Town Survey Deadline Extended: The deadline for returning the Silver City Citizen Advisory Board survey of Silver City residents regarding the future land use and development in and around Silver City has been extended to Feb. 2. Any resident who did not receive a survey, or who has lost their survey, can contact Erich Obermayr.
Acoustic Jam Session, tentatively scheduled for the 3rd Saturday of each month from 3:00pm to 5:00 pm at the Silver City School House, hosted by the Silver City Arts group. People are invited to bring musical instruments (or their voices) and jam. Watch the Silver City Arts Facebook page, or the Silver City Reads blog spot, for schedule. The first one in January was a big success, with about 20 of all ages showing up with all sorts of instruments- a mandolin, a ukelele, an accordion, piccolos, guitars, etc.
Display Showcases Past and Present Musicians of Silver City: The Silver City Post Office, established in 1860, has a new display case with a rotating series of attention-catching collections. For December and January, the Silver City Arts group created a display with photos, instruments,and album and CD covers to celebrate the music of present and past Silver City residents. Musicians such as Lynne Hughes, Daniel Yuhasz, Jake Wise, Tal Morris, Hammerstone, American Phlats, Darius Javaher, Will and Sheree Rose, Ukalocos, Betty Kaplowitz, Tommy Thomsen, the "Leftovers" youth band, and many others are noted.
Poetry Corner: The Silver City Arts' Poetry Corner can be found at the Silver City Post Office on the community board. About every 3 weeks, you'll find a new poem or song lyrics by or about current or previous Silver City residents. The project is sponsored by the Silver City Arts group. If you have a poem you'd like displayed, contact Quest at quest@theodata.com or mail poems to P.O. Box 123, Silver City, Nevada 89428. The current post is "Sweet Sir Galahad", a song written by Joan Baez, which she famously performed at Woodstock in 1969. The song tells the story of Baez' younger sister Mimi Fariña and her second marriage to Milan Melvin, a producer at Mercury Records and a radio announcer for KSAN-FM known in Silver City for his stay there in the 1960s, and subsequent visits over the next few decades. He's quoted in Peter Laufer's biography of him as saying, "...in 1963, I hid in the desert and surrounded myself with friends up in Silver City [Nevada] and the Native American Church and the folk culture. I had discovered through people like Chan [Laughlin], through the Cabale coffee house, this connection to Nevada. Nevada offered the exact opposite of Berkeley. Berkeley was dark and clandestine and everything seemed to be hidden and juggling two, three worlds at a time. Nevada was the exact opposite. It was wide open. It was daylight. It was desert. It was freedom. There was nothing in the shadows... I discovered the freedom and the openness of Nevada. It was such a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively, to be able to escape to Nevada and be with friends who were living around the Zen Mine scene [at Don Works' house in Silver City] and the Native American Church.”
