The artwork of Heather Hermann aka “Calliopie” delves into the themes of lost tradition. Hermann’s work explores into deeply fantastical yet classic views on the death of elegance in conjunction with its revival. Steering towards her classic Deco Tech style, the rich yet eerily intricate monotone environments elaborate on a more sinister appeal; as if the subject has some untold secret or are unable to communicate their despair.

Heather will also be displaying a collection of small, whimsical yet brooding drawings and custom designer toy sculpture featuring a series of strange electrical based creatures along with childlike play-on-words fairy tale critters dubbed “Sweet Curiosities”. A hidden world behind our everyday light sockets and technological junk piles with a superb vintage fantasy deco twist.

This series of works has been created, while reading various philosophy studies on the human condition and on society. I made a purpose not to know what author or what philosopher I was reading as I wanted it to be gathered as general knowledge and not specific to any one ideal.

The abstract temples / ships visualize a kind of mental gateway we could some day pass into the next stage of existence.

The work depicting humans are represented with ill shaped forms and distorted perspectives to visualize the absurdity of our kind. But also our ability to learn and love. That we are not a failed species, but just flawed.

Keeping us in a primal / tribal state, I feel comments on how we are still today. We have high tech gear, a more ‘civilized’ way of living, but in the end we are still these tribal creatures, looking to become the next king of the tribe and eradicate all neighboring tribes.

Artists in this group exhibition include:

• Meg Adamson
• Jay Bailey
• Ginger Bruner
• Matt Couper
• David Sanchez Burr
• JW Caldwell
• Evan Dent
• James Henninger
• Rob Hester
• Anne Hoff
• Brent Holmes
• Michelle Irish
• Sean C. Jones
• Scot Kolkman
• Kd Matheson
• Peter Mengert
• Jason Paxman
• James Pink
• Miguel Rodriguez
• Don Roose III
• Sierra Slentz
• Jesse Smigel
• Joel Spencer
• Dustin M. Wax
• Celestia N. Ward
• Warren Wucinich
• with music curated by Jacob Smigel

Join us at First Friday on November 3rd for an opening reception.

Justin Crabtree: A sculptor whose calling is the combination and manipulation of found objects, Crabtree’s work deals directly with the way spaces and shapes interact and intersect. His photography applies the same concern to the flat plane of the camera image, presenting construction sites as an abstract relationship of light and steel.

Jasmine Lyles: Lyle’s borders on the surreal, a combination of the fantastical and cold reality of our constructed environments. Her work calls to mind her muses, Rene Magritte and Alexandr Rodchenko.

Robert Lopez: Lopez’ street photoggraphy reimagines the Las Vegas Strip, isolating individual people from the crowd and capturing oddly touching, almost quiet, moments amidst the hyper-activity of the Strip.

Dustin M. Wax: An ethnographer by trade, Wax’s photography focuses on details and unnoticed angles in the world around him. His work in this show consists of images interesting not so much for their subject but for the patterns they create.

Heather Younger: Younger’s work examines and attempts to clarify her Self, testing its limitations and clarifying its purpose. Drawn to displays of grace and willpower yet struggling with the gap between expectation and the reality before her, Younger’s work questions the function of her own perception.

An opening reception will be held during First Friday, September 2 from 6pm to midnight. For more information, contact Dustin M. Wax at dustin@dwax.org.

Intersecting realities are suggested through a juxtaposition and layering of images both occult and mundane, evoking a dark and mysterious brew.

Artist Statement

I create open-ended narratives, images that let the viewer create their own stories. These images are mythological and tend lie at the intersection of the ridiculous and the sublime.

Opening reception during First Friday, September 2, from 6:00pm to midnight. This is an all ages event. Press is welcome.

Opening – September 2nd – Closing September 26th

His work has been described as the kind of art p…eople on COPS would make if they made art…. His woodcuts have adorned book covers, album covers, T shirts, surf shorts, skateboards, rock posters and has been seen in television programs, commercials, and on his mothers refrigerator….

Opening September 2, 2011
Join us for an opening reception during First Friday, September 2, 6pm to midnight

About the artist

Sean Starwars is an Outlaw print maker that lives in Mississippi with his wife and four small children. He has been a janitor, adjunct professor, and a used car salesman. He makes more woodcuts than anyone you know and drinks more Mountain Dew than anyone you will meet in your life. He has given lectures on his work at many of this countries finest art programs and a couple of cruddy ones too.

Artist Statement

I love to make woodcuts, because they best suit my energy charged, caffeine induced, aggressive approach to image making. Increasingly, I have found myself drawn to the modern mythologies of American Advertising and Cultural Stereotypes.

My fascination with these make believe worlds coupled with my largely pop/expressionistic printmaking sensibilities have enabled me to create an arena to play out any number of fantasies. Charles Bukowski, Ms Pacman, Phillip Guston, Neil Blender and Frankenberry are among my influences.

My goal is to create an environment where various icons of consumer culture can simultaneously react to one another and function as vital components in my visual narrative. While my first love is the relief print, whichever media I am engaged in, my primary concern is to create a strong visual infused with a sense of satirical humor. In other words I like to tell funny stories using funny pictures.

More more information check out Sean’s website at:
http://seanstarwars.blogspot.com/

Also don’t forget to check in at Blackbird Studios when you are here:
http://www.facebook.com/BlackbirdStudioslv

Ride roughshod over hills and dales of madness fulfilling your most lascivious cravings, donning hates of velveteen wicker in terrible rituals unsanctioned by god or beast.

…..OR

…Come to the “Barfing Rainbows”. Bands, booz and probably cupcakes will be portioned up unto patrons in heaping amounts along side phantasmagorical images designed to enrapture the mind, and examine the proverbial tree rings of the human heart.

Barfing Rainbows Artist Talk by Brent Holmes – “The Importance of Being Vomitous”
08/04/2011 7:00pm – 9:00pm

The Barfing Rainbows “First Friday” -  Opening night of the show will include free wine, tea and cupcakes all night. Live musical performances by The Seriouslys and World Record! Posters, paintings and 1980′s style life lessons also available!
08/05/2011 6:00pm – 11:00

Reviews of Barfing Rainbows:

“Best Show of the Year” – Sperry Wesley
“Sexy and Talented!” – Dr. Laura Henkel
“What Who Now?” – Princess Anne
“He Owes Me Five Bucks” – Gina Quaranto
“I LOVE That Guy! – Kristen Peterson (Las Vegas Weekly)

*No quotes refer spesifically to artist, event, or art work and may be completly fictiouse.

Blackbird Studios won the “Best Art Gallery” honors in the Las Vegas Weekly‘s annual “Best of Las Vegas” poll. This comes hard on the heels of being selected as the “Second Place” choice as “Best Art Gallery” in the Las Vegas Review Journal‘s 2011 “Best of Las Vegas” list.

Our thanks to the Las Vegas Weekly, to everyone who voted for us, and to everyone in Las Vegas who has played a role in making Blackbird Studios not just one of the finest places in Las Vegas to show and see art but a gathering place for creative people of all sorts — visual artists, musicians, writers, designers, techies, and the many folk who simply appreciate experiencing art. Not just Blackbird Studios but the Las Vegas arts community and, indeed, Las Vegas as a whole, depend on you to continue to make, look at, discuss, and enjoy creative works, at Blackbird Studios and everywhere else creativity is foregrounded in the Valley.