School began in January with a department trip to Las Vegas during the second week of class. We had plans to see the Liberace Museum, Heizer's Double Negative, the art at the new City Center development and the exhibition at the Bellagio that accompanied that, the Neon Museum sign bone-yard, meet with the grads and faculty at UNLV, and meet with the head of the Arts Office for the City of Las Vegas, amongst other things. It was a great trip that allowed us to see how large public and privately commissioned projects are developed as well as questioning the relationships between, art, design, entertainment, and spectacle.
Tarissa Tiberti from the Bellagio and a Cranbrook alum from sculpture gave a great presentation about the art in the City Center development and the way that project grew. Above a photo from the show at the Bellagio and below is the Jenny Holzer piece in City Center.
Emily Kennerk a Cranbrook sculpture alum is the head of Sculpture at UNLV and she arranged a dinner event for us at their grad studios. It was a great opportunity for the two groups of students to discuss ideas and, the nature of grad school, and even plan an exchange. (this week there will be a show of work from the UNLV students at the Cranbrook Forum Gallery).
Unfortunately, Double Negative had to be canceled because it rained the most of the time we were there, which made the roads in the desert near the work dangerous.
The Neon Sign Museum was a fantastic place to visit and our tour guide Justin was excellent. We not only learned about the signs but also the history of Las Vegas.
The Liberace Museum was a wealth of embellished surfaces and fantastic costumes.
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