What a fantastic interview we had with Alisha, from front yard gardens, to use of snail mail, lunch bag art for her daughter and the possibilities of cloning to facilitate 24 hour work days. All who listen know of our final question "What has inspired you this week?" Well, Alisha gave inspirational answers three times, I am sure she could have gone on. GREAT podcast!

Alisha Kerlin encourages dialogue about art and ideas through interdisciplinary programs and innovative exhibitions linked to wide-ranging community outreach. With full graduate faculty status, she received the UNLV College of Fine Arts Outstanding Administrative Faculty of the Year in 2017. In the same year, she earned an inaugural UNLV Top Tier award, confirming her academic excellence, creative activity, and pursuit of research befitting a Top Tier institution. Kerlin played a vital role in the Barrick’s transition from UNLV’s “hidden jewel” into an award-winning university art museum. She introduced practices that brought the organization of the visual art collection in line with international museum standards. Committed to making the Barrick an accessible resource for all, she has created initiatives that target both the academic community and K-12 schoolchildren. In the first year, the Bus to the Barrick program brought over a thousand visitors to campus, most of them for the first time. Kerlin also rebranded the institution by adding “of Art” to the name, solidifying the fifty-year-old museum as a gathering place for the creative community. A graduate of the University of Tennessee (BFA) and the Milton Avery Graduate School of Arts, Bard College (MFA), she connects the university to a top-tier cohort of emerging scholars and artists. Kerlin’s own artwork has been shown at institutions ranging from P3Studio at The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, to the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 Museum in New York.

Steve made his way via horse drawn ATV out to Lizard, Nevada this evening to chat with the zany residents. We talked to the cast "in-character" on the stage, was it noisy, yes, was it funny, OMG yes. The scene stealing donkey even got in the act. See what all the fuss is about, get out to our theatre 150 N Yucca St, Mesquite, NV 89027 this weekend or next for a fun time. 

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.mctnv.com/

Reviews: https://mvprogress.com/2023/03/21/mct-brings-melodrama-magic/?fbclid=IwAR099zo8Lkt0yCL2Re7t11v3Y_q9ojbXrmwjUvxpapKEAvuZXfvJPY-2yls

This hilarious melodrama was written by Mesquites own Nancy Arnold and Sue Kjellsen.

Directed by Nancy Arnold.

Listen to our previous podcast with the writers:

https://www.mesquitefineartscenter.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=590375&module_id=561139

The first time I heard the term Land Art was in college. My ecology instructor showed us images of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. We learned how creating the spiral altered the environment enough to cause the tiny microscopic organisms to change the color of the water surrounding it to red. 

Living in southern Nevada, I knew we had a few key Land Art pieces in the area. I had heard rumors about Heizer’s large Land Art piece called City. He spent decades creating it, but to date, only a select few had ever seen it. I have visited Heizer’s Double Negative and Ugo Rondinone's Seven Magic Mountains several times. In one sense, I am in awe of the scale and uniqueness of these Land Art pieces; on the other hand, it seems like the senseless destruction of a fragile desert environment. An environment that I deeply love.  

Fast forward to the pandemic of 2020, isolation indoors had started to take its toll on me. I needed time in nature and found solitude at the Jean Dry Lake Bed. This vast area is close to my home and provides easy access to open space with relatively few other individuals. During a Google search of the Jean Dry Lake, I learned that Michael Heizer’s Circular Surface Planar Displacement and Rift were created there. Around this time, a friend sent me the open call for the Modern Desert Markings at the Barrick Museum on the campus of UNLV. I applied and was selected to participate in the exhibit.

The images I created are from a series of attempts to ‘go large’ in the vein of Heizer’s Rift without the impact on the environment. The art pieces I created encompass a variety of materials, from spray-painted cardboard to aluminum insulation and landscape cloth. I increased the scale through trial and error, eventually making a 180-foot line. After taking photographs via a drone, I removed all materials.

