ACCNV presents

2025

The second iteration of the Desert Biennial Project, inspired by Gravity: defying it, needing it, feeling it, ignoring it, agreeing with it.

AALIYAH FAFANTO

DEFYING GRAVITY: UPLIFTED BY UNITY

Silicone hands, fishing line, velvet curtains, cotton-stuffed doll, Kente cloth, buttons, yarn, wire, wood,

Artist Statement

"This installation speaks to the invisible forces that weigh on Black existence—racism, capitalism, and assimilation—through a suspended narrative of tension and ascent. The faceless, adorned doll represents the shared, non-binary struggle and collective rise of Black communities.

My artistic practice explores the emotional and spiritual weight of navigating Blackness, queerness, and societal expectation. I work across mediums—poetry, film, and installation—to unpack memory, cultural identity, and resistance. I’m interested in how art can serve as both mirror and balm. Through symbolic materials, I aim to create immersive experiences that confront, comfort, and challenge. My work often straddles the intimate and the political, offering viewers space to reflect on inherited struggle, communal strength, and the act of becoming."

Artist bio

Aaliyah Fafanto is a Black, queer multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sculpture, installation, poetry, and experimental film. Rooted in themes of identity, ancestry, and resistance, their practice is an exploration of emotional landscapes shaped by race, gender, and memory. Based in Las Vegas, they are committed to using art as a tool for cultural preservation and liberation, with pieces exhibited locally in community-centered and experimental art spaces since 2025.

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ABNEY WALLACE

LIGHT TOUCH

EMT Conduit, Fringe, Solar LEDs

Artist Statement

Amidst a moment that feels so full of darkness and despair, Light Touch is a reminder of the inextinguishable light inside each of us. It's an invitation to touch the light.

My current practice is in response to an increasingly arid American West. Drawing inspiration from the landscape and human interaction with it, my work aims to address the intersections of place, land use, and emergent culture, e.g., gestures born of climate, utility, and impulse.

Artist bio

Abney Wallace is an artist and educator based in Central Oregon. Working in printmaking, drawing, and installation, his work has been shown throughout the Pacific Northwest. Wallace maintains an active curatorial practice showcasing underserved, underrepresented, and up and coming artists. Awarded residencies include PLAYA in Summer Lake, OR and Wingtip Press in Boise, ID. He holds a BA in Human Studies from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC and an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR. He’s currently an instructor of Printmaking and Drawing at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, OR.

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ADRIANA CHAVEZ

ASK ME FOR TOMORROW, AND YOU SHALL FIND ME A GRAVE MAN (SE TE VA METER EL DIABLO)

Shovel, other props, costumes, natural materials, found objects, chips, salsa, sweet breads, lighting instruments (if needed), bluetooth speaker.

Artist Statement

Juan Chico, an otherwise light and comedic presence, will embody tragic, grave, and tyrannical characters. What results from this contradiction is what I am interested in discovering. Juan Chico, a clown, will perform a nonlinear, Shakespeare-inspired, melodramatic fever dream and burial ritual.

Inspired by my Mexican family and driven by my identity as a Queer Latinx artist my purpose is to investigate identity and belonging through a complex practice that incorporates performance art, mask making, collage, movement, and sculptural installation. One of the main focuses of my work is a clownish character I developed, named Juan Chico. This disruptor and wild-card of a character is inspired by the tender and messy men in my family; the drinkers, the dreamers, the cheaters, and the mustached macho men. Like the archetype of the trickster, Juan Chico has the potential to challenge social norms, press against and subvert hierarchical systems, reflect the flaws of human nature, and reveal humanity's potential for growth, goodness, and change. Staging Juan Chico either as the main actor of audience-engaging, secular rituals, or as the irreverent, substitute cast of historical paintings and other modern imagery, I seek to re-appropriate and unsettle cultural stereotypes. Reclaiming cultural and familial heritage through the use of my alter ego, I affirm joy and resilience while actively building empathy and connection.

Artist bio

Adriana Chavez (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Las Vegas, NV. She has performed and exhibited globally. As an actor and director, Chavez has worked with various theatre companies on the east and west coasts including A Public Fit Theatre Company, The LAB Experimental Theatre Company, Vegas Theatre Company, Majestic Repertory Theatre, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Dell’Arte Company, Elke Rindfleisch Dance, Jonah Bokaer, Homunculus Mask Theatre, and Naked Empire Bouffon Company. Her visual art has exhibited at several art venues including the Format Festival in the UK, The Lilley Museum of Art, The Momentary, Holland Project, Goldwell Open Air Museum & Red Barn Art Center, Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, Charleston Heights Arts Center, Winchester Dondero Cultural Center, Nuwu Art Gallery, and UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, where she was artist in residence from 2020 - 2021. Adriana has a BFA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University and an MFA in Ensemble-based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Adriana is currently performing in Phenomenomaly at Meow Wolf in Las Vegas.

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AERYNCLARE GADDY

PERSIST

Dried slime, wire, and spray paint

Artist Statement

This sculpture is a tangle of flowers that climb and bloom and persist against the gravity of the world, the world that wants to wallow in hatred. Some of the flowers get pulled down, but none will fall to the ground as we are strong enough to rise and find the joy in life again, even if it's a tangled mess.

My goal as an artist is to be a visual storyteller, as I draw inspiration from many forms of media. Storytelling is an important practice because of how they shape us, and how we learn from them. I emphasize a theme in a lot of my work of rebirth and new beginnings, as I feel we are always capable of growth and learning in our lives. Often skulls and flowers are used to symbolize these concepts. Skulls are viewed as an ending, but the addition of flowers represents that it was simply the end for something new to begin, and for something beautiful to grow. In my work, I invoke a feeling of fantasy, joy, and magic, and show that there are still wonderful things in life to be found, even in darker times.

Artist bio

I am a current Undergraduate Art Major at The University of Nevada - Las Vegas, with a concentration in sculpture art. My artworks are in constant flux with my materials usage, but tends to gravitate towards metal working, and dried slime art. While I don’t limit myself to just specific materials, my work stays grounded by the stories they tell. My work has thus far been featured in multiple galleries such as: "Core Contemporary", "The Left of Center Gallery", "The Donna Beam Gallery", "The Winchester Cultural Center Gallery", and "The Rotunda Gallery", as well as being mentioned in "Las Vegas Weekly" and "The Beyond Thought Journal".

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AILENE PASCO

A WOMAN'S LOAD

Upcycled Materials

Artist Statement

"A Woman’s Load is a continuation of A Woman’s Worth Series which began in 2023. This new addition is the largest piece in the series to date. Relating to the theme of Gravity, A Woman’s Load represents the heavy responsibilities and expectations put upon women by society. Boulders made of chicken wire and paper sit upon a platform being held up by a female figure. Each boulder represents different labels women are given and each label is attached to specific responsibilities women must uphold. Underneath the female figure and platform is another platform, as if the female figure is trying to keep the upper platform from crushing the bottom one. On this lower level, a makeshift tent can be found surrounded by personal items scattered throughout. The tent represents the young girl inside every woman, her safe space. The personal items represent things the inner child enjoys without the judgement and pressure of society. A Woman’s Load as a whole reflects a woman protecting her younger self from being crushed by the pressures of life.Majority of the materials are upcycled from the artist’s inventory and donations from the community through the Plastic Earth Project. The entire installation will be fabricated by hand. The scale of the installation reflects the importance of the message. Being lightweight and designed to be static, the installation will sit on the ground with access to all angles to fully digest.

Creating sculptures out of found objects roots from the artist’s fear of abandonment. Growing up, Ailene moved around a lot. She traveled so much that she never had a permanent place to call home. Personal items were constantly left behind or lost and forgotten. Ailene’s life was constantly reduced to whatever fit in a backpack. Being exposed to trauma since she was at a young age turned her into an adult with selective memory loss. Material possessions had a different meaning to her. Ordinary items became beacons for her memories and her past. As she got older, she started collecting more and more trinkets and knick-knacks and odd items that gave her the slightest nostalgia. She merged this obsession with the urge to create things for herself, things she can call her own. This process became a coping mechanism; a way for her to remember the past and what she has gone through. Each assemblage piece that she creates and have created is connected to a memory of an event, a person, or a place."

Artist bio

Ailene Pasco was born in Imus Cavite, Philippines in the early 80s and raised in the Bay Area of California since 1992. She was adopted by her paternal grandparents for the purpose of giving her a better future in North America. Her grandmother is a dressmaker who taught her how to work with her hands, introduced her to fiber art, showed her how to run a business, and instilled in her great work ethics. Her grandfather taught her to appreciate music and art, a passion for photography, how to use curiosity to solve problems, and respect nature at a young age. After living as an American since she was 8 years old, she was culture-shocked when she was sent back to the Philippines to finish high school. From her experiences as a “balikbayan,” her curiosity for the Philippine culture grew. This led her to her continuous research of the Philippine history. Her findings are reflected often in her art. She is a mother of three kids whom she has homeschooled since 2014. Her kids inspired her to open her business named after them, Ozzy Olly and Ox, offering design services and creation of custom textile-based works ranging from fine art to merchandise. Ailene started her art journey at the College of Southern Nevada earning two AAs and received her BA in sculpture with a minor in art history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas August of 2019. Her work has been shown throughout Clark County, both in formal galleries and as public art installations. Ailene is a passionate advocate for public art and uses her pieces to raise awareness of pressing issues such as conservation of nature, animal and human rights. Ailene is a Public Art Project Coordinator for the Public Arts Office of Clark County Parks & Recreation specializing in community outreach projects such as the ZAP Utility Box program and the Empowerment Art project. Ailene is also a Public Art Educator/Host for the Clark County Public Art Workshop Series called Full Scope. Ailene volunteers hours weekly as a Sculpture Shop Monitor for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Fine Art Department since 2018. Ailene is skilled in fiber art/textile art such as crochet, weaving, and hand sewing/embroidery. She also creates sculptures using upcycled materials and is known for her interactive art. Ailene is also versed in the process of black & white film photography. She uses art as therapy for her anxiety and stress. Her artistic goal is to create pieces that impact lives and open minds. Her professional goal is to help other artists find their place in the art world.

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AIMEE COELLO

SPAWN POINT

Cardboard, spraypaint, wood, balloon, acrylic paint

Artist Statement

This piece represents the beginnings of my manifested art form.

I am an artist and designer based in Nevada, working in mixed media and illustration to build worlds that reflect my identity and background. My work combines low-fi, psychedelic visuals and bold colors to create a sense of confusion, nostalgia, and uneasiness. Influenced by surrealism and cosmic horror, I explore reincarnation, memory, and the idea of past selves.What if I’d made different choices? What if I wasn’t human? These questions shape my work, using a red haired girl as an alter ego to examine the tension between fear and curiosity. My results are unsettling, dreamlike pieces that blur reality.

Artist bio

Aimee Coello has been a practicing multidisciplinary artist since 2018, experimenting with both digital and traditional art forms. Her journey began at Las Vegas Academy, where she majored in orchestra and studio art. After transferring to UNLV for her college education, she pursued admission into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program. During her tenure, her work has been included in the BFA Midway Art Exhibition, Bright Futures at the Composers Showroom and the BFA Final Art Exhibition. When not painting, she primarily works in graphic design and floriography.

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AIYANA GRAHAM

BODY MODIFICATION

Pill bottles, broken whiteware and stoneware, caulk

Artist Statement

"This work explores the relationship to progressive disability over a short period of time through invoking the visual of a bed and recycled materials. Using pill bottles whose use spans from 2022 to the present, and broken ceramics from projects spanning from late high school to early college (2018-2021), I construct a relationship of crip time through the speed at which disability progressively affects one's life compared to the slowness of being disabled.

Influenced by the necessity for love and change, my work delves into subjects of race, gender, disability, and sexuality for the purpose of sharing, demystifying, and educating. Through a combination of personal and historical perspectives, I use textured paint, carved wood, recycled fibers, and embodied, sculptural surfaces to draw in my audiences formally with shape, color, and layering to give them access to complex issues that are often emotionally difficult to engage with. Regardless of medium, my work uses the overarching concept of ‘the body’ in order to engage with these issues, encouraging viewers to consider what is bodily about an inanimate object or strange surface, and consider the necessity of kinship with things and people that are un/like us."

Artist bio

Aiyana Graham is a painter, sculptor, fiber artist, and educator; Graham’s art revolves around bodies as a site of queer, trans, racial, and disability issues and focuses on highlighting the complex lives of marginalized people through embodied surfaces. They graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Shows Graham has participated in include: The Personal is Political, Clothesline, Taking Space/Tomado Espacio, Artwork 4 Equity, The Holland Project’s Billboard Series, Hand Wash Only, Of the Sol, Clothesline ‘24: Hearts and Minds, as well as two solo shows, including bodymind: exploring a trans disabled present and Finding the Future: For Palestinian Liberation. They currently work in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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ALEX PANZER

TBD

TBD

Artist Statement

Informed by traditional and experimental [graphic] design methods, Alex’s [digital] work primarily focuses on psychological concepts, emphasizing the inner child on a personal individualized level and in broader social contexts. Visually, he achieves this with the help of cartoon imagery and other childhood references. Attempting to provoke the viewer’s mind, Alex walks the fine line between being subliminal and rather obvious. Recently, Alex has taken a slight step back from the screen to explore art and [graphic] design in the physical world. Using the following question to guide him on this journey, “How does one take something digital and make it physical beyond the traditional practice of printing it and framing it?”

