By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Art Guild (MVAG) held a special art exhibit on March 21-22 to celebrate the beginning of its 50th anniversary year. The exhibit, which featured selected paintings from the MVAG Permanent Collection, was held at the Old Logandale School. Also featured was a group of paintings by MVAG founder and local artist/educator, Max Bunnell.
Bunnell was honored for his many years of service to the guild at a special dinner held on the opening night of the exhibit. The invitation-only dinner, which included about 75 artists, guild members and local art enthusiasts was Past presidents of the MVAG were recognized by M.C. Bruce Lund at the celebration dinner. These included Bernice Breedlove, Maria Wurtz, Joyce Jones, Jo Tame and Jana Ward.
Several of Bunnell’s friends and long-time painting companions were asked to pay tribute to Bunnell at the dinner for the work and efforts he has made over the years as an artist, teacher and founder of the MVAG.
Artist Del Parson spoke about Bunnell’s tireless work as an arts educator. He and Bunnell worked as colleagues on the Dixie College faculty. Parsons said that Bunnell’s classes and workshops at the college were always a favorite with students. “When Max would have a watercolor class, everyone would tell me about how wonderful it was,” Parsons said. “They would say that he was simply magic with watercolor.”
Bunnell has a long and distinguished career as an educator. He was recruited right out of college by then-principal, Grant Bowler, to teach in Moapa Valley schools. He began at that time with teaching all grades K-12. And he wasn’t just teaching Art. Because the local Art classes had a relatively low enrollment, he was asked to teach core classes like Nevada History and Geography.
“I didn’t like this much because I had been trained to teach art,” Bunnell said. So he decided that he had to create programs that would get more students interested in taking his art classes. He instituted an annual art show which began in the high school auditorium to show the students’ work. “The next year, my classes doubled and the art show was much bigger,” Bunnell said. “The artwork filled the auditorium and went out into the hallway as well.”
Bunnell also began including the work of local artists and also the work of artist friends from further afield in these shows. He gathered paintings and artwork from all over the western United States to be viewed by the Moapa Valley residents in his school exhibits . “When I started into this I bought a new car and I drove it 5000 miles in two weeks to pick up paintings all over the place from Logan to Laguna Beach,” Bunnell said. “Then, after the show, I took them all back.”
Bunnell was also recognized for being a community advocate for the arts. “I think that no one has done more for the Moapa Valley than Max has done,” said friend, Paul Jensen, who also spoke at the dinner. “He doesn’t get the same recognition that some of the people that put themselves out front have gotten. But he deserves a lot of credit for making this valley a better, more beautiful, place.”
The MVAG Permanent Collection was begun nearly 50 years ago by Bunnell. In an effort to raise awareness of the arts in the community, Bunnell began inviting a guest artist to come to the Moapa Valley each year to give a art demonstration. Often the artist would then leave the demo painting in care of the Art Guild as part of the Permanent Collection. Bunnell worked tirelessly in the community to raise funds to pay these artists for the demonstrations.
“You don’t know how hard it was to raise money for the arts in this valley when we first got started,” Bunnell said. In the early days of these efforts there wasn’t much business in the community that could be drawn upon for fundraising. “Trying to get the pharmacist, the two service stations, the grocery store, Glendale and Arrowhead all to donate money for art; knowing the folks that you were dealing with; it was really something to get ten bucks from one of those,” Bunnell recalled.
But, Bunnell said, the business community learned over a period of time what happened by having an artist demonstrate to the public what beautiful things could be done. “They learned to appreciate art on a more personal level,” he said. “And it wasn’t long before they were giving me money and I wasn’t having to ask for it.”
“That is what it is really all about,” Bunnell concluded. “If you can make people’s lives more full, more happy, more beautiful and surround them with beauty; that is what it’s all about.”
