Wild Horse Gallery open at Carson Mall

One new business is bringing a bit of western to Carson City.

The Wild Horse Gallery opened in the Carson Mall in November; however, it will be celebrating its grand opening Feb. 8.

The store offers custom matted and framed western, wildlife and patriotic artwork, custom décor and jewelry.

“I am excited to be down here to show everything we have,” said owner Shelia Hillebrand. “There really isn’t any other western art shop around here and there is a lot of western people in the area.”

Hillebrand also owns a western store up in Virginia City, however decided to expand her store to the southwest to broaden her clientele.

“Everyone is into western around here,” Hillebrand said. “We wanted to reach more to the surrounding areas and this was a good central location.”

To celebrate, the store will have a ribbon cutting Feb. 8 with a reception to follow with live music, wine, appetizers and a raffle. The event runs from 5 to 6 p.m. at the store, located in the Carson Mall.

All of Hillebrand’s merchandise is custom made; she has a framer who gets the works directly from the artists or publishers, and local artist who creates the décor.

“This has been fantastic,” said Bill Eisele, the lamp artist. “I think the mall will do more of an art thing because there are a lot of nice artists in the Carson area and its nice to come together more.”

Many of Hillebrand’s paintings come from local artists around Nevada and California.

“It is just an all-around good collection,” said Eisele.

“One of our goals is to encourage more artists to open in the mall so that eventually it will become a central arts gathering for Carson City,” said Ronni Hannaman, executive director for the Carson City Chamber of Commerce. “We are just delighted to have them here and it will really start to showcase the mall.”