For the series Homebodies, we will explore the more personal spaces of community members, the artworks and interesting objects they’ve collected through the years, and how those pieces live with them every day. During quarantine, we’ll have the Holland staff kick things off! Here’s one by Britt Curtis highlighting some of the very special pieces that live in her family’s home.
1. A beautiful and beloved piece by Nick Larsen (with lots of pieces of fabric I recognize from my time knowing Nick). Tim made the little stand, the wooden flowers on top and the lamp. The lamp has an imprint of a Skittles package that Tim drew and was a part of his show at Holland called Small Prophecies.
2. Alisha Funkhouser made this patch of Betsy – my big black dog. I could never commit to which jacket deserves this work of art, so it hangs in Theo’s room for all of us to enjoy.
3. I found this Ponderosa Ranch pendant flag at a thrift shop – it reminds me of visiting the former Bonanza TV set in Lake Tahoe with my family as a kid and feeding the horses and drinking hot chocolate out of tin mugs.
4. This eerie painting is almost as tall as me – it came from the now defunct Virginia Street Antique Mall, and I don’t know anything about the subject or the artist, but I like her weirdo vibe. She’s never been hung up anywhere, but sits on the floor and Theo comes and says hi to her and points out her eyes, nose, mouth and shoe.
5. By Anthony Arevalo, this is a part of a series he did on houses and spaces in the neighborhood with found wood and materials. This one looked like the house I lived in for years on Caliente Street and now reminds me of that time and place.
6. Sinead O’Connor piece by Omar Pierce – nabbed at a benefit auction at the Wedge a few years back. All the pieces paid homage to artist Michael Sarich in some way – up close you can see one of the amoeba shapes in the background is a Sarich-Mickey Mouse.
7. This was from the very first Holland art exhibition in 2007, curated by Anthony Alston, from when Holland was briefly in a warehouse on Keystone Ave. The gallery was built by Austin Baker for his BFA thesis show at UNR. This piece, a painting by Omar Pierce, was also one the first pieces of real art I ever purchased.
8-11. We recently moved into a house that was built in the late 70s and hadn’t been changed at all, including this little curio cabinet which we filled full of treasures. #8 is one of the many Summer Orr pieces I bought as gifts and kept for myself (and is filled with found desert rocks), #9 is a Michael Sarich piece that we are so proud to own – thanks to All In a number of years ago, #10 is a small piece I took home from the Micro Gallery – a beautiful full moon from Alisha Funkhouser (before she worked at Holland!), and #11 are these incredible pink flesh-like vessels from Michelle Laxalt.
12. This is one of my favorite walls in our house and one that represents so many phases of my life. The photograph on the far left was one the first pieces of art my former boyfriend Joe bought and hung proudly in each of his spaces – when he passed away, having it hang on my walls felt important. Next to that piece are two pieces from photographer Bill Daniel – the first exhibition in the gallery at 140 Vesta – curated by Sarah Lillegard. Next (top to bottom): a piece from Troy Ayala from a show at HPHQ – our small space on Cheney Street, a painting from Christina Lee nabbed at the UNR Valentine Auction, and two pieces from Denali Lowder. Next is a photograph that used to hang in my dad’s house and I one I grew up with – a portrait of Miles Davis that was shot by photographer Aaron Rapoport. Below is a target practice poster that I picked up in college and has hung somewhere in every apartment or house I’ve lived in the last decade (which is like 15 spaces). And lastly, in the final column is a diptych from Megan Berner – from her trip to the Arctic, and a photograph of Betsy from Dane Haman from when Holland was being built – she’s in the gallery with a pile of drywall rubble. And don’t want to forget neon pillow below handmade by Fiona McElhany from this year’s High Desert Art+Craft.
13. I bought this Em Jiang piece at this year’s All In, and next to it is a Simpson’s diorama from Tom Chapel – they both sit on a stereo that was my grandpa’s.
14. The centerpiece of our fireplace mantle are two pieces from Alana Berglund, from an exhibition at Monolith with Kelci MacIntosh. The other pieces (to the left) include an Edw Martinez + Nick Larsen collab, and two more (on the right) Edw Martinez baby heads (from his show at Oats Park) as bookends, a little dog statue in the middle that looks like Betsy (but white), and a wooden mailbox that Tim made.
15. This little piece came from a David Tilley show and has been on my fridge for years, along with very old baseball pics of my brother and a wood burned postcard draft from a woodburning workshop at Holland.
16. My mom sewed this little rainbow wall hanging for Theo – his first piece of hand-made art.
17. An old Pony Express metal motel sign that was lining an old trailer that had to be destroyed – Tim repurposed it and it’s now our headboard. Tim and friends also rescued a Reno or Bust sign, one of Reno’s most famous ad campaigns for Harold’s Club back in the day (created by my grandma’s ex husband Roy Powers, father to my aunt and uncle and a bit of a rival to my grandpa, the other big time pr/ad man in Reno’s heyday) – that sign used to hang at Cuddleworks on 4th before they closed. Below the headboard is the coziest tiger blanket from La Milagrosa up the street from Holland.
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