A Blank Canvas. Not For Long.

Tonight, seventeen board members, committee heads, and affiliates gathered at one lovely home in Henderson to discuss the fate of the Henderson Art Association. More than anything, this small group of dedicated volunteers are artists and art enthusiasts themselves. There was food, wine, laughter, clapping, voting, a pair of well-mannered mop-top dogs, and a general consensus that, even without a physical gallery space to call home, the association should, can, and will go on.

There were agendas, minutes, presentations, and budgetary reports from the standing treasurer. There were issues raised by the president, yearly summations from the vice president, and a proposal for a mural that, after many years, looks like it's gonna go through. There were comments from officers and non-officers alike, bathroom breaks, pregnant pauses, and awkward silences. All the makings of any well-laid meeting. There were also open, candid discussions about art, the difficulties of showing, selling, and promoting our own, especially at lean times like these. There were even sincere and honest dialogues about the trials of volunteering, assuming responsibility out of necessity, obligation, extreme coercion, and taking on roles not because we have time but rather because we share two things. The will to survive and passion.

With this gathering came welcome discovery and understanding that in order to move forward and truly begin to create the progressive artists' community that we all envision for the Water Street District, Henderson, Las Vegas, and Southern Nevada, things may need to take on a new shape or a new direction.

Thus, a Henderson artists blog was born. This blog is born of the Henderson Art Association for the growth of the Henderson Art Association. Can something created by an organization help that very organization become more dynamic than it was before? We hope so. We're about to find out.

We will begin and continue to post news about art, shows, openings, presentations, demonstrations, classes, and upcoming events in the Henderson artistic community here and encourage you to submit news of anything you know that's going on that we may have missed. Likely we will miss a few things along the way since we're just getting started (again), so please bear with us. Help us. Create something with us.

In the end, the best part about it is this blog, like art, is whatever we want to make it. Here goes.