Nevada Museum of Art is Reno Show Place
Collection of Great Basin Art, Traveling Exhibits Attract Art Lovers
Reno’s Nevada Museum of Art (NMA) is a traffic-stopper. The entrance at 160 W. Liberty Street gleams with glass and stainless steel. Along Hill Street, a dynamic 250-foot-long exterior wall, clad with creased and folded Anthra-Zinc (a material that combines anthracite coal and zinc) climbs upward 68 feet. It’s the fourth building to house the museum’s collection and was completed in 2004.
Architect Will Bruder of Phoenix credits Nevada’s Black Rock Desert as his inspiration for the museum, which features more than 15,000 square feet of gallery space. Trained as a sculptor, Bruder apprenticed with architects including Paolo Solari.
Museum History
Oldest arts organization in the state, the Nevada Art Museum was established in 1931 as the Nevada Art Gallery. Through the years, the museum has become best known for its school classes and tours and for attracting quality exhibitions of works by such artists as the Russian-born costume designer, Erte, and Washington state’s master designer of glass, Dale Chihuly. In addition to making great art more accessible to northern Nevada residents, the new museum has become a major tourist attraction.
Receptions and a Restaurant
Filled with light, the ground level centers around a large atrium created for receptions and parties – including wine tastings and jazz buffets throughout the year -- and gathering together tour groups. Steps away, you can shop for out-of-the-ordinary items at the 897-square-foot museum store; stop at the 54-seat Café Musee for light fare such as individual grilled pizzas topped with arugula/ proscuitto salad or roast beef and green apple sandwiches with horseradish dressing. Also on the ground level, the 180-seat Wayne & Miriam Prim Theater, with its vari-colored seats and intriguingly irregular wall, has been designed for live performances, lectures, recitals and films.
Second Level Galleries
The building’s spectacular central staircase leads to the five second-level galleries where, for the first time in the museum’s history, NMA’s permanent collection can be displayed on a rotating basis. In 1990, the museum began acquiring what has become its signature collection -- contemporary landscape photographs that focus on human interaction with the environment. Called “Altered Landscapes,” the collection includes 600 photos by Patrick Nagatani, Mark Klett, Wanda Hammerbeck, Richard Misrach and other cultural landscape photographers.
World-Class Exhibits
The ability to mount world-class exhibits may well be NMA’s greatest asset. With a generous amount of additional gallery space on the third level, it has been able to attract major traveling exhibitions that formerly couldn’t be accommodated because of their size. The first of the traveling exhibitions “Diego Rivera and Twentieth Century Mexican Art,” which heralded the museum’s opening, has been followed by an eclectic array ranging from representational art to the impressionists.
The Sculpture Gardens
Despite its indoor attractions, the museum’s glass-walled roof garden on the fourth level may turn out to be everybody’s favorite place. Benches, greenery and the garden’s Nightengale Sculpture Gallery seem ideal for midday relaxation, and the rooftop views of the surrounding cityscape and majestic Sierra Nevada are as good as art gets.
More outdoor art in the Wilbur D. May Sculpture Plaza at the building’s northwest corner includes Celeste Roberge’s “Cairn,” an exo-skeletal of anodized steel and Truckee River rock; a sit-upon sculpture spelling out the words “Inhale/Exhale” by New York sculptor Nancy Dwyer, and a a larger-than-life bronze horse by Deborah Butterfield, commissioned specifically for the plaza.
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Thursdays until 8 p.m. Closed national holidays; $10; adults. Café Musee open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (brunch served Saturday and Sunday).
Museum was designed by architect Will Broder
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