Art: Art fans, unite

By Erika Yowell

October's First Friday event in the downtown arts district received a ton of press, and rightly so. As evidenced by the increasing numbers and varied demographics of people seen downtown of late, Las Vegas' art scene is, perhaps for the first time in history, being acknowledged by those outside the artists' immediate social circles.

Exhibit A in support of this development can be found in a newly created art organization. Called the Young Collectors Council and inaugurated by an informational meeting at the Venetian's Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in August, the group is designed to gather the area's art enthusiasts together for monthly gatherings at specially chosen art collections around town. In addition to these opportunities for enrichment and socializing among fellow art buffs, annual dues paid to the YCC also include a year-long membership to the Guggenheim- Hermitage.

Around the end of August, it looked like the YCC might not get its 50-person quorum specified by Guggenheim Hermitage Director Elizabeth Herridge as the minimum number of participants needed to get this sort of organization off the ground. At the information session earlier in the month, Herridge had said there was an unmet desire for a social and educational outlet among Las Vegas' younger art aficionados. By the beginning of September, she was proved justified in her appraisal of Las Vegas' artsters, and the YCC was off and running.

September's gathering included a private tour of the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art's Monet exhibition, on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Local found-object assemblage artist and UNLV MFA graduate Curtis Fairman delivered a thoughtful discourse on Monet's oeuvre, proving that a predilection for fashioning space-age objets out of plastic and chrome doesn't preclude one from enjoying some of the contemporary public's most easily digestible art.

October offers YCC members a double feature of activities. Last Friday, the group headed over to the new Godt-Cleary Projects space on Main Street for a private reception with Dennis Hopper preceding the VIP opening party for his current show. Later this month, Tim Bavington and Kim Crisostomo will open their home to the group, which will not only give the YCC a glimpse of the couple's illustrious art collection, but provide a peek behind the curtain into the home studio of art star Bavington. If the first two months of the YCC's schedule are any indication, Las Vegas' young collectors are in for an enriching year.

For more information about the YCC, call Elizabeth Herridge at the Guggenheim-Hermitage at 414-2002.