VEGAS STREET ART AND A LITTLE MORE

March – April, 2019

We’d heard that the lively Arts District in Las Vegas was not to be missed, and that the District was home to artists’ studios and galleries, shops featuring retro clothing, antiques and stuff, as well as bars, coffee shops and restaurants geared for the hipster in you.  We love exploring that kind of neighborhood, and with a general idea of how to find the Arts District off we went to get our culture on.

How would we know that the propaganda about the Arts District left off one very important part of the scene.  As we were figuring out a place to park we noticed street art and murals all along the alleys and the side streets.  We had truly loved driving around Austin to find street art, and we were delighted during a bike tour of Tucson to find so many murals on the sides of buildings.  In some regard murals are probably found in every large or small city you can visit, and we are just beginning to discover gonzo artists everywhere.  iIt was a treat to find street art in Las Vegas!

While walking around the Arts District and taking pictures we stumbled across the front door of a sign maker worthy of a picture because of its unusual message.  As we were about to take a snapshot a voice behind us asked if we wanted to see something even more interesting.  Turned out to be the owner, aka The Vinyl Dude.  He had created a vinyl sign for his entire lobby made to look like a football field complete with hash marks, yard markers, and goal posts.  He was very proud to show us around his shop and particularly his new sign making machine.  A customer came in and it was time for us to mosey on, but The Vinyl Dude wanted to be sure we knew he would create a sign for just about any surface including a rocket ship!

Later on during our Arts District walk we passed the back door entrance to one of the older boxing gyms in Las Vegas.  One of the trainers was doing a little clean-up, and he invited us in to see the place.  How could we resist?  We were shown around, got to watch a fighter work with his trainer, and we spent a fair amount of time talking to one of the trainers who had been ranked the #6 middleweight in the late 80s-early 90s.  He told us some amazing stories about his boxing career.  Unfortunately he never did get a chance to fight for the title.  The scar tissue above his left eye and disfigured hands and fingers drew Brian’s attention as we talked fighters, how the fight game has changed, and his hope that American fighters will once again take their place as the best in the world.  We were invited to come back to see some matches in a couple of days, but unfortunately we had already made other plans.

We returned to the Arts District another time to visit some of the galleries.  The Arts Factory is home to 10 or so galleries and artists’ studios.

We had called ahead and made arrangements to visit Kat Tratz’s Wonderland Galley.  A big shout out to Kat who took time out of her day to spend a good hour talking with us about her work, and for being so wonderfully warm and welcoming.  She let us know that there are hidden objects in each of her works. Check out the 2 works below and see what you can find!

 

We tried, we really did try to visit the fine art gallery on the campus of UNLV, but the gallery was in transition.  The curator suggested that we might enjoy 2 other galleries on campus; one in the alumni building, the other in the student union.  Neither were impressive, but we did have a chance to see the statue of the UNLV Rebel and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen’s “Flashlight.”

Not be outdone by the Arts District, the downtown area is also home to a fair number of larger, building-sized murals.

And lastly the Atlas Obscura’s contribution to Las Vegas “art not to be missed” included these 3 statues.

You never know what you find until you take time to look!  We obviously saw some amazing art, had some good conversations with The Vinyl Dude, the Contender at the boxing gym and with Kat Tratz.  We thoroughly enjoyed another side of Las Vegas.

Barbara and Brian