Walking into the new Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway on State Route 157 Saturday, those wearing polarized sunglasses experienced a richness of colors stretching 75 feet across the south-facing windows. Those without saw a minimalist mountain range on the panes, barely detectable, its details slight. Without a polarized filter, the more than 150 species of plants and animals created from clear cellophane and applied to the window barely reveal themselves.
This is the intrigue of Las Vegan Austine Wood Comarow’s light art. She’s been working in the medium for years, producing collage works that visually pop through polarization. This particular work referencing the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (also visible through filters at the gift shop) is one of several art elements at the sprawling Gateway campus that opened to the public last week.
Outside, Zak Ostrowski’s sculptural benches made from reclaimed wood, steel and glass-fiber-reinforced concrete resonate with the landscape, each combining art, design and nature. His “Crosscut,” a handmade circular tile mural, 20 feet in diameter, references the rings of a tree and serves as the centerpiece of the amphitheater.
The art, combined with the site’s Silent Heroes of the Cold War National Memorial, dedicated to those killed in a top-secret plane crash at Mount Charleston, and Seven Stones Plaza, which recognizes the seven Southern Paiute Tribes, appropriately pay tribute to the history and environment.
