Nevada Museum of Art
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The Nevada Museum of Art, located at 160 West Liberty Street in Reno, Nevada, is the only American Association of Museums (AAM) accredited art museum in the state of Nevada. The Museum moved into a larger, four-story structure in 2003, designed by architect Will Bruder.
Mission Statement The Nevada Museum of Art provides a forum for the presentation of creative ideas. The museum aspires to serve as a cultural resource for every member of the community. Through innovative programming and scholarship, the Museum provides the opportunity for people of all ages to encounter, engage, and enjoy a diversity of art experiences. To implement this mission the museum concentrates on four areas: Collections which reflect five focus areas centered on the aesthetic articulation of our land and environment; Education programs to stimulate artistic development for adults and children; Exhibitions including original documentation and scholarship of regional, national, and international impact related to the collections and educational missions of the NMA; Community Outreach through special events, new audience development, and social support to develop stronger ties to the community.
-- The NMA Board of Trustees, November 1996
History The first visual arts organization to establish itself in Nevada, the Nevada Museum of Art was founded in 1931 as the Nevada Art Gallery by Dr. James Church and Charles F. Cutts. With Cutts’ bequest of his Ralston Street home and collection in 1949, the Gallery obtained a facility and the foundation of its permanent collection. The Nevada Art Gallery remained largely a volunteer organization until 1975, when the Board of Trustees hired two art historians and began to improve upon the quality of the collection, exhibitions, and programming.
In 1978, the Nevada Art Gallery purchased the Hawkins House, a national historic landmark building. Located on Court Street overlooking Reno's Truckee River, the house was designed by Elmer Grey and commissioned in 1911 by Nevada banker and lawyer, Prince Hawkins. Upon moving into the Hawkins House, the organization's name was changed to the Sierra Nevada Museum of Art. At this time, the museum formed a museum school and started ARTLINKS, an innovative outreach program serving elementary schools throughout the region.
In 1981, The Museum established an endowment to finance future operations. In 1988, the E. L. Wiegand Foundation provided the Sierra Nevada Museum of Art with a new 15,000 square foot facility, and the institution was renamed the Nevada Museum of Art. Since then, the NMA has received accreditation from the American Association of Museums, a credential held by only 10% of the nation’s 8,500 museums that have met the highest standards in the museum profession. In 1993, the NMA built the E. L. Cord Museum School, a studio-classroom which allowed its educational services to expand. The museum also embarked on an ambitious program to expand its permanent collection.
In 1999, the NMA was awarded the sixth annual National Award for Museum Service by the Institute for Museum and Library Services in Washington DC. The National Award for Museum Service honors outstanding museums that demonstrate a commitment to public service with innovative programs that address social, economic, or environmental issues.
In May, 2003 the NMA opened the Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E. L. Wiegand Gallery. The museum’s new home allowed for far more ambitious exhibitions, and an expansion of the museums educational role in the community. During the first year in the new facility, over 120,000 guests visited the museum! The following pages provide several articles from local, national, and international news organizations outlining the museum’s achievements.
The permanent collection of the NMA provides a unique artistic and cultural resource for the State of Nevada. Divided into five focus areas, the collection consists of over 2,200 works of art organized around the general theme of the aesthetic articulation of the environment in American art.
Principal Activities
The Nevada Museum of Art serves as a cultural resource for all people in a vast geographical region of the northwestern United States. The NMA serves both returning visitors (70%) and, due to the region’s core businesses of recreation and hotel-casinos, 30% of NMA’s first-time visitors are tourists.
The NMA’s core services reflect the areas of concentration defined in the mission statement:
• Forum for the presentation of creative ideas – The NMA provides an abundance of services to diverse audiences. Adult programs are scheduled for weekend or evening hours to accommodate working people. School services are offered throughout the year including the summer months, and youth programs such as Art Camp are held during school vacations. The NMA also provides workshops for children in conjunction with adult programs, making participation easier for single parents. “Free Sundays,” supported by the Sierra Pacific Resource Foundation, allows visitors with limited incomes, large families, and groups to benefit from NMA’s resources regardless of ability to pay. The NMA also provides meeting spaces to various community organizations including the Community Foundation, American Institute of Architects, the Rotary Club and others.
