Silver City Does Its Own Thing

Silver City, Nevada – In her 1976 article, "Long Hair, Liberal Ideas: Silver City Folk Do Their Own Thing," RGJ reporter Lenita Powers wrote, “Silver City residents do their own thing and are delighted with their bustling little community. This once booming, once almost ghost town, has experienced a poulation boom in the last decade.”

Her well-researched article is a lot of fun to read, especially if you've lived in Silver City very long. Many of the things that locals boasted to Powers about in 1976 still hold true - the community is still "close-knit" and "dedicated to its children," with a populace comprised of many "exceptionally creative people" who take "fierce pride in their volunteer fire department" and the town's low crime rate.

Among the things that have changed? Age demographics. In 1976, town advisory board member Chan Laughlin (aka legendary radio commentator Travus T. Hipp) told Lenita Powers that roughly "one-third" of the town was composed of children. Today, only about 10% of the town population is under 18. This is partly because many of the children of those responsible for the mid- 1960s and early 1970s "cultural re-population" of Silver City grew up and moved away, even as their parents remained in the historic Comstock community.

PHOTO OF CHAN LAUGHLIN, COURTESY OF THE GERMINO ARCHIVE.

Nevertheless, the legacy of this town "dedicated to its children" is evident in the accomplishments of many of those who grew up in Silver City in the last half of a century, and in the accomplishments of their children as well.

For instance, Mary Works Covington, who grew up in Silver City, was the assistant sound or dialog editor for films like Titanic, Contact, The English Patient and Saving Private Ryan, and also directed the documentary Rockin' at the Red Dog; The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock. Geographer Robert Elston, who grew up in Silver City, was among those responsible for the first-ever Nevada survey of breeding birds (Atlas Of The Breeding Birds Of Nevada). And musician Tal Morris, CEO of Audio Signatures, also co-owns Ice House Studios where he's worked with clients such as Rozzi Crane, Troy Lukketta, Dick Bright, MIRV, and Devon Baldwin.

A 2015 re-staging of an iconic 1970s town photo by Jake Wise attracted current locals, as well as many of the children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren of the 1970s newcomers "who matriculated to the Comstock Lode to swell the tiny town's census to 150."

The 2015 town photo, staged in the same spot, is evidence of the hard working folks the little community presently includes and/or has produced: artists, hydrologists, musicians, documentary film makers, photographers, geographers, social workers, entrepreneurs, publishers, artisans, fire fighters, engineers, physicists, computer programmers, archaeologists, writers, history consultants, librarians, editors, K-12 school teachers, and university professors.

A version of this article appeared in the MVN in Dec 2017. A longer version with images from Lenita Powers' 1976 article appears on this blogsite in an earlier post. Special thanks to Carol Godwin for locating the Powers' article at the Nevada State Library and Archives.

TMCC Art Exhibition Incorporates Objects Found in Silver City, Nevada

Silver City, Nevada—Walking home from school as a kid in Indiana, my friends and I would cut through a forest that seemed magical. The light came through the tree canopy above a creek, and we’d swing over the water on a large vine hanging next to the ruins of a building above it. Purple wildflowers I’d never seen before grew everywhere, and an emerald-colored moss covered the trees. It was only years later that I learned this “magical” place was nothing more than the overgrown ruins of a 1940s tractor factory. But in Indiana, trees and everything else grows so quickly that the past often isn’t visible, and historical artifacts aren’t simple to locate.

Years later when I moved to Silver City, I noticed that people often looked down as they walked along its many trails and back roads. Unlike in Indiana, here, fascinating bits and pieces of the past lie on the surface—spoons, bits of teacups and toys, square cut nails and medicine bottles from the 1800s and early 1900s.

When Michigan-based artist Brian Schorn came to the Resident Artist Program in Silver City in 2015, he noticed this fact right away and began scouring the acreage of the Program for these artifacts to incorporate into found object assemblages.

He “struck gold” so to speak, finding a treasure of antique doorknobs, metal aspirin tins, porcelain figurines, rusted tools, desert glass. And in an additional piece of good luck, Fred Swanson of Silver City contributed some of his unusual finds, and also helped Brian identify mysterious bits and pieces he’d found.

With the Japanese concept “wabi-sabi” in mind (the aesthetic of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete), in less than three months Brian created 22 artworks to comprise his Comstock Wabi-Sabi exhibition.

Comstock Wabi-Sabi was first on view as a solo show at St. Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City during the summer of 2015. Anthropologist Erich Obermayr declared that the show “knocked his socks off.” In a review, Erich wrote that it "is the high-level work of an artist and craftsman who knows what he is doing." He continued, “The show is comprised of 'found objects,' which is a risky kind of art since his medium is the same stuff any of us could find, stick together, and put up on the wall. Brian takes on the challenge and quietly, but effectively, shows us how it’s done. The first thing that strikes you is the craftsmanship. The pieces are neat and contained, their diverse parts joined invisibly, or held together with small, unobtrusive screws. Pieces of weathered wood form the backing, and background, for the smaller, varied objects, which also serves to focus our attention, and lets us know we are looking at something special. Silver City’s one-hundred fifty years plus history has given Brian much to work with, and his practiced eye has picked out quite a selection—everything from oyster shells imported during the 1860s to pieces of desiccated garden hose, and in between a broken comb, fragments of plates, bowls, and bottles, wood honeycombed with dry-rot, a spoon, and fork, the lost head of a plastic toy cowboy.”

Photo of FRED SWANSON and BRIAN SCHORN at ST MARY'S ART CENTER'S OPENING RECEPTION FOR "Comstock Wabi Sabi" IN 2015.