The Resident Artist Program in Silver City welcomes visiting artists from both near and far. During Summer 2015, multidisciplinary artist Brian Schorn of Michigan offered free workshops and created high quality exhibitions. During the the Fall, New Zealand painter and printmaker Sophie Scott came to the Resident Program and artists from Reno, Carson and the Comstock region came to see her paintings and stencils based on historic photos of Tahoe and the Comstock. The winter residency for internationally known photographer Frances Melhop has been rescheduled for late summer 2016 due to a skiing accident. Frances will create photo portraits of long-time local residents during her stay. An extended writers' retreat will be held at McCormick house during Feb. Beginning in the spring of 2016, Oakland- based writer and performance artist Scott MacLeod will offer free memoir writing and art workshops during his residency, and in summer 2016, the program welcomes London-based artists Stewart Easton and Claire Scully. More about the program can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/silvercitynevadaresidentartistprogram/
Brian Schorn's Exhibition in Reno's Art District: Sierra Arts Foundation's "Galleries at Work" program puts art in spaces like foyers and offices. For instance, 22 pieces of art Michigan artist Brian Schorn made while living in Silver City, Nevada at the Resident Artist Program are on display in the foyer of the 50 West Liberty building in Reno's Arts District until April 2016. Check it out during business hours. The same set of artwork was previously presented in a solo exhibit called Comstock Wabi Sabi at St. Mary's Art Center in Virginia City in August 2015. His mixed media assemblages were made with found objects from historic Silver City. More here: http://silvercityreads.blogspot.com/2015/11/brian-schorn-resident-artist-program-in.html
Wally's World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada: This exhibit, which includes artwork by dozens of Nevada artists including work by long-time Silver City residents such as Jean LeGassick and Jeff Nicholson, former Silver City resident Jim McCormick, and other well-known Nevada artists such as Craig Sheppard, will be at St. Mary’s Art + Retreat Center in Virginia City from April 4th through May 27, 2016. More about the exhibit here:
http://nac.nevadaculture.org/indexc612.html?option=com_content&view=article&id=1941:george-perreault&catid=36:artist-services-traveling-exhibition-program
A Few of Silver City's Many Assets:
Silver City Organic Community Garden and Compost: A dedicated group of local volunteers keep the beautiful garden going. Located across from the School House, summer 2015 was the garden's 7th growing season!
The Silver City Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1863. More here: http://www.silvercityfiredepartment.org/
The Silver City Town Advisory Board normally meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm at the Silver City School House (Community Center) located at 385 High Street, Silver City. Current Advisory Board members are Erich Obermayr, Lorraine Richmond and Cal Dillon. More here:
http://www.lyon-county.org/index.aspx?nid=221
The Silver City School House (community center) is managed by the Silver City Historic Preservation Society (SCHPS), a non-profit group created by residents of Silver City. The school house is the center of many community dinners, holiday events, and activities throughout the year. More here:
https://www.facebook.com/Silver-City-School-House-1511886055743937/
Silver City Arts group is composed of local volunteers who organize free public programming in arts and culture throughout the year, including fine art and photography exhibits, artisan shows, lectures, poetry readings and displays, musical performances, and more. They've hosted pop-up shows with internationally known artists like Nes Lerpa of Denmark, as well as shows highlighting the many skills and talents of local residents, such as the arts group's Nevada 150 Exhibit, a "Signature" (official) Nevada Sesquicentennial event featuring work by locals such as Jean LeGassick, Karen Kreyeski, Larry Wahrenbrock, Jeff Nicholson, Larry Kotik, Julie LaCroix, and many others.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Silver-City-Arts/618872294885649
The Silver City Post Office was established in 1860 and includes historical photos of Silver City, a special collections area with changing displays, and a community bulletin board. Scroll to the bottom of the latest Nevadagram for more about the Silver City Post Office: http://nevadatravel.net/travelgram/wp/index.php/correspondence/nevada-correspondence-january-2016/
Silver City Summer Program: Silver City launched the popular summer series of arts and science activities for youths in the Comstock region in 2003 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) programming). Beginning in 2015, the program expanded to include a series of free workshops for adults as well. The program is an example of collaboration, with work and/or funding contributions from many Silver City volunteers and donors, nonprofits like Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey, county departments such as Lyon County Parks, Buildings and Grounds, and many regional groups, such as University Nevada Cooperative Extension, Western Safe Routes to Schools, Society of Women Engineers, the D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare Program, United Way, Resident Artist Program in Silver City, etc. Contact Quest Lakes at Healthy Communities for more info: 287-7598. Summer 2016 activities are organized around the theme of storytelling with thread, ink, paint, photography, music, and writing with workshops for adults, teens and children by professional artists, musicians, etc.
