Nevada Museum of Art Offsets Reno's Eyesore Casino Strip

The Nevada Museum of Art is itself a work of art.

Just south of the flamboyant, fluorescent eye sore that is Reno's casino strip lays the beautiful and unusual architecture of the new building that holds Nevada's oldest cultural institution.

The building, located on Liberty Street, was inspired by the cryptic exquisiteness of the Black Rock Desert.� The shiny almost-black grey building is not quite circular, but is anything but angular.�Strange and delightful statues are spotted throughout the view, some seem specifically Nevadan and western, like a horse sculpture made of scraps of wood; some that could be home anywhere in the world, like a bending man made of rocks and wires.� While the building looks intriguing from the outside, it's what's inside that makes it spectacular.

The gray modeled floor continued the Black Rock Desert motif from outside, as do the strategically placed flashes of color, which are like the sunset and clouds for the desolate wilderness.� On the first floor, light escapes from a wall of windows covered by barely translucent shades, reflecting off the metallic pieces scattered throughout the museum-from simple hand rails to modern chairs and tables.�

What would otherwise be a dull-although elegant-interior is made lively and unpredictable with the occasional and seemingly random walls of bright, daring colors.� ��

Of course, like any great museum, the NMA is the home of great innovative art.� The second floor holds the permanent collection, which-although varied in content-has a western focus.� It includes delightful prints by Adam Jahiel titled "Last Cowboy Series," which portrays all that we idolize about the rough trade, and a Great Basin Collection filled with paintings and prints of our surrounding area.� A major highlight is the Edward Weston collection of photographed food.� The lighting and placement of the edible items is such that it seems they could not actually be the same foods we know, like they must be creative paintings.� However, they are simply black-and-white photos of our everyday grocery items, made beautiful through the eyes and the camera of an artist.� The second floor also presents a collection of ceramics and interesting artifacts.

The Third floor houses temporary art shows, which range drastically in form.� The current show-Robert Morrison: A Retrospective-showcases a bizarre formation of thirty metal structures made to look like medical tables with paper pillows met with electronic wires which make strange clicking noises in no distinguishable pattern.� The show also includes "Mumbles," an eclectic series of angular carvings on steel slats, which are attached to noisemaking electronic devices that resonate throughout the entire museum like a continuous, disconnected drum roll.

The museum is also home of the Café Musèe, which offers an assortment of food and beverage; The Museum Store, which sells everything from jewelry to creative toys; and many other attractions for all ages.