This 1864 American flag from Fort Ruby features the then new 36th star, representing Nevada.
Battle birth The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey from Territory to State In the spring of 1864, Nevada Territory governor James Nye penned a letter to U.S. Secretary of State William Seward. by “In almost every town in the territory,” Georgia Fisher Nye wrote, “substantial improvements in every branch of industry are made, giving us quite the appearance of an old settled country. Business is becoming thoroughly systemized, and carries on with a vigor I never witnessed in any other locality. Obstacles that would seem insurmountable in many places, here seem to only quicken the zeal and energies of our people. They For more information, ply themselves to their removal with a will visit www.nevadaart. absolutely irresistible.” org. A month later, President Lincoln forwarded the letter to Congress. Things were going well. Nye’s report is so carefully and exquisitely handwritten that when you see it, you can almost picture him nodding a little as he writes, or pausing to dip his pen in ink. For a short time, the Nevada Museum of Art has the document displayed right
now as part of The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey from Territory to State. The exhibition to honor the sesquicentennial runs through Nov. 2 at the NMA’s Wiegand Gallery, and includes a variety of artifacts and photographs that harken back to battleborn beginnings. The show’s headliner, though? Well, it’s bigger than Nevada. It’s the Emancipation Proclamation. Which is to say it’s straight from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., flown here in secret, and no-siree-not-areplica real. The rather hefty addition will be viewable from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 —a short window designed to limit the priceless papers’ exposure to light. A copy will serve as a stand-in until then. Once the curtain comes off, a timer is set to clock the museum, hour by hour. “We do expect big crowds for this,” said NMA spokeswoman Amanda Horn.
As she spoke, a quiet sea of schoolchildren flowed through the exhibition’s three-room display. Several older couples milled about, too, studying colorful handmade flags and the historic Austin Flour Sack—a 50-pound bag that Austin, Nevada, resident Reuel Colt Gridley once schlepped around after losing a bet. His plight became a comical but gigantic fundraiser for Union soldiers’ medical care. Then someone tried to snap a photo in the next room, and two docents had a polite meltdown. All this before the proclamation’s arrival. The United States Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are known as the three Charters of Freedom, but some consider the document that led to slavery’s abolishment “to be almost the fourth charter,” said National Archives senior registrar James Zeender.
DICE 2014
The papers rarely leave their home in D.C., and have only come to Nevada once, as part of the traveling Freedom Train exhibition that toured the country after World War II. When visitors stand in line to see the proclamation, “The tears flow,” Zeender said. “It’s that sense of awe.” A transcription of Nevada’s constitution, which made for a behemoth telegram to Abraham Lincoln, is also at the museum, alongside a variety of curious and important artifacts. And for the first time ever, famed Civil War photographer Timothy O’Sullivan’s battlefield images are sharing wall space with his pictures of a fledgling Nevada. Made for documentation purposes during an early land survey, they are crisp, unadorned, and familiar-looking in a way that shouldn’t be surprising, but still is. After all, 150 years isn’t much time, geographically speaking. “Many of these [items] haven’t been displayed in the state before, ever,” Horn said of the exhibition, “and certainly not in this capacity.” Ω
Craft
Local professionals in the design and creative community are invited to attend DICE 2014, a multi-disciplinary design conference in northern Nevada demonstrating that great design empowers individuals, inspires the masses, and enriches entire communities. This year, DICE 2014 will dive into the intricacies of the idea of “craft”: its history, misconceptions and future in the world of design.
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® 40th ANNIVERSARY
Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 | 7:30 p.m. | Nightingale Concert Hall Rooted in African American history and culture and celebrating the inspirations of spirituals, blues, folk, gospel, jazz, popular and world music, the five vocalists of SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® unite the world with the common language of song. The New York Times says their a cappella voices “soar in a spectrum of styles few other ensembles could match.” For 40 years, Grammy-winning SWEET HONEY has honored community, as artists, activists and humanitarians. The group also welcomes the deaf and hearing impaired with the ensemble’s own sign language interpreter during all performances.
Tickets: Adult $30/ Senior $24/ Student and youth $12
The event takes place September 18th, from 2-7pm at The Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W Liberty St, Reno, NV 89501. Our honored guest speakers include Tom Kundig, Charles Stone, and Jim Stickley.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: 2:00pm Registration 2:30pm Jim Stickley, ASLA Wallace Roberts & Todd 3:30pm DICE 2014: CRAFT Design Competion Presentations & Inaugural DICE Award 4:30pm Break
5:00pm Charles Stone, FIALD Fisher Marantz Stone 6:00pm Tom Kundig, FAIA Olson Kundig Architects 7:00pm DICE 2014: CRAFT Reception
Tom Kundig, FAIA
Charles Stone, FIALD
This year, DICE challenges designers to answer the question: How could you use your craft to make Reno a better place? Entries can be in the form of a video or a slide presentation and are due one week prior to the event on Sept 11, 2014. The winner will be the nucleus of a kickstarter campaign where DICE will help raise funds to make your idea a reality.
Jim Stickley, ASLA
Buy tickets online @ www.designconferencenv.com $60 - General | $25 - Student | $45 - Professional Members EVENT SPONSORS:
(775) 784-4ART | Buy tickets online at www.unr.edu/pas For more event & contest info: www.designconferencenv.com or follow @designmattersnv
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SEPTEMBER 11, 2014