Artist bio

Alex Panzer lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was also born and raised. He graduated twice from UNLV, first with a degree in Graphic Design and a minor in Art History, then with a degree in Psychology. Alex would go on to work at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, where he would focus on graphic design and other museum tasks gaining skills in exhibition design, art handling and much more. During this time, Alex would release his first few zines, participate, and show work for the first time in the group show, Bridging the Gap, an architecture and design exhibition hosted by UNLV’s architecture department, spotlighting six fine artists among various architects and architecture students hosted by UNLV’s architecture department. Soon after, Alex would pivot and begin working towards a career in art education. Since then, he has become an elementary school teacher, teaching the first grade and has shown work in two more group art shows, OOPS! 2 and SKETCH PARTY.

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ALEXA TAPIA

FOREVER FALLING

polymer clay, wire, chain, metal, oil paint, iron, dirt, planter

Artist Statement

In Clarice Lispector’s story The Escape she mentions her invented character, a man with “a funny disease”- the force of gravity did not work on him. This piece is about becoming your own gravity.

I use paint, pastel, and paper to record the experience of my surrounding landscape. Focusing synchronously on the light, shadows, and human arrangements of my home in the desert and beyond gives a quality of atmosphere that naturally emerges in my art. From this undivided perceptual approach, I have been attuned to the practice of constant looking. I work in response to the sensory awareness of a moment, finding compositional structures at red lights and neighborhood walks. This temporal devotion nurtures both my sense of the present as well as my place in the world. Affirming my environment through paint offers an anchor in the face of familial, social, and occupational isolation and relentless change. Celebrating the materiality of paint through an observational process also helps to remind me of my physical presence in a highly online age. I hope to draw my sense of place and community closer through my search for visual poetry within it.

Artist bio

My name is Alexa Tapia, I am an artist and work online in the adult industry. I received a BA in art from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada in 2021. Currently, I live and create in North Las Vegas where I have a little house that also serves as my studio space. I have shown with the great local artist collective, Scrambled Eggs, as well as Available Space Art Projects in downtown Las Vegas. My job has afforded me the flexibility and time to paint and think more freely. I continue to fall in love with more artists every day which is one of those rare and precious things that, along with art making, continuously gives me something to look forward to.

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PRESSYESS

ANNA NEWMAN + MEG POHLOD

BENEATH THE FAMILIAR

Cardboard, velcro, tape, found object, sand.

Artist Statement

Beneath the Familiar, an outdoor installation by PressYess (Meg Pohlod and Anna Newman), uses repurposed cardboard house sculptures to explore gravity as both a physical force and a metaphor for memory, history, and emotional weight. Blending fragility with strength the project invites viewers to consider the impermanence of material and personal histories as they interact with the shifting elements of the desert landscape.

PressYess, the artistic duo of Meg Pohlod and Anna Newman, is committed to creating community-focused, accessible art using repurposed materials. Their practice prominently features discarded objects such as shipping cartons, found photographs, and textiles, each embodying a rich history through wear and tear. This attention to the life cycle of materials informs their creative process, resulting in art that connects viewers to both the present and the past. The duo’s practice is influenced by Pohlod’s experience with site-specific community projects and Newman’s ongoing film and photo documentation of local communities.

Artist bio

Meg Pohlod is a Reno- and Bay Area–based print artist and Managing Director of Black Rock Press at UNR, whose award-winning work explores memory, disability, trauma, and family through a personal visual lens, with exhibitions and residencies across the U.S. and abroad.Anna Newman is a project-based artist, curator, and award-winning filmmaker whose work—spanning photography, installation, and documentary—explores themes of place, history, and the stories of artists, engineers, and innovators.

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ANNA NEWMAN

BELLOWING

Reclaimed construction cardboard, tape, vintage textiles, plaster, reclaimed flatscreen TV packaging

Artist Statement

"Bellowing encourages the viewer to consider whether narrow viewpoints are related to technological expansion.

There is a moving story in every undervalued place, and I like to tell those stories through undervalued materials. The built environment expands, and I bear witness with art, incorporating found objects and obsolete technologies to explore the costs of our relentless drive to solve problems via technology.”

Artist bio

Anna Newman lives and works in Reno, Nevada and the San Francisco Bay Area. Leaving a successful career in Silicon Valley to focus on a career in art. Anna is a project-based artist whose work resonates with history even as she creates fresh objects and images with beauty and power of their own. Her documentary films have been exhibited at Sundance and many other film festivals as well as museums in the United States and Canada, including Design Exchange, Toronto, Chabot Space and Science Center, Oakland, and Stanford Libraries. Anna's holds a MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno and is a BA graduate of Mills College. In 2024 exhibited her art in a collaborative show in Seoul, South Korea, and she will co-curate This Side UP, an exhibition centered on cardboard, at the Depot Gallery in Sparks, Nevada in fall, 2025.Select Solo Shows & Screenings
2026 CONDEMNED Two, Main Gallery, Truckee Meadows CC, Reno, NV (anticipated)
2025 Land Lines, Galleries South, Reno, NV
2025 Past, Present, Future?, Exit Gallery, Reno, NV
2024 The Strongest Soft Power, Museum Day, University of Nevada, Reno
2023 Crossfades, Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, CAGroup Shows, Screenings, Curation & Publications
2025
This Side Up, Depot Gallery, Reno, NV (co-curator) August - September
Desert Biennial, (juried) Jean Dry Lakebed, NV - October
Basin to Range Exchange, Ely, Nevada
Bring Your Own Media, Depot Gallery, Sparks, NV
All In, Holland Project, Reno, NV
Toward 2050, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ
Grid-Body-Place, Lilly Museum of Art publication (editor)2024
Scene, All TimeSpace Gallery, Seoul, Korea (collaboration)
Gifts of Madness, Penticton Art Gallery/Ignite the Arts Festival, Penticton, Canada
Billboard Gallery, Holland Project, Reno, NV
Waste to Wonder, RNO Airport Gallery, Reno, NV
Chromascapes, Donna Beam Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
Artful Narratives, Incline Village, NV
Entangled, Galleries South, University of Nevada, Reno
Cosmic Puzzle, Holland Project, Reno, NV
For Good Luck, Holland Project, Reno, NV
Mixed, Matched, Made Whole, Depot Gallery, NV
Family Portraits & Totems, Main Gallery, TMCC, Reno, NV
University of Nevada, Reno, Student Art Show (Clare Benson juror & curator)
Galleries At Work, Microsoft Americas Operations Center, Reno, NV
NV Awe, Reno Tahoe International Art Show, Reno, NV
JoyIn, Lilley Museum of Art Front Door Gallery, Reno, NV (curator)
Hand Wash Only, Holland Project Curator Series, Reno, NV (co-curator)
Clothesline ‘24, McNamara Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno (co-curator)
Patchwork, Holland Project Curator Series, Reno, NV (co-curator)
The Strongest Soft Power, Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, University of NV, Reno
Brushfire (Ed. 76, vol. 1)
Porter Gulch Review (Issue 40)2023
Art Now, Studio 540, Cedarville, CA, (Larry Rinder, curator)
Arts in Progress, Pacific Grove Arts Center, CA
Desert Biennial Project (Stone Soup), June Lake, NV
y/our neighborhood, Sierra Arts Foundation, Depot Gallery, Reno, NV
Transitional Atmospheres, Nevada Museum of Art School, Reno, NV
Continuum, Gallery South, University of Nevada, Reno
CONDEMNED, Gallery South, University of Nevada, Reno
Clothesline, McNamara Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno (co-curator)
Porter Gulch Review (Issue 39)
Brushfire (Ed. 75, vol. 2)

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APRIL URSULA FOX

FLOWERS IN THE SKY

Frame, string, artificial flowers

Artist Statement

"DBP is a singularity of the Las Vegas art scene, nothing comes close to its uniqueness and spirit of community.

I am a multi-medium artist, navigating art through visual arts, writing, music, and performance. My work touches on existential aspects of our life experience, bringing into discussion the value that we create and give to everything, including ourselves. Approaches to existential questioning can happen through shifting reality into surreal visions, or asking the audience about their own life experience, or sharing something that took me into that level of questioning. What matters to my work is that anyone who interacts with it can explore their own views and understandings without needing to receive an explicit direction from me. While I can navigate my own understanding of my work when asked, I enjoy not exposing that understanding as a de-facto way of interpreting the work. At the core of this process is the existentialist view that “existence precedes essence” (Sartre), and that we must acknowledge that whatever we do with our existence is of our creation. Creativity, therefore, is seen as an essential function of being human and being alive. All of us, without exception, are creatives, for better or for worse, in art or otherwise…"

Artist bio

"Visual Arts: My visual arts outlet has been mostly through the Las Vegas Collage Collective, which I am a member of, exhibiting in shows in 2024, and now in our residence at SPCKRFT this year. I have also exhibited in the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center through the “Zine as Art” exhibition promoted by the LV arts council. My pieces in these shows were collage pieces, and a huge oversized zine around the Tarot card The Fool. I am very involved with Tarot, and I am currently working on a big project of an entire Tarot deck made of collage. I am exhibiting some of the cards in the SPCKRFT residence."

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APRIL BERMUDEZ

ORBITAL DANCE

Brown paper, gesso paint, rocks of various size

Artist Statement

"A dancer as the axis, with a spin that creates the rings of a planetary orbit; the embodiment of life and existence, painted with twist and turns, resulting in a continuous path.

Every one of us has had experiences that shape who we are. For me, I choose to use my experiences as a means to understand existence and the chaotic magic of life. My experiences have informed my life and soul; and now, my art. "

Artist bio

April Bermudez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is informed by personal experiences and the deciphering of life. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she tells stories of her past, while seeking to define the complexities, absurdities, and marvels of existence. Whether presenting her direct experiences, or serving as a mirror to the experiences of her audience, Bermudez challenges the conceptualization of art to stretch beyond the conventional boundaries of medium or style. She has participated in numerous group shows in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with work most recently at Las Vegas City Hall and Winchester Cultural Center.

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BRIAN MARTINEZ

PAZ

Mixed media

Artist Statement

This meditating luchador symbolizes the search for inner peace amidst the desert's extremes. It reflects the balance between the desert's calm and its wild, often deadly nature.

My artistic endeavors explore identity and culture, particularly within the Mexican-American canon. My work involves examining iconic images, phrases, and experiences of Mexican-American culture and translating them into paintings. Each brushstroke becomes an act of homage and inquiry as I unravel the layers of significance behind these cultural touchstones. I weave together these elements with the aim of crafting works that resonate with both tradition and innovation.

Artist bio

Brian Martinez was born in Anaheim, California. His family moved from Anaheim to Las Vegas when he was 6 years old. In middle school, Brian was introduced to the growing street art scene in America, which inspired his venture into visual art. Brian attended Las Vegas High School, and during his time there landed an internship at the Joseph Watson Collection. He worked there for 8 years as a gallery assistant. Brian first graduated from the College of Southern Nevada and recently received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Following graduation, Brian began working at a local screenprinting shop and is also an adjunct professor at UNLV.

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CALANDRA CASTANEDA

BABY'S FIRST TRAUMA

Cotton children’s underwear, cyanotype, twin bed frame and bed, sheets, thread, cardboard, lamps, trash can.

Artist Statement

"When I was presented with the theme of gravity, my interpretation was that gravity as a power was pulling me down; the things that make gravity feel harder to move with is my trauma. In this piece, I explore the ways that my experiences with sexual assault as a child have left me feeling stained and heavier as I’ve aged, and with the help of this piece I will come out of this project feeling lighter than I’ve ever been.

As an artist who loves to work with imagery—found, created, etc.—I find it very cathartic to create pieces that are personal and unique to my circumstances. Recently I’ve been very interested in working with sculptural forms as it helps me to form clearer ideas of what I’m attempting to convey. I love dark humor, horror, and whimsical stories, so I try to add these elements to my work. I love to tell a story with my work, and whatever that may be I try to make it as special to the situation as possible.
Pieces such as “To Make a Long Story Short: This Is My Real Father” 2024, I address the seemingly simple relationship between a father and child—similarly in the piece “His Warmth” 2024, I challenge the norms of what the social norms are in intimate relationships with a lover look like. "

Artist bio

I was born in California and grew up in Las Vegas. As a multiracial person, I’ve had a different way of connecting with others, and leading me to view the world in a unique way. Through sculpture, photography, and alternative processes, I like to highlight things that may go unnoticed or skimmed over in everyday conversation. Opening dialogue for uncomfortable topics is important to me because I feel as though nothing can change if the subjects aren’t brought up in the most mundane of settings. I have had the honor of being in exhibitions in the past such as: The Power of Her Perspective in 2024 and the Persona in Flux gallery in 2025.

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CAMILE LOVAZ

GOING, GOING, GONE

Oil paint on canvas, acrylic paint on acrylic board, wooden frame

Artist Statement

“Separated by dimensions of glass and canvas, overwhelming despair pulls flesh and bones to the ground as something greater watches from behind; but who will save us from this, you or I? A piece that explores an inner monologue of hope, open to interpretation of who will reply.

My deep admiration for La Virgen de Guadalupe has led me to explore the relationship and separation between the divine and humanity. Growing up in a Mexican household where this imagery was common, I currently illustrate the dynamic relationship between young Latinas and religious icons. My muses represent a woman of Mexican descent who has been split into two, with one muse who visually represents ethereal imagery wishing to become one again with her counterpart. While the other muse, who visually illustrates human life and flesh, constantly rejects and refuses to reunite. Neither muse is wrong or right, good or evil; it’s their interactions with one another that show their perspectives and beliefs about one another. Through the depicted power imbalance in my muses, I reference the inner conflict of finding balance between the pure and the irregular; the expectations and the reality, our actions and their consequences. I use oil, acrylic paint, and digital programs to make my work, along with uncommon surfaces for my paintings, such as found objects. I thus challenge the idea of what can be considered a sacred object."

