Who Made the Blog Today? Roberto Rico

Born in the artist colony of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Roberto Rico (seen above in his own "Self Portrait in Time") began to draw at an early age. At 16 he received a scholarship to the prestigious National Institute of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes) where he studied Classic Art and Life Drawing. During this time he entered a major national competition and took First Place.

He then went on to study Perspective, Art History, and Color Theory at the Allende Institute for the Arts. At 18 he decided to travel throughout Mexico, the US, and Canada, working and attending various art seminars and doing freelance work until settling down in southern California.

He enrolled at Moorpark College to study Design and Composition and Art Appreciation then went on for a few years to pursue a career in the printing business. Once again his artistic hunger would draw him back to the art world. He enrolled in the Graphic Arts department of the Learning Tree University in Thousand Oaks, California.

In 1994 Roberto moved to Las Vegas and enjoyed it so much, he stayed and made it his home. He has shown his work in numerous galleries. It has appeared in magazines and lives in various collections as well.

Roberto Rico is a Board Member of the Henderson Art Association and current President of the Vegas Artists Guild. He volunteers his time teaching drawing and painting in several city community centers and is comfortable working in any medium.

See more of his work here: www.robertoricoartist.blogspot.com

More (Belated) Props for HAA Members

"The Cloisters" by Roberto Rico

Henderson Art Association members Roberto Rico, Colin Pringle, Andre Beaudry, and Ed Hoag garnered some pretty sweet and much-deserved recognition at the Helldorado Days Art Contest at the end of April.

Rico received First Place in the Pencil Drawing category, Second in Mixed Media, and Second in Colored Pencil.

Colin Pringle received Best in Show for the second year in a row.

Ed Hoag took First Place in the Watercolor category and Andre Beaudry swept the Sculpture category, taking First, Second, and (you got it) Third Place too.

Roberto Rico is also the President of the Vegas Artists Guild and Colin Pringle is a member of that growing art organization as well.

Belated congratulations to all. Stay creative and may the kudos keep coming.

Building the Art Community From the Ground Up

These photographs of chalk art created during this year's 12th Annual Henderson ArtFest were taken just under two weeks ago and shared by Plaza Gallery Co-Owner Susanne Reese. They capture stunning and inspiring creations from the weekend's newly introduced Piazza Colori competition, and showcase a handful of the artists hard at work.

The competition took place on the plaza next to City Hall at the heart of Water Street and also served as a fundraiser for the Green Valley Rotary Club.

These wonderful works are a testament to the talent and passion for the arts in our community. There's little doubt that if we continue to come together by the hundreds and thousands, as artists and patrons did just recently, we will soon undergo tremendous revitalization of cultural arts in Henderson and the downtown Water Street District. In fact, it might seem this is just the beginning.

HAA Member Nabila Khanam Has Image Selected for Public Art Poster Project

HAA member Nabila Khanam's photograph "Winter Reflections" has been selected by Clark County Parks and Recreation and the Friends of Winchester Park Public Art Committee as one of four artworks by four artists to be displayed on Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) bus shelters throughout the Las Vegas valley. This is part of "The Bus Stops Here" public art poster project to showcase Clark County artists and place art in our streetscapes.

See more of Nabila's photography here:

nabila-photography.blogspot.com

ArtFest: A Huge Success

Artists and patrons turned out by the thousands at this year's Henderson ArtFest. And, at the center of it all, the HAA stood proudly and made a great showing. HAA President Deborah Mays forwarded a wonderful letter of appreciation thanking all of those who participated in order to make this weekend's events run like clockwork.

Paraphrasing, she thanked "all the HAA artists who volunteered or helped in some way by supporting our group this weekend at the annual Henderson ArtFest." A special thank you went out to Sharon Menary, Georgia Lawson, Dotty Fenner, Charme Curtin, Debora Herrera, Wendy Rountree, Kathy Mullinix, Nicky Watts, Beth McCall, Shirley Jeane, Lee Moses, Dana Satterwhite, Gary Reese, and Suzanne Reese for coming together, being present, pitching in, and pretty much doing a fantastic job at keeping the organization going strong.

Thanks, honestly, go out to all the artists in the organization and in the area, and all of those who came out and took part. It was a welcome reminder that Henderson arts are alive and well, and that we all must continue to engage our creative sides.

HAA T-shirts sold like gangbusters and plenty of literature was handed out to inform of upcoming events.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Jeremy Twitchell stopped by the HAA booth on Saturday and conducted a brief interview with recently appointed HAA Creative Director Dana Satterwhite and his wife Kristen. Twitchell concludes his article about this year's ArtFest with their words. Hopefully, with what they had to say, they did the HAA and the local cultural arts community proud.

Check out the full article here:

Chalk it up to ArtFest - Las Vegas Sun

More Love for Local Mural Artist

Photo courtesy of Nabila Khanam.

Tomorrow evening's long-awaited unveiling of Ozzy Villate's "Promise" mural, symbolizing the revitalization of the Water Street District, seems to be a hot topic these days.

At least local adventure columnist Corey Levitan of the Review-Journal seems to think so. Read the article here:

Mural represents progress of city, artist - Neon - ReviewJournal.com

"Promise" Mural Unveiling and ArtFest Weekend Just Two Days Away.

HAA affiliate member Ozzy Villate's "Promise" mural unveiling will kick off this weekend's ArtFest Mother's Day weekend's festivities. Admission to the unveiling is free and it will officially take place at 6:00 pm Friday evening, May 8th.

Photographer and HAA member Nabila Khanam made her way down to the Rainbow Casino on Water Street to document Ozzy hard at work, one week before having his art presented to the public. In between painting sessions, Ozzy paused and smiled for the camera.

Thank you, Ozzy and Nabila for adding beauty through your artistry to our growing cultural community. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and join the festivities.

Find a list of times and events for ArtFest here: Henderson Lives ArtFest

The Art of Healing

Two HAA members recently lost members of their families and others of us are perhaps dealing with our own losses as well.

Creativity and community can not bring them back but we hope it is a comfort on some level to know that there are people around you, near and far, wishing you the strength you need but may not always have at times like these.

As we support the arts, we support each other. We offer this brief but sincere note and photo of a special floral arrangement as a small token from your HAA family.

Hope you join us again soon and let's allow art to continue to bring us together.