Four of the proposed "Seven Magic Mountains." Artist rendering by Ugo Rondinone.

Ugo Rondinone will color the landscape with artificial stones near Jean Dry Lake, said Amanda Horn, director of communications for Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. The large-scale public art is titled “Seven Magic Mountains”  and a collaboration with Art Production Fund and NMA. It scheduled for viewing in early 2016.   More from an early press release:

“ ‘Seven Magic Mountains’ elicits continuities and solidarities between human and nature, artificial and natural, then and now,” said Rondione in the release. His seven twenty-five foot high towers will be the first earthwork completed in over 40 years and works as an homage to Nevada's art history of land art and earthwork aesthetic.

"Made of artificial stone and painted DayGlo colors, Rondinone’s totems are slated for installation on Bureau of Land Management property in early 2016. They are not the originally proposed mountains made of piled boulders but will likely offer the same wallop of faux nature aggressively inserting itself into the landscape and forcing discussions about reality in the 21st century." LV Weekly (April 29)

"Art In The Desert: Human Artificiality In The Natural Landscape"  with Scott Dickensheets, Kristen Peterson, and Michele Quinn I  KNPR (May 4)

FIELD NOTE: Something I thought about when in Twentynine Palms a year ago. Murals along the roadside, and those next to empty parcels with clear slight lines, shows how the brash horizontal image under a big sky is the fixed form of the desert. That’s a clear distinction to the painted walls in packed urban vertical space. Emptiness becomes monumental negative space that frames an image.

Some desert cities in California attract tourism by painting their history on walls. It's a form of public art that has less to do with the mural traditions of urban Los Angeles. It comes from across the northern border.

Twentynine Palms' public art program that at first glance I thought had a direct pedigree to the murals in Central California. I would have to also give a nod to the Chemainus Mural Project in Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada. By painting well-crafted monumental works that focus on local history, the Canadian mural program is credited a factor in its economic recovery of Chemainus.

Karl Schutz authored the Chemainus movement, and has gone global with his teachings on how to seek walls, local stories, and funding for "first-class" artists to create a "Wow factor." When his Chemainus Mural Project was featured in a 1994 Smithsonian exhibition, the article was brought to the meeting of Twentynine Palms merchants, who were looking for ways to restore their own town.

"Twentynine Palms' [program] really had no shortcomings," said Schutz. "They did it by the book and, in some cases -- unveiling ceremonies [for example] -- better than Chemainus."

Murals number over 20, and the governing non-profit, The Action Council for 29 Palms, plan to mark the 20th Anniversary of their first mural, which was unceremoniously lost by development for a project that didn't get off the ground.

Unveiled on November 19, 1994, that first mural, "In Memorium," told the story of early homesteader Bill Keys, and its loss taught the town to make sure that anyone promising to open up a store, and need to demolish a building, are aware of importance of these murals to locals.

Over a cup of morning coffee, one Twentynine Palms mural program founder, Larry Briggs, quietly shook his head thinking of that lost piece, but perked up when he was asked if there were ideas in place for new works. Ray Kinsman, who helped pioneer the program, said they "learned a lot about east and west facing walls." Next to him was Wayne Winiecki, an artist who has helped keep the murals maintained with an energetic non-stop desert spirit.

Of course, sometimes it seems getting a mural up is the easy part. Now funding has to be sought to keep the current portfolio vivid, and to restore lighting on the walls so they work as nighttime markers for those traveling through town.

The town's murals, which include paintings by veterans Richard Wyatt, Art Mortimer, and John Pugh, are strong in craft, and conservative, as can be expected for a military town. Many of the early pieces were ritualistic on history of civic leaders. That may be of interest to travelers who explore region's history, but followers of murals in its contemporary form of street art may leave disappointed.

Meetings were being planned to discuss if new styles of murals should be sought after, according to Cynthia Truitt, Executive Director of Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce. As she said that, tourists from Vancouver Island, near Chemainus, walked in the chamber lobby looking for information on the murals.

What did they expect to be about, I asked. "Well, I think the [purpose of the] murals, that is to tell the story, the history of the town," said Eleanor Zimmerschied, in a playfully terse German accent.

Those visitors will enjoy Tim O'Connor's 1997 mural about Johnnie Hastie, the town's first source of public transportation, with his first bus made from a used 1928 Chevrolet truck. Or Richard Wyatt's 1996 piece on Bill and Elizabeth Crozier Campbell, who became homesteaders, and found artifacts that made their way to the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles.

How does she feel about contemporary street art? "Those modern ones? I'm not really for that," she said. "It just doesn't fit in."

Field Notes: I was invited to lobby as a Nevada Arts Advocate on behalf of Nevada Arts Council for Arts Day 2015 in Carson City, which is set up to thank state leaders for their continued support and dedication. The main talking points were: 

My only lobbying experience comes pitching a story to an editor, a mural to a funder, or binge watching "West Wing" characters do walking and talking. Still, I was able to get some solid sit down time with representatives of North Las Vegas. Since state leaders have those pitches, and can get them again if more do the Virtual Rally, I touched on talking points briefly. It left me in a place to talk about murals and there was some quick brainstorming exchanged in those ten minute meetings behind closed office doors.  One idea was how a program be created so any level of college art student can adopt a elementary, middle, or high school to hold a few art classes, patching an education void, and introducing art students to teaching.  There were a few more things discussed, but was a good way to remind people, including myself, that art isn't just an expense. It can also be a problem solver. 

FInal Note: An undisclosed office administrator has small pieces of street art from Recycled Propaganda hanging on their wall. Nonpartisan images of course.

City of Las Vegas revealed five bench designs recommended by the Arts Commission. 50 new art benches will be installed on Main Street. An informal poll on Facebook has Vintage in the lead, followed by Car Culture and  Mustangs. Some say "yay." Some say "ugh."