Ely’s former Bank of America building is now home to the Art Bank art gallery and cultural center.
An old and dear friend of mine, Wally Cuchine, recently passed away at the age of 75. For those who didn’t know him, Cuchine was a Nevada art collector without peer for most of his life.
Over decades, he collected more than 2,000 original works by Nevada-based artists, which he displayed in a pair of doublewide trailers in Eureka (one was his home, which was jammed with art; the other, which he called the Shed Gallery, was filled wall-to-wall with his art).
Fortunately, prior to his death, Cuchine donated a good portion of his collection to the Ely Art Bank, a public gallery where his pieces are regularly rotated and displayed.
Cuchine was born in Helena, Mont., in 1947 and, after serving in the Air Force for four years, settled in Las Vegas. He later attended Sierra Nevada College (now Sierra Nevada University) at Lake Tahoe, where he earned a degree in environmental science.
After that, Cuchine lived most of the rest of his life in rural Nevada. He worked in various positions in Fallon, Lovelock, Caliente, and Hawthorne before operating the Bristlecone Convention Center and the White Pine Public Museum in Ely.
In 1993, he took on what he described as his dream job, overseeing the restored Eureka Opera House in Eureka. It was a position he held until his retirement in 2011.
But his passion was always art, especially about Nevada. Beginning in the 1970s (and continuing for the rest of his life), he began collecting pieces of Nevada art — and just never stopped.
As an aside, he also collected Nevada-related books and had, at one time, a private collection that would rival the Nevada section at the Nevada State Library in Carson City.
His art collection gained statewide recognition in 2014, when 35 of his pieces toured the state as an exhibit called, “Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada.”
The program booklet for that exhibition (leg.state.nv.us) offers insights into Cuchine and his collecting, which was written by the late Jim McCormick, a prominent art professor and historian.
Also, in 2019, former University of Nevada, Reno graduate students Julia Moreno and Shevawn Von Tobel, produced a wonderful short film about Cuchine and his art collection, “Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection,” which can be viewed on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQuIZ7L5SHE).
Today, the Ely Art Bank/Garnet Mercantile in Ely is where you can view a big chunk of the collection. The Art Bank was established in 2013, when an Art Deco former bank building in the historic mining town was converted into an art gallery and cultural center.
Adjacent to the Art Bank is the Garnet Mercantile, a former J.C. Penney store, which houses the Cuchine Collection in its basement gallery. The Mercantile is open Fridays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information about the Art Bank and the Cuchine Collection, visit elynevada.net/wally-cuchine-art-collection.
For more information about the life of Wally Cuchine, visit sierranevadaally.org.