Collections – The permanent collection of the NMA provides a unique artistic and cultural resource for the State of Nevada. Divided into five focus areas, the collection consists of over 1,400 works of art organized around the general theme of the aesthetic articulation of the environment in American art.
The Altered Landscape is the NMA’s largest and newest focus collection and features over 600 pieces of contemporary landscape photography. The collection traces the 1970s New Topographics tradition through its development over the past two decades and much of the imagery focuses on the topography of the new West. Over 40 artists are represented in the collection including large bodies of work by Robert Adams, Mark Klett, John Pfahl, Frank Gohlke, Peter Goin, and Robert Dawson. In 1998, a $400,000 endowment for future Altered Landscape acquisitions was established through the generosity of the Carol Franc Buck Foundation. In 1999, a major book on the collection was published by the University of Nevada Press.
The museum’s rapidly expanding Contemporary Collection is devoted primarily to work by West Coast and Nevada-based artists. The emphasis is on environmental art, Pop Art, assemblage, and installation art, represented by works of Michael Heizer, Michael Sarich, Wayne Thiebaud, and Danae Anderson. The NMA’s newest major acquisition for this collection is Engagement by Dennis Oppenheim, temporarily installed at McKinley Art & Culture Center.
The Sierra Nevada/Great Basin Collection surveys the art of our region, allowing NMA’s visitors the opportunity to explore their visual heritage. With this collection, the museum documents how artists have interpreted the landscape over the past 150 years through the works of Timothy O’Sullivan, John Henry Hill, Maynard Dixon, Carleton Watkins, Edward Weston, and others.
The Historical Collection is a survey of American art from the late 19th century through the 1970s. Founded through a major bequest by Charles Cutts in 1949, the collection has grown through donations and select purchases. The core of the collection dates from 1900 to 1945, with works by Stuart Davis, Maynard Dixon, Charlie Dye, and Edward Borein. A 1998 gift from Wells Fargo of 49 prints and paintings expanded the collection’s post-1945 work to include pieces by Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Motherwell, Sam Francis, Rauschenberg, and Christo.
The E. L. Wiegand Collection was founded with a generous gift to support acquisitions around the theme of the “work ethic” in American art. In 1999 and 2000 works by Frank Van Sloun, Lovell Birge Harrison, Guy Pene du Bois, and Frank Sourwein were purchased for this growing collection.
Education – The NMA is an important educational resource for the entire community. It initiates School Service Programs to students from elementary to university level. The Washoe County School District encompasses over 6,000 square miles, yet offers no visual art instruction at the elementary level. The NMA’s School Service Program is the only arts curriculum available to students, and provides valuable hands-on exposure to the visual arts.
NMA also serves the University of Nevada, Reno and surrounding community colleges by working with faculty to utilize exhibitions, programs, and expertise of NMA staff members to compliment curriculum and collaborate in the presentation of guest speakers and symposia. In total, over 6,000 students participate in the NMA’s School Service Program annually. In addition, the E. L. Cord Museum School provides state-certified classes to teachers, and offers studio and art history courses otherwise unavailable in the community.
Exhibitions – NMA presents major exhibitions of such renowned artists as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Edward Hopper, Dennis Oppenheim, and Ansel Adams. The NMA has produced significant traveling shows and award-winning publications based on its permanent collection, such as From Exploration to Conservation: Picturing the Sierra Nevada and The Altered Landscape. With every exhibition, the NMA develops quality educational programming and links with community resources including the University of Nevada’s Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities, Desert Research Institute, and The Wilderness Society.
Community Outreach – NMA seeks to serve the entire community in all of its diversity. NMA achieves this goal by targeting specific community groups. One example is “First Thursday,” a promotional effort launched with a local radio station and designed to attract younger audiences while promoting evening hours. “First Thursday” now attracts an average of 900 guests, largely consisting of college students and young professionals.
The Museum participates in the Scholastic Art Awards program by providing secondary school students from northern Nevada a place to exhibit their works. A Museum school provides various art classes to help develop art related skills for artists and teachers.