Artist bio

Camile Lovaz is a Mexican American artist who was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She began creating artwork that explored her identity as a Latina, illustrating the deep roots in traditions and the impact of opposing forces, whether outside or within the community. As she worked her way to exploring religious iconography and sacredness in her culture, Lovaz began to question the separation of divinity and humanity. Through her fictional muses’ ambiguous interactions, she dives into the internal conflict between accepting one’s religion and critiquing its interpretation. Lovaz received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2025. She has exhibited her artwork multiple times at the university throughout her BFA experience, with her most recent being the UNLV BFA 2025 Thesis Exhibition. She has also exhibited her cultural artwork in local organizations and spaces, such as Chicanos Por La Causa and The Composer’s Room. Lovaz is currently volunteering at UNLV at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, where she shares her passion with other artists, earning the chance to support her community through educational and interactive events, thus expanding the art scene across the city.

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CESAR PIEDRA

WHEREVER YOU GO

Found kitchen table and chairs, candles/candle wax, candle holders

Artist Statement

My art inhabits the liminal space between waking and sleeping, on an endless journey through my psychological underworld. I take inspiration from dreams and real life strangeness, the human condition, religious trauma, and the ephemeral beauty and nightmare of life and am heavily influenced by surrealism, mythology, and personal experiences with mental illness. Through my art, I explore how memory and fear can permeate throughout the layers of one’s life and inform the ways one acts, thinks, sees the world, and sees themselves. My artistic practice focuses mainly on oil painting but also includes acrylic painting, gelli-plate printing, and experimental sculptural work using fabric. My work has an emphasis on dark atmospheres and surreal, dreamlike moods as a way to express lived emotions representationally, and abstractly. Many of my pieces operate as self-portraits, whether literally or symbolically, where I investigate the effect of my experiences on my mental health, self image, and artmaking. My self portraits rely on the processing of materials, religious iconography, and personal symbolism.

Artist bio

Although I was born in Texas I have spent the majority of my life in rural Nevada, and in the past few years I have been living in Reno. I graduated from the University of Nevada Reno in 2022 and received a Bachelor’s of Art with an emphasis in painting. While at UNR I showed work at a few group shows including “Masks à la Fini” in 2021, the advanced drawing group show “Nothing is Hidden” in 2022, and the “Student Art Show” in 2022 in which I won 3rd place. In April of 2024 I had my first solo show “Fire From Heaven” through Holland Project. I was also in Holland Project's fundraiser show "All In" earlier this year in April.

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CESAR PIEDRA

JUGANDO

wool, wood, paint, obsidian

Artist Statement

"The work is inspired by my childhood playtime; on the floor with my toys, creating stories, and recontextualizing themes from the media I was consuming.

My art practice is facilitated by introspection. I pose questions about cultural, societal, and personal expectations that stem from my background. This method of working allows me to challenge those norms and in turn subvert the expectations, to then arrive at works of art that are informed by history, personal stories, and contemplation. I believe that this style of work hooks the curiosity of the viewer and invites them to dwell on the materiality, iconography, and concepts to arrive at their own questions and start a conversation."

Artist bio

Cesar Piedra is an interdisciplinary artist, born in southern California and raised in Northern Nevada. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in ceramics and a minor in art history at the University of Nevada Reno. His Art practice is informed by the rich history of the Mesoamerican and Mexican-American cultures. Piedra’s mash-up of Mesoamerican and contemporary subject matter and iconography allows him to make connections to the ancestral culture of Mexico to share, critique, and explore conversations about the evolution of culture.Exhibitions2025
All In. Holland Project. Reno, Nevada
Valentine’s Auction. University of Nevada. Student Galleries South.
Reno, NV2024
Clay-Mart a Scrambled Eggs Pop-Up. Market in the Arts District. Las Vegas, Nevada
Hand Wash Only. Holland Project. Reno, Nevada
Best of Show. Truckee Meadows Community College Reno, Nevada2023
Hija/e/o/x(s) de Su-. The Holland Project Reno, Nevada
All In. Holland Project. Reno, Nevada
Valentine’s Auction. University of Nevada. Student Galleries South.
Reno, NV

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CHARLENE ELMA

ALAS

Paper, glue, cyanotype

Artist Statement

"Alas is an oversized pop-up book spread of a flower that anchors her roots into the ground while simultaneously wishing she had wings to fly away. The sinking of the roots play a vital part in the flower's beauty and growth, but nonetheless, the flower longs for things to be different.

As a sentimentalist, my practice archives found objects, phrases uttered by people I love and natural systems. I use cyanotypes, an alternative photographic process that creates rich blue images, to soften and immortalize the objects I choose to record."

Artist bio

Charlene Elma is an artist and graphic designer whose work is rooted in curiosity and experimentation. She uses the cyanotype printing process to document the ways in which mechanical objects mirror systems in nature; no matter how large the factory, precise the tool or big the feeling.Her work has most recently been featured in the following exhibitions:Reflections, Clark County Public Arts, 2023
Never a Cat’s Paw, Scrambled Eggs, 2023
Provoke the City, Guerilla Art Show, 2024
Sketch Party, Scrambled Eggs, 2024

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D. K. SOLE

STICK SHADOWS

Tinfoil, paper, glue

Artist Statement

I have made these sticks to cast wonderful shadows. On a bare lake bed, gravity and shadows both decide to go straight down.

I use sculpture, drawing, and photography to estrange myself from everyday objects like bottle caps, supermarket circulars, and scraps of discarded plastic. I admire artists who are inspired by cheap materials (like Richard Tuttle), awkward shapes (like Alice Mackler) and boring repetition (Bernd and Hilla Becher). Every time I see a fallen stick casting a shadow, I think, “I can't do better than that."

Artist bio

D.K. (Deanne) Sole is a Las Vegas-based Australian artist. She works at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, where she practices curation and edits the museum’s art writing publication, “Dry Heat.” Her art reviews have been published on the Couch in the Desert website. Her artworks have been exhibited in Florida and Colorado, but mostly in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2024 she had a solo exhibition titled “Meat + Drink” at Lulu, Las Vegas, and took part in five group exhibitions around the city.

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DANIEL OGLETREE

LOST IN A FALSE COUNTRY

4"x4" fence posts, acrylic latex paint

Artist Statement

"Lost in a False Country" is a short, self-guided walk that invites participants to fully inhabit their body while considering their spiritual posture.

The central themes of my work are interaction and interface. I find joy in exploring the ingenuity of tools that help us navigate the world (a dark void we know little about) but often end up spending more time frustrated by those “tools” that obfuscate and mislead. I have created bodies of work about manipulation in theater and advertising psychology, both emphasizing the degree to wish I often want to be misled and distracted from the task of confronting the unknown.

Artist bio

Daniel Ogletree is a Part-Time Instructor at UNLV and CSN and a works with Clark County Wetlands Park to plan art exhibits and events. He earned an MFA in printmaking from the University of Tennessee in 2014, and in the intervening years he has exhibited work around the world, including China, Poland, New York, and Hawaii. In his free time, he pursues outdoor adventures with his wife, Kay Leigh, his son, Paul, and their dog, Laika.

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DANIEL PINEDA LUNA

102025 (YOU CAN'T STAY HERE)

Linocut, ink on paper, paraffin wax, wooden dowels, string, on MDF base

Artist Statement

My work represents a new symbol to warn future humans about the dangers of invisible radiation from spent nuclear fuel and nuclear energy production. I use linocuts inspired by topographic maps and the Nevadan desert landscape to design each face of the spikes, which then are soaked in paraffin wax to create these ghosts of the future.

My work is inspired by a sense of isolation wherever I go. Themes of loneliness, memory, and American urban decay motivate my work. My printmaking is guided by solitude, depicting foreclosed and displaced homes within my community or proposed long term nuclear storage landscapes for the future. There is repetition observed in these places and printmaking allows me to continue that pattern, both representing real locations and imaginary ones. My vision as an artist is to share these experiences and document places people might not have an appreciation for. In an ever-changing environment, the houses and natural landscapes we view today might not exist in a couple of years. Even for imagined landscapes, my prints are a record and recognition for what might come, if humanity is to survive for the next millennia. I acknowledge the changes in American landscapes both urban and natural, and appreciate what short amount of time I have of community and nature in the face of immense isolation and decay.

Artist bio

Daniel Pineda Luna is a first-generation printmaker and MFA graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno. He finds inspiration within the Nevadan desert landscape, focusing on the interplay of isolation and human intervention with nature. Focusing mostly on relief printmaking, he creates his interpretation of human engagement with the environment in a consumerist society. In addition to printmaking, Daniel also enjoys book art and loves to incorporate language into his work. Daniel has been involved in serval group shows at UNR, most prominently Entangled, Chromascapes, and Continuum MFA group shows and his solo mid-way exhibition Total Isolation. Other group show participation includes exhibitions with the Holland Project such as For Good Luck and All In.

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DANIELA CASTANEDA

MOM'S FIRST CAR (1987 FORD MUSTANG GT)

Cardboard, tissue paper, tinsel, LEDS, batteries, plastic, adhesive, wood, acrylic paint, metal.

Artist Statement

"My upbringing influenced the concept of making a car come to life by working with materials that have been used to make traditional and contemporary piñatas. Remembering my childhood rides in this car reminded me of the colorful moments of innocence and rite of passage.

My background as a Mexican-American and knowledge in classic cars gave me the foundations to mimic airbrush designs, candy color paint, traditional pinata making, and technical aspects used in my work. This allows me to be expressive without being unapologetic of my background. The outcome of my work is bold and creates dialogue based on the themes of femininity and resilience within Chicano/a/x culture. Also, my upbringing in the Roman Catholic Church informs my work, pushing me to research intersections of ideologies, family dynamics, the role of women in Latino households, and Death."

Artist bio

Daniela Castaneda is from San Jose and Stockton, California. Now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a Chicana and a first-generation Mexican-American college graduate from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2024.Her recent Solo Photography and Sculpture show, Noche de Muertos, UNLV, 2025. She has exhibited in group shows, From Somewhere, curated by Lidia Silic, OOPS! 2 curated by Bailey Anderson, I NEED SPACE TO ROAM by Haide Calle and LOC Gallery, Reassembly Required Juried by Jeannie Hua, 2024, and 22nd Annual Day of the Dead Festival, Life in Death Art Exhibition, 2023.

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DAVID TOVAR

POCKET FULL OF POSIES

BlackMagic Cinema Camera & DJI RS3PRO

Artist Statement

"pocket full of posies" follows an artist bringing their latest creation to a fictionalized version of The Desert Biennial Project, allowing the exhibit & its guests to be a character in the film. The ambitious nature of this metatextual, long-take film should not overshadow the artistic potential of creating organic performance art that asks the attending audience of The Desert Biennial Project to take a moment to feel gravity’s effects and recognize how one day, we will all fall down.

My first time performing, I was 8 years old. My first time making a film, I was 14 years old. I now teach both of these skills to the next generation of creatives at the same institutions that made me into the artist I am - The Rainbow Company Youth Theatre & Las Vegas Academy. I hope to be an instructor, a mentor, but especially an example of someone who continues to be passionate about my own artistic practice.

Artist bio

In 2023, David created an original course titled “Script to Screen”, which earned Abby Rey Studios a $15,000 grant through the Nevada Future of Learning Network. David also had films screened at the 48 Hour Film Festival & 49 Hour Film Festival, and was awarded Best SFX Makeup, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best FX.David’s short films DRY EYES & UNDERWORLD were screened at Fergusons Downtown for Eccentric Artist’s Film Showcase in 2023 & 2024.The workprint DRY EYES’ extended cut was featured in “OOPS!”, curated by Bailey Anderson for UNLV in April 2023.In 2024, David operated camera and acted for a locally produced feature film now screening on airlines across the world, City of Second Chances, as well as directed The Rainbow Company's first-ever production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.In 2025, David was selected to join Sneak on the Lot’s Summer Workshop in Burbank, CA, to receive on-set film training and be a part of his very first Hollywood production.

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ELLIE RATLIFF

DOUBLE PLANET OR BINARY SYSTEM?

Gouache, watercolor, colored pencil, chalk pastel, and found objects on paper

Artist Statement

"A double planet (a.k.a. a binary system) is an astronomical phenomenon where two independent planets orbit a common center of gravity, effectively orbiting each other. I use this contradictory framework to reflect on the push and pull of being a woman in a traditional, heteronormative relationship while still trying to be a non-traditional individual.

I’m fascinated by the relationship between the individual and universal; the sensations you thought were entirely your own until you found out everyone else has already experienced them. It’s a humbling yet comforting experience to realize you’re not entirely unique, and it’s a dichotomy that offers endless opportunities for play and exploration. I lean into these themes by using reference photos I’ve taken myself to construct a composition, often one that’s visually collaged. Materially, I use whatever I can get my hands on, often incorporating materials like gouache, colored pencil, and chalk pastel into my mixed-media process."

Artist bio

Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV before relocating to the East Bay in 2025, Ellie Ratliff is a working artist and muralist. In 2025, she received a BFA in drawing, painting, and printmaking, as well as a BA in writing and rhetoric from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. During her time in UNLV’s 2024 BFA cohort, she exhibited in the Student Union Gallery, Grant Hall Gallery, and Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery. Additional exhibitions include “Showgirls! The Legacy of Glitz and Glam” at Sahara West Libraries Galleries, “Stone Soup” with the Desert Biennial Project, “Black Life Ordinary” at Rotunda Gallery, “You’re Fired!” and “Strobe” with the Las Vegas Collage Collective, “From Somewhere” at Grant Hall Gallery, and “I Need Space to Roam” at Left of Center Gallery.

