Lost City Museum Cancels ‘Hot & Dusty’ Reception

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Lost City Museum in Overton has cancelled the closing reception for its month-long Hot and Dusty Fine Art Invitational which was scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 28. In a Monday morning interview with The Progress, Museum Director Mary Beth Timm said that the decision to cancel the event had been a difficult one.

“We were struggling because there has been so much uncertainty with the Delta variant and the rise in COVID-19 cases,” Timm said. “We decided it was more important to keep the community as safe and as healthy as possible. Many of our volunteers are older and they have family here in the community. So we will be holding off on any special events until things with the pandemic calm down a bit, or until the fall when we can hold the events outside.”

The decision was deeply disappointing to the museum staff, Timm said. “We were all really looking forward to some normalcy and getting back to some in-person events again,” she said.

But Timm emphasized that the third annual Hot & Dusty Fine Art Invitational exhibit will still continue through Sunday, Aug. 29. The museum will still be open during its regular operating hours of Wednesday through Sunday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. And people can still see this remarkable collection of artwork.

The work of about a dozen artists are currently on display in the museum for this year’s exhibit. Most of them are from local artists. This year’s theme for the exhibit is “Celebrate Nevada.”

Entries have a wide range of media and subject matter. One work entitled “Sabbatical in Chicken-Suit Central,” a 24-by-24-inch oil-on-panel by Las Vegas artist Gig Depio, explores how artists exist in Las Vegas.

A more traditional work like Overton artist Lynn Rigoni’s “A Forgotten Place,” depicts a charming watercolor of an older home in Virginia City.

Other artists featured at this year’s exhibit include JD Challenger, Nancy Glazier, Brent Holmes, Q’shaundra James, Ken Kaylor, Heidi Leavitt, Tammy Symons and Janet Trobough.
Museum visitors can still vote for their favorite artwork in the exhibit for the “Guest’s Choice” category. The artist work who receives the most votes wins the award.

Voting in the “Guests Choice” category will continue to go on up until Sunday, Aug. 29. The winners will be awarded at a later date to be determined.

“We hope that people will still come to the museum and see this beautiful exhibit,” Timm said. “There is a lot that it offers and we need the public’s input for the “Guest’s Choice” awards.”

Other contest categories are “Artist choice,” in which the competing artists will vote on the piece that best demonstrates technical skill, use of color and design as it relates to the theme, “Docent/Staff choice,” for the work that best conveys the show’s theme to museum volunteers and staff; and “Best Sculpture.” These awards will also be presented at a later date.

The silent auction that was planned for the Aug. 28 reception will still take place as well. Timm said that she is currently setting up a platform where the auction can be held over an electronic medium. More information on this will be made available at a later time.

Items to be auctioned off include a curator-led or director-led tour of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus; an Acoma pottery vase, hand-painted and signed by artist Keith Joe, Sr.; and a photograph of a bighorn sheep, taken by Lost City Museum Curator Virginia Lucas, that has been reprinted on the museum’s new T-shirts.

The Lost City Museum is located at 721 S. Moapa Valley Blvd. in Overton. Admission is $5, free for children ages 17 and younger and museum members.