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.