• Website
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ERIN TARRANT

ARE WE REALLY TRYING OUR BEST?

Clay, oil paint, paper, wood, wire, acrylic paint, homemade acrylic nails

Artist Statement

My piece is based off a combination of the theme of rat kings and herd mentality. The wanting to fix a problem and the gravity of the situation does not always align with solutions.

I touch on harsher topics about the body and real life situations that can impact children and adults both physically and mentally. I use mostly the female/nonbinary body and experience as an inspiration for the subjects. I like using animal symbolism and a lot of color to give reality and connection to what you are seeing. The symbolism with animals gives a childlike innocence almost like an old style cartoon with a harsh twist. I make both large scale and small scale pieces with mixed media elements. Texture is an important part of my work, It helps represent the gory effect of situations."

Artist bio

I am an adopted nonbinary artist that was born and raised in Las Vegas. A main part of my subject is inspired by my own experiences and others that are shared through similar or different situations. I want to get people to start thinking about my artwork. My body of work revolves around the body or social problems and symbolism in animals. I use all types of media but I am mostly drawn to paint, oil pastels and clay.Recent Exhibitions:
- University of Las Vegas Nevada, March 2024, Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition- Best in Show
- Ethereal Aura Group Show, University of Las Vegas, Nevada, May - August 2024
- Oops 2!, Core contemporary, August 2024- September 2024
- 90th Anniversary Fashion Magic Sculpture, Convention Center, Las Vegas, August 18, 2024
- VESSEL, Grant Hall Gallery + video interview, October 7th - 18th, 2024
- I need Space to Roam, Left of Center Art Gallery, September 2024- December 2024
- Sketch Party, Scrambled Eggs at Fremont Photo Co, November 2024 to December 2024
- Dickstruction, University of Las Vegas Nevada, June 2025

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ÉTIENNE NUÑEZ

ESCAPIST

Metal, fabric paint, latex balloons, various fabrics, found and donated materials

Artist Statement

Escapist explores gravity as both a physical force and a metaphor for societal burdens—depicted through a plastic bag rising past a fence etched with symbols of oppression (capitalism, racism, climate change). The piece invites viewers to reflect on their own struggles and the possibility of liberation.

My work emerges from a dialogue between personal narrative and broader cultural influences. In my 2D practice, I reimagine my photography and family photos, blending them with found materials or transforming them into drawings and paintings. My sculptures begin similarly, reshaping cherished or discarded objects. I step back often, reflecting on their journeys and the impact these materials carry. This cyclical process—observation, reflection, empathy—helps me uncover deeper meanings within each piece."

Artist bio

Étienne Nuñez (she/they) is a first-generation Filipino American artist and biology student in Las Vegas, aspiring to become an ichthyologist protecting Mojave Desert aquatic life. Though science drives their career, art remains a vital means of communication and processing the world. Initially a private practice, Nuñez now shares their work locally—debuting in Sketch Party by scrambled eggs. They work fluidly across drawing, photography, sculpture, and painting, often beginning with sketches or digital collages before moving to physical materials, embracing diverse tools and inspirations.

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_GMIKZ

FRAGMENTOS DE UN RECUERDO...

Mixed Media

Artist Statement

“Recuerdos de un Fragmento...” presents literal doorways into distant memories drawn from a deep, personal place. While these pieces hold specific meaning for me, I hope their visual language invites viewers to connect and find their own resonance within each piece.

Gómez-Zelaya (pronounced cel-AH-ya) — boasting my elongated Latinx surname is always a pleasure. _gmikz emerged as a juxtaposition of what my name is, a compressed echo of its fullness.Born in Queens, NY, I’ve had the privilege of growing up surrounded by art, which shaped my deep affinity for experiencing, understanding, and becoming infatuated with it.My work embodies controlled chaos—utterly deranged yet meticulously managed. It’s honest, outspoken, and unapologetically loud. While photography is my foundation, my practice has evolved beyond the “simple image” into large-scale assemblages that merge diverse creative mediums.Color is a cultural inheritance—something deeply woven into my upbringing and identity. Those vibrant hues, instinctive and familiar, interact with muted tonalities in my work, creating contrasts that invite the viewer to pause, feel, and explore.Each piece reflects my inner chaos, visually unleashed to stir emotion, provoke thought, and offer space for personal interpretation."

Artist bio

_gmikz is a mixed media artist whose work explores memory, identity, and cultural storytelling through layered textures, vibrant color, and experimental form. Found objects are essential to their practice—what is often discarded or overlooked becomes a vital element in shaping each piece. Influenced by lived experience and cultural memory, they use contemporary techniques to create immersive, emotionally resonant works that challenge dominant narratives and elevate overlooked materials. With a background in community arts and curatorial projects, _gmikz is committed to accessible, impactful work that invites reflection, honors resilience, and embraces the complexity of personal and collective histories.

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HAIDE CALLE

MASKED

Ice, helmet, goggles, bandana, glass head, aluminum, repurposed fabric

Artist Statement

"This piece showcases the emergence of protest armor which continues to feel more necessary when it comes to resisting government control in the US.

I make artwork on my reflective experiences growing up through a childlike perspective and the use of fantasy to create comfort in navigating where I belong. Being informed by my Otomi heritage and dealing with displacement and the discomfort I feel living in the US, I created these morphing bodies as they become my shields and my way of cultural maintenance. With the use of repurposed material I aim to recontextualize waste in today’s society and create a space for people to connect and create their own narratives to an evolved public memory of the empowering history that we carry."

Artist bio

Haide Calle was born in Hidalgo, Mexico and got her BFA at UNLV. Calle has exhibited in Left of Center Gallery, Holland Project Gallery, and Core Contemporary. Her work has been reviewed by Desert Magazine and KNPR. She has curated a group show in the Left of Center in 2024 that has been reviewed by The Las Vegas Weekly as well. Calle lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada and makes multidisciplinary work as well as helping grow her community.

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HEATHER LANG-CASSERA

DID YOU HAVE FEATHERS?

Clay, metal, cord, paint, cardboard

Artist Statement

"Featuring a flying dinosaur, this piece explores gravity as both a physical and metaphorical force, anchoring fossils in the earth and imagination in the sky, evoking the beauty found at the intersections of science and wonder.

Driven by curiosity, juxtaposition is the backbone of my creative practice. My work explores seeming dualities: fire and flood, repetition and redundancy, vulnerable witness and autonomous self. I am drawn to contradictions that shape both internal and external landscapes and the spaces in which opposites blur and even collide. My explorations embrace the terrifying splendor of our natural world, from larger-than-life ancient oceanic fauna to modern-day flora blooming discreetly in sidewalk crevices. In downtown Las Vegas, I work across mediums from vitrified ceramics to the vivid sprawl of literary language. My work does not seek to resolve incongruities. Rather, I invite the audience to revel in their own curiosities, to both take control yet self-surrender, to investigate what it means to thrive, curiously, within dichotomies."

Artist bio

Heather Lang-Cassera is a multidisciplinary artist. She served as the 2019-2021 Clark County, Nevada Poet Laureate, was a 2022 Nevada Arts Council Literary Arts Fellow, and was named 2017 Best Local Writer or Poet by the readers of KNPR’s Desert Companion. She is the Poetry Editor for Black Fox Literary Magazine and teaches Creative Writing at Nevada State University. Her newest collection of poems is Firefall (Unsolicited Press, 2025). Recently, Heather’s ceramics have been included in exhibitions at the Charleston Heights Art Gallery, Clark County Wetlands, Grand Gallery in Las Vegas City Hall, Sahara West Library, Winchester Dondero Cultural Center, and Art 321 in Casper, Wyoming, among elsewhere.

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HOLLY LAY

LONESOME TOWN

Carboard, plaster and paint

Artist Statement

In Lonesome Town, a collection of life-sized silhouettes of solitary women in long dresses and wide-brimmed hats wander aimlessly, embodying isolation and the passage of time. These figures, made from layered and reinforced cardboard, or possibly other board materials that can be recycled, will stand on the lake bed (similar to draft placement image), their presence both haunting and ephemeral.

Since the rise of social media, I became increasingly interested in how this affects people and their identities. As tech continues to grow, change and monopolize, this changes the way I make my work and therefore changes the outcome and concepts rapidly. I am concerned with how I can bring these ideas into a physical realm off the screen. As a multidisciplinary artist, I explore themes of kitsch, pop & cyber culture, and the history of textiles. I am interested in creating installations that make the viewer question the concepts of reality and interaction. As technology advances this work will continue to evolve and grow as I navigate my own relationship to fine art vs. craft, social networks, consumerism and digital reproduction.

Artist bio

Holly Lay received her MFA from UNLV in 2019. Her art practice is inspired by mining digital archives, collecting references to cyber culture, femininity, craft and kitsch. When not working on her art in the studio or watching classic films, she is running a project space named Available Space Art Projects (ASAP) located in Las Vegas.

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HUE

MAKING SHADOWS TOGETHER

TBD

Artist Statement

MAKING SHADOWS TOGETHER is a performance kite-flying piece responding the the gravity of today's world. It gives Hue an excuse to draw in the sky with their friends through flying kites that portray symbolic shapes with radical meanings.

Hue is a gender-queer Chinese cultural worker and multidimensional artist based in Las Vegas, pondering ways to return home to the soul through making art in various mediums. They create artwork in community with sentimental items to regenerate the objects with new life. Their garments, performances, and community initiatives act as invitations to connect with the yearning for closeness and embodied rage in a world that is ever changing and often horrific. They attempt to counter the latter through imagining radically queer and delicious futures, slowness, and “Interbeing,” a Plum Village philosophy rooted in ethical living, mindfulness, and compassionate action.

Artist bio

Hue is a multidisciplinary artist rooted in social practice, fashion, and sculptural installations. They're currently based in Las Vegas, NV, the ancestral lands of the Nuwuvi. They earned a BFA in Fashion from Parsons the New School of Design, and have also studied at Central Saint Martins. They have worked for fashion companies Thom Browne, Adam Selman, Werkstatt NYC, and SavagexFENTY. Currently, Hue is an art handler and archivist at MGM Resorts. Previous exhibitions include: "Unseen Territories," (2025), Las Vegas, “In Relations,” Barrick Museum (2024), Las Vegas, “Son de mi Ser,” Grant Hall Gallery (2024), Las Vegas, and “Hanging By A Thread,” Left of Center Gallery (2024), Las Vegas.

• Website
• Hue
• Cloud House

IKA PEARL

UNTITLED

Mixed media

Artist Statement

Ika Pearl’s work reimagines the rocking horse as a ritual object—part relic, part altar. Suspended between two carved forms, a framed painting acts as both portal and axis, inviting viewers into a dreamlike space where memory, grief, and play converge.

My work moves through language like breath through bone—part poem, part ritual. I begin with stream-of-consciousness writing and sacred nonsense, building into paintings, drawings, soft sculptures, and talismanic objects. Each piece becomes a relic of emotional weather, shaped by grief, humor, and the sacred absurd. I treat sadness with reverence and irreverence—befriending it, dressing it up, letting it dance. Through symbols, psychic listening, and intuitive play, I explore tenderness, mystic intimacy, and personal myth. Art is how I pray, revolt, and remember. It is a way of sculpting feeling, laughing with pain, and creating sacred space for transformation.

Artist bio

Ika Pearl (b. 2000) is a Las Vegas-based multidisciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, soft sculpture, and language-based ritual. Their work explores the sacred absurd through mysticism, humor, grief, and personal myth. Moline earned their BFA from UNLV in 2024. Recent exhibitions include Flies on My Rubies, INAUDITX (UNHEARD), She Cares!, VESSEL, Queer Pop!, and EVERY MORNING AND EVERY NIGHT I’M THINKING ABOUT CHANGING MY LIFE…. Through intuitive processes and talismanic objects made from felt, thread, and found phrases, Ika Pearl invites tenderness, transformation, and psychic listening. Their practice treats art as both revolt and reverence—poetic altars to what breaks, mends, and remains.

• Website
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ISABEL WHITLOCK

LUAN, THE SKY WRANGLER

Navy blue velour, wool, thread, recycled fibers for filling, plaster tape, chicken wire, LED lights

Artist Statement

Isabel is a soft sculpture artist, primarily working in needle felting and sewing to make extravagant Stars and other celestial forms, using this media to explore what gender expression could be like in a vessel that is not inherently tied to a binary. Isabel is inspired by astrology, the art of Drag and their own experiences exploring gender expression and identity.

Artist bio

Isabel has had work displayed at the Holland Project's "Patchwork - A Community Fiber Exhibition" in 2024 with a trio of Stars with clown inspired make-up. Isabel has also been emerging into the maker's space by vending art with their best friend and business partner at different local events in Reno, NV.

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IVY GUILD

POLYPS

Felted wool, ceramic, stained glass

Artist Statement

This work emerges from the dried desert floor like a living growth, a wart, a mole. The installation is meant to push and pull against the lakebed floor as it interrupts the space both above and below ground.

Ivy Guild is an interdisciplinary artist and educator invested in researching a post-Anthropocene world to illustrate speculative environments left behind after the 6th Great Extinction. She immerses herself in queer ecologies of a post-human world, searching for environmental justice in anthropomorphic vignettes. Solastalgia propels her to keep shaping sanctuaries and evolved beings that not only survive, but thrive amidst human detritus. Her work manifests in multimedia installations that merge organic and inorganic materials. Guild’s recent work engages fiber practices centered on natural dye research, and biological mimicry of desert dwellers such as insects, cacti, and geological formations.

