was selected for Zap! 11, which has artists painting boxes near the Robert "Bob" Price Community Center on East Lake Mead Blvd. For this, Ellie (and the other selected artists) are being paid $3000 each. Wow!
As you read this, Ellie should be finishing up! Drive by and check out all the Zap! 11 painted boxes!

But wait, there's more!

Late last semester, Ellie was also selected for the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas' DIVERSITY IN ART, A CELEBRATION OF LAS VEGAS mural competition! For this honor she won a four-year UNLV scholarship worth approximately $36,500. 

GO ELLIE, GO!

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Ellie's Instagram - Ellie Rush (@elliecatrushart) • Instagram photos and videos

Bronze Pour - Art 216: Sculpture I

On February 24th, Chris Bauder lead a bronze pour as part of his Art 216: Sculpture I course. Students created or brought objects, a mold was made, and hot metal poured in! Hope everything turns out OK when they crack 'em open!

Fred Sigman - Teaching from Cambodia

Fred Sigman currently teaches Art History courses for CSN from Cambodia!

I asked Fred what he's been up to, and here's what he said:
Hey everyone,

​My book Motel Vegas, published by Smallworks Press in hardback in 2019, is now a kindle book.
 
A book I co-wrote with Will Roger (co-founder of Burning Man) will soon be released. Handbook for a Burning Age presents ideas when dealing with climate change. My contributions, in part, covered the art history from ancient China to 19th century French landscape where artists cultivated, through creative practices, a means of addressing the human impact on nature.
 
Work in progress a book about global travel, Buddhist pilgrimage/practice, and my decades of photography. Set against the backdrop of where I live in Cambodia, titled, Breathing Angkor.
 
See you guys this summer when I return to Vegas.

​Fred
Fred has an amazing website all about his online teaching - please check it out!

Faculty Endeavors

The Art Program currently has 6 Full Time, Tenured, Faculty and about 28 Part Time Instructors. Someone is always participating in an art exhibit, creating public art, or working with the community on a project. Here's just a sample of what's they've been up to this spring...so far!
Solo Exhibits
Suzanne Acosta - Until It Speaks Back
East Las Vegas Library
through April 5th
Lolita Develay - solo exhibition
Dixie State College in St. George, Utah
through March 1st
Jeff Fulmer - Mojave

Jeff Fulmer is the Gallery Coordinator here at CSN. If you missed his exhibit at the Lost City Museum in Overton, Jeff's work will soon be showing at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery in downtown Las Vegas from ​March 31st - May 25th.
Year of the Tiger
A handful of CSN Faculty took part in the City of Las Vegas' exhibit, Lunar New Year Exhibition: Year of the Tiger, at The Mayor's Gallery in Las Vegas, NV. 

This is the 12th year of this annual invitational exhibit which unites artists interested in exploring what the Lunar New Year of the Tiger means through their art. Artists are asked to investigate Asian Heritage and what the Tiger year means to Asian culture. While some artists keep their visual ideas simple and others learn and incorporate complex Asian folk tales or stories in their art, artists also bring a mastery of technique and knowledge of the formal elements and principles of design to their art.
Other Group Exhibits

​Lindsay Hall is part of "Sweet Tooth," the new exhibition in the Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibition space of Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA, which explores indulgence, craving, and desire. Sweet Tooth is now on view through Sunday, March 6, 2022.
Lolita Develay and 11 other artists come together to create 'Blanket of Protection', an exhibition dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen. It is on display from Jan. 19 to Mar. 26, 2022 at Left of Center Gallery in Las Vegas, NV.
Check out this news spot about "Blanket of Protection!"
Grants
NAC AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN GRANT: Individual Artists Providing Project-Based Support for Artists

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) was enacted on March 11, 2021. This historic legislation represents a significant commitment to the arts and a recognition of the value of the 
arts and culture sector to the nation’s economy and recovery. In order to respond to the great need of artists in the wake of COVID-19, the Nevada Arts Council will award ARP funds to individual artists throughout Nevada to support the production and presentation of artistic projects across all disciplines and help artists rebuild after the impacts of COVID-19. Examples of eligible projects include art exhibitions, performances, readings, concerts, the creation of art, and ​portfolio creation.
Virtual/online projects are also eligible.
Recently, both Sean Russell and Jennifer Saracino were awarded this $1000 grant!

CSN Art Gallery Exhibits and Events

Mission Statement
The mission of the CSN Art Galleries is educational. National and regional exhibitions that represent a broad range of viewpoints are actively sought and promoted. The galleries’ educational mission is realized through the sponsorship of a variety of exhibitions that provide the student population as well as the community at large with opportunities to interact with art and artists. Activities such as lectures and workshops provide forums that allow the audience to gain a greater understanding of the art they view and the motivations behind it. Exhibits are designed to offer exposure to various individual artistic methodologies, materials, media, genre, and techniques. The opportunity to view artworks in a gallery setting creates a forum, which allows the student and public to gain a greater understanding of the art they view and the motivations behind it.
CSN Fine Arts Gallery
Dan Rule - Glidden's Rainbow
February 11th - April 23rd
​Reception: Thursday, April 21st 6-8pm
CSN Artspace Gallery
Bryan Ritchie - Vestiges
February 4th - March 19th
Funny story - This artist, Bryan Ritchie, was my Printmaking Professor like 20 years ago, at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He randomly applied to our yearly art gallery "Call for Exhibitions", and was selected for an exhibit, without knowing that his former student even worked at the College of Southern Nevada. I last saw and spoke to him in early 2002, when I left Wisconsin for grad school at UNLV. "See ya, Professor Ritchie, I'm movin' to Vegas, haha," is what I probably said at the time. Small World! Know who else has a degree from UW-Stout? CSN President Dr. Federico Zaragoza! All roads lead to Wisconsin.

Please go check out his exhibition in the Artspace gallery. Look, I'll be honest, the Artspace gallery is a hallway. Every art institution has a hallway gallery. They always give them a hip and contemporary name. BUT, that said, since it's a hallway, you have no excuse to simply walk through and use your eyes and maybe your brain.
CSN Level Up Galleries
Level Up Galleries have been developed at the College of Southern Nevada to bring the highest quality fine art from the traditional art gallery to locations on CSN’s campuses where student, faculty, staff and the college community gather. The name “Level Up” indicates the location of this initiative (campus second and/or third floor locations), references College wide student success initiatives such as Achieving the Dream, and ties into contemporary video game nomenclature, specifically those synonymous with advancement, attainment, enlightenment and student success.
Do you know which campus and building these are currently in?????

Coming soon...

Some Pigeons I Know, curated by Myranda Bair, is coming to the Artspace gallery!

Some Pigeons I Know is a group show exhibiting a wide range of media, including; poetry, painting, sculpture, ceramics, fiber arts, musical art, and photography. The show will focus on pigeon/human parallels and to a greater degree discuss humanities unintended influence on natural selection.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. - check out the sweet new easels we bought for NLV N209!
Sean Russell is an Artist and Educator living in Las Vegas, NV.