Finalists Present Designs For Public Artwork In Overton

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

Two Las Vegas artists presented their conceptions of a public artwork planned for downtown Overton at a public meeting, held over an online meeting, on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

In attendance at the meeting were members of the Moapa Valley public, as well as a jury panel charged to select the final work for placement on the east front lawn of the Overton Community Center.

Those selected to serve on the panel included The Progress editor and Logandale resident, Vernon Robison; Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board member Kristin Pearson; Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce President Vanette Christensen; and Las Vegas architect and UNLV educator Eric Strain. Hosting the meeting was Mickey Sprott, Clark County Cultural Supervisor of Public Arts.

The project is called the ‘Gateway to Double Negative’ and is being paid for by $231,000 from the Clark County Arts Fund. The money in this arts fund come from hotel taxes.

“The Double Negative Art Project was approved in 2016 by the Clark County Commissioners in helping raise tourism and recognition of Michael Heizer’s amazing land art,” said Sprott at the meeting.

Heizer’s famous artwork is located on the east edge of the Mormon Mesa and is accessed only by going through the Moapa Valley.

The two finalists in the contests were Las Vegas artists Mark Brandvick and James Ellwanger. Each artist had 10 minutes to present their ideas. After each presentation, the jury panel had 10 minutes to ask questions.

“I toured the town and community of Moapa Valley and explored the explosive history of Nevada, especially of space travel,” said Brandvick in his presentation. “So I used that influence my art sculpture entitled ‘Earth Rise.’”

This sculpture portrayed a “dynamite blast” of rock, similar to the blasting required in creating the Double Negative earthwork, which also doubled in the piece as a dynamic rocket exhaust plume. At the top of the 17 foot tall sculpture appears a representation of a Saturn V rocket blasting off.

“The statue will consist of satin-finish steel, polished steel and corten steel,” Brandvik explained. “This will allow it to maintain through the ages and weather.”

Brandvik said that, as part of the project, he would reach out to the community to contribute images, designs, phrases of text and more which could be of a personal, historic or poetic nature. These images would then be translated into templates which would be permanently etched into the large rock forms on the lower part of the sculpture.

At night, the piece would be lit from below by solar lighting. Brandvick said that the different steel textures would play will in the lighting concept.

During the panel question period, Christensen raised the matter of proper signage required in the project. “I would like to know more about your plans with doing proper signage connecting the statue to Double Negative, and where to place it at the community center.”

“The plaque will be in the southern corner of the lot and will be engraved and photo engraved to be more durable and provide proper information,” Brandvik responded.
Other jury panel members agreed with the need for proper signage.

The 2nd art presentation was done by James Ellwanger, who presented his sculpture designs of “Desert Angel,” a majestic and earthy-red monolith with a towering triangular shape and angular wings on each side.

Ellwanger said that the shape of the piece was derived from the negative space highlighted in the original Double Negative piece. He said that his piece was meant to fill the spiritual void of this space.
Ellwanger said that he had interacted with Moapa Valley High School students and asked them to interpret his design in their favorite spaces in the community.

“I met with the high school art classes and their teacher Donna Swanson,” Ellwanger said. “They made their interpretation of the sculpture that I designed. I was impressed with what came from that.”

Ellwanger said that efforts were being made by county officials to display the student artwork in the community at some point in the future.

The panel asked questions about lighting for the piece, which was also solar lights.
“I want a piece itself, to stand in its own shadow,” Ellswanger said. “So it is just a simple light concept.”

Other concerns were of the design for the concrete base of the project. The Panel was concerned it wasn’t big enough for maintenance and safety and that overspray from sprinklers would cause hard water stains on the piece. Sprott asked if the artist was open to extending a border around the piece with sand or other rock materials to put it a distance from sprinklers. Ellwanger agreed he was amenable to the change.

Maintenance and durability on both statues were questioned by the panel. But both artists stated that the quality and materials used would drastically reduce wear and costs of maintenance.

The two finalist presentations were submitted on December 22 and displayed at the Overton Senior/Recreation Center.

The winning design will be announced later after panel makes its selection and the long process of approval from Public Works, and Parks & Recreation is complete.

The final winning design is expected to be constructed throughout the coming year using local contractor Brimont for assembly. According to the schedule submitted in the presentations, the winning work would be completed and installed on site by November of 2021.