Open-Air Art Gallery
Gerlach is home to a new Open-Air Art Gallery, comprised of eight panels and new murals. Thanks to a generous grant from Travel Nevada, this new gallery helps tell the story of our area. Panels are located along Main Street (Hwy 447) and E. Sunset. Each one has an accompanying plaque that tells about the piece. Walking brochures are also available at several locations in town.
Take a stroll through town and experience a sense of place through art. Discover each piece, and additional art as well!
High Rock Canyon
Ann-Sophie Gaudet
Bruno’s Gas Station – Main Street
“The exploration of the raw wilderness of High Rock Canyon and the unforgettable experiences I had there gave me the inspiration to create art that captures the freedom, the beauty, and excitement of the journey. “
Ancient Geometries – Rachel Stiff
Gerlach K-12 School, East Sunset Blvd.
Rachel is an artist/educator based in Carson City, NV, and holds an MFA from the University of AZ in Tucson (2012) and a BFA from the University of Montana in Missoula (2009). She was a featured artist in the exhibition ‘Tilting the Basin’, shown by the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA) in Reno and Las Vegas. In 2017, a series of her paintings was included in “The Nuclear Landscape” exhibition, in conjunction with the NV STEAM Conference at the NMA. A true Westerner, her work examines the construction of the modern landscape and desert-urban interface through abstraction.
Spirit of the West
Reese Sutfin & Terri Lambert
Old Stanley Theater, Main Street
This husband and wife team has been collaborating on projects throughout the west since 1996. The wild horses of the west are direct descendants of horses that escaped or were released by early American settlers in the 1800’s. In 1971, the U.S. Congress recognized that “wild free-roaming horses are living symbols of the historic and pioneering spirit of the West.”
Seventh Fire
Kimberly Lawson
Gerlach Community Center,
East Sunset Blvd.
A little boy, center, (Adonis Nakooedu Ike Lucas) from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe sits drumming surrounded by his ancestors in prophesied times where humanity has a choice to choose materialism or spirituality.
Also Shown: Keith Andren (1979 – 2021) Te-Moak tribe of the Western Shoshone Battle Mountain Band.; Judy Trejo (1940-2002) Summit Lake Paiute Tribe.; Wovoka (1856-1932) Northern Paiute, Smith Valley. Paiute spiritual leader and founder of the Ghost Dance Movement.
The Flow of Time
Zoe Caron
Gerlach Senior Center, East Sunset Blvd.
Swirling water represents ancient Lake Lahontan and the life it supported. Gerlach was once under water. A mammoth and Shasta ground sloth weave through to modern times to a small pronghorn herd, great basin collared lizard and kangaroo rat. Pronghorn are relics of larger herds that once roamed the area. Lizards and kangaroo rat populations likely expanded as the land became more arid. “My artwork is a celebration of all things living. Through crisp lines and natural patterns overlaid on backdrops of intense abstractions, I express the natural world’s flow and energy.”
Tomorrow Never Comes Until It’s Too Late
Juan Bonilla
Indie Press Revolution at the old Gerlach Clinic
(facing East Sunset Blvd.)
Juan’s first impressions of this area came at night when working on the railroad siding in town. The reflection of the moon hit the sands and minerals creating a glow that seemed to light up the skies and mountains. Intrigued, he became a regular visitor. He thinks of the Paiutes and of how they were able to survive in these lands and call it home. For Juan, the desert is neither boring nor uneventful, as seen in his abstract style.
Center of the Universe –
Alyssa Cumpton
Joe’s Gerlach Club, Main Street
Alyssa Cumpton lives and works in Elko, Nevada. In 2024 she was the Artist in Residence with the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. Her work explores the natural world and hopes to bring about an appreciation of wild spaces across the country. She works in several mediums, including traditional acrylic painting, chalk art and murals.
Petroglyphs
Nathaniel Benjamin
Friends of Black Rock High Rock, Main Street
Petroglyphs, traces left by people who once called this place home, but from a vastly different perspective, reminded me of what I was doing painting this panel. In tribute to them, I superimposed these petroglyphs over my own painting of Gerlach’s night sky. We can only imagine what these symbols meant to the artists who carved them, but, by looking up, we can consider the same questions they must have: Who are we? Where did we come from? What are we meant to do here?
WALLS
