Showing a contrast in paintings, Western Nevada College in Fallon features Cody Deegan, left, and Marsha Hogsed, two Fallon artists. Penny Hogsed stands in front of her mother.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
Western Nevada College’s Fallon campus held a reception March 13 for two local artists whose works encompass the spirit of people and nature.
Cody Deegan and Marsh Hogsed are Churchill County High School graduates, yet their journeys during the past 25 years took different paths.
Their artwork is on display at the Virgil Getto Hall until March 28.
Deegan has been a practicing artist for the better part of five decades beginning when he was a student. Over the years, he has developed an eye for painting lifelike people and their activities. One painting on display shows two young women. Deegan prepared by taking photographs of his subjects and then the best visuals from each picture.
“I used four to five photos,” Deegan said.
At first, Deegan pained a blue wall behind his subjects, but he changed the color too something much lighter to place more emphasis on the two women.
“It was a struggle,” he said of the project which took months to complete.
For another painting of a mother and daughter, Deegan used two models for inspiration. The younger subject is the daughter of a friend.
“I can do quite a few different styles that keeps it interesting,” he said. “If I did the same style, I would get tired of it.”
Deegan said he enjoys painting people and other subjects.
“I like painting, but it takes so much time,” Deegan said, adding he doesn’t receive much pay for many of his paintings.
To seek more income, Deegan said he wants to procure more commissions for his artwork and projects. One project, though, that he likes is painting a utility box in front of the Churchill County Museum. He also provided a vision for the mural on the southside of the museum’s wall.
Deegan has studied at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California, and the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle.
While Deegan has pursued a career in art over the decades, Hogsed took a break raising a family and then returned to unleash her creativity. She took art classes at CCHS from instructors Eileen Haugen and Merilee Wiley.
“Mrs. Haugen always pushed me to do better, and Mrs. Wiley pushed me to do it,” Hogsed said.
Hogsed, who graduated from CCHS in 2000, said she preferred painting portraitures, but that interest evolved to nature such as birds and flowers. She slowly changed her preferences and began to use the richness of colors for her paintings, which include flowers, different forms of life.
However, Hogsed’s 4-year-old daughter Penny has taken an interest in art and created several paintings which were included with Hogsed’s exhibit.
Hogsed, a mother of three, eventually earned a degree in fine arts from Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.
When visitors to Getto Hall see her artwork, Hogsed hopes they will see how she uses color in her paintings and how each piece produces a calm and connectiveness to the world around them.