Jim McCormick on the History of the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada

Thinking Small: the History of The Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada
Jim McCormick
February 2008

Miniature: adj. being on a small or greatly reduced scale.

Origins

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

That was the first response I heard from an artist after he learned that all work to be submitted to the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada back in 1994 could be no larger than 4 square inches.

“But, that’s only 2 by 2 inches.”

“That’s right,” I said, and the puzzled artist walked away muttering, yet apparently challenged.

The idea of a miniature exhibit first intrigued me in 1969 when I entered and was accepted to the International Miniature Print Exhibition at the Pratt Graphics Center in New York City. I must admit to my initial doubts about working within the 4 square inches required for that competitive exhibit. When I finally had an opportunity to view the Pratt catalog and read the list of prominent artists who had also been included, I became a convert to “miniature.”

In May of 1982, I curated the first Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada. This exhibit opened in the Student Union Alumni Lounge on the University of Nevada, Reno campus and traveled to several venues across Nevada during the following year. It had been judged by Concord, California painter and art teacher Guy Diehl, and, in addition to awarding a Best of Show, he selected eight artists to be award winners. I can recall how encouraged I was by the enthusiasm this show had generated among the artists … and their audience.

I Gold and Silver

Fast forward 12 years, to 1994, when, for reasons I cannot exactly recall, the idea of another miniature show came up. Probably it was during conversations with Peggy Riley, a former student in my printmaking classes at UNR and one-time owner of the Riley-McMaster art gallery in Sparks. The renewed interest in the show was shared with Dennis Thieme, a friend of Peggy’s, and a proposal for an exhibit rapidly made its way to the Sierra Arts Foundation. There, the idea found a receptive audience in Pat Smith, Executive Director of the Foundation and staff member Christine Orr.

Early discussions regarding the miniature show at Sierra Arts focused on the exhibit’s title and a theme. The debate was liveliest when it came to using Biggest Little in the title. To some, it was an overused, obsolete slogan. To others, its relationship to the unique size of works in the proposed exhibit seemed too good to pass up. Finally, it was decided that the title would be the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada. Lengthy conversations about a specific theme followed; participants surveyed the state for its unique and common features. Gaming and mining dominated the discussion; ecological issues and the character of its people were also examined. The committee wanted artists to deal with a topic that had both graphic possibilities and presented them with an ideational challenge. Finally, Gold and Silver was selected – with full knowledge that if the miniature show became a regular event on the Sierra Arts exhibition schedule, this exploratory conversation would take place again.

When the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada: Gold and Silver opened at the Sierra Arts Foundation Flint Street headquarters on the evening of November 21, 1994, the gallery and adjacent rooms were packed to capacity, the faces of attendees leaning close to the diminutive images on the walls.

The list of sponsors on the large black and white poster that was published for the first show included Glamas Gold, Inc, Independence Mining Company, Babette McCormick, Newmont Exploration, Royal Gold, Inc. and Reno Consulting Geologist Roger Steininger, who was responsible for obtaining the financial support of the mining companies.

The selection of a judge for the exhibit was based on two criteria. First, he or she had to be from out of state. It was important that this person be unfamiliar with Nevada artists. Second, the judge had to come with a substantial set of credentials – either as an exhibiting artist or as an administrator with a recognized arts organization. For this first Biggest Little show, painter Danae Anderson from Truckee, California was engaged; even though Truckee was 32 miles west of Reno, Anderson’s career had, to that point, not been involved with the northern Nevada art scene to the extent it would years later

Anderson selected ten $100 award winners from 120 submissions. What seemed most intriguing was a wide variety of interpretations Gold and Silver had elicited. Joan Arrizabalaga’s delicately beaded “Biggest Little Slot Machine” stood in sharp contrast to Wendy Thomas Felling’s vigorous and vertical 1 x 4 inch “Mother Lode, or Mother Loaded.” While the show’s producers didn’t know for certain, they suspected that Jorden Dail, who created the whimsical “Gold Digger,” was less than ten years old. Not unexpectedly, there were a few who grumbled audibly when they learned they had not been awarded one of the prizes.

II Desert and Dice

The decision two years later to revisit the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada seemed a natural – given the overall success of the 1994 version. Essentially the same team that produced Gold and Silver: Christine Orr of Sierra Arts – McCormick, Riley, Thieme, plus McCormick’s wife, Loretta Terlizzi, were the show’s movers and shakers. Again, at several early meetings, a variety of possible themes was tossed around. The committee took this part of its deliberations seriously, knowing that a theme that didn’t engage the artist’s imaginations would fall flat. When Desert And Dice was agreed upon, it was felt there was not only an alliterative ring to the title but also a conceptual whiplash to it – the open expanse of the Nevada desert against two white geometric solids with black dots.

