ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS

Dayton Valley Days

Silent Auction donations are being sought for the 26th Dayton Valley Days street festival.

Bray said the tax-deductible donations could include those from businesses, organizations and individuals.

“All sorts of donations are welcomed including gift baskets, vendor products, gift certificates — anything that people would want to bid on and take home,” Bray said.

The two-day street festival scheduled Sept. 20 and 21 features special events throughout each day including a huge craft fair, Kiwanis pancake breakfast, live entertainment, parades, kid’s games and activities, chili cook-off, Smackdown Bull Riding, Gold Creek Show-n-Shine, motorcycle show-n-shine, Railroad Days activities at the historic depot, foods and beverages — and of course, the Silent Auction.

To make a donation to the Silent Auction call Kathy Bray at 775-443-5248 or Ruth Small at 775-301-9567.

WNC Fallon art exhibit

What some might see as junk may become Tom Robinson’s next colorful canvas.

The long-time Fallon resident and artisan can evoke creative expression using an item that many would discard, or an instrument not normally used.

“Tom Robinson: New Work” exhibition is featured in the Virgil Getto Hall Art Gallery through Oct. 4 at Western Nevada College Fallon Campus.

The collection includes Robinson’s latest abstract paintings along with several sculptures.

“Tom uses discarded house-paint can — cans included, surplus canvas and unconventional tools to create art with a visceral impact,” said WNC Art Professor Gil Martin.

Martin said that Robinson’s work “is tough, unpretentious, uncompromising and slyly witty, like the artist himself.”

Wilbur D. May Museum

This summer, the Wilbur D. May Museum will highlight one of Nevada’s first marketing campaigns.

Rush to Reno: Millionaires in the One Sound State explores the way state leaders targeted millionaires to move to Nevada during the 1930s and 40s.

The unique plan brought dozens of interesting characters to the Reno area, including Wilbur May, E. L. Cord, Max Fleischmann, and others. The exhibit explores the unconventional plan and its lasting impact on the state. It features original artifacts on display for the first time and new stories that will appeal to visitors of all ages.

The exhibit is June 18-September 14 at the Wilbur D. May Museum in Reno: 775-785-5961.

University art exhibit

A new 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 opens the new season at Western Nevada College’s Main Gallery in Carson City.

“Being a plein air painter, I paint outside in the natural environment and that encourages me to capture the moment quickly,” she said. “The light changes, the shadows move, the temperature changes, or the wind comes up. If I try to go back another day to the same spot, it’s just never the same.”

“Monika will be exhibiting oil paintings of landscapes executed on-site,” said WNC art professor and gallery director Gil Martin. “Direct relationship with the motif is a critical aspect of Ms. Johnson’s work. How else to perceive and respond to the ever-changing and infinite subtly of nature?”

Johnson blends her artist’s eye with a 25-year career as a hairstylist and colorist. She has been able to transition to another canvas to develop her artistry.

Much of her inspiration today comes from the beauty around her at Lake Tahoe.

Stremmel Gallery

Stremmel Gallery in Reno presents Roger Berry’s “Sculpture,” and John Salminen’s “The Rhythms of the City,” an exhibition featuring new works, opening on Sept. 25 and continuing through Oct. 25.

Berry’s large, rhythmic, knotted bands of steel and silicon bronze, contrast with and complement Salminen’s layered transparent watercolors of street scenes from great cities around the world.

The opening reception will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m., on Sept. 25 and is free.

“The mountains and great outdoors around my Lake Tahoe home provide me with endless creative vision, and I love the fact that no two days — in fact, no two hours or minutes — are ever the same,” she said. “Light glows and fades, shadows weave in and out, the weather does its mischievous dance, and so I am challenged to work quickly to capture the moment, knowing I’ll never have the same opportunity again.”

The graduate of Suffolk University in Boston began her art career by painting still lifes in acrylic, then transitioned to figures before gravitating to en plein air.

To develop her skills, Johnson has completed art workshops with Gregory Kondos at Sierra Nevada College, Kit Night at the Sacramento Fire Arts Center and Wanda Mumm in Glacier National Park; studied with Antonin Passemard in France; and learned from Andy Kaff, Leslie Saeta and Jean LeGassick.

Her artwork has been displayed with the M Studio, the Markleeville Library, Wilbur D. May Museum, North Tahoe Arts, Liberty Fine Arts, Reno Little Theater and Saint Mary’s Art Center.