ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS

California Trail Center

The California Trail Interpretive Center, volunteers and the Ruby Mountain Fiber Folk will present a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the fiber arts, “From Sheep to Shawl: Fiber Arts at the California Trail Interpretive Center.”

The free program will take place on Saturday from 12-4 p.m.

“We often buy clothing made in other countries, in factories by machines, by people we do not know, with fabrics that are synthetic and unnatural,” said Park Ranger Alex Rose. “The program provides a modern connection to our pioneer past,” said Park Ranger Alex Rose. “Pioneer women knit socks, mittens and shawls. Today, fiber artists create hats, purses, slippers, stuffed animals, and other items that are cherished and loved by friends, family, and strangers.”

Presenters, among others, include Billie Phillips on the spinning wheel, Carmen Bubar on the history of quilting and weaving, and Anna O’Brien demonstrating loom weaving. Visitors will be able to participate in hands-on activities as well as learn how wool is processed and knit into beautiful and practical hand-made items.

For more information about the California Trail Interpretive Center call 775-738-1849. Visit the Trail Center online at www.californiatrailcenter.org/, or on Facebook-California Trail Interpretive Center Association. For more information about the Ruby Mountain Fiber Folk, contact Billie Phillips at 775-340-3701.

The California Trail Interpretive Center is located at Hunter exit 292, 8 miles west of Elko on I-80. The Center is open Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-5p.m.

Celebrate the holidays with a sleigh ride along the majestic shores of Lake Tahoe at Sand Harbor State Park. The unique handcrafted sleighs, drawn by mighty Belgian draft horses, accommodate four to six people and can be equipped with wheels to operate when there is no snow. Warm blankets and hot chocolate are provided, and caroling is encouraged. The park restaurant will be open weekends for holiday drinks and snacks, with special meal and sleigh-ride packages available.

Tours operated by Borges Sleigh Rides. For more information and reservations visit www.sandharborsleighride.com or call (775) 588-2953.

Victorian Christmas

Downtown Nevada City’s annual holiday celebration, Victorian Christmas, will be taking place on Wednesdays and Sundays throughout December — but there’s a new schedule. This year the lineup includes an additional Sunday, and one less Wednesday.

This year’s Victorian Christmas occurs from 1:30 to 6 p.m. Sundays, Dec. 14 and 21. Festivities will also occur from 5-9 p.m. on Wednesday night, Dec. 17.

Nevada City, Calif., is a about a 3-hour drive west from Fallon.

Tintabulations at museum

The Tintabulations, a handbell ensemble, presents it “Ring We Now of Christmas winter 2014 concert series on Saturday.

The group begins its performance at 1 p;.m. at the Churchill County Museum.

Eureka open house

The Doll House, a small Victorian residence overlooking downtown Eureka at 41 O’Neil Avenue, has been converted to a vacation rental in the historic silver mining town.

An open house will be held on Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and the community is invited.

Owners Robin Cobbey and David Toll occupy the basement apartment.

“It is more house than we need,” Robin Cobbey said, “so we decided to make it available as a comfortable, fully furnished and equipped place for visitors to stay when they are in town. The Open House will allow everyone in town to look it over as a convenient option for family or business visitors.”

The house was built in 1880 by the Tognoni family, who kept a store on Main Street and it appears in many early-day photographs of Eureka. Nowadays you can see it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eureka-Doll-House/546969232093295

Stremmel Gallery

Stremmel Gallery in Reno presents “Painting the West,” a landscapes exhibition featuring five Nevada artists.

The artists are Ron Arthaud, Jean LeGassick, Craig Mitchell, Charles Muench, and Jeff Nicholson.

The plein-air painters will exhibit works depicting the varied and unique landscapes that distinguish our region, including the Great Basin, Sierra, and other awe-inspiring areas of Nevada.

The show will continue through Dec. 20.

Both the opening reception and the exhibition are free to the public.

Tuscarora’s Ron Arthaud captures the abstract in nature, squinting and closing one eye, imagining a painting. His works are often about expressing the beauty in ordinary, discarded objects: rusty cars, a broken down fence, or the shadows cast from old pickets in the snow.

Renown Medical Center and Reno City Hall are among Ron’s numerous exhibitions.

Jean LeGassick’s inspiration derives from nature in its rawest form: untouched and unexplored. The Silver City resident hikes, snowshoes, and even mule packs to remote peaks, hidden canyons, windswept desert outcroppings, and rocky shorelines in order to record immediate and spontaneous responses with her brush and canvas.

Jean was featured as one of six artists filmed for the nationally-televised PBS series, “Plein-Air: Painting the American Landscape.”

Craig Mitchell’s modern take on classic impressionism aims to engage viewers into looking at a captured, transient moment in time and space.

Armed with painting materials and a 16-foot self-contained trailer, the Reno-based artist paints on location in concentrated intervals, carefully extracting candid observations of his natural surroundings.

The West provides the perfect canvas for Gardnerville’s Charles Muench. Visiting the same location at different times of day, every season, allows Muench to form a deeper relationship with his subject matter. Charles was featured in the 2014 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, the bigges western art sale in the country.

Silver City’s Jeff Nicholson is known for his paintings of the high desert, particularly focusing on the Nevada landscape. His works celebrate the boom and bust of man’s tenure on the land, as well as the primal beauty of untouched locales. He is fluent in both oils and watercolors.

Jeff’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Nevada Museum of Art, the Governor’s Mansion, and the University of Nevada, Reno.

For more information, or to schedule a private viewing of the “Painting the West” exhibition, call Stremmel Gallery at 775-786-0558, or visit www.stremmelgallery.com. Stremmel Gallery is located at 1400 South Virginia Street in Reno. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturdays.

University art exhibit

An art exhibit at the University of Nevada, Reno is combining creativity with reuse.

‘Reused-plus-Recycled-equals-Art’ is open through late September at UNR’s Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.

University marketing and communications coordinator Deanna Hearn said the exhibit features about 100 works made of 80 percent reused or recycled materials.

“A foot made of plastic bottles that is crushing the world,” described Hearn, “a piece of art called ‘Scully,’ who is a man made of used bicycle chains, things like ‘trashin’ fashion.’”

Hearn said ‘trashin’ fashion’ is clothing made from plastic bags and other recycled materials.

Ultimately, according to Hearn, the showing is a fun and creative way to showcase and promote the practice and lifestyle of sustainability.

“But it’s to allow them a venue to showcase their artwork,” said Hearn. “Especially to reach out, to tell the community that we’re thinking about sustainable issues here on campus.”

Hearn added that the artists are mostly university and high school art students.

WNC Carson City art exhibit

Monika Johnson’s en plein air landscapes require the Incline Village artist to capture the moment quickly.

Whether painting outdoors in Burgundy, France; Lake Tahoe, Virginia City or Montana, she enjoys capturing the beauty of these areas with bold color and texture.

Johnson’s artwork opened the new season at Western Nevada College’s Main Gallery in Carson City.