ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS

Dayton Valley Days

The 26th annual Dayton Valley Days street festival is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the heart of Old Town Dayton.

Kick off Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast prepared by the local Kiwanis Club from 7:30 to 10 a.m. in front of the Dayton Community Center.

Then scope-out the perfect spot along historic Pike Street to watch the parade that starts at 10 a.m.

Following Saturday’s parade the Gold Creek Show n’ Shine will assemble on Main Street with collectable vehicles including customs, classics, tuners, muscle cars, rods, antiques, sports cars and those under construction.

Over at the Dayton Events Center (rodeo grounds) the action continues at 3 p.m. with the Smackdown Bull Riding competition, dirt bike barrel racing and mutton bustin’. Discounted tickets can be purchased in advance at the Chamber of Commerce and Gold Canyon Cafe in Dayton and at the Antique Mall in Mound House. Tickets will also be available at the gate.

Throughout the weekend there’s a silent auction featuring everything from trips and overnight stays to collectables and trinkets.

The ICS-sanctioned Chili and Salsa Cook-Off also are scheduled both Saturday and Sunday.

Also included is live entertainment, a free Kids Zone featuring the Pinewood Derby; .Railroad Days at the depot on Main Street and U.S. 50 will feature a saloon, period food, gold panning and a blacksmith demonstration.

On Sunday the free annual Pet Parade highlights a variety of critters strolling down Pike Street.

There are awards for winners in several categories.

Also featured Sunday is the Ghost Riders Motorcycle Show-n-Shine on Main Street.

Don’t miss ushering in autumn on the streets of historic Old Town Dayton Sept. 20 and 21 while helping the community support local charities and preservation of the historic Dayton Community Center.

An evening of comedy

Students from the Advanced Theatre class will present an evening of comedy sketches from BYU TV’s Studio C tonight in the CCHS Theatre starting at 7 p.m..

The sketches include “Weight Matters,” “Marcus Picks Up Chicks,” “Sidous Says N,” “TMNT,” “Junior High,” and “Skinnylicous.”

Admission to this fun evening of clean comedy is only $1 per person.

Native history and language

Nevada Sage Waldorf School and The Discovery are sponsoring a cultural event for Truckee Meadows residents.

Northern Paiute elder and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow Ralph Burns will be featured in a storytelling event on Saturday at The Discovery.

Burns will bring native history and language to life through his storytelling which will highlight Pyramid Lake themes. The event will also feature Native American dance troupe Pudu Nugadu from Pyramid Lake High School. They will perform Great Basin Pageant and Powwow style dances including the jingle dress dance.

“This event is a wonderful way to keep our rich local culture alive for our young people,” said Kelli Anastassatos of Nevada Sage Waldorf School.

This event is being funded in part by Nevada Humanities and is being presented in conjunction with the Pyramid Lake Museum & Visitor Center and Pyramid Lake High School.

WNC Fallon art exhibit

What some might see as junk may become Tom Robinson’s next colorful canvas.

The long-time Fallon resident and artisan can evoke creative expression using an item that many would discard, or an instrument not normally used.

“Tom Robinson: New Work” exhibition is featured in the Virgil Getto Hall Art Gallery through Oct. 4 at Western Nevada College Fallon Campus.

The collection includes Robinson’s latest abstract paintings along with several sculptures.

“Tom uses discarded house-paint can — cans included, surplus canvas and unconventional tools to create art with a visceral impact,” said WNC Art Professor Gil Martin.

Martin said that Robinson’s work “is tough, unpretentious, uncompromising and slyly witty, like the artist himself.”

WNC Carson City art exhibit

Monika Johnson’s en plein air landscapes require the Incline Village artist to capture the moment quickly.

Whether painting outdoors in Burgundy, France; Lake Tahoe, Virginia City or Montana, she enjoys capturing the beauty of these areas with bold color and texture.

Johnson’s artwork opens the new season at Western Nevada College’s Main Gallery in Carson City.

“Being a plein air painter, I paint outside in the natural environment and that encourages me to capture the moment quickly,” she said. “The light changes, the shadows move, the temperature changes, or the wind comes up. If I try to go back another day to the same spot, it’s just never the same.”

“Monika will be exhibiting oil paintings of landscapes executed on-site,” said WNC art professor and gallery director Gil Martin. “Direct relationship with the motif is a critical aspect of Ms. Johnson’s work. How else to perceive and respond to the ever-changing and infinite subtly of nature?”

Johnson blends her artist’s eye with a 25-year career as a hairstylist and colorist. She has been able to transition to another canvas to develop her artistry.

Much of her inspiration today comes from the beauty around her at Lake Tahoe.

Stremmel Gallery

Stremmel Gallery in Reno presents Roger Berry’s “Sculpture,” and John Salminen’s “The Rhythms of the City,” an exhibition featuring new works, opening on Sept. 25 and continuing through Oct. 25.

Berry’s large, rhythmic, knotted bands of steel and silicon bronze, contrast with and complement Salminen’s layered transparent watercolors of street scenes from great cities around the world.

The opening reception will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m., on Sept. 25 and is free.

Wilbur D. May Museum

This summer, the Wilbur D. May Museum will highlight one of Nevada’s first marketing campaigns.

Rush to Reno: Millionaires in the One Sound State explores the way state leaders targeted millionaires to move to Nevada during the 1930s and 40s.

The unique plan brought dozens of interesting characters to the Reno area, including Wilbur May, E. L. Cord, Max Fleischmann, and others. The exhibit explores the unconventional plan and its lasting impact on the state. It features original artifacts on display for the first time and new stories that will appeal to visitors of all ages.

The exhibit is at the Wilbur D. May Museum in Reno: 775-785-5961.

University art exhibit

A new art exhibit at the University of Nevada, Reno is combining creativity with reuse.

‘Reused-plus-Recycled-equals-Art’ is open through late September at UNR’s Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.

University marketing and communications coordinator Deanna Hearn said the exhibit features about 100 works made of 80 percent reused or recycled materials.

“A foot made of plastic bottles that is crushing the world,” described Hearn, “a piece of art called ‘Scully,’ who is a man made of used bicycle chains, things like ‘trashin’ fashion.’”

Hearn said ‘trashin’ fashion’ is clothing made from plastic bags and other recycled materials.

Ultimately, according to Hearn, the showing is a fun and creative way to showcase and promote the practice and lifestyle of sustainability.

“But it’s to allow them a venue to showcase their artwork,” said Hearn. “Especially to reach out, to tell the community that we’re thinking about sustainable issues here on campus.”

Hearn added that the artists are mostly university and high school art students.

“The mountains and great outdoors around my Lake Tahoe home provide me with endless creative vision, and I love the fact that no two days — in fact, no two hours or minutes — are ever the same,” she said. “Light glows and fades, shadows weave in and out, the weather does its mischievous dance, and so I am challenged to work quickly to capture the moment, knowing I’ll never have the same opportunity again.”

The graduate of Suffolk University in Boston began her art career by painting still lifes in acrylic, then transitioned to figures before gravitating to en plein air.

To develop her skills, Johnson has completed art workshops with Gregory Kondos at Sierra Nevada College, Kit Night at the Sacramento Fire Arts Center and Wanda Mumm in Glacier National Park; studied with Antonin Passemard in France; and learned from Andy Kaff, Leslie Saeta and Jean LeGassick.

Her artwork has been displayed with the M Studio, the Markleeville Library, Wilbur D. May Museum, North Tahoe Arts, Liberty Fine Arts, Reno Little Theater and Saint Mary’s Art Center.