Starry, Starry Night: The Paintings of Serena Supplee @ ST. GEORGE ART MUSEUM Through Sept 8, 2012

Main Gallery         Starry, Starry Night:  The Paintings of Serena Supplee

Mezzanine Gallery Starry, Starry Night, National Parks through the Lens of Wally Pacholka

Legacy Gallery  Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey (Nevada Arts Council-opens June 21^st) with Art Conversation on June 21st at 7pm (3^rd Thursday Art Conversation Series)

About 150 years ago, the West was known as the last frontier in America.  Once the space race began, space was labeled the final frontier.  In the exhibits on view this summer, you have a chance to explore both, as well as America’s best idea, according to Wallace Stegner, our national parks. 

In the Legacy Gallery beginning June 21st, we feature, The Great Basin from the Nevada Arts Council.  Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey, an exhibition of 30 photographs by three regional artists – Adam Jahiel, Daniel Cheek and Nolan Preece – which examines loss, change and abandonment in the American West.

In this exhibit, the Great Basin is roughly defined as the area between the Wasatch Mountains along the Idaho and Utah borders and the Sierra Nevada Mountains along the Nevada and California borders. The three photographers featured in the exhibit have, independently, concentrated on the documentation of subjects that are changing in or rapidly disappearing from the Western landscape.

Geologically, the Great Basin is part of the Basin and Range Province that covers most of Nevada and more than half of Utah, as well as parts of California, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming. Jahiel’s photograph of cowboys in Northern Nevada poignantly illustrates both this rugged way of life and its marginalization in contemporary society. Daniel Cheek’s work celebrates the spaciousness of the Great Basin, which is then juxtaposed with small intrusions in the landscapes that are indicative of a changing West. Nolan Preece examines the rustic patina that is diminishing with restoration and development across the Great Basin.

The work of each photographer reflects a distinct style and technique, perfected during careers as highly regarded professional artists. Jahiel uses the platinum print to archive and preserve his images for the future. Cheek works with an 8 x 10 camera to reproduce the rich color of the Great Basin on chromogenic photo paper. Preece combines large format and digital cameras to produce black and white and color images of high quality.

This exhibit was organized by the Nevada Arts Council and is part of the Nevada Touring Initiative – Traveling Exhibition Program and is funded by the National Endowment, Nevada State Legislature and Western States Arts Federation. The Nevada Arts Council is a division of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

www.danielcheek.com; www.adamjahiel.com; www.preece.myexpose.com

A special thanks to the Darrell Armuth and Donna Hellwinkel Collection for its loan of their Adam Jahiel platinum prints for this exhibition.