City of the World

Come down to the gallery this Friday and celebrate local artists.

Gia Ray is displaying her amazing style in the main gallery and lots of wonderful art in all the other rooms of the gallery. Each wall hosts the art of a different Las Vegas artisan. A variety of styles make for an interesting pre-spring evening.

Talented violinist, Lady Emily, will perform from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the gallery. Listen to a variety of music including classical, bluegrass, jazzy rock, and contemporary while viewing the wonderful art.

Bring your friends and family and enjoy the festivities.

Artist Gia Ray began drawing at the humble age of 4 with her grandmother. They drew common objects from the kitchen where her grandmother prepared meals, to the living room where happy family memories were made.

Her mother colored with Gia but even as a small child, she was searching for something to fill the negative spaces on her color pages. She would outline objects she drew to fill in these spaces, something that remains prevalent in her art today. It was this need for detail that led her to develop a degree of ambidexterity allowing her to sit and draw for hours.

At the age of 14, she began to experiment with oil based paints and discovered that her broad strokes were covered by her left hand while finite details were to be done with her right. Inspired by other local artists, Gia searches to find the sources of their creativity. She is intrigued by the inspiration of others and how it manifests itself via various media into the art world.

This Friday will be the first 3rd Friday of 2010. That sounds confusing! The gallery will be open from 6 to 9 or 10 depending on the amount of art lovers that decide to come out.

Hope to see as many of our artisans as possible on site. Come in and share the fun and perhaps a glass of wine to boot. We have some great new artists sharing their work this month so take a few minutes to come in and meet and greet them as well as new patrons that will be in the gallery.

A beautiful day to gallery sit. The sun was streaming into the main gallery and I left the door open to let the fresh air in. It was quiet but we did have a guest who looked in every room and decided to purchase a piece from Roberto Rico, ‘BLUE GIRL’.

It’s always great to have a visitor on a non-First Friday. Hope we start having more visits during the week. Let your friends and family know we are open from 1-4pm, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They can pass the word too.

COLLAGE WORKS BY SUE GARN ::

Sue Garn loves to cut and paste and use markers and colored pencils, so she did in this exhibit! She taught K-12 Art over the course of living in Las Vegas, Southern and Northern California, Utah and the Central Oregon Coast. Gabriel Trujillo, owner of Up All Day Creative Solutions and former student from her Computer Art & Graphic Design program at the Advanced Technologies Academy said of his time in her class when they reconnected on facebook, “I can’t thank you enough for all the knowledge and encouragement you gave me. The dynamic those classes had was amazing. Loved it.” She has loved, respected and nurtured the individual talents of her students during her 36 years of teaching.

She retired from the CCSD in 2008 and reports, “Retirement is Good!” She grew up around cars. Her father retired from Cashman Cadillac after 36 years. He and she hit the restored auto shows as often as they can.

Sue was the President of Art Educators of Nevada, the Pacific Region Vice President of the National Art Education Association. While teaching she has received many honors, including Art Educator of the Year for Nevada, PTA Teacher of the Year award, and has been 5 times included in Who’s Who Amongst America’s Teachers (nominations come from Honor Roll high school students). When she left A-TECH her friends asked, “Why would you leave A-TECH! (great students and digital classroom) When she went to Biltmore Continuation HS (a court appointed HS) they asked, “Why would you go there? Are you being punished!” She likes to move, primarily . . . and always loves a challenge.

She has shown primarily with her art educator friends in Annual Art Educator of Nevada Exhibits. She appreciates the opportunity to exhibit in the City of the World Gallery.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDY ZINKEVICH ::

New Orleans Window

Sandy recently visited England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Mexico and the Bahamas and a road trip from Massachusetts down the East coast & back to Las Vegas. Her photos have been her visual memory of her visits to these wonderful places and she has chosen to share the beauty of these places during her show at City of the World Gallery.

Sandy enjoys many media including water-color, oil, pottery, photography, and paper mache.  “I love all different media in Art and the one I am working on at the moment is always my favorite”.

At the age of 3 her Grandmother had told her she would grow up to be an artist as she drew all the time. Raised with 3 sisters Sandy loved painting crafts such as bird houses with her Mother and her sisters as her Father also taught vocational art in the high school and would make crafts from wood including boats and houses! She loved designing and sewing her own clothes. Later, she made her children’s clothes.

Sandy belonged to the Art Educators of Southern Nevada and was the Director.  “I really miss the excitement and energy of my students as they explored and created art!”

Santa Fe Window

“Retirement has been really fun though and gives me time for gardening, walking, reading and creating. My mind is at peace”.  She created the flowers centerpieces for her daughters wedding and completed a hand painted/glazed tile mural wall in her yard. “I probably would not have had time for it if I was working.” Sandy has done murals for private clients in Las Vegas and Massachusetts.

Sandy has a B.A. from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts as an Art Major, Elementary minor and a M.A. from Lesley College in Creative Arts in the Curriculum.

I would like to thank Susan Garn for inviting me to exhibit with her jointly and to thank Roz Knight and the City of the World for letting me show my work.

Kristi Watson is a self proclaimed artist with ADAMD, Attention Deficit Artistic Medium Disorder;meaning that she cannot focus her attention to one medium alone. Trisha started using watercolors and acrylics after the birth of her first child. “I couldn’t impose the wonderful smell of oil paints, mixing medium, and turpentine wafting through my little apartment on that new little bundle of joy, no matter how much I loved it!”

“The theme of butterflies emerged for this show after discussion with one of my friends. I told her I had artist’s block and couldn’t think of anything to draw to paint anymore. She seemed shocked, as she is one of those people who always seems to have ideas pouring forth from the crevices of her heart and soul. Then she said something that hit a note on one of my art chords. “Paint something you love.” It was that simple statement that brought first to my mind butterflies. I love how delicate and beautiful they are. I love how seeing one can send excitement through my heart and make little kids squeal with delight. I love how their lives are so precious and the miracle of the metamorphosis that takes place from caterpillar to butterfly. I am fascinated that some butterflies live for a mere two to three days! How precious their life is. How precious is our life in the short time span that we spend on this earth compared to the eternity we will spend with our Father in Heaven. I asked my colleague and good friend Trish Powers to join in with me on this show because her artwork is so different than mine. I thought she would be a great companion for this show because of this! I hope you can make it to our opening and that you will take time to notice and appreciate the butterflies and butterfly moments that take place in your life. Definition: Butterfly Moment: a fleeting moment that gives you great joy in your life, just as a butterfly quickly flutters by you on a warm summer day.”

Kristi is also a metal clay artist and certified as a Level I Art Clay Silver Instructor. She will have beautiful handmade 99.9% silver jewelry on her Opening Night on Dec. 11th. These items are unique to my line of Kaylectible jewerly and would make wonderful holiday gifts for your friends and family. If you wish to purchase Kristi’s jewelry on any other day of this month other than that, please visit her website at: http://www.zibbet.com/kaylectible . Or come to the gallery on Thursday, Friday or Saturday from 1 till 4pm.

1.1.10 :: NEW WORKS BY SUE GARN & SANDY VINKEVITCH

A great way to start the New Year. Come to the gallery and view collage art by Sue Garn and photography from around the globe by Sandy Vinkevitch. Their art will display in the main gallery for the month of January 2010.