Artist bio

Ivy Guild, a Reno-based artist, received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine in 2021. A native to the desert, Guild was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ, and moved to San Diego in 2012 to pursue a degree in Marine Biology. Four years later, she graduated with dual degrees in Visual Arts and Art History. Guild channels her medical history, climate change pre-PTSD, and scientific research interests into her artwork. Since 2023, she has exhibited in Reno, Oakland, and Phoenix with upcoming solo exhibitions at The Depot in Sparks, NV and at Neue Welt in Nashville, TN.Recent Exhibitions:
2025 Towards 2050, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ
2024 Queer Agenda, Clay Clubhouse, Oakland, CA
2024 Hand Wash Only, Holland Galleries, Reno, NV
2024 For Good Luck, Holland Galleries, Reno, NV
2023 Clothesline, McNamara Galleries, University of Nevada, Reno

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CARALEA COLE
IULIA FILIPOV-SEREDIUC

TBD

TBD

Artist Statements

The work created for DBP's Gravity exhibition features a cast aluminum dress interacting with the desert-scape. Inspired by collaborator Caralea Cole's time living and photographing for two months in the Mongolian desert, the work references the Buddhists of Central Asia practicing Sky Burial, the dress standing in as the corpse being offered back to the land.

Iulia Filipov-Serediuc's work addresses gendered violence against women through the visual language of penetrating and perforating to evoke the feeling of bodily invasion. Using sound, light, and surveillance, she creates sociological lures and traps. By distorting the bodily qualities of bone, flesh, and form, the work questions the sanctity of self-hood and safety. Filipov-Serediuc fabricates scenarios to elicit a connection with the viewer and their own experience with bodily harm.

Artist bios

Iulia Filipov-Serediuc is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice consists of sculpture, painting, installation, and non-traditional materials and processes. Filipov-Serediuc enjoys building within her community, most proudly as a co-founder of the Arts Community Coalition Nevada 501(c)(3), Desert Biennial Project, and My Boyfriend Is Out of Town. Her work has been shown in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and New York in over 15 exhibitions since 2023. Filipov-Serediuc graduated with her BFA in studio art and is currently pursuing an MFA from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.

• Caras Website
• Cara's Instagram

• Iulia's Website
• Iulia's Instagram

JASON ABREGO

LA GRAVIDAD DE NUESTRAS HISTORIAS (THE GRAVOTY OF OUR STORIES)

Ceramic and raku glaze

Artist Statements

Immigrants are scared now more than ever and I want my piece to inspire immigrants to share their stories. These stories need to be heard before we lose them to time and current events.

With a concentration in ceramics, my practice is inspired by the empowerment of the minority. Being LGBTQ+ and a Latino, it wasn’t hard to see the mistreatment of people deemed as the minority. Yet, they stand up and fight for who they are and the life they deserve. To me, that deserves to be immortalized and shared with the world.

Artist bios

Hello to everyone taking the time to read this! My name is Jason Abrego. A gay, Latino,Las Vegas raised, rave loving, and ceramic loving person. My medium of choice is clay due to its flexibility of uses. Clay has been use for forever and the form itself is like therapy in a ball of mud. I’ve been able to display in quite a few UNLV exhibits, the Opposing Forces Exhibitions at City Hall, The Nevada Clay Guild exhibit at the Sahara West Library, and the Oops exhibit.

• Instagram

JESSICA SAMANIEGO

DREAMS DON'T WEIGH A THING

Oil on canvas

Artist Statements

I am creating this piece to explore the feeling of freedom that comes from defying limitations—emotional, physical, or societal. By painting myself and some of my closest friends who aspire to dream big, I want to express the power of resilience and transformation, where no weight or boundary can hold us down.

As a Mexican American artist, my work explores themes of identity, transformation, and emotional vulnerability through the lens of cultural heritage and family. Drawing from my experiences as the eldest daughter of an immigrant mother, I use oil paint and pastel to capture the complexities of generational memory, womanhood, and personal healing. Butterfly imagery frequently appears as a symbol of fragility and resilience. While my style leans toward realism, I often experiment with materials to deepen emotional resonance. Through color, symbolism, and intimate storytelling, I aim to create work that invites reflection, connection, and space for transformation.

Artist bios

Jessica Samaniego is a Mexican American artist based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her practice centers on themes of identity, transformation, and emotional vulnerability, often using oil painting, pastel, and public art to reflect her lived experiences as the eldest daughter of an immigrant mother. Her work has been exhibited in Empowered Women of Clark County (Best of Show), Big Softy, LOVE 2025, and You Are Here at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has also contributed to large-scale public artworks, including Welcome to Fabulous Chihuahua in Mexico and Zap 16: Fly Away with Me in Las Vegas.

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JK RUSS + FOREST V KAPO

STONE WEIGHT WISH

Canvas, found wooden objects, rocks, plastic sheeting, string, post-it notes, pens.

Artist Statements

In 2016, JK Russ and Forest V Kapo collaborated on an interactive installation ‘Stone Blind’ in the Las Vegas 18b Arts District, where passers-by were invited to write on post-it-notes their responses to the question “Where – or what – is home to you?” Within the 2025 context of mass deportations of immigrants who have been striving to create a safe home for their families, Russ and Kapo have further developed this earlier project.

JK Russ:
I enjoy developing collaborative projects where people of all ages contribute to the final result. Communal events are great opportunities for learning and building stronger communities, focusing creative energies on transformative actions.Forest V Kapo:
Embracing the wide band of mythical light and darkness that is in the space of every room, mind and heart, I work to create productions that are elegant, sturdy, weighted in theatrically but most importantly have a sense of alchemy. The aim is to touch the heart and inspire the imagination, and to contribute to a world of wellbeing.

Artist bios

Originally from Aotearoa, New Zealand, JK Russ was recently featured in Southwest Contemporary’s Radical Futures edition. In 2024, her collage work was exhibited in two-person shows at La Luz de Jesus gallery, Los Angeles, Thermostat Art Gallery, Palmerston North, Aotearoa/New Zealand and featured in “Viva Las Vegas!” at Donna Beam Gallery, UNLV.Forest V Kapo endeavors to create future-forward performances with a socio-political focus. Working across the mediums of sound, text, imagery, installation, and movement, they recently performed in the acclaimed Touch Compass show ‘AIGA’ at Kia Mau Festival, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

• JK Russ' Website
• JK Russ' Instagram

• Forest V Kapo's Website
• Forest V Kapo's Instagram

JOHN MCVAY

U.F.O. PRIEST

Record player, microphones, guitar pedals, 4 channel mixer, tinfoil, priest collar, sacramental robe

Artist Statement

"The U.F.O. Priest will lead the congregation in a live ritual to call down the Heavenly Aliens from the skies to come and party with us down here on Planet Earth. Our salvation depends on it.

Deconstructing the performance of masculinity and the influence of the media on social conditioning are themes that inform my paper artworks, noise music, video/live performances, installations, and soft sculptures."

Artist bio

John McVay (he/him, b. 1985, American) works and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. McVay teaches art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he earned an MFA degree in Fine Arts. A transplant to Las Vegas, McVay has spent most of his life in Arizona, between Phoenix and Tucson. McVay actively exhibits his work in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Recent shows include a performance art piece at Ground Zero Studios in Phoenix, AZ, Dickstruction at Grant Hall Gallery, UNLV, and the V.S.: Wresting Art show at Sahara West Library, Las Vegas.

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JORDYN RAE OWENS

BEYOND THE MATRIX

Archival pigment print and collage

Artist Statement

"This work explores my relationship to the unseen—both within my subconscious and ancestral memory. By drawing what lies in the dark into the light, I ground collective history into physical time, giving form to what once felt intangible."

Jordyn Rae Owens is an artist from Reno, Nevada, whose work explores identity, ancestry, and the unseen. Through photographic mediums, she draws on personal experiences and messages from her ancestors to create art that connects personal stories with collective memory. Jordyn is committed to creating inclusive spaces that uplift underrepresented voices

Artist bio

Jordyn Rae Owens is an artist born and raised in Reno, Nevada. Similar to her daily meditations, her art practice is a contemplative process, one that brings awareness to her thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Jordyn utilizes photographic mediums to explore the past, present, and future self, often incorporating materials found in the archive of her life. Some memorabilia presented throughout her work include journal entries, old family portraits, letters, and cherished items from her childhood. By exploring her inner world, Jordyn’s creations reveal the evolution of identity and the powerful effects of introspection.SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS
May 19 - July 11, 2025, Love Governs Form, Metro Gallery, Reno City Hall
March 16 – April 13, 2024, Protecting Ours, Archival Pigment Print, The Holland Project, Reno, Nevada
September 4 - September 28 2023 Involution, Archival Pigment Prints, Erik Lauritzen Gallery, Reno, Nevada
April 2023 - April 2023 Introspection, Archival Pigment Prints SGS Jot Travis, Reno, NevadaSELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
August 13, 2024- August 31, 2024, Of the Sol, Archival Pigment Print, Holland Project, Reno, Nevada
January 9, 2024 - February 9, 2024 For Good Luck, Archival Pigment Print, Holland Project, Reno, Nevada
January 6 - January 8, 2024, Mixed, Matched, Made Whole, Collage, The Depot Gallery, Reno, Nevada
2023 Taking Space, Archival Pigment Print, Cafe Capello, Reno
2023 Future Perfect, Archival Pigment Print, University of Nevada Reno, Reno
August 2023 - October 2023, Veracity, SGS, Archival Pigment Print, University of Nevada, Reno

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KALEB WESOLEK

TAXI TABLE

Acrylic and Ceramic on Wood

Artist Statement

The Taxi Table functionally serves as a coffee table but symbolically represent themes of gravity, hyper-commercialization, Las Vegas, and design. The sculpture resembles a classic Las Vegas taxi that looks and feels as though it is protruding from or embedded into the ground.Wesolek most closely identifies with analog practices like drawing and painting, though he is also well-versed in the anatomy of design. His work embodies a spirit of push and pull between the worlds of art and design, sometimes merging the two, or giving way to one or the other. Conversations in his work take place between nihilism and themes of wonder, rooted in the curiosities of life and optimistic living.Wesolek seeks more figurative forms and welcomes the nuances of design to inform his compositions. While structure, technique, color, and letterforms all serve as descriptors of his current practice, line and shape have naturally become the most consuming. Systematic linework commands his drawings, while methodical shapes characterize his paintings.Continuing to evolve as an artist, Wesolek explores sculpture as well, drawn to the dimensionality it offers. His introspection extends to materials, inviting viewers to reflect on their perceptions of physical being.Wesolek’s renderings emerge from neurotic waves, but shape a path toward contentment in the act of simple living.

Artist bio

"I’m Kaleb Wesolek, an artist and designer from the desert of Las Vegas. Born on January 1st as the eldest of three, my inclination to create began young. That passion continues to drive my work today, fueled by desires of evolution and cultivating a love for life.Earning a degree in Graphic Design from UNLV instilled in me an understanding that design principles extend beyond aesthetics—they inform my processes as a thinker and as a human. Art and design have served as outlets for reflections on my own cognition. My journey to understand and live with OCD has shaped my identity as a creative. While compulsions can sometimes feel debilitating, I have learned to view this as an innate gift.My work is often characterized by obsessive mark-making and a loyalty to structure. To create is therapy, and therapy offers a look into more intuitive, unstructured creation. I seek out this liberation in my practices.I have been fortunate enough to have been a part of the following exhibitions since 2023: 2025, Big Softy, Clark County Public Arts (Group); 2025, The One Motorcycle Show (Group); 2024, Sport Social (Solo Exhibition); 2023, Modern Romanticism, Curated by JK Russ (Group); 2023, Lucky Gut, Scrambled Eggs (Group); 2023, Portraits of Temporary People, Scrambled Eggs (Solo)."

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KARA SAVANT

ANTIMONY

Digital game, computer, mouse, keyboard, desk, chair

Artist Statement

“Antimony” is an interactive game installed on a computer at the biennial lake bed, where players solve puzzles to uncover a family legacy and the burden of inheritance. As they prepare the mysterious antimony cup through clicking, dragging, and typing, players must choose whether to follow ancestral rituals in search of a cure or break from tradition.

My work explores personal and collective histories, using digital media to explore how trauma, ritual, and resilience shape identity. Through interactive storytelling, motion graphics, video, and creative coding, I create experiences that mirror how wounds are processed, distorted, and mended over time.

Artist bio

Kay Leigh Farley is a new media artist that uses emerging technology to communicate personal experiences. Her work incorporates narrative, digital artifacts, and video to deconstruct narratives and landscapes. She hold a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University in Visualization and an MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in Transmedia Design. She has exhibited and screened work at venues including The Wrong Biennale, The Knoxville Museum of Art, and the AIGA Conference , and is in collections in the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo in Vitória, Brazil and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. Kay Leigh is currently teaching in the Graphic Design and Media program in the Department of Art as an Associate Professor.

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KAYLA LOCKWOOD

WESTERN LANDSCAPE (DOWNWINDERS NO. 2)

Plywood, carpet, sound

Artist Statement

"Downwinders No.2" is inspired by my long family history's exposure to Nevada's Atomic Bomb Testing Sites. This piece serves as a homage to my relatives, dedicated to those who wore dosimeters to school, unaware of the repercussions caused by the bright light on the horizon.

I have been practicing as a 3D artist for nearly a decade. During my studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, I was drawn towards creating my own environments and quote on quote tableaux’s- truly controlling the narrative within the space. Once I finished my undergrad program I continued to work with objects and materials in the same way but began to shift my focus into “landscape” works, more interested in what keeps me grounded in Nevada. I began reducing my visual aesthetic and redirecting focus to minimalistic design with heavy-handed titles that add a certain layer of seriousness through a tongue-in-cheek approach. Almost a decade later I still am creating works that speak to nostalgia, home, Nevadan culture, and all that makes this place unique.

