Capital City Arts Initiative exhibition features Great Basin Native Artists

The Capital City Arts Initiative announces its exhibition, Great Basin Native Artists, with art works by seven Native American artists at the Carson City Community Center's Sierra Room that is running now through July 6, 2016. The Community Center is located at 851 E. William Street, Carson City.

Artist Melissa Melero-Moose guest curated CCAI’s exhibition. The group show presents art by Ben Aleck, Phil Buckheart, Louinda Garity, Topaz Jones, Jack Malotte, Melissa Melero-Moose, and Steve Nighthawk.

The Great Basin Native Artists group began in 2014 and shows their art throughout northern Nevada and northern California. Last year they were included in an Imago Mundi group show, Contemporary Native Art, in Italy.

Ben Aleck, a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe [Numu Kooyooe Tukadu], earned a BFA from the California College of Art where he majored in painting. His work currently focuses on cultural and environmental issues and has been shown at the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, and the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno.

An enrolled member of the Absentee Shawnee with Choctaw roots, Phillip Buckheart reflects Native American styles and spiritual beliefs in his paintings and multi-media sculptures. He uses geometric designs and found objects in his large colorful pieces.

Louinda Garity grew up on the Paiute Shoshone Reservation in Stillwater, Nevada. She graduated with an AA Fine Arts degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She emphasizes environmental protection, racism, and generational trauma in her art through humor and beauty.

Topaz Jones is a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley, Nevada. She earned a BFA degree at the Institute of American Indian Arts and uses a variety of media to convey her narratives.

Jack Malotte, a member of the Owen Valley Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, graduated from the College of Arts and Crafts [now California College of Arts] in Oakland, California. He is best known for his satirical art pieces depicting traditional Indians in the modern world and his Great Basin landscape paintings.

Melissa Melero-Moose is a Northern Paiute enrolled with the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in Fallon, Nevada. Her abstract mixed media paintings have been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Nevada State Museum, and the Nevada Museum of Art. Melissa earned a BS in Psychology and Fine Arts from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

A descendant of the Shoshone, Washoe, and Paiute Tribes of Nevada, Steve Nighthawk, bases his pencil, charcoal, and chalk pastel drawings on the “Circle of Life” reflecting his love of nature and life. He has shown his art at the Cort Gallery in Three Rivers, California, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Sierra Room is open to the public during Carson City official meetings including every other Thursday 8am - 5pm, and most weeknights Monday - Thursday, 5pm - 8pm. For Sierra Room access, call 775.283.7421 or check meeting schedules online at http://www.carson.org/index.aspx?page=14 The exhibition is free and the public is cordially invited.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area's diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.

CCAI is funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Nevada Arts Council, City of Carson City, U.S. Bank Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John and Grace Nauman Foundation.

For additional information, please visit CCAI’s website at www.arts-initiative.org.