The College of Southern Nevada, School of Arts & Letters, and Department of Fine Arts will host a traveling exhibition of text-based paintings by Nevada-based artist and College of Southern Nevada adjunct faculty, Lauren Myers Reese. Prairie Princess / Desert Dandy: A College of Southern Nevada traveling exhibition featuring the work of Lauren Myers Reese, will open on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, and will travel throughout the Las Vegas Valley with showings on the CSN North Las Vegas Campus (July 1, 2025 – October 31, 2025), the Henderson campus (November 1, 2025 – February 28, 2026), and the Charleston campus (March 1, 2026 – June 30, 2026). A special Gallery Talk and Artist Reception with light refreshments will take place on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 6 PM in the Henderson Campus Student Union Art Gallery. The CSN Student Union Art Galleries are free, family-friendly, and open to the public.
Lauren Myers Reese is an artist, educator, and arts administrator, and currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Art & Art History Program at the College of Southern Nevada. Reese received his MFA in visual art from UNLV in 2022 and his BFA in Studio Art from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in 2012. Reese is a co-founder of the Vegas Institute for Contemporary Engagement, a research lab for art and experimentation. Before attending UNLV, Reese worked in a variety of roles, including independent curator, arts writer, non-profit administrator, factory worker, educator, and art gallery director. Reese’s visual work has been shown across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Scotland, Estonia, and Colombia. His writings are found in the Jewish Studies Journal, Art Focus Oklahoma, Southwest Contemporary, and Settlers and Nomads.
Reflecting on his work, Reese asserts, “This body of work layers texts from a variety of sources on the history of Nevada. These books focus on early and pre-Statehood Nevada, as well as contemporary issues like gendered work, sexuality, labor rights, and equality as it relates to the recent history of Las Vegas and Nevada. Combining historical nonfiction and accounts of the Las Vegas and Nevada area pre- and post-statehood, the work layers text to create alternative narratives, and puts a highlight on the missing parts of the narratives from traditional histories of the West. By layering texts from both historical first-hand accounts, primary sources, and contemporary artists living in Las Vegas, the words combine and layer to create a miasma of time. Time collapses as texts from a variety of writers and eras are layered on top of each other. It is a reimagined story and historical fiction told through the spaces between the words.”
The CSN Student Union Art Galleries are free, family-friendly, and open to the public. Gallery hours vary by campus and semester. Please visit https://www.csn.edu/student-unions for current hours of operation.
For more information, please call (702) 651-4146
http://www.csn.edu/artgallery
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