Artist bio

Kara Savant is a fifth generation Nevadan, strongly rooted in her home state. As a child, she spent countless hours with her six siblings constructing forts out of recycled wood and hardware found out in the rural hills of Elko, Nevada. Her infatuation of creating something out of nothing later translated into her 3D art practice where she now spends her time using found objects and various building materials to construct works of art that speak to the home, gender roles, and everything in between. Kara has had work on display all over Nevada, in California, and Italy.

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KAYLA LOCKWOOD

TACTILE OASIS

Hand-crocheted objects made from jumbo chenille yarn

Artist Statement

Tactile Oasis offers a moment of softness within the harsh desert landscape, presenting hand-crocheted objects inspired by tumbleweeds and cacti that echo desert flora through color and form. This gentle intervention contrasts crafted comfort with environmental austerity, inviting reflection on the tension between human touch and the desert’s stark, arid conditions.

I explore how memory, domesticity, and loss complicate the idealized vision of home as a stable cornerstone of the “American Dream.” Through sculpture, textiles, video, and found objects, I expose the fractures beneath postwar ideals and gendered labor expectations. Domestic spaces in my work appear fragmented, vulnerable, and unresolved—sites shaped as much by care and grief as by comfort. Using materials like coffin-shaped coffee tables, metal high heels, and dissolving ceramic urns, I reveal the tension between nostalgia’s polished surface and the unstable realities of memory, dismantling myths of permanence, prosperity, and belonging embedded in American domestic life."

Artist bio

Kayla Lockwood is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines domesticity, memory, and the myth of the “American Dream” through sculpture, textiles, video, and code. Blending traditional craft with digital media, she reveals the instability beneath postwar ideals and capitalist promises. Recent exhibitions include Honey, I’m Home! (solo, 2025), Dickstruction (curation, 2025), and Stone Soup at the Desert Biennial Project (2023). Lockwood earned a BFA in Art & Technology from the University of Oregon and is currently completing her MFA in Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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KEEVA LOUGH

CASSATION IN WHITE: GRAVITY

Ponchos, stereo, lights

Artist Statement

"Cassation in White: Gravity combines the form of the cassation, a form of music typically performed outdoors and associated with children and games, with an educational lesson about living in outer space. A group of performers enact small events themed around the relationship between human bodies and the planet.

Keeva Lough is an artist using photography, video, and performance to explore education, gender, social structures, and the body. Narratives are a way to organize information and make sense of the world. Lough uses narratives as a way to call into question the systems of thought that organize societies."

Artist bio

I don’t know how to tell you this, but Keeva Lough was born in the great state of Texas. She received a BA in Film & Media Studies from the University of Oklahoma in 2012, and in 2023 received her MFA in Art from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Her work has been shown in Oklahoma, Missouri, Maryland, and Nevada, and featured internationally at the FORMAT Photography Festival in the United Kingdom and the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in France. She currently resides in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world.

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KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

SIGNS FOR HOME, SIGNS TO NOWHERE

Ponchos, stereo, lightsThree Motorized Signs, Poplar, Redwood, Concrete, Acrylic, Galvanized Steel, Motorized Parts

Artist Statement

"A series of motorized signs inspired by the ones I often found in the culturally diverse neighborhoods I grew up in. They move at different speeds in a subtle conversation understood only by each other. The facade of each sign comes from abstracted floor plans of the maternal familial houses I grew up in, based entirely on memory, the signs represent a simulacrum of home, encapsulating emotions I associate with home: devotion, love, and pain. The three signs serve as a means of advertising my personal and somewhat hazy interpretations of home, evoking a sense of misaligned longing. The ultimate destination the signs advertise is "nowhere" since the signs communicate a place uniquely in my memories and perceptions. The abstract nature of the paintings is ambiguous, prompting viewers to impose their own narratives onto the artwork, further complicating the meaning and interpretation of the signs.

I am interested in creating communal spaces of reverence and devotion. My work acknowledges the role of immigration in the greater diasporic histories of the United States and the unseen factors and conditions attached to labor’s extensive chain of power. I address the physicality of labor with refuges that render construction work a visible process of materiality and shared knowledge. My work not only creates Zones of Contact for introspection but also connects to the communities in which it exists by engaging with hidden stories and histories shared by the communities in which the work exists. Aesthetically, I draw inspiration from my initial sensory encounters with the Catholic church and the neon-soaked expanse of the Las Vegas desert, my home. I delve into the language of light, color, and architecture. The sensorial spectacle in my work intersects with articulating spiritual spaces, augmenting the contemporary baroque display's experiential and commanding presence. A characteristic of my practice lies in my recontextualization and abstraction of words, a deliberate injection of instability into language. This instability creates situations that push the boundaries of communication, inviting viewers into a realm of constant reevaluation of language. Everyone sharing the anxiety of unfamiliarity with language and knowledge. The visually glitched language becomes a physical manifestation of experiences often lost in translation. By interweaving personal memories with collective cultural experiences, I construct narratives that meld the intimate with the communal, offering a nuanced exploration of the American experience."

Artist bio

Krystal Ramirez is from Las Vegas, Nevada; she works in sculpture, photography, installation, and fiber arts. She earned her BFA in photography at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an MFA in Art Practice from Stanford University. She has been an instructor of record at Stanford University and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. In addition to teaching and being an artist, she is a photojournalist and has worked with media companies such as Vox, NPR, and The Intercept. Krystal has shown work nationally, including the Nevada Museum of Art (Reno, NV), Barrick Museum of Art (Las Vegas, NV), New Mexico State University Art Museum (Las Cruces, NM), SOMArts (San Francisco, CA), and Gallery 400 at the University Illinois Chicago (Chicago, IL.)

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LANE SHEEHY + JAYDE SPIEGEL

I'D STILL SING A SONG FOR YOU

Wood, concrete and speaker

Artist Statement

I’d still sing a song for you explores the lasting impact of estranged relationships through a memorial site.

Lane and Jayde approach their art practice as a collective consciousness, drawing from their individual backgrounds and histories to create multifaceted and immersive experiences for the viewer. Lane’s research-driven methods coupled with Jayde’s movement experimentation mutually inform and build upon one another. They draw inspiration from their physical environment, social systems, and lived experiences. Consequently, they source local materials and mediums which hold varying significances, such as concrete, scrap fabrics, and antiques. Lane’s background in studio art, graphic design, and technical theatre generates a multidisciplinary approach to creating installations that integrate photography, drawing, sculpture, performance and video. Jayde’s background in dance, movement direction, video installation, and sound design, manifest in an emphasis on the body, absurdist or theatrical story-telling, as well as multidisciplinary expressions. Together, they merge their specialities to expand on visual and performance practices in ways that invite audiences into an immersive world they’ve built.

Artist bio

Based in Las Vegas, Lane Sheehy and Jayde Spiegel have collaborated on performance, video and installation projects. They draw inspiration from physical environment, personal histories, and social dynamics. Jayde’s background in dance and Lane’s background in fine art and technical theatre aid in building intimate, immersive experiences for the viewer.Jayde Spiegel is a Las Vegas-based movement director and performance artist. She earned an “Excellence In Dance-Making” distinction upon graduating from CSULB with a BFA in Dance in May of 2024. She has performed across Southern California and internationally in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala, and Kiel, Germany. Jayde’s choreography, sound design, and costuming received Gala selections at ACDA’s 2023 and 2024 Baja Conferences. In Las Vegas, she has contributed to various gallery spaces and recently debuted a solo exhibition featuring live performances and video installations at South Square Studios.Lane Sheehy is a multidisciplinary artist from Las Vegas. Sheehy holds a BFA in Studio Arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has exhibited work through Clark County Public Arts programs, Left of Center Gallery, Available Spaces Project and Scrambled Eggs. She was awarded the Mario Basner Passion Project Fund grant in 2024 and participated in UNLV’s Office of Undergraduate Research’s Fellowship program. Sheehy also started the artist-run gallery South Square Studios that provides artists an unrestricted space to showcase work.

• Lane's Website
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• Jayde's Website
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LAURA ESBENSEN

TENSION/TRAJECTORY

Concrete, epoxy, gelatin, cellophane, vinyl, light

Artist Statement

Tension/Trajectory is an ambiguous shrine, carefully arranged glowing objects dropped in the open desert, as a continuation of previous work exploring body, otherness, and science fiction. The installation will touch on gravity as a governing force of inevitability and omnipotence–everything is impacted and influenced, physically and metaphorically.

Esbensen’s work connects with the contemporary grotesque and utilizes humor as a proposition of hope, through a combination of heavy blocks with glowing lights and UV reactive materials, presenting a playful haphazardness alongside potential toxicity. Her abstract, theatrical sculptures are made of construction materials and assorted plastics that explore the blurry boundary between the authentic and the artificial.

Artist bios

Laura Esbensen is an artist living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds a BA in Studio Arts from the University of California, San Diego and an MFA in Fine Arts from Lesley University. Recent exhibitions include solo exhibition SOMA at Core Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV, and group exhibitions Our Imagined Future at Bell Projects, Denver, CO and Subtle Force at Union Grove Gallery, Huntsville, AL. Esbensen is a current recipient of the Nevada Arts Council Project Grant, culminating in a workshop and exhibition in April 2025.2025 MARK, Art Therapy Cafe, Las Vegas, NV
2025 The Uncanny Familiar, SH!FT Gallery, Ocean Beach, CA
2025 The Body is Both Instrument and Archive, Gallery RAG, Gloucester, MA
2025 EXPANSE, fraiche arts, Las Vegas, NV
2025 Roots/Wings, MASS MoCA, North Adamms, MA
2025 Our Imagined Future, Bell Projects, Denver, CO
2025 Subtle Force, Union Grove Gallery, Huntsville, AL
2025 As Above, So Below, Co-curator, Backfence Society, Vista, CA
2024 Ply, Low Mille Arts, Huntsville, AL
2024 SOMA, Core Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV (solo)
2024 Small Things Matter, Squishy Studio, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Core/Cavity, Co-curator, Backfence Society, Vista, CA
2024 Lesley MFA Thesis Exhibition, Roberts Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2024 Use the Other Door, Core/Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Shades of Red, Backfence Society, Vista, CA
2023 It was Fine…A Dining Experience, Cosmic Bloom, Vista, CA
2023 Blue Butcher, Artist’s Alley, Oceanside, CA
2023 Portal Play, Goblin Shark Emporium, Oceanside, CA (solo)

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LEILU HART

TBD

TBD

Artist Statement

"I am creating a house made of fabric, symbolizing the deep connections to femininity that are essential in creating a home. To me, home is not just a physical space, it is a construct that can exist anywhere that anyone can build."

Leilu Hart’s work examines the gendered associations society assigns to inanimate materials, highlighting the emotional connections people form with objects. Rooted in their nonbinary and queer identity, they challenge societal norms that shape perceptions of trans, femme, and queer individuals. Fiber is at the heart of their practice. They often work with yarn, fabric, felt, and other soft materials, mediums historically tied to “women’s work” and dismissed as simply craft. By embracing these traditions, Hart reclaims their significance and invites a reexamination of their cultural and artistic value.

Artist bio

Leilu Hart is a mixed media artist based in Las Vegas, NV. As a queer femme nonbinary artist, their pieces delve into themes of relationships, sex, memories, religion, and trauma. Their work has been exhibited across Nevada, including several fiber based group shows and their recent solo show “Flesh & Form” at South Square Studios. They are currently pursuing a BA in sculpture with a minor in history at UNLV, and are set to graduate in 2026.

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LUVRIOT

PLEASE STOP CROWDING ME

Felt, yarn, poly-fill, packing peanuts, thread, photo transfer paper, canvas paper, oil, clay, acrylic

Artist Statement

"The gravity of grief is an unexplainable feeling that touches the souls of all, the pull of it varies for those it reaches, in some cases it feels as though the pressure bears immeasurable weight. My human formed plush sculpture yearns for isolation, with the title ‘Please Stop Crowding Me’, the environment reflects the want to flee from the interrogation of others and find comfort in isolation during a moment of mourning.

Through storytelling within my artwork I awaken a childlike spirit driven by the examination of the individual, family upbringings and childhood nostalgia. Abandoned and transitional places influence my environmental settings to express the isolation and dissociative state I’ve experienced as a caretaker. My fabric sculptures are large scale plushies reminiscent of 2000s children's media while my oil paintings embed the figure into an uncanny dream-like landscape. Sharing my personal experiences through my work brings awareness and comfort to those who struggle with grief, mental health and family turmoil. "

Artist bio

Las Vegas local, Luvriot, is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates dream-like visual depictions of experiences and emotions inspired by the examination of the individual, family upbringings and childhood nostalgia through the materials of paint or plush. She is currently enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas striving for her Bachelor of Fine Arts.LuvRiot has displayed around the Las Vegas valley while also participating in group exhibitions within Los Angeles, California. Interested in public art, she has created imagery for the AMP program, Ward 3 Proud Banner project, and the Parking Meter Art Wraps project in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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LYDIA SILIC

UNTITLED

Watercolor paper, cyanotype, tea, polaroid emulsion, paint

Artist Statement

"Land is my gravity—the silent force that governs my sense of balance, rhythm, and harmony. Like a patient guardian, it has cradled my steps throughout my personal evolution. This piece continues my exploration of the tension between human presence and nature’s enduring authority. I invite viewers to reflect on the fleeting nature of our achievements when set against the commanding permanence of the natural world."