The financial backers for Desert and Dice were both, in a sense, close to home: Babette McCormick, this writer’s mother, and RenoAir, Thieme’s employer at the time. As with the first exhibit, the poster credited “the Nevada State Council on the Arts and the Commission on Tourism, both state agencies” with grant support.

As works of art began to arrive, it became apparent that some entrants had not read the exhibition prospectus with all due care. None were rejected because their images had nothing to do with the theme, but more than a few exceeded the 4 square inch maximum, and were returned. Other entries were more sculptural, projecting too far off the picture plane. Those that arrived late were likewise returned. Calls to Sierra Arts from disconsolate artists who had works returned were fielded by volunteers who listened to their plaints and diplomatically tried to deflect their frustrations.

For judge, the committee brought in lithographer Cynthia Archer. Archer, who, with her husband Will Petersen, owned and printed for the Plucked Chicken Press, a fine art lithographic workshop in Chicago. The excitement that had been generated by Silver and Gold led to a doubling of entries in Desert and Dice. Archer’s work as judge stretched out to several hours as she pored over several hundred entries. Again, she had ten awards to give and they had been raised to $150 each.

Desert and Dice prompted artists to explore a variety of stylistic points of view. Ingrid Evans’s “Watering Holes,” was a kind of word association game, a collage of crisscrossed names of Reno area casinos. “Serpents on a Stroll Thru the Desert,” by John Tresise, was a beaded study of desert terrain with two miniature dice in the foreground. Dayton artist, Art Herman, painted “Tonopah Arch.” It depicted a highway that stretched into the distance with dice positioned on the centerline, and a huge jack rabbit arched over the road. Jacqueline Just of Incline Village won an award for “Snake Eyes,” a cartoon-like image featuring a gang of rattlers, dollar bills clinched in their tails, all peering down at a pair of dice – snake eyes!
Between November 18 and December 31, 1996, the Sierra Art Foundation gallery was crammed with 157 miniatures, wall to wall, floor to ceiling. The crowd that gathered for the opening reception probably exceeded occupancy limits; fortunately, a fire marshall never appeared.

III Playing with a Full Deck

Change was in the air as planning started for the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada III. The theme, Playing with a Full Deck, was quickly selected by McCormick, Riley and the Sierra Arts staff, including Jill Berryman, Bill Kolton and Rick Woods. The 4 square inch limit was dispatched in favor of 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, the size of a standard playing card. In fact, each show prospectus had an actual playing card affixed to it – to be used as the working surface for the artist’s entry – or not.

For the first time, artists were asked to submit their miniatures unmatted and unframed. The Playing with a Full Deck budget included funds for framing each of the 52 works accepted into the show, and reasonably priced frames were obtained from Nevada Fine Arts.

The judge, D. R. Wagner, a highly respected Sacramento artist known for his miniature needlepoint tapestries, was a fine choice to judge the competition. He took his assignment seriously, lingering over entries, constantly shifting cards on a large table turning some over, drawing others close, until he handed over his winning “deck” of 52. The ten award winners were set aside, to be processed with letters of congratulations and $150 checks.

Playing with a Full Deck was an impressive exhibition. The artists had come forward with gaming-related symbols in strange juxtapositions – unsettling surrealism. Cheryl Tenk’s award winning depiction of a Queen lighting a cigarette while laying down a dollar bill conveyed the sense of suffocation in a smoke-filled casino. The lower half of Sharon Maczko’s watercolor revealed a table covered with an unfinished game of solitaire. Through a window above, a solitary white-faced cow stood in a field of yellow grass staring back at the card player. Jeff Hickman’s 8 of spades gave viewers eight separate portraits of Humphrey Bogart, a reference, no doubt, to Rick’s gaming house in Casablanca.

The exhibit’s curators had both a strong inclination and means to enlarge the Biggest Little III poster and, for the first time, it was to be printed in color. Highly regarded fine art and commercial photographer, Jeff Dow, accepted the call to photograph the cards. One afternoon, the cards were delivered to Jeff’s studio, where they were meticulously spaced on a large table, carefully lit and a photograph made. A copy of the striking poster was given to each exhibitor on the evening of the opening.

Between December 14, 1998 and January 22, 1999, Playing with a Full Deck attracted a large audience of appreciative viewers, the last time a Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada would be held in the Flint Street gallery. Many pieces were sold before the exhibit hit the road for showings around the state, including the opera house in Eureka, Nevada.

