An interview series spotlighting some of the creative community members in the US Southwest.

Paintings, charcoal sketches and print materials by John Torreano are on display in the exhibit “Stars on the Ground.”

“Create, Connect, Explore” is the theme of the Marjorie Barrick Museum’s free community day Saturday at UNLV. Families can create microscope drawings, murals, zines and illustrations in a variety of workshops led by women from noon to 5 p.m. For a schedule of events, visit unlv.edu/barrickmuseum.

Name a female scientist.

Could you do it?

Aware that the city where we live is often portrayed as a glossy, one-dimensional place, we looked into the museum collection for work that suggested the opposite—roughness, surprise, and contrast. Dry Wit: Artworks from the Collection of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art began to evolve.

This past spring, Brooklyn-based artist Amanda Browder was invited to Las Vegas as the inaugural Transformation Fellow in the Department of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where I teach. Browder makes monumental, vibrantly colored fabric sculptures that are designed and constructed to be draped and formed over buildings, activating the architecture beneath.

Now in its third year, the Bus to the Barrick program provides free transportation for K-12 Clark County School District children to visit UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. Most of the students in attendance have never been to an art museum prior to their field trip, and without free transportation and admission, many of them wouldn’t be able to afford the experienc

Now in its third year, the Bus to the Barrick program provides free transportation for K-12 Clark County School District children to visit UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. Most of the students in attendance have never been to an art museum prior to their field trip, and without free transportation and admission, many of them wouldn’t be able to afford the experience.

When people talk about the arts and entertainment world in Las Vegas, they are often talking about the Strip. But alongside entertainment on the Strip, there’s an active arts community in our neighborhoods.

Sorry for the Mess, a joint exhibition by Justin Favela and Ramiro Gomez, is an eye-opener. The 4,000-square-foot installation at UNLV’s Barrick Museum pays homage to the 85,000 Las Vegas casino employees who wash dishes, vacuum floors, clean rooms and mow lawns. Packed with sculptures and paintings made on-site (some in collaboration with Barrick Museum staff), Sorry for the Mess delivers wit, relevance and beauty.

Both as an artist and as the newly permanent executive director of the Barrick Museum of Art, Alisha Kerlin has been fixated on the moment of viewership: the thoughts and feelings you have when first viewing a piece of art. That’s a big upside of her job directing Las Vegas’ only existing art museum. “It’s such a privilege to do that,” she says. “I love that we’ve created a welcoming and safe place for dialogue here."

Alisha Kerlin holds up a white 3D print of a 2,000-year-old Mesoamerican animal sculpture like a proud mom at a soccer game. “I have a very intimate relationship with this collection,” she beams. For the duration of our museum tour, she carries the replica around, clutching it under her arm like a football. “I didn’t realize his toe was broken,” she says, as if she should have traveled back in time 2 millennia to stop the damage. If she could, she would.