UNLV Special Collections provides copies of materials to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. Material not in the public domain may be used according to fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law. Please cite us.
Please note that UNLV may not own the copyright to these materials and cannot provide permission to publish or distribute materials when UNLV is not the copyright holder. The user is solely responsible for determining the copyright status of materials and obtaining permission to use material from the copyright holder and for determining whether any permissions relating to any other rights are necessary for the intended use, and for obtaining all required permissions beyond that allowed by fair use.
Read more about our reproduction and use policy.
I agree.Part of an interview with Vicki Richardson conducted by Claytee D. White in two sessions on August 19, 2003 and January 29, 2004. Richardson describes the development of her art gallery as a community resource.
Vicki Richardson oral history interview, 2003 January 29, 2003 August 19. OH-01566. [Audio recording] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Veg
English
I know this is not a commercial, but tell me something about the classes and how you have allowed the art gallery to get involved with the community. Basically, because I am an educator, I look at the art gallery as an educational tool in the community. I look at it as a way of breaking down boundaries in the same way that music does, that dance does. It's our common denominator. It's something that all cultures have in common. All cultures produce art. So I wanted something that was encompassing. I wanted a gallery that, number one, would be not intimidating, a gallery that would have a relaxed atmosphere, that would be a welcoming place, that would be inclusive and not exclusive. I didn't want a gallery that was some kind of status symbol. I wanted it to be — (End side 2, tape 2.) So the gallery is basically educational. The two people that were 43 a part of my vision when I thought about doing the gallery are both educators. So when people come into the gallery, we want them to do more than look at pictures. We want them to actually develop a relationship with the gallery and a relationship with the art. So the artists that exhibit here are required to have an educational component to the exhibit process. In order to exhibit here, they have to send me in their slides and their resumes. And, hopefully, I can sit down and interview them personally. But they also have to tell me what they're going to do educationally with this exhibit. It might be an art talk in the gallery. It might be a tool that they develop to lead the viewer through their exhibit, to give them some insights into their exhibit. It might be that they teach a class for me, a one-day workshop or something, on how or why they do their art or on any topic they want to. So we discuss that. We want the art that' s in here to be something that you can bring your family into this gallery and see. We want to be able to bring school groups through, classes from the university. We work very closely with teachers all over the state. They meet here. We're on the registry, the state registry. We've gotten different grants for the Nevada State of the Arts Council. We're very involved in public artwork. We've got a lot of public artwork around the city.