Sierra Arts Foundation was also impressed with the Comstock Wabi-Sabi collection, and added the exhibition to its “Galleries at Work” program in Fall of 2015. Through Sierra Arts, Comstock Wabi-Sabi has also been seen in galleries in Reno’s downtown arts district (50 West Liberty), at the Microsoft Campus in Reno, and now at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC).

When and Where: The solo show will be on view from Wednesday, December 6, 2017, until Wednesday, February 7, 2018, at 5:00 PM at the Red Mountain Gallery on the third floor of the Red Mountain Building on the TMCC campus in Reno. Brian writes, "I am very excited to announce a new solo exhibition of my Comstock Wabi-Sabi series of assemblages...The exhibition is part of a unique program initiated by Sierra Arts Foundation called Galleries at Work. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Sierra Arts Foundation and the Resident Artist Program in Silver City for making this exhibition possible."

Photo of HIGH DESERT CAFE by Brian Schorn

About Brian Schorn: Brian Schorn is a multidisciplinary artist who has always been remarkably productive. Since he was in Silver City in 2015, his graphic score Nebula has been performed in London by the Aurora Orchestra, his many new assemblages have been shown in group and solo shows in several Michigan galleries, and another of his sound creations has been published in Textsound, a journal of experimental sound works from the U.S. and abroad.

Over the last few decades, Brian’s music has been performed not only in London, but also in France, Austria, New York, and Oakland, and his visual art has been exhibited and published widely in numerous solo exhibitions. His creative writing has been published in books, journals, and anthologies, and he was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize. He has variously taught art, graphic design, and creative writing at the University of Michigan, Brown University, and Interlochen Arts Academy.


A version of this article appeared in the Mason Valley News in December 2017.

Silver City, Nevada's “Free School”

A shorter version of this essay appeared in the Mason Valley News in Dec. 2017.

Silver City, Nevada - For a brief time around 1973, Silver City hosted a unique K-12 education experiment called “The Silver City Free School.” There was culture clash (to put it mildly) between the newcomers to Silver City and the Dayton schools that the Silver City kids attended, and Silver City parents decided to withdraw their children en masse and start their own school. In this column, Sam Toll and Theo McCormick, two students of the Free School, describe some of the things they recall about that time. Later, we’ll interview some of the parents who spearheaded the experiment and get their perspectives as well.

In the spring of 1972, Silver City held a benefit for the Free School at the nearby Craft Guild with popular local bands like the Sutro Sympathy Orchestra. Admission was $2. Local artist Barbara Stein, who had trained at the Art Students League in New York under German expressionist artist George Grosz, created a poster for the event, which included sketches of some of the Free School students such as Kristin and Theo McCormick, Sam and Sarah Toll, Bob Elston, Channing Lovely, Rose Works and James Stein.

Theo McCormick’s Recollections: Theo McCormick moved from Reno to Silver City in the early 1970s with his parents. He recalls that at first adults from town taught the 15 or 20 students of the Free School themselves, using hands on lessons on practical subjects, and educational field trips to events such as theater productions in Reno, Lagomarsino Petroglyph Site in Storey County, and Fort Churchill Park in Silver Springs. The students spent most of their time studying traditional subjects like math, English, history and art at the homes of various parents, but the pedagogical methods were a little different. McCormick recalls a floor to ceiling shelf of books to choose from, and daily blocks of time devoted to reading, journaling, and story writing. History was a popular topic, because locals were recruited to give accounts of things they’d personally experienced, such as WWII, and answered the students’ many questions.

It gradually occurred to the school district that the absence of the Silver City students meant a reduction in district funding. Citing objections to the Free School’s teaching methods, they required the school to hire a licensed teacher. The town raised the funds and hired a teacher from Reno. McCormick says that the teacher was well received by the students because she taught core subjects using whatever the kids were interested in, which at the time included airplanes and the history of wars.

Sam Toll’s Memories: Sam Toll recalls the parents of Silver City as "rogue dreamers" who nevertheless took the school very seriously - several of them were university professors. He explains that “after repeated incidents and meetings with the school and basically being blown off, the parents of Silver City got together and decided they would put together what I’m going to guess was probably one of the first charter schools in Nevada. Silver City was a collection of artists, musicians and ‘escapees’ from Oklahoma, and a bunch of ‘hippies.’ But they weren’t really necessarily hippies, they were just free spirits and folks who had a wide variety of different backgrounds and experiences they felt they could cobble together and put into a curriculum that would be beneficial for kids. Of the many classes offered by the parents and talented adults beyond the three R’s were welding and metal fabrication using an iron forge, rock wall building, firearms safety and use with black powder rifle and pistols, art and drama (we attended several plays and went backstage to learn about the process), jewelry making using wax molds and a kiln, and the skill I found most valuable throughout my lifetime, how to light a fire with one match using wet sagebrush.” Toll also recalls lessons on woodworking, silversmithing, photography, and painting.“All of the parents had a skill set. There was just this wide variety of things that as kids we were exposed to that we would never have been exposed to had we continued to slog through the traditional government school system.” [Quotes from email messages; Sam's essay "Deer Guts"; and from a recording by Mary Works Covington taken in 2016 at the Silver City School House that was incorporated into Frances Melhop's Comstock Portrait Project exhibition at UNR in 2017].

Eventually, the students were forced to return to public school. Determined to improve the school climate, Theo’s mother Sandra McCormick decided to run for a seat on the district’s school board in 1974 and won. And decades later, when his own son was in Dayton schools, Theo McCormick followed his mother’s example and served on the school board.

Happy Holidays from Silver City, Nevada

Silver City, Nevada- Happy winter holidays from Silver City! Below are a few photos from Silver City winters of years gone by.

SILVER CITY SCHOOL HOUSE

Annual Silver City Christmas Party at the School House

SILVER CITY SLEDDING