Busses are close-quarters, enclosed areas. Experts say COVID-19 can spread quickly in similar environments.

In a year overshadowed by a pandemic, schooling from home and the general stress of 2020, UNLV’s graduating graphic design seniors are making the best of a difficult situation. There are 16 students in the program that will be graduating this December without any pomp or circumstance. Traditionally, the students would be hosting a 250-person industry targeted event to promote their capstone graduating projects, but like most events this year, the networking showcase was cancelled. Nevertheless, that has merely caused the students to be more creative and nimbler in their brand promotions. This December the showcase will be presented as an outdoor art installation on the windows of UNLV’s Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.

Sure, you could hit the nearest big-box store and fill your walls with cheap reproductions. But why do that when a collection of original art is within reach? And it is within reach, no matter your budget.

Through drawing, writing, performance, and social practice, her work investigates the nebulous distinction between want, need, and desire in context of capitalist spectacle and corporeal intimacy. She maintains an intimate sketchbook process that serves as a sociological platform, documenting encounters that situate the artist as observer, participant, and researcher. By manipulating vernacular language and signifiers of chance, she reveals how manifestations of want are informed by the state-formation, free markets, and imperialist legacies.

Talking with Fawn Douglas is a little bit like finding out that the coolest girl in school is also nice, funny, and about 10 other things besides just being preternaturally talented. She’s the kind of person you have real hopes that you will become best friends with, but ultimately know that your eagerness will prevent that from happening. I am predictable to the core. Douglas, however, is not.

A master’s degree in any fine art, whether creative writing, music or studio art, can be a tricky thing. Students graduate with a valuable advanced education: polished technical skills and an in-depth understanding of theory, history and contemporary issues. But they don’t finish with the clear-cut career path of, say, a dentist or a lawyer.

An unseen musician plucks a cello in a halting, haunting melody as a seemingly drunken cameraperson flits between images of the Mojave desert at sunrise and artist Brent Holmes dressed as a pantsless cowboy. He stands alone, among the brush and distant mountains, smokes a cigar, eats a peach and dances. In time with the music, handwritten phrases appear on the screen, such as “A gluttony unfulfilled” and “a denless coyote.” Watching Holmes’ video performance piece “Abraxes” is like watching a poem come to life.

Nevada Humanities held a virtual panel discussion Thursday about the national debate over historical monuments and its relevance in Nevada, including controversy over figures such as Pat McCarran and Kit Carson.

Nevada Humanities held a virtual panel discussion Thursday about the national debate over historical monuments and its relevance in Nevada, including controversy over figures such as Pat McCarran and Kit Carson.

Ashley Hairston Doughty’s solo exhibition, Kept to Myself, is at the Barrick Museum at UNLV through Oct. 9. The exhibition highlights race and gender-based issues through various media, including pillows screenprinted with unsolicited comments the artist received on the streets while living in Chicago. Hairston Doughty moved to Las Vegas in June 2017 to teach art at UNLV.

How’s your new normal coming along? *Listens and nods in glum sympathy* Well, good news: It’s just been enlivened by a roster of safe, sane, and socially distanced fall happenings that prove Las Vegas is a master at adaptation. Here you’ll find drive-by theater, radio read-alongs, YouTube opera, Zoom poetry, and in-person art exhibits with plenty of elbow room. Mask up, wash them germy mitts, and enjoy your 2020 fall culture guide.

Leaders in Southern Nevada’s fine arts community retain an on-with-the-show spirit in the face of the pandemic, even if how, when, and where those shows go on remains a work in progress.