Lydia is a multimedia photographer exploring connections between subject and surroundings and past and present. Her work is grounded in themes of land, femininity, and an exploration of her experiences as both an individual and an artist. At the core, she aims to create a visual memoir that is tangible and raw–always accompanied by a heavy dose of personal nostalgia. Currently, her work is influenced by the marriage of textile and analog with modern practices.

Artist bio

Lydia’s work has been featured in Clark County Public Arts’ FOLK (2025) and Digital Love (2024), Kindergarten Mag (Issue 26), and Beyond Thought Journal (Spring 2023 & Spring 2024). She was also selected for the UNLV Student Juried Exhibits in both 2023 and 2024.
In 2024, Lydia curated From Somewhere, an exhibition at Grant Hall Gallery in Las Vegas, NV, showcasing the work of eight local artists exploring themes of familial ties, culture, and loss. She is the recipient of Honorable Mention for her piece Näherin in the 2025 Clark County Public Arts exhibit FOLK.

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MARK KAUFMAN

THAT TIME JEAN ARP ROLLED A PERFECT GAME

Gravity, chance, found objects including bowling balls, prepared ladder and artist stools

Artist Statement

'Where gravity and chance collide. Galileo is said to have dropped unequal weights of the same material from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass. While gravity is a rock-solid law of nature. Chance tests the boundaries of nature, you never know what will happen.

My work consists of ink, paper, wood, paint, found objects and ephemeral ideas. No matter what form it takes, the mark making and structure straddles the delicate tension between balance and discord, narrative and abstraction, existing images and new forms. While it’s not always a direct line from a swirling field of black to seeing the world with perfect clarity, the purpose of the work remains the same, guide the viewer towards an understanding of contemporary culture and our relationship to it."

Artist bio

Mark Kaufman (b. 1960) is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer known for bold, monochromatic drawings and collages which straddle the dark spaces between cultural narrative and minimalist abstraction. Born in Jersey City, NJ, now living and working in Las Vegas, NV, Mr. Kaufman studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York between 1978 and 1983. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the country including Seattle, Portland, Austin, New York, Detroit, and is in the permanent collection of the People’s History Museum in Manchester, UK. He has most recently been part of group exhibitions at SPCKRFT, Rotunda Gallery, and Core Contemporary Gallery in Las Vegas.

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MARY SABO

CHANCE, AGAIN

wood, cement, canvas, acrylic medium, bookbinding cloth, paint

Artist Statement

"In November 1996, an event took place at Whiskey Pete’s Casino. “Chance: Three Days in the Desert,” was explained by its main organizer, writer Chris Kraus, as “a philosophical rave and summit meeting between artists and philosophers, chaosophists and croupiers, mathematicians and musicians.” Participants included artist Mike Kelley and French philosopher Jean Baudrillard. This project is a further simulacra of Whiskey Pete’s Casino, and an homage to the temporary, fading nature of postmodern structures in the American Southwest.

My work combines elements of painting, drawing, sculpture, and digital collage to construct and explore hidden realms within our world and culture. I am driven by the exploration of fantasy, nostalgia, decay, the absorption of content, and the processing of information. "

Artist bio

Mary Sabo is a visual artist and arts administrator living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is drawn to dirt, rituals, mythology, and conspiracies. Mary graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a BFA in sculpture, and has shown work and participated in projects throughout the Mojave desert and beyond.

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MATTHEW COUPER

GRAVITY FED

Mixed media, water

Artist Statement

"I use figuration and anachronistic tropes in my work to bridge gaps between isolated events that present issues of water problems, restrictions and shortages. I aim to create work that is familiar in the perspective of art history, which also nods toward the idea of history repeating.
I live in Las Vegas, USA, only 30 minutes from the largest manmade water reservoir in the country. The contradiction of living in an arid, desert city yet being so close to the ever-dwindling southwest coast water supply makes one pause for thought when looking at the statistics of the water usage compared to the snowmelt feeding the rivers that lead to the reservoir. I research the usage of water in my area and recent scientific advances in desalination, recycling plants, exploratory drilling and short-term ‘straw’ methods for providing water to the population. Although I adhere to Anton Chekhov’s maxim: ‘The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them’, I still believe that art can pique interest socially, politically and environmentally to create awareness about specific global issues and the 'social currency' of such things."

Matthew Couper is a multidisciplinary artist whose works primarily explore themes of survival, isolation, and humanity's precarious relationship with its environment. His artwork reflects on the seclusion and isolation of his South Pacific origins while juxtaposing it with the harsh desert environment of the American Southwest, where he now resides. In a post-Covid world, his art forms a dialogue between past and present, incorporating talismans of impending anthropocenic issues and introspective psychological spaces. His works grapple with the tension of an overpopulated world facing overconsumption and dwindling resources, creating a compelling commentary on survival and adaptation.

Artist bio

Matthew Couper is an Aotearoa/New Zealand-born artist currently living and working in the USA. His artistic practice draws from a diverse range of art historical movements, including the Italian Trecento, Russian Non-Objective Painting, and Spanish and Mexican Baroque. These influences act as vehicles to explore themes of survival and the psychological effects of social isolation.His work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions including art fairs and biennales throughout the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, China, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. He is represented in public institutions including Bibliothèque nationale de France; Cirque Du Soleil Collection in USA & Canada; Idem Paris; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the USA, NZ and Italy; The National Gallery of Australia; Sarjeant Gallery, NZ and Barrick Museum of Art, USA

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MEGHAN DRAGON

DOWN TO EARTH: DESERT TIDES

Plexiglass and acrylic paint

Artist Statement

"When I think of gravity, I’m drawn to two forces: the grounding embrace of the earth beneath us and the tides shaped by the moon’s gravitational pull. My upcoming piece for the Desert Biennial Project brings ocean and desert together, weaving imagery from both environments to explore the interconnectedness of land, sea, and the forces that shape them.

My work explores the patterns, textures, and interconnections of nature, capturing the intricate details of flora and fauna from native habitats. Whether hiking through the rugged landscapes of the Mojave Desert or studying native species during a residency at Great Basin National Park, I immerse myself in the environments that shape my work. My murals, paintings, and drawings invite viewers to slow down and connect with the often-overlooked details of their surroundings, sparking curiosity, appreciation, and ultimately, a deeper commitment to conserving the world’s wild spaces."

Artist bio

Meghan Dragon is a Las Vegas-based artist specializing in paintings and murals. Her public work can be viewed at Sunrise City Hall in Sunrise City, FL; W. Desert Inn Rd. and S. Hualapai Wy. in Las Vegas, NV; N. Sierra St. and W. 2nd St. in Reno, NV; W. Moana Ln. and Baker Ln. in Reno, NV; the Caring Cabin in Pacific City, OR; the Las Vegas Day School Library in Las Vegas, NV; and Artys Steakhouse in Las Vegas, NV. She has participated in the following exhibitions: Existing in Thought (2020), Art in Public Places (2024), Living in the Desert (2024), re/growth (2024), Here & Now (2024), Wetlands for the Holidays (2024), 50 Years, 50 Artists: Celebration of the West (2024), Lunar New Year: Year of the Snake (2025), The Haven Sculpture Installation (2025), and With the Land (2025). She’s been a resident artist at Aviario Studio in Portugal, Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and the Hive in Spokane, WA.

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MOLLIE MILLER

TRIBUTE TO SPACEFARER

Concrete pavers and acrylic paint

Artist Statement

Tribute to Spacefarer is a large-format comic that tells the story of a desert town's first space traveler.

"I come from a background where a person's value to the world is predicated upon being funny. Unfortunately for me, that quality comes out most naturally in text when there has been adequate time to think about what I say. My comics are inspired by sitcoms, funny animal friends, workplace drama, and questionable ethics."

Artist bio

Mollie Miller is a comic artist, painter, and soft sculptor. Her work has been shown at the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center and Scrambledeggsxyz's Sketch Party show.

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NAES PIEROTT

MY STARS

Fabric, beads and thread

Artist Statement

"This piece centers on my family and friends—the people who ground me and keep me connected to the world.

I am a Black woman artist deeply engaged with the Black community. Through my quilts and cyanotype images, I use fabric and photography to share stories of the Black American experience and, at times, the experiences of other marginalized groups. Recently, I have been experimenting with innovative ways to tell stories through the fabric, exploring its potential as a medium for expression and connection."

Artist bio

I earned my BFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2023 and am currently pursuing a Master’s in Education with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Educational Technology. My work has been exhibited in numerous galleries across Nevada, including the Donna Beam Gallery, Nuwu Art Gallery, Rotunda Gallery, Couperruss Studio, Serva Pool Gallery, Left of Center Gallery, the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, and the Chamber Gallery.Originally trained as an oil painter, I continue to enjoy painting, but my artistic focus has shifted toward fabric-based works and cyanotype processes.

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NANCY GOOD

FLAGGED

Unprimed fabric, acrylic, latex, airbrush, oil pastel, string, rope, metal pipe and bases

Artist Statement

Conveying the importance of art and the gravity of life without it, "Flagged" is meant to spontaneously interact with the environment it's in. Even with the short duration of the DBP, wind, weather, gravity is expected totransform this installation.

As a conceptual abstract artist (and musician) with humanist, philosophical leanings, a long-standing mission is creating thoughtful and dynamic interpretations of the vastness of human experience, from
grief to joy, loneliness to community, shame to reconciliation, fear to acceptance, apathy to compassion... the list is endless. Seeking to communicate universal truths, the ultimate goal is that of finding common ground and connection during times when the loudest of voices seem to seek division and conflict. I often do this by inviting unexpected kinetic interaction and engagement (with even physically shallow 2-dimensional works) through the use of color theory, hidden symbols, typography, and repetitive patterns intentionally layered throughout a work by means of different finishes or light-reactive pigments.Using acrylics, airbrush, UV pigments, latex, inks, collage and assemblage, freedom of expression is unhampered and I am able to create, in full collaboration with any and all chosen materials, the human
emotion or experience I am personally experiencing at the time, researching and interpreting, and/or the energy I wish to convey. Deeply influenced by biological forms and vibrations, I most often represent
a conceptual theme in the form of what I may envision as its most primal state – dividing cells. From cerebral synapses to the electricity that flows through our physical forms, at our core, we are a mass of pulsing, vibrating molecules, always in some state of re-creation and decay.

Artist bio

Mostly known for mural-sized, physically-interactive 2-dimensional paintings, as well as digital art, and works on paper, Las Vegas artist Nancy Good's studio practice is deeply-rooted in self-discipline, dedication, and unwavering passion to create strong contemporary art that compels dialogue and human connection. Influenced by synesthesia related to vibration and eclectic DNA revealing connections with cultures the world over, Good's work weaves the materials and tools of modern times while also honoring the visual languages of her ancient ancestries.A published and award-winning artist, Good’s work is regularly seen in exhibits across the country in high profile locations such as Las Vegas City Hall, Clark County Rotunda, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art (UNLV), Doyle Arts Pavilion in Costa Mesa, San Diego Museum of Art, Reno/Tahoe International Airport, Nevada Humanities, Meow Wolf Las Vegas, MGM properties, St. Mary's Arts Center, HERE Arts and Superchief Gallery in NYC, Nashville International Airport, Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and galleries in the Southeast, New York, Montana, Nevada and California. Her work is also found in important collections throughout the world. Good has received four Congressional Commendations for her artistic contributions, and has been inducted into the National Association of Women Artists, a 135-year old professional arts organization.

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NICK GIORDANO

MARROW

Canvas, acrylic, oil

Artist Statement

This Tai Chi–inspired piece explores the quiet power of surrendering to gravity, inviting the viewer to feel the freedom that emerges when we release tension and allow the weight of the world to fall away. Through this act of relaxation, we return again and again to an inner and outer lightness

Artist bio

Nick Giordano is a painter currently based in rural Nevada in the small desert town of Pahrump. Intersecting movement and paint, he is influenced by the mind’s ability to rewrite dysfunctional habits and form positive outlets of expression through art. His exposure to Eastern influences, including Zen and Daoist philosophy, shape the layered nature of his practice. His work as a painter investigates fulfillment in collaborative, collective healing-focused art making that fosters growth and transformation.

Layers of Perception (March 2025) West Charleston Library, Las Vegas, NV.
An exhibition serves as a foothold on the path toward consciousness witnessing itself.
Reframing the Mundane (April 2024) University of Nevada Las Vegas, Grant Hall, NV
An exhibition exposing the miracles within ordinary momentsSelect Group Exhibitions + Curatorial Projects
Desert Biennial Project, Gravity (October 2025 ) - Apex Dry Lakebed, Southern Nevada.
Allergic to Ignorance' (April 26 – August 26, 2025, currently on view), Your Catalyst Gallery,
Pahrump, NV – Curator, Artist
An exhibition challenging notions of steadfastness and isolation
'OOPS! 2' (September 2024), Core Contemporary, Las Vegas, Nevada
'Stone Soup' (October 2023), Desert Biennial Project, Jean Roach Dry Lakebed, Southern NV
'Big Mind' (March 2023) - UNLV Grant Hall – Co-Curator, Artist
Student Exhibition (2022) - UNLV Student Union, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
Greyscale Tattoo Exhibition (2020) Anaheim, CA – Artist

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PATRICIA SUSLO

FURTHER

Embroidery thread and paint on screening

Artist Statement

This work will allow visitors to view plants in an imposed perspective sewn into a mesh screen. The screen will stand at a distance from the mountain and depict five rows of embroidered plants which will receed into the enviornment by scale.

