Capital City Arts Initiative

Career Path Panel
Nevada Neighbors Talk with Moderator Paul Baker Prindle

Have you ever asked how can making art or writing poetry or composing music support you as an artist? Listen to the insights, suggestions, and thoughtful commentary by these four artists living and working productively.

The Capital City Art Initiative’s Nevada Neighbors series of public talks presents artist and curator, Paul Baker Prindle, moderating a discussion with Megan Berner, Jonathan Farber, and Michelle Laxalt about the career paths each have chosen. Watch the talk online at https://youtu.be/HGxJgzhbIzM

Panel moderator, Paul Baker Prindle, is Director of the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum. The breadth of his curatorial work includes specialized attention to contemporary photography, LGBT and Queer art practice, contemporary art made by Indigenous Americans, and self-taught artists. As a co-curator, he has contributed to projects exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, among others. Before arriving at Kleefeld Contemporary, he was the director of the John & Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art at University of Nevada. He holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An avid gardener and outdoorsman, he lives in North Long Beach with his husband and two Great Danes. https://www.paulbakerprindle.com/

Michelle Laxalt is a multidisciplinary visual artist and Creative Director and Gallery Manager for the Forward Arts Foundation’s Swan Coach House Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned an MFA as a Welch Fellow from Georgia State University in Atlanta and a BFA from the University of Nevada, Reno. Through ceramics, textiles, and other sculptural media, Laxalt addresses the vulnerability we as humans share with other living beings. She has given artist talks at Gallery 72 and MINT Gallery in Atlanta, and has participated on artist panels at the Holland Project Gallery (Nevada), Georgia Tech (Atlanta), and Auburn University (Alabama). Upcoming group exhibitions in which Laxalt will exhibit include The Skull Show at Sheppard Contemporary (Reno, Nevada) and Generously Entangled at TSA Greenville (South Carolina). https://www.michellelaxalt.com/

Jonathan Farber earned dual degrees in Spanish and sculpture, and then a BFA in Studio Art in 2009, all at the University of Nevada, Reno. He began work towards a MFA degree at Indiana/Purdue University but returned to Reno due to a family member’s illness. Currently, Farber works as a critical care nurse at a Reno hospital and as a nurse educator at a nursing college. These jobs subsidize Farber’s art endeavors and allow him to actively make new artwork for exhibitions. Farber describes his work as “a focus on drawing in a style using markers on a medium to large scale.” He said, “My artistic style is based on meditation and the theme of infinity.” https://www.jonfarberart.com/

Megan Berner is a visual artist living and working in Reno, Nevada. She is a native Nevadan and currently works for the City of Reno as the Public Art Program Coordinator. Prior to joining the City of Reno’s Public Art Team, Megan served on the Reno Arts & Culture Commission and their Public Art Committee for four years. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa in Intermedia. Coming from a multi-disciplinary background, Megan is interested in using artwork to activate public space and create opportunities for citizens and artists to engage with the community and connect people to their environment. Megan’s work has been shown nationally and internationally and is part of multiple collections including the Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, the University of Arizona Art Museum, the University of Iowa Special Collections, and the Southern Graphics Council International Archive. https://www.meganberner.com/

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered nonprofit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The Initiative is funded by the John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Carson City Cultural Commission, U.S. Bank Foundation, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members.

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development provided additional support through its Nevada Pandemic Emergency Technical Support Grant for 2021.

top image: panel moderator, Paul Baker Prindle
left image: Megan Berner, Jonathan Farber, Michelle Laxalt
image: Career Path Panel flier