IV Legends and Legacies

The fourth installment of the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada opened on November 19, 2001. Members of the northern Nevada arts community may recall that just two months before the Sierra Arts Foundation had celebrated the grand opening of the Artist’s Lofts in the old Riverside Hotel. However, the show was important enough for Sierra Arts to forge ahead with plans for Legends and Legacies during their move from Flint Street, and, thus, retained the show’s biennial status.

By Legends and Legacies, McCormick and Riley had departed the scene, giving over the curatorial reigns to the staff of Sierra Arts. Stacy Spain, Sierra Arts Program Director, assumed responsibility for the management of the exhibit.

According to the prospectus for the show, Legends and Legacies offered Nevada artists an opportunity to explore “celebrated, famous and infamous” characters in Nevada history. The size requirement remained essentially the same as a playing card, and, again, the call for artists asked that entries be submitted unframed.

Sierra Arts almost adhered to the policy of bringing in judges with little or no connection with Nevada artists when Mick Sheldon was selected to judge Legends and Legacies. Sheldon had received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UNR in 1979, and went on for graduate degrees from California State University, Sacramento and University of California, Davis. He had previously served as artist-in-residence for Sierra Arts and the Nevada Arts Council.

The distribution of awards differed from previous exhibitions. First place was awarded to Tim Guthrie, chair of the art department at Western Nevada Community College in Fallon. Wellington painter Reiko Hervin received the second place award, and UNR graduate Loren Staley took third. Because of time constraints, a poster was not printed for Legends and Legacies.

V Nevada: the Energy Within

To many Nevada artists, the theme: Nevada: the Energy Within was perplexing. It offered few, if any, visual clues. It may be that, because of its ambiguity, each of the 87 artists who submitted works had to dig deep – to arrive at a plausible image.

The exhibition prospectus tried to ease the uncertainty by stating, “This theme may suggest a variety of images related to our natural resources, thriving arts communities, bright lights and neon of our casino districts, energy or other topics as the artist sees fit.”

Judge John Winet noted in his juror’s statement that he was impressed with the “diversity of ideas, media and conceptual approaches in the work, often untethered by the traditional conventions of art practice.” From Winet’s perspective, the artists reflected “exemplary aesthetics, craft, conceptual integrity, intelligence, optimism, and best of all, promise.”

Ezra Dame’s “Green Thrust” featured a man’s shirt made from a dollar bill, folded origami style, against a dark backdrop; the shirt had an air of strict formality that seemed to sanctify the almighty dollar. “Shake It Up!” by Shawn Lemmon also featured a dollar bill and the Nevada state seal in the upper left hand corner. In place of Washington, the artist placed smirking bartender shaking up a drink. Jorge Cartoni received an award for “The Constant Vitality,” an abstract image with colorful calligraphic brushwork that spoke of the frenetic energy that characterizes his home town – Las Vegas.

Winet, professor of Intermedia in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa and cofounder of Capital City Arts Initiative (CCAI) in Carson City, selected 50 works for the show. In a move that heightened the notion of miniature, the show’s curators hung a magnifying glass on a string directly below each picture. Viewers, even if they didn’t use the actual glasses, were made more aware of the challenge artists faced when creating images on such a small scale. The old adage, “more is better,” did not hold up well when examining works in Nevada: the Energy Within.

Liz Harrington, Program Director for Sierra Arts, guided Nevada: the Energy Within. An entry fee of $10 was charged, $5 less than the previous Biggest Little show. A color poster for the exhibit was reintroduced; the ten $100 award winners were featured in their exact size.

Following its run between November 15, 2005 and January 7, 2006 at Sierra Arts, Nevada: the Energy Within moved on to Las Vegas, to the gallery in the offices of Nevada Power, one of the show’s major underwriters.

VI Nevada Wide Open

This essay celebrates the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada on the occasion of its sixth variation. It has consistently been a magnet for Nevada artists who are not intimidated when it comes to thinking small, to creating at least one miniature image every other year. Yes, artists may dwell momentarily in a state of suspended imagination when a theme like Nevada Wide Open comes along. However, the quality of past exhibitions suggests that initial puzzlement has often given way to fresh and powerful solutions. MaLynda Poulsen-Jones, in her judge’s commentary on Nevada Wide Open, correctly identifies “sincere vulnerability” as a way through which an artist arrives at his or her own best narrative.

A miniature work of art can sometimes convey a sense of monumentality that dwarfs images of enormous physical size.

Finally, let’s not forget that it has been the discernment and enthusiasm of the folks who have come to view the Biggest Little Art Show in Nevada since 1994 that have also propelled it forward. The audience deserves the sincere appreciation of all the participating artists and Sierra Arts.