I am interested in semiotics, the hand in artwork, and perception. Autonomy is the most consistent theme in my work. I’ve explored this idea through representation, figurative work, drawing, printmaking, and writing. I am especially drawn to etching, drawing on paper, and poetry.
Autonomy is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as both “the right or condition of self government,” and “the capacity of an agent to act in accordance with objective morality, rather than under the influence of desires.” Through this lens my work has dealt with concepts of isolation, perceived self, gender, and ownership. I am interested in a person’s ability to reconcile their private and public lives, and how these versions of personalized and projected characteristics can be used to understand ourselves more deeply.

Artist bio

I was born and raised in Nevada and received my Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. After seven years of residence in New York, I returned to Nevada in August of 2024.
I had the pleasure of showing in Here and Now at Rotunda Gallery in December of 2024, and I am looking forward to my participation in the 2025 Desert Biennial Project.

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QUINDO MILLER

CHURN

Wood, motor, sand, steel

Artist Statement

"We live in a country that does not care. It will eat you alive and churn your guts into profit.

My work examines the intricate relationships between home, identity, and survival, drawing deeply from personal experiences growing up in Guam and living in Las Vegas. Through video, installation, and mixed media, I explore the emotional, cultural, and material layers that shape our existence, often focusing on the tension between natural and constructed environments, as well as inherited family tradition.Across my work, I am interested in the unseen rituals and inherited practices that influence how we navigate our world and dedicate home. From the delicate balance of desert ecosystems to the intimate ways of my lineage, my installations analyze resilience, adaptation, and survival. Whether through the persistent growth of a weed or the nuance of a family habit, I invite viewers to reflect on how we adapt, grow, and thrive in spaces where we may not entirely belong.

Artist bio

Born in Guam, Quindo Miller spent their formative years developing an interest in isolation, rituals, and repetition as they explored the island territory’s jungle environment. In 2012, after moving to the mainland United States, they earned their BFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Miller’s work investigates and expands their early preoccupations through the mediums of painting, drawing, installation, video, and sound. They have exhibited at venues in Nevada, California, and New York, including the Goldwell Open Air Museum, 5th Wall gallery, La Matadora Gallery, the Las Vegas Contemporary Art Center, and Hereart. In 2015 they exhibited in Uttarakhand, India, as part of their PECAH artist residency. Miller currently lives and works in Las Vegas.

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RICARDO RUBALCABA PAREDES

MI COMUNIDAD

Natural materials, including rocks, stones, flowers and other ephemeral products.

Artist Statement

"Mi Comunidad" will be an ephemeral reimagining mosaic/ painting art piece based on a painting of the same namesake. This piece is a reclamation for Black, Brown, and Indigenous Gender Nonconforming folx (we never see ourselves represented), centers themes of chosen family and representation, and is ultimately a practice in belonging and fostering community.

My painting practice depicts candid moments of Queer Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx engaging in daily performances of culture, emphasizing the idea of culture as resistance. My work builds on the legacy of Joteria (an art genre focused on the intersectional experience of being Queer and Mexican/ Chicano/a/e/x), drawing inspiration from Queer Chicano multimedia artist Jerry Terrill and Afro-Cuban American painter Harmonia Rosales' reimaginings of Renaissance masterpieces with the Orishas. Currently, my work is informed by my mutual aid practice, people's resistance (Free Palestine, Sudan, and Congo), fluorescent lighting, and the poetix of Arab American genderqueer punk poet-performer Andrea Abi-Karam.

Artist bio

Ricardo's artistic practice intertwines with their mutual aid practice. In 2025, Ricardo, alongside Ruby Barrientos and Jordyn Owens, helped start Of the Sol, a collective of BIPOC artists from Reno, NV, mobilizing to cultivate an intersectional space for BIPOC artists. In 2023, Ricardo helped co-organize Reno Community Art Closet, a mutual aid project (re)distributing free art supplies to address discrepancies in access. In 2023, Ricardo was shown in Hija/e/o/x de Su by Cesar Piedra and Geovany Uranda. In 2024-2025, Ricardo helped curate a series of exhibitions for Of the Sol at the Holland Project, including their solo show Visceral.

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ROMINA VILLARREAL

ICARUS FALLEN

Vinyl and wax

Artist Statement

"This life-sized sculpture captures the moment after Icarus’s wax wings melt mid-flight leading to a collapse acting as a metaphor for the climax of excess and the beauty in falling. These wings will lie melted in a sea of stars, reflecting on where we land when hubris gives way to gravity.

I am enamored by the body. My life is spent depicting humanity in their natural settings in order to evoke emotions ranging from euphoria to tension. I seek out moments that show the ephemerality of life. Working with acrylic, wax and thread I render the stories of those who would otherwise be forgotten.Utilizing both candid imagery and cultural motifs, I create psychic spaces that are accessible to the afflicted but a window of voyeurism to those on the outside. I seek to display the unseen and unspoken realities of the majority oppressed by the leaders of our capital dominated lives."

Artist bio

Romina Villarreal is a mixed media painter with an emphasis on figurative expression. Through this, she explores the life and experiences of stigmatized groups. Her work delves deep into the complexities of mental health, sexuality, ethnicity, and spirituality.Spawned in the city of San Antonio, Texas, Romina is a proud Chicana artist with a heart for serving marginalized communities.Romina has earned a BFA in painting and a minor in psychology from the University of Houston and a M.F.A in studio art from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Since 2023 She has exhibited in two solo shows: Oh Joy! And Sangria. She has also shown in the 2023 Desert Biennial Project, Patchwork at Holland Gallery, and With the Land through Clark County Arts.

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RORA BLUE

I'D RATHER BE HERE

Mattress, pillows, bedding

Artist Statement

"I’d Rather Be Here is a series depicting my bed in various outdoor landscapes. These are the places I’d rather be, when I am stuck in bed for long periods of time due to my disability.

I live in a body with bones that ache, a heart that beats twice as fast as everyone else’s, and fingertips that go numb. Most of the time my body does not feel like mine. Gender dysphoria, coupled with conditions that impact my vision leave me looking down at my body as if it is someone else’s. This is not a tragedy; it is simply a fact of my existence.Queer and disabled people are often viewed as unnatural. I respond to this in my work through using natural materials and imagery of the outdoors. My sculptures, photography, and installations reposition the queer and disabled body as being synonymous with nature. Outdoor spaces can be inaccessible, and it is important for me to reclaim my body’s relationship to the environment.I introduce an alternate trans-disabled reality by utilizing transgender and disability-specific medical objects that are commonly disposed of or hidden away. Through the overlaying of photographs on top of hospital fluorescent lights, weaving flowers in between bandages, and suspending images of the sky within IV bags, I propose a world in which bodies like mine are cared for and celebrated."

Artist bio

Rora Blue is a queer disabled artist living and working in Reno, Nevada. His current work utilizes soft sculpture and installation to relate queerness and disability to nature, invisibility, and celebration. Blue is the recipient of the VSA Emerging Young Artist Award of Excellence from the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C as well as the International IphiGenia Gender Design Award awarded at the Museum of Applied Art in Cologne, Germany. His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions spanning nine different countries and he has been written about in publications including the New York Times. Blue received his BFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute and MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2024.

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ROSE MILLER

KEEP ME GROUNDED // WEIGH ME DOWN

Metal, chain, clay, beads, ribbon, and string

Artist Statement

Keep Me Grounded // Weigh Me Down is about the love of one's hometown and the desire to leave it for something different.

Rose Miller’s work often begins as an exercise in scavenging. Her first step is to collect; she digs through the depths of her mother’s old footlocker full of family memories, documents the graffitied walls of bar bathrooms, and listens to the lyrics of beloved songs. She takes these things, either as material or as inspiration, and rearranges them. Her practice revolves around the process of tearing apart and stitching back together, sometimes literally via collage and assemblage. Other times, she’s digitally layering images or scrawling borrowed text onto photographs. Though she’s currently working to move beyond two-dimensional spaces into sculptural ones, the core of her work remains the same.

Artist bio

Rose Miller works with collage, photography, and has recently taken an interest in sculpture. She’s local to Las Vegas, and at the time of writing this is pursuing her BFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has been shown in various group shows, including Oops (2023), Scrambled Egg’s Sketch Party (2024, as a collaboration with her cohort), as well as the BFA midway show You Are Here: 36°06’31.5’’ N 115°08’18 W (2024) and the 2025 BFA thesis show. She’s also done work as an intern with Artists 4 Democracy, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging political action via art and informational events. Outside of art, she’s also a writer. Her most recent work has been written for local art blog Couch in the Desert, where she’s published review pieces on local art exhibitions.

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SAPIRA CHEUK

NOVEMBER 2024

Mixed media

Artist Statement

"Around the time of the 2024 US presidential elections, prior to the first ceasefire in Palestine, when talk of abortion bans and nuclear proliferation were taking over our collective consciousness, this work emerged. At that time, what I felt was described succinctly in Ugly Feelings by Sianne Ngai: “Disgust… I can’t move beyond the negative feeling, there is not even room for action. It is a mediation of utter despair”.

I explore proprioception and bodily ways of knowing, examining how physical experiences create understanding. My work investigates interpersonal memories, aesthetic labor, ownership, physical isolation, virtual connections, and trauma's cellular effects on psychological recovery. Though these themes are wide-ranging, my aesthetic remains rooted in ink and paper. Born in Hong Kong, Chinese Sumi painting heavily influences my practice. I use specific blends of soluble and insoluble inks creating characteristic smooth gradations and abrupt fractures within each figure, representing my immigrant experience negotiating between two different cultures, values, and operating systems through art.

Artist bio

Sapira Cheuk is an ink painter and installation artist born in Hong Kong and based in Las Vegas, NV. Her work blends sumi and india ink, symbolizing her mixed identities. Cheuk has exhibited at various venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Royal Society of Art London, and Yellowstone Art Museum. She works for the Nevada Arts Council, teaches at College of Southern Nevada, chairs City of Las Vegas Art Commission, and serves as a National Endowment for the Arts grant panelist. She holds a BA from UC Riverside and MFA from Cal State San Bernardino.

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SASHA MOSQUERA

UNTITLED

Oil on canvas

Artist Statement

My piece has to do with gravity and a cat's “righting reflex” which allows a cat to orient themselves during a fall.

Sasha Mosquera is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is grounded in personal experience and her love of cats. She uses the feline form as an entry point to create playful and colorful images that reflect emotions or ambiguity. Sasha paints portraits that depict how cats live between worlds, both in domestic and wild environments. As an artist living in Las Vegas, Sasha is inspired by the community cats that surround her and her work is therefore directly influenced by their personalities and nature. The colors in her work are inspired by the painter Quinquela Martin.

Artist bio

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, where my lifelong connection with cats began at age twelve. By sixteen, I discovered my first feral and became fascinated by the colonies living in storm drains throughout the valley. Since then, I’ve documented their lives through photography, which I then translate into paintings. Since graduating with my BFA in 2023, I have had work shown in small exhibition spaces including the Alumni Center and Grant Hall Gallery at UNLV. I showed at Core Contemporary as well.

SHAHAB ZARGARI

BAR JEDDAK

Wood, paint, metal, concrete.

Artist Statement

"Bar Jeddak will be the first time since 2022 that the Martian city miniature created for the film 'The Crystal Crypt' will be on public view, this time with a custom stand for this exhibition.

I seek to tell stories concerning the human condition, often dealing with themes of race, politics, and morality, as well as the superficial misconceptions that often arise from such topics."

Artist bio

"My name is Shahab Zargari, and I am an Iranian-American filmmaker, record label-owner, and musician who currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada."

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VALENTIN YORDANOV

BORDERLAND

Painted wood

Artist Statement

Dynamic Mohave Desert inspired open plan sculptural artwork connecting the environments elements desert lake, sand, sky to visually merge together becoming one , transforming the work into a harmonious extension of its natural surroundings.

Inspired by the phenomena of urban generation, globalization and changing environment. Valentin Yordanov is a contemporary explorer. His Geometrical Abstract paintings act like a travelogue, impressions of locations he visits or dreams about. Mountains, roads, rails and raising constructions offer a dynamical view of a changing environment around us. They are complex of layer and directions. As maps, Valentin Yordanov paintings take us on tour in impact of the invisible world around us. The geography itself becomes unsettled. The ground twist awkwardly in time and space, brightly colored shapes, plan drawings, high-impact graphics each place becomes with the logo ‘non-place’, a triumph of color and shape .Valentin Yordanov was born in the city, seemed to have always been able to capture that uniqueness in the works he dedicated to the city, with bold colors, elongated vantage points and cartoon aesthetic.
He makes vibrant paintings and installations centered on themes of travel, tourism, globalization and urbanism.

Artist bio

For more than a decade, Valentin Yordanov has been an artist in residence in beautiful Las Vegas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Bulgaria, and then was awarded a scholarship to pursue his study at the Bucharest National Academy of Arts, Romania and Bulgaria. His studies included intensive drawing trips and major exhibitions around Europe, including Vienna and Budapest. After completing his education, this urban explorer was on his way to enlarging his mental maps, discovering the new world, and setting up his studio in Las Vegas.Valentin Yordanov is part of art collectors around the world including The Mayor of Las Vegas, Meow Wolf, Life Is Beautiful, The City of Las Vegas, MGM International, Nevada State Collage. He has exhibited extensively including solo exhibitions Deser Oasis, Nevada Humanities, Las Vegas 2025, Viva Las Vegas, Donna Bean Fine Art Gallery (2024), Seoullo 7017 Skygarden, Seoul, S.Korea(2024), Art Expo Beijing, Beijing, China, Art Capitol Mural,Building 63,Seoul, Korea (2017) ,The City of Las Vegas, NV, USA (2017), Nobu Hotels Art Collection 2023, Art Combining the factual precision of traditional street maps with his own interpretation of the local environment, these large scale composition documented the artist’s perception of the great cities of Europe, Asia and North America.

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