Capital City Arts Initiative

Exhibition Dates: October 23, 2023 – February 22, 2024
Exhibition Reception: Tuesday, November 7, 5 – 6:30pm, artist introduction 5:30pm
Exhibition Venue: Community Center’s Crowell Board Room, 
851 E William St, Carson City, Nevada

Art with Aloha
Exhibition in the Crowell Board Room

Jackie Pias Carlin’s art brings fresh air with tropical flora beauty to our wintery season.

Pias Carlin’s show, Art with Aloha, will be in the Community Center’s Crowell Board Room, from October 23, 2023, through February 22, 2024. CCAI will host a reception for the artist on Tuesday, November 7, 5:00 – 6:30PM with an artist introduction at 5:30PM. The Community Center is located at 851 E William Street, Carson City. 

Pias Carlin said, “This Art with Aloha exhibit represents years of my pursuance in art. I began my art career in the 1970s with candles, life drawing in charcoal and watercolors, plein air and still life in oils, pastels, residential and commercial fabric designing, weaving, and printing.” Watch Pias Carlin’s interview and gallery tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhygzXLu9Ug&t=6s

She continued, “Mokuhanga-Japanese Woodblock Prints make up most of this exhibit due to a muscle memory I encountered after carving some motifs out of bamboo kitchen utensils for a kapa triptych presented in the “First Lady’s Inaugural Art Exhibition” held in 2021 at the Governor’s Mansion. My reflexes remembered how I loved creating woodblocks in the 70s. Mokuhanga combines sketching, tracing, carving each area of color on separate woodblocks, choosing handmade papers, and hand printing in reverse with precise registration. It takes organization, patience, and the ability to accept many errors. Each print is an original.”

Other classical mediums that are shown here are from her lifelong desire to capture her visions on a 2-dimensional surface.

Pias Carlin said, “A kumu hula (hula master) interpretation of aloha goes like this: ‘alo’ is from kalo (the taro plant)-Hawai`i’s source of life, and ‘ha’ means breath. The word Aloha, has various uses in the world such as hello, goodbye, and love. It also means compassion, spirit, share, kindness, and more. Thus, Aloha means breath of life, too. Accept my Aloha in this exhibition to you.”

Pias Carlin was born on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The combined influences from Asia, continental U.S., Europe, and the native-Hawaiian culture shaped her perspectives in traditions, ethnic foods, and a world-view of art. She spent two years (2003 – 2004) at Oxford University in England for her master’s degree in English. This graduate program was part of the Bread Loaf School of English in Middlebury College, Ripton, VT. Her book, Spirit of the Village: A Maui Memoir was published in 2005; the book is still in print and available. She left Maui and moved to Carson City in 2015 to be closer to family. Her website link is https://jackiepiascarlin.com/

Mark Salinas wrote an PBS Reno Art Views article, Water in the Desert, on Pias Carlin earlier in 2023; click here to read: https://www.pbsreno.org/artviews/articles-april2023/apr2123-salinas/ PBS Reno’s ARTEFFECTS program featured a segment on Carlin and her art in 2022. 

CCAI is an artist-centered not-for-profit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, illustrated talks, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The Initiative is funded by the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members.

image, right: Three Birds of Paradise, water soluble oils on canvas, 24″x18″, 2023
image, left: Bamboo, watercolor on Arches 300# rag paper, 13″x9.5″, 2020
image, right: cover of Pias Carlin’s memoir, 2005
center image: Exhibition flier