'Big Deal' exhibition that highlights gaming featured at WNC Carson City campus art gallery

Artist Joan Arrizabalaga celebrates Nevada’s gaming industry with her large embroidery and mixed-media slot machines in the "Big Deal" exhibition.

The Capital City Arts Initiative’s exhibit is in Western Nevada College’s Bristlecone Gallery, 2201 W College Parkway, Carson City. The show opened on May 15, 2024; the gallery is open to the public, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The artist’s reception will take place on Wednesday, June 26, 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m; the artist’s introduction is at 5:30.

Arrizabalaga said, “My present work is concerned with games and gambling. I am interested in how people are involved with temptation, risk, and winning. Using certain symbols, talismans, and behaviors to realize our expectations fascinates to me. This activity is present in everyday life and seems to go well beyond the more straightforward casino world. Everything can be a gamble and I see the use of the magical world to gain success, help us win, or keep us safe. I also like all the mechanisms and paraphernalia concerned with gambling.

“’The roll of the dice’, ‘easy money’, ‘the luck of the draw’, ‘manna from Heaven’, and ‘dealer’s choice’ are all expressions that I use as metaphors in my art. I like the familiar faces of the playing cards for my characters because they are subconsciously recognizable even out of context. The Joker is very important. He has many parallels, like the trickster in Native American lore.

“I work with all kinds of materials depending on where the piece is leading me. I will start in a certain way and then allow the piece to evolve. Often it has a life of its own. I like to use classical references in unexpected and humorous ways and to juxtapose the old with the new. My homage to the Old Masters comes in part from their knowledge of what God looks like. Myths of all kinds, western and historical references, and personal experiences all blend together in my fascination for what we worship, our superstitions, and the search for luck.”

Joan Arrizabalaga has been creating and showing her art for over four decades. Arrizabalaga creates both sculptural pieces and flat work using clay, wood, metal, fabric, machine and hand embroidery, and found objects. Known for artwork about Nevada and the Casinos, she also makes use of common gaming materials such as felt, dice, and cards.

Arrizabalaga has participated in many group and one-person exhibitions at the regional and national levels, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, and studied with Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Pottery, Guerneville, California. Living in London, England, for 3 years in the 1970s, she was much inspired by the life and times, glitter, glitz, and art of the British Rock and Roll world. As wardrobe mistress and dresser to the stars at Harrah’s Reno, Arrizabalaga got a closer view of the classic casino finding a great source for ideas. Her art can be seen in numerous private, corporate, and public collections.

Arrizabalaga has received the Nevada State Council on the Arts “Artist of the Year” award.

Josie Glassberg wrote the essay for the exhibition — available soon online and in the gallery. Glassberg is a freelance writer whose work has regularly appeared in Double Scoop Art News, the Reno News & Review, and Fibonacci magazine. She attended St. Olaf College for printmaking and enjoys writing about art in the West when she’s not busy with her main gig as a garden teacher.

Carlos Ramirez, a former Western Nevada College Latino Leadership Academy student, provided a Spanish translation of the show’s wall text.

Western Nevada College is a component of the Nevada System of Higher Education, with campuses in Carson City, Douglas County, and Fallon. CCAI is an artist-centered nonprofit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, illustrated talks, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The Initiative is funded by the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members.

For additional information, please visit CCAI’s website at www.ccainv.org.