Reception For New Public Art Installations To Be Held

Moapa Valley Progress

A free public reception will be held in Overton on Wednesday night, December 12 to celebrate the installation of a number of new public artworks in the community.

First off, a new large-scale mural has been installed in the main meeting hall at the Overton Community Center. The work, entitled “Through the Muddy,” has been created by Las Vegas-based painter Gig Depio. It is a huge oil on canvas painting, using an intense, large-scale, figurative composition to depict the local historical forces that shaped the Moapa Valley.

Recipient of the 2016 Nevada Arts Council Fellowship Grant in Painting, Depio has exhibited across Nevada with shows at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada in Reno, and Clark County’s Winchester Cultural Center Gallery.

In 2017, a panel of judges selected Depio from 32 applicants who responded to a call for qualifications, and three semi-finalists who created proposals and presented their designs for a mural to enhance the community center and to celebrate the local area through art.

“Through the Muddy” will be dedicated on Wednesday, as will two smaller paintings that were semi-finalists in the competition. The semifinalists include “They Were Dauntless” created by artist Heidi Leavitt and “Source” by Joan Dey. A full version of Leavitt’s mural was installed on the east wall of the Old Logandale School great hall shortly after the competition ended. The two semi-finalists will be installed at the Moapa Valley Recreation and Senior Center.

“These beautiful art installations enhance the local community and pay homage to the rich natural, social and cultural history of the area,” said Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick. “Together with the resources housed and archived in both the Lost City Museum and the Old Logandale School Museum, these distinctive artistic creations offer the surrounding communities, as well as visitors to Moapa Valley, a unique, powerful and very personal perspective of the people, events and activities that have helped to shape the character of this part of Clark County.”

Wednesday night’s reception will begin at 5:30 pm at the Moapa Valley Recreation and Senior Center, 325 N. Cooper Street in Overton. The festivities will then move to the nearby Overton Community Center at 320 N. Moapa Valley Blvd where the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board will meet at 7:00 pm.

A dedication of Depio’s mural will take place at the beginning of that meeting. Refreshments will be served during the recreation center portion of the reception.