The case for Land Art is complicated; is it art on the scale of Egyptian pyramids or the Nazca Lines? Or is it a degradation of the environment for the sake of art?

https://www.paulajacoby-garrett.com/modern-desert-markings-exhibit

Rayette and I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Deanne and chatting about her many roles at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV as well as her unique art and believe it or not the ins and outs of why the fifth sense is not a museum staple.  

Rachel, Linda and Steve had the pleasure of chatting with our friend Reenie McFarland the other day. If you do not live in Mesquite, Nevada, after hearing this conversation with Reenie, you will want to move here.

Reenie McFarland                                                                                         2-3-2023

As the daughter of an Army colonel, I grew up in a variety of locations and attended a dozen schools by the time I graduated high school.  This gave me some strengths, such as the ability to adapt to new surroundings easily and to feel comfortable getting to know new people, but it also gave me some weaknesses, like no life-long friendships and an “out of sight out of mind” mentality.  In addition, I had many opportunities to visit new places and get to know different cultures while my dad was stationed in Germany for 9 years of my life. I’ve climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa, been to Pompeii, seen concentration camps, been to the Acropolis in Greece, skied St. Moritz, been to the Netherlands, Sweden, and other places in Europe. I’ve also seen Plymouth Rock, the Alamo, Niagara Falls, and many other US sights.

I feel I had a fortunate childhood although different from many others.

As a young adult, I graduated college and became a special education teacher. Later, I started my own elementary school that I operated as a one-room school for 10 years. I got my master’s degree in Educational Leadership, and spent the last 10 year’s of my career as the Director of Career Services at a private applied arts college.

But for me, the greatest achievement of my life was mothering and raising four well adjusted children. I credit the 10 years I spent as a volunteer for La Leche League International with helping me become the best mother I could be. Your Child’s Self Esteem by Dorothy Corkille Briggs was my “go-to” book, which I read 3 times, where I learned that we are our children’s mirrors, and to only criticize behaviors and not the child, and many more things that build confidence and security in a child.

As a retired adult, retired Dec. 29, 2017, I now have the time to explore things I thought about doing, things I started and stopped because work got in the way, or things I never thought I could or would want to do. The first thing I jumped into when my husband, Larry, and I moved to Mesquite, was volunteering. I joined Mesquite Works, the Mesquite Showgirls, and the Women’s Center. The second thing I did was get involved with the Mesquite Rec Center and personal fitness. I have always enjoyed exercise, specifically step aerobics, so I became certified and started teaching classes. I currently teach 5 classes at the Rec Center and 2 classes at Mesquite Fitness. Truthfully, this is my passion! It makes me feel good about my body and mind and I love the people I have met through my classes. I hope to continue doing this for as long as my body will let me.

Performing at the Virgin Valley Theater is a new endeavor for me. I never did any acting as a child in school or church and never thought about doing it as an adult. I have always enjoyed plays and while attending one in Mesquite, one of the actor’s drew a blank with their lines and said “I got nothing”. Nothing happened and they continued the performance and there were no negative responses from the audience. This is what most people fear the most, and I thought, “it wasn’t that bad, I’m going to give this a try”. So, I auditioned for the upcoming play, “An Evening of Culture” and got a part. I did my second play, “The Hallelujah Girls” and still find it enjoyable so I will probably do another.

Who knows what lies in store for me next, but I am always open to exploring new avenues!

Living my real-life six degrees of separation from Dulzura, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada to Lincoln City, Oregon, Steve happened upon incredible humans and artists Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford via friends Paula Jacoby Garret and Niki Price.  I hope by listening you will gain as much as I did in interviewing them.

Robin Brailsford

Wick Alexander

Since 1980, San Diego native Wick Alexander has been producing distinctive paintings, sculptures and public artworks. Awards for his paintings have been presented by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council and the Ford Foundation.

Gregory Summers ASI / OPS

“We go outdoors to enjoy the land or stay inside to avoid it. It is the outdoor artist that brings the outside in.”

