Intersection

[First Friday] House of art

Three questions with Roz Knight about her house-turned-gallery

By Nick Divito

First Friday wouldn’t nearly be as, um, First Friday-ish without Roz Knight, owner and founder of the City of the World, a small, single-story house-turned-art gallery in the heart of the arts district.

It’s an unlikely space for art, for sure: It’s a little bit art gallery, a little bit arts school, a little bit someone’s old house in the shadows of the Las Vegas Strip. Just about every corner of the interior is covered with art, from the kitchen to the living room, bedrooms and hallways. (Because space is limited, Knight’s own paintings have been relegated to the bathroom.)

Knight, 60, took over the building last June (monthly rent: $1,200), and has happily found herself smack-dab in the middle of the First Friday scene.

 

So, what’s the gallery all about?

City of the World is a nonprofit corporation to help educate, produce and market art in Nevada. It started out as a dream: I wanted to find a warehouse in the city and open it up to other nonprofits in the arts where, as part of their lease, they would help with arts education. I wanted a place where we could teach all the arts in one giant place.

What happened?

Well, there aren’t many lofts in the city. And I teach full-time. And it became difficult to hustle for money and find a building and everything that goes with it. But then in April of last year, [the previous tenant] called me and said she had to leave town, do I want the gallery? Basically, God just gave me a building.

So what’s with the art hanging in the bathroom? Isn’t anything sacred?

Hey, art can be hung anywhere. 

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