Artist Priscilla Fowler moved to Las Vegas in 2016 with the simple plan to rent a studio space. But the idea of being squirreled away alone somewhere making art seemed incredibly lonely. So Fowler used her savings to rent a space that could double as a gallery, where she could work and display works by a variety of artists alongside her own.
“Sun Like Fire” by Cheryl Magellen
“It’s not easy to get to know people,” Fowler says. “But for me, this has been an absolutely fabulous way to get to know a whole bunch of artists in Vegas and to really understand the Vegas art scene.”
Fast-forward several years, and Fowler’s eponymous gallery has expanded from its initial 800-square-foot space in the Arts Factory to a 3,200-square-foot storefront on Main Street. The gallery also shows work at two other Arts District hot spots: Garagiste Wine Room and the Good Wolf Lifestyle Co.
Artists often approach Fowler, asking to be part of her gallery. “Mostly they’re not a fit,” Fowler says. “But occasionally, we’ll get people whose work we like.” Fowler says that she and her team of five had accumulated enough talent over the past year that it was time for a big new show.
“We just thought we had a rich group of good artists … so we put them all together. And that’s how that happened.” The invitational, running through February 27, is titled New Faces, Familiar Faces. It features 19 artists in a variety of media, including sculpture and painting. Participants include Susan Henry (aka Candy Constantly), Katie Klemp, Brien McCrea, Kim Reale and Joseph Watson.
Fowler hopes viewers “see what a broad range of talents there is in Vegas.” She says people often assume Las Vegas’ talent is limited to a small pool of the best-known creatives. “I just want people to know that there’s this depth of talent here.”
One of Fowler’s favorite artists in the show is Darien Fernandez, a painter who uses the traditional medium of oils to portray contemporary street art. One of his large canvases hangs in the gallery’s window: a young man sitting on a park bench, wearing a Middle Ages plague mask, with a large COVID-19 virus particle tied to his foot by a string.
Fowler also highlights art by Austin transplant Scott Bauer. “[His] geometric abstracts are bright and cheery and precisely put together, and they just draw you in,” Fowler says.
In an effort to make the art accessible to fans who can’t pay “LA or New York prices,” Fowler asked artists to present at least one work in the $400 range. “We’re trying to meet Las Vegas halfway,” Fowler says. “If you can’t spend a lot of money on something, then come over and see what we’ve got anyway, because we really do try and have a range of things. We have this gift shop that starts with things around $5, $10, $15.”
The process for hanging the show is both collaborative and intuitive, Fowler says. She and her team begin by placing the work “more or less randomly” around the room, then they move pieces until “it just clicks” and connections between works emerge. Four movable walls make the possibilities near infinite.
“It just eventually all kind of fits together,” Fowler says. “And when that happens, the whole team has this kind of gut-level happy response.”
New Faces, Familiar Faces Through February 27; Sunday-Wednesday, 1-5 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, noon-8 p.m.; free. Priscilla Fowler Fine Art, 1300 S. Main St. #110., 719-371-5640.