Born in the Flint Hills, Gregory Summers began his professional career at Hallmark Cards Inc in 1979. A Master Engraver, he now paints primarily “En Plein Air” across the globe with a limited pallet of only 4 colors. Former Vice President of the Greater Kansas City Artists Association, co-founder of the Missouri Valley Impressionist Society, and Brush Creek Plein Air: painting competition in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I am inspired by creation and driven by the experience”

Chosen in 2017 by the top 5 American art publications for the “Artists of the New Century” exhibit at the Bennington Art Gallery, Summers has embraced the world of landscape painting, winning top awards from coast to coast alongside some of the nation’s best plein air and studio artists.

Summers is an elected member of the Salmagundi Art Club, Signature member of the American Impressionists Society, and the Outdoor Painter Society, along with active membership in the Oil Painters of America, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, Plein Air Painters Colorado.

R Gregory Summers. Amazing work. Love his biography… We the people like to hear the intimate parts of an artist’s life (not to be too nosey) as well as info about your art, who your mentors are, who your fellow painters are… and Summers shares with us his personal story as well as the story about his art career. So interesting.

“In Ailies’s Glade” won 2nd place (oils) in the 2013 STEM Plein Air competition and it will soon be on its way to Charleston, SC – and will be included in the American Impressionist’s Show this year which will be at M Gallery of Fine Art in Charleston, SC. The show runs September 28 – October 30, 2013 with the opening reception on October 4th in conjunction with the French Quarter Art Walk!

Amy Wells bio is coming soon.

Linda and Steve had the pleasure of hosting an amazing couple, who give back with their amazing talents to their adopted town of Mesquite.

Eric is a member of the Virgin Valley Art Association and of the Virgin Valley Photographic Society. Eric has a pre professional degree in pharmacy from Green River Community College, A Certificate of Highest Honors from the Glen Fishback School of Photography. He is also a Licensed Massage Therapist in both Montana and Nevada. He was on the board of the Montana Professional Photographer’s Association and rated in the Top 10. He has won numerous awards for his artwork and been working in the industry for over 45 years…..

Lisa and Eric have two sons. Dan is a dentist and new bar owner in Butte, Montana. Nate is a C130 pilot in the Air Force. He is a Hurricane Hunter stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi. He is a film maker. Lisa became a dental hygienist in 1993 and has been blessed throughout her career. In 2017-2019 she attended Bible college and also finished her education as a associate board certified chaplain. She and Eric are now employed by Mesa View Hospice in Mesquite respectively as a chaplain and massage therapist. She works as a temporary hygienist during the summers in Montana. She travels with Eric performing old gospel music. 

It was our pleasure to interview one of our founding members Harlo Birkholz recently. Instead of typing Harlo’s story here, we will let you just listen. Below are a few of his poems for you to enjoy.

Who's in the Mirror

I stumbled and it wasn't my toe

That got me in trouble.

I tried to blame the rock, the berm, the world,

Until I saw me, in a mirror of my mind.

Shocked, I said, “THIS has to end”  but

I had no definition for the elusive “This”.

I stared at the wall, hummed “Ummm” and

Contemplated my navel but came up empty.

Someone suggested, “Find the cross” when

I couldn't find my butt with both hands.

Doing a desert walk-a-bout I talked to

Mahatma, Buddha  and Elvis. No help there.

It didn't click until I passed a for-real mirror

And saw myself, my real self, no illusions.

“Myself” wasn't ugly, just unfamiliar. Getting to know

The me of “me” brought myself back in perspective.

I'm comfortable in my own skin now. It fits.

My mind is settled. not exploding out. Even if

My thoughts are expansive, they're calm.

Thank you, whoever, for the me I've found.

Harlo Birkholz

A Cowboy Haiku

The old cowboy knew,

His days left were few.

His horses sensed the good-byes

When the ranch went, with wet eyes.

Then old, too feeble to tend,

Even his four legged friend

Was gone. No more a wet nose saying

Howdy to a pals hand... not playing.

He wrote, the last to do.

The stars in the sky

My friends...are dimmer and cold.

The earth beckons me.

Harlo Birkholz