Carson High School teacher putting on art display at Carson City Community Center

The Capital City Arts Initiative will host a reception for Carson High art teacher Michael Malley’s exhibition, Silver State Swimmer, from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

Malley, who will give a brief talk about his work at 5:30 p.m., said his work is heavily influenced by the wilderness, and the Sierra in particular.

Using the Lahontan cutthroat trout as a muse, he focused his sculptures and drawings on this iconic and threatened species.

For Malley, the Lahontan cutthroat trout, Nevada’s state fish, represents the wilderness and the resources Westerners treasure. This freshwater native lives land-locked in the driest state in the union. Honoring heroes is an ancient role for an artist. Malley feels often our heroes are human, sometimes they are other spirits, which he honors through his art.

Malley illustrates this reverence through his drawings, paintings, and sculptures. He uses graphite, ink, gouache, and oils to create his drawings and paintings, and uses woodwork, ceramics, leather, and oxidized copper to build his sculptures.

Malley has taught Art at Carson High School since 2006. In 2000, he earned a bachelor’s in Art/Painting from the University of Nevada, Reno, and earned a teaching credential from Sierra Nevada College in 2006. His show, Fifty-Seven Saints, with historically-based mixed media pieces, was in UNR’s McNamara Gallery in 2000. Malley lives in Gardnerville.

Previously, Malley studied Illustration at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, and did special effects work for Disney Animation on feature films “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and “Hercules,” 1996-1997.

During his active military service from 1986 to 1990 and reserve service and activated reserve deployments from 1994 to 2010 with the U.S. Navy, Malley served as a Draftsman/Illustrator for the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet and worked with the Public Affairs Officer in Philadelphia. Locally, he has worked as a portrait and sketch artist in Lake Tahoe on the M.S. Dixie, Tahoe Queen.

The Sierra Room is open for visitors to see the exhibits from noon to 5 p.m. Fridays as well as during the city’s public meetings. The exhibition continues through Nov. 10.

For Sierra Room access, call 775-283-7421, or check meeting schedules at www.carson.org/government/meetings-and-events.

For additional information about CCAI, go to www.arts-initiative.org.