Resident Artist Program in Silver City: Those creating in the performing, visual, media, or literary arts are invited to apply to the Program. Inquiries: quest@theodata.com. Silver City was recently declared an "Arts and Cultural Resources Production Center" due to the high output of visual art, music, publications, and historic preservation resources by residents over the last 50 years. The Resident Artist Program provides an opportunity for artists from other regions of Nevada, or from other states or other nations, to reside in the town at the Resident Artist guest housing for periods of up to 4 months, in exchange for offering free public performances, exhibitions, workshops, etc. in the community. Artists at the Resident Program include New Zealand-based artist Sophie Scott (fall 2016); widely exhibited and published writer and artist Scott MacLeod of Oakland (spring 2016); in-demand, London-based illustrator Claire Scully (summer 2016); UK artist Stewart Easton (Midlands based artist working in hand embroidery and digital print on fabric); internationally acclaimed photographer Frances Melhop (late summer 2016); and the international cultural -research team Marksearch, which will come to Silver City after a 6 month project in Japan (summer 2017). Michigan artist Brian Schorn, the summer 2015 resident artist in Silver City, created 22 mixed media assemblages while he was at the Resident Artist Program in Silver City - those works were in a solo show at St. Mary's Art Center in August, and are now on display in Reno at 50 West Liberty Street. The following excerpt from a review of the works in Brian's St. Mary's exhibit by Erich Obermayr was typical of the high praise for Brian's work, "Simply put, this is high-level work of an artist and craftsman who knows what he is doing..." More info on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/silvercitynevadaresidentartistprogram/
Silver City Volunteer Library is located within the Silver City School House/Community Center. It includes a collection of thousands of books, many sets of reference works, periodicals, etc. thanks to donors from all over the U.S., Silver City, and other libraries. Most of the collection is stored in the basement of the school house so that there is plenty of room for other uses upstairs. The collection is rotated every 3 to 4 months, and new arrivals are added each month so there are always new things on the shelves The library has its own blog site: http://silvercityreads.blogspot.com/
Silver City Cemetery, and Liaison to the Comstock Cemetery Foundation: The Comstock Cemetery Foundation Board formally took up the responsibility of co-managing the historic Silver City Cemetery with Lyon County and welcomed a new representative from the Silver City community in 2009 (Susan Stornetta). The Comstock Cemetery Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established in the year 2000. The Operating Board comprises members of organizations represented within the Silver Terrace Cemeteries, Virginia City, Silver City, and Gold Hill Cemeteries in Gold Hill. http://comstockcemetery.com/meetthefoundation.html
Silver City, an Arts and Cultural Resources Production Center: On November 5th, 2014, "the Silver City, Nevada Citizen Advisory Board resolved to recognize the existing character of Silver City as an Arts and Cultural Resources Production Center, and resolved to formally recognize the considerable work residents have contributed and continue to contribute, to the production of important work in the areas of arts and cultural resources. The Board also resolved to formally recognize the extraordinary support the entire community has given and continues to give to local arts and cultural resources production, events, and programming."
Since the late 1960's, Silver City has been a magnet for a group economists term the "creative class" - web designers, archaeologists, anthropologists, artisans, teachers, attorneys, economic development experts, artists, musicians, historians, etc. Today, creativity flourishes alongside entrepreneurial initiative - the community is a virtual hive of creative industries and in-home studios, workshops, and offices for artists, musicians, photographers, consultants, writers, and craftspeople.
Over the last 50 years, this community of less than 200 people has been responsible for a remarkable body of work that has had a demonstrably positive impact on the town, the state and beyond. Residents have contributed their diverse talents and skills to produce regionally and nationally recognized work in archaeology; visual art; theatre; music; historic preservation; and academic research and projects resulting in technical reports and a variety of other publications. Many residents have created hand-crafted items in silver, wood, gemstones, clay, etc. and examples can be found in a wide range of places, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the region's historic cemeteries and buildings. Details about some of the work produced here: http://silvercityreads.blogspot.com/2015/09/silver-city-arts-culture-resources.html
Silver City Arts' "Nevada 150 Exhibit", an official event of the Nevada Sesquicentennial, highlighted the work of Silver City artists, writers, researchers and artisans. If you missed the event, you can find photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/Nevada-150-Art-Exhibit-of-Historic-Silver-City-Nevada-375973665900542
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