The Holland Project’s Billboard Gallery showcases the work of exceptional emerging and established regional artists on billboards throughout Reno’s surface streets. The project was launched and made possible by an Art Belongs Here Grant from the City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, generous donations from supporters like Temple Builders LLC, Brooks Family Dental, and Sierra Hearing Center, as well as the support and guidance of our partners with the Wells Ave. Merchants Association and Lamar Outdoor Advertising. In November 2023, the program will return with further support from the City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Nevada Humanities. A review of the 2022 series is available HERE, and a full archive is below.
Love this project? We could use your support to continue the HP Billboard and provide this opportunity to Nevada artists. Please reach out to alana@hollandreno.org to help sponsor this important initiative and public art program for the years to come.
HOW TO APPLY: Applications are officially open for the HP Billboard Summer-Winter 2024. Please fill out the proposal form (available in English and Spanish) linked below. The HP Billboard Series will be on hiatus May-June 2024 and return in Summer 2024. Applications will be open through May and artists will be notified in June. Please note: there are limited spots for the HP Billboard and we will not be able to accommodate all proposals. Thank you for your understanding.
English Application | Aplicación en Español
ARCHIVE:
2022-2023: FULL SERIES BOOKLET
JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL | MAY | JUNE | AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER | NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY ’23
2023-2024: NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY | FEBRUARY | MARCH | April
Location #1: VIRGINIA & MOANA, SIERRA LANES
Artist: Paige Gomez
Artwork: Thank You, MDO and 1 Shot Lettering Enamel, 2024
Website | Instagram
Bio: Paige Gomez of Gomez Signs is a second generation traditional sign painter out of Sparks, Nevada. Her focus is creating truly “from scratch” signs the way it’s been done for hundreds of years. The signs she creates this way can be been in homes, shops, garages, as well as small and large businesses locally and across the US. Paige is currently one of a small handful of traditional sign painters in Northern Nevada dedicated to this old craft and providing expert hand painted signage to any folks who need it.
Statement: “Thank You” is a piece that almost seemed too simple to put out in the world. It’s a statement we make often and sometimes with almost no meaning behind it. But when I think of the gift of so-called meaning sign painting has brought to my life, I can’t help but feel those two words deeply.
This sign is designed, constructed and painted entirely by hand. No computers involved. It’s made up of MDO and 1 Shot Lettering Enamel; both are industry standards for traditional sign painting. I wanted this piece in particular to be the essence of what a sign truly is and should be: simple, effective, beautiful and communicates its intention with ease.
Over the past few decades, the art of traditional sign painting has dwindled due to new technologies and vinyl. Though the accessibility of said technology has eaten its way through our craft, many folks have turned to the brush despite the option of doing it the easy way. And to those that support those folks by choosing to have their signs done the traditional way, we thank you.
Location #2: SULLIVAN & PRATER
Artist: Aiyana Graham
Artwork: Ungendered Gendered Accessible Inaccessible Bathroom, Acrylic on canvas, 2023
Website | Instagram
Bio: Aiyana Graham is a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at the University of Nevada, Reno. They are a painter with an interest in sculpture and fiber art and was a 2024 recipient of The Nevada Undergraduate Research Award for their work in transgender and disability studies. Graham’s art revolves around the body as a site of queer, trans, racial, and disability issues. Their current exhibition, bodymind: exploring a trans disabled present, focuses on highlighting the complex lives of marginalized people through embodied surfaces.
Statement: Influenced by how people perceive their own and others’ experiences, my work uses a/typical surfaces and bright paint to emphasize the subjectivity of perspectives. With my experiences as a nonbinary, Black, neurodivergent lesbian in the United States, my experiences place me outside of all of the “normal” constructions of western social categories. Through my own filter, I use textured paint and embodied surfaces to draw in my audiences formally with shape, color, and layering to give them access to complex issues of gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and race.
Location #3: WELLS AVE BRIDGE
Artist: Edwin Martinez-Escobar
Artwork: Sabía, acrylic on canvas, 2021
Instagram
Bio: Edwin Martinez-Escobar was born in Mexico City and moved to Reno at a young age of 9. Living amongst Mexico’s rich culture, from indigenous roots to Spanish heritage, and being exposed to many other cultural influences from around the world, awakened his love and passion for art. After serving
4 years in the military, he started his career in murals and other art forms. Edwin’s biggest influences are Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Edwin always says “Everything you
create comes from Alma y Corazon” (Heart & Soul).
Statement: Sabía is a portrait of María Sabina Magdalena Garcia, who was a Mazatec curandera and lived in Huautla de Jimenez, a town in the Sierra Mazateca area of the Mexican state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Her healing sacred mushroom ceremonies, called veladas were based on the use of psilocybin mushrooms. Advice from this incredible woman:
“Heal yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon. With the sound of the river and the waterfall. With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds. Heal yourself with mint, neem, and eucalyptus. Sweeten with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile. Hug yourself with cocoa bean and a hint of cinnamon. Put love in the tea instead of sugar and drink it looking at the stars. Heal yourself with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain. Stand strong with your bare feet on the ground and with everything that comes from it. Be smarter every day by listening to your intuition, looking at the world with your forehead. Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier. Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember….. You are the medicine”
