Churchill County High School teacher Amanda Hammond stands by her students’ art projects, which are now on exhibit at the Western Nevada College through April 21.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
A student display of various art had a community reception Thursday at Western Nevada College’s Fallon campus.
Entitled “Whisperings of the Nevada Desert,” the exhibit primarily features paintings and other pieces depicting Nevada’s culture. The exhibit will be available for public viewing through April 21 followed by another exhibit featuring WNC students.
Amanda Hammond, an art teacher at Churchill County High School, said a showcase of her students’ art hasn’t been done before at WNC. She said the 30 artists are involved.
“We had this idea a while ago,” she said during the reception. “We have never done anything with the arts classes at the high school where the students are highlighted, so I wanted to do something with them.”
The idea evolved in various artwork that depicted scenes from Nevada. Hammond said the students wanted to work toward showing their artwork and retained their artistic choice.
“This year, we’ve been concentrating on the students finding their voice and creating art that really speaks to them,” she said.
Hammond brings an unique perspective to art and to her students. Becoming an art teacher wasn't in her plans when she attended the University of Nevada, Reno. She earned Bachelor of Science degrees in business administration and accounting 15 years ago and then worked in the financial firms. That all changed after a conversation.
“Jaime Shafer, the former art teacher, was my neighbor, and I was working from home at the time. She said we (CCHS) have a part-time art teacher opening,” said Hammond, a 2002 CCHS graduate.
Hammond applied and was hired, but because she had the math background, she also taught algebra. After Shafer left Fallon, Hammond slid into her full-time art position.
Several of her art students attended the reception. Myles Coatney enjoys the rustic beauty of Nevada and shows it in his exhibits although he had other unique paintings on display. He said the desert gives him inspiration as he takes a look at what others take for granted.
“I take what the desert means to us,” Coatney said. “It’s a different ecosystem out there. Everything relies on each other.”
Coatney said he also enjoys spending time in the desert around Fallon. He had a fascination with the caves near Grimes Point east of Fallon and explored the cave system.
“It’s a crazy experience to see what the desert can give us. It’s on the side of our road, but we don’t look at it anymore,” he said. “I feel like a lot of beauty is in repetition, but otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone out to the desert and taken all of those pictures.”
Coatney said the desert stretches in all directions.
“There’s beauty on all directions,” he added.
Trinity Tohannie, though took a different approach with her artwork and received inspiration from Robert Ross, an American painter and PBS-TV personality who taught viewers how to paint.
“I have two pieces I’m proud of,” she said. “It took forever (to complete) and a lot of believing in myself which I’m not good at.”
Tohannie said she wanted to try something new and crafted the Clown Motel sign on felt. The Clown Motel is located in Tonopah.
“I was inspired by scary stories, and I couldn’t find anything else in Nevada,” she added.