The Las Vegas Art Museum (LVAM) and the UNLV College of Fine Arts recently announced a partnership to exhibit the extensive LVAM collection throughout the UNLV campus and in the Las Vegas community.
LVAM, which closed its doors February 28, 2009 due to economic factors, began 61 years ago as an art league and became a fine art museum in 1974.
"We promised in our closing dialogue that we would at some point open our doors again and share with the community the gift that is the LVAM," said Patrick Duffy, president of the LVAM board. "In this partnership with UNLV, we know this makes for a great continuation of LVAM. UNLV offers a partnership for growth, community involvement and collaboration with Las Vegas's many like-minded fine art organizations, visual and performance inclusive, and exclusive to the Las Vegas community. My thanks to the Clark County Library District and to UNLV from every level, but especially to Nancy Strouse, senior associate vice president of development and executive director of the UNLV Foundation and UNLV Research Foundation, for her incredible guidance."
"We are honored, proud and delighted to welcome the LVAM collection to the UNLV community and know that we are the best fit to help ensure this collection is seen by students, educators, the community, and tourists," said Jeffrey Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts.
"The LVAM collection contains some of the very best visual art in Las Vegas. This is indeed a boon to all students at UNLV. However, the real desire is to share the collection with the Las Vegas community, especially the children who are students in the Clark County School District." Koep continued. "Combined with UNLV's Braunstein collection of Pre-Columbian Art and Artifacts, we have a collection that has the ability to open the eyes of the next generation to the wonders and joys of visual art. These young citizens of Nevada will be key in building an arts community in Las Vegas. Together, LVAM and UNLV can truly provide unique learning opportunities."
Under the guidance of UNLV art curator Jerry Schefcik, the UNLV College of Fine Arts will host a small "teaser" exhibition of the LVAM collection this spring, with a large grand opening of the entire collection on a date to be named in late winter/early spring.
