The First Lady Presents…

The First Lady Presents… is a curatorial short essay comparison of a contemporary Nevadan artist’s portfolio juxtaposed to an artifact from the collection of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.

Mark Salinas, independent curator of this arts education initiative, selects our featured artists in response to the museum’s monthly Curator’s Corner artifact selection with the intent to promote and expand the visibility of underrepresented artists in Nevada.

Join us on this insightful and inspiring journey and together as Nevadans, let us study the past, honor the present, and envision the future.

Curator's Corner

November Curator’s Corner

Each November, UNR and UNLV football teams play for the right to host the famed Frémont Cannon and paint its carriage in their school colors. But the real Frémont Cannon is a fabled archaeological treasure with a legend reaching farther back in time than Nevada’s storied intrastate football rivalry.

Featured Artists

November 2022: Jason Nious & Molodi

This Las Vegas-based group pushes the boundaries of stepping through a unique blend of body percussion, gumboots, beatbox, poetry, hip hop dance, immersive storytelling, and robust personalities – to bring to life a high-energy percussive experience.

September 2022: Loretta Burden

Loretta Burden is a Fallon Paiute basket weaver, teacher, and multimedia sculptor. Her basketry has been featured in books and art exhibitions.

July 2022: Melissa Melero-Moose

Melissa Melero-Moose is a Hungry Valley, Nevada-based artist and a member of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. She is the founder of the Great Basin Native Artists (GBNA) art collective and gallery curator for the Great Basin Native Artists Gallery at the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum. Her work is a part of permanent collections at museums around the country.

May 2022: Angelo Monroy

Angelo Monroy is a Reno-based pianist, composer, educator, and a frequent collaborator of both For the Love of Jazz and Reno Jazz Orchestra. Born in Hong Kong to a musical family, his work is primarily inspired by and dedicated towards interpreting the Black American musical traditions that have continued to pervade his life thus far. Above all, he aims to help engage audiences and to break down socio-cultural barriers not only through his creative output, but also through his relentless pursuit of artistic and personal integrity.

March 2022: David Gamble Jr.

David Gamble Jr. lives in Reno with his wife and two children. David has performed stand-up comedy for 7 years, and is also a writer with a focus on social and criminal justice. An attorney by training, Gamble worked as a Washoe County public defender for the last six years prior to joining Northern Nevada HOPES community clinic where he currently serves as general counsel.

November 2021: Theo Tso

Born on the Las Vegas Paiute Indian Colony, Theo Tso grew up reading comics — and noticing the lack of Native American superheros. That led the talented artist to create Captain Paiute, an elemental superhero with powers over water who protects reservations in the American Southwest.

September 2021: Luis Varela-Rico

Las Vegas artist Luis Valera-Rico draws on his artistic vision, technological knowledge and metal-working skill to create sculptures that reflect his Mexican heritage as well as Japanese, Meso-America and Native American culture.

July 2021: Congressional Art Competition

I am elated to share that over 300 bi-partisan members of Congress participated in this year’s Congressional Art Competition, an annual exhibition opportunity for several hundreds of high schoolers from around the nation to submit their artwork to their local member of Congress in hopes that it is selected for display in the Cannon Tunnel […]

June 2021: Carol Brown

This June, our Curator’s Corner examines two spectacular ichthyosaur fossils recovered here in Nevada, that invite us to consider the enormous depth – literally and figuratively speaking – of our geological history. Thanks to the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, our Nevada State Museum in Carson City is able to preserve, document, and share these fossilized moments […]

May 2021: Jackie Pias Carlin

In May our nation recognizes the numerous contributions that generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have contributed to the diversity and vibrancy of our history, society and culture. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month started as a concept in 1978 when the House and Senate presented joint resolutions to President Carter proposing that […]

April 2021: Resident Artist Program in Silver City

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” With the transition of seasons, and Spring in the air, this quote by architect Buckminster Fuller comes to mind poetically referencing the nature of change. In Carson City, trees have begun to bloom, people are slowly embracing the warmer weather, […]

March 2021: Wild Women Artists

During March, it is my pleasure to share Women’s History Month with you in celebrating and honoring generations of brave, thought pioneers whose advocacy for women’s rights have justly shaped our lives and values. The long march towards women’s equality stretches back as far as the New York Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which advanced […]

February 2021: Gwaylon Leaf

The arts and culture industry has been massively impacted by the pandemic, yet despite this struggle artists and organizations in Nevada are holding fast to innovation and reinvention, responding to unprecedented and uncharted challenges. This creative commitment continues to innovate and inspire us. I believe arts and culture can lead us out of crisis through […]