By NICK YAMASHITA
Moapa Valley Progress
The Hot and Dusty Fine Art Invitational finished its month long exhibit at the Lost City Museum in Overton by holding its final “meet and greet” featuring local artist Tammy Symons on Friday, Aug. 30.
Symons’ painting featured in the show was entitled “Riders of the Purple Stage.” It was an oil painting featuring a Western theme but rendered in cool shades of blue and purple. Symons said that she used her own horse as a model for the horses in her painting. In addition, she used her husband as a model for the stagecoach driver, and a neighbor, Hugh O’Bryan, as Wyatt Earp in the painting.
Symons stated that she loves working with oils and pastels in artwork. When asked about using certain colors and models for her work, she stated that it catches people’s eyes.
Symons grew up in northern Utah, including Salt Lake City, Draper, Logan and Richmond. She moved to Moapa Valley in 1985 and was hired to work on, what was then, the Wayne Newton ranch in Logandale as a horse trainer and groomer. She has remained in the area ever since.
She is currently retired but still works with horses and focuses time on her art as a business. After a lot of research and participating in a Self-Reliance program with her Church, Symons now sells her artwork on a full-time basis. She does online sales of her work at faso.com.
Many residents have also hired Symons to paint their portraits. In fact, each Veteran’s Day, she paints local veterans’ portraits to give back to the heroes for their sacrifice and to thank them for their service.
Symons gave much acclamation to her mentor, local artist Max Bunnell.
A closing reception for the exhibit honored the participating artists on Friday, Aug. 23. The most surprising thing was that the space available to host the event was jam-packed for the event. Lost City Museum officials said that it reached a point where they were not able to take any more people in during the event. The food and drinks and wonderful chatter filled the museum walls with the most amazing time for all those who attended.
A People’s Choice award was announced at the reception event. As visitors attended the exhibit, they were encouraged to cast their ballots expressing their top three favorite works. The artworks receiving the most votes received the award. The award went to Susan Perez for her stunning oil painting entitled “A Room with a View.” Tied at second place for the award were works by Jd Challenger and Ken Kaylor.
The Lost City Museum employees are already talking about how they look forward to next year’s Hot and Dusty Fine Art Invitational.
“This event was a most wonderful opportunity,” according to Symons. “I’ve been amazed how it brought new people in to enjoy the amazing history within the museum.”
The Lost City Museum is preparing for another art show featuring the art of local artist Susan Perez. The Museum may be contacted for information about upcoming art shows by calling (702) 397-2193.
