Michael Reafsnyder: Into the Light

The Las Vegas Art Museum's Collections comes back "Into the Light"

So there it was. Amid the single-serving shrimp cocktails, bite-sized quiche, wine, hugs, polite conversations, photo-ops, artists, writers, gallerists and well-heeled art collectors, lived the one single truth: We've been given another chance.

Through careful negotiation, more that a year of planning and a major revamping of UNLV's Barrick Museum, the partnership between the Las Vegas Art Museum and the university's College of Fine Arts came to fruition Tuesday night at the reception for "Into the Light," featuring a large chunk of the Las Vegas Art Museum's permanent collection.

Out of storage and back in the public eye. Call it a heritage collection of sorts - not a comprehensive survey of every artist who's worked in Southern Nevada but a hearty sampling of those who have come and gone to continue to make Las Vegas their home. These are their voices. Among them: Sush Machida, Thomas Burke, David Ryan, Stephen Hendee, Bradley Corman, James Gobel, Chad Brown, Shawn Hummel, Yek, James Hough, Robert Beckmann and more. Lots more. 

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