Capital City Arts Initiative

Artist’s Reception: Saturday, June 4, 4-6pm
Exhibition Dates: June 4 – 26, 2011
Exhibition Venue: Saint Mary’s Art Center, 55 North R Street, Virginia City, Nevada

Mark Neucollins’ A Thousand Ways
CCAI at St. Mary’s

CCAI presents artist Mark NeuCollins’ residency exhibition at St. Mary’s Art Center [SMAC] in Virginia City. Each spring, CCAI collaborates with SMAC to produce a two-week artist residency and exhibition. This year CCAI and SMAC hosted Mark NeuCollins from the Iowa heartland to experience life and art-making on the Comstock. Katie Grace McGowan wrote the exhibition essay “An Exquisite Balance” available in the gallery and soon online. The exhibition is open to the public Friday – Sunday, 11am – 4pm, through June 26.

NeuCollins’ installation uses local natural materials, with a large earth mandala on the floor forming the centerpiece created from Virginia City’s vivid native soils. Hanging paper made from sage brush and a gate made from branches adds to the sense of transition and ephemerality. NeuCollins said about the exhibition, “This is a meditation on the environment and our existence within it. By gathering local materials and making these materials the focus of the installation, I hope to create a sense of reverence for the beauty that surrounds us every day.”