St. Mary’s Art center’s new exhibit features local & international artists

St. Mary’s Art & Retreat Center is offering an afternoon of music, food, wine and art from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the opening reception of its new exhibit, which features local artists and international artists who now live in the United States.

Lisa Kurt of Reno will exhibit her new children’s book illustrations. Carole-Ann Ricketts, a Reno resident originally from the United Kingdom, will show an array of monotype prints, paintings and drawings in the Art Nevada Gallery. Watercolor artist Eva Nichols, a Truckee resident originally from Denmark, will showcase her colorful landscapes in the Manogue Gallery.

Jenny Valloric of Colorado will show an installation of weavings she created during her residence with St. Mary’s Art & Retreat Center. Limited edition print plates and her topographical stitching and ink works will also be on hand. Valloric’s works can be seen in the Meinecke Gallery and on the fourth floor in the Resident Artist gallery space. In the Van Bokkelen gallery space, paintings by Fallon’s Gil Martin will be featured. Martin works on large-scale canvases and pigments direct from the earth around the Comstock area.

Live entertainment will be provided by San Francisco’s Paula Frazer and Tarnation as well as Steven Ryan Christie. Food by Canvas Café, a new restaurant in Virginia City, will be available.

For more information about events at St. Mary’s Art & Retreat Center, go to http://stmarysartcenter.org/calendar/, or email info@stmarysartcenter.org.

St. Mary’s Art and Retreat Center is located in the historic Virginia City Hospital, 55 North R St. It opened in 1876 and was operated by the Daughters of Charity. The four-floor building closed in the 1940s and was reopened in 1964 as an art center. Its rooms provide gallery space, rooms for art workshops, and accommodations for visiting artists.

The center is part of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark, one of the largest landmarks in the nation. A nonprofit, it depends on donations to keep its programs running. Donations are also being used to restore the building’s original wooden floors. To make a donation, send checks to St. Mary’s Art & Retreat Center, P.O. Box 396, Virginia City 89440, or donate online at www.stmarysartcenter.org.