The Birth of an Art Scene
By: Arden Guy

We’re standing in the middle of the very colorful “Painted Couch”; Sarah Patterson is playing an acoustic set accompanied by a cello and bongos in the window of the store. It’s cold outside, but a general warmth pervades. Anthony Bondi has been around the Las Vegas art scene long enough to watch it take shape. He’s giving me a run down on how the area around Charleston and Main became the art district.

“There was a place called Vintage Madness over on 4th Sreet…,” he begins, and then goes on to tell how a garage was turned into the first gallery called, “The Local Artist”. He then tells of failed attempts to jump start a scene and finishes his story with mention of the sustained success and tragic ending of Julie Brewer’s Enigma Café.

We fast forward to today and see that the area now boasts over twenty art related business and hosts an ongoing monthly festival called “First Friday” which brings locals to the area by the thousands. So, who’s behind this seemingly sudden growth?

Julie Brewer is still there. She’s sitting in front of The Funkhouse, an antique store and art gallery on Casino Center Boulevard, keeping warm with wool cap and a Camel cigarette. To our right a puppet show entertains a crowd with a new twist on Greek Tragedy, to our left a string of parallel tents display arts and crafts of all types. In front of The Gypsy Caravan, further down the way, the surf band “Vista Four” plays in suits and ties while at the other end of the closed street another band sets up for an after hours show.

Brewer says she’s holding down the fort while Cindy Funkhouser is away on vacation. And who is Cindy Funkhouser?... She’s the president of Whirlygig Inc. (www.whirlygiglasvegas.org), a non-profit arts organization - and the undisputed founder of First Friday, the festival that nurtured the birth of an art scene in Las Vegas. In essence Julie, Cindy and a third principal, Naomi Arin of Dust Gallery, along with a little help from the city and Mayor Oscar Goodman, are the guiding forces behind the increasingly popular celebration of art in our community.

A similar festival called “First Thursday” in Portland, Oregon inspired Funkhouser while she was visiting her son and it occurred to her that Las Vegas deserved something just as fantastic as what she saw in that city of about the same size and population. So, about four years ago she began “Art at the Funkhouse”. It wasn’t called First Friday yet, but it was held on that day and showcased local artists in the backrooms of her establishment. Then, in the spring of 2000, she suggested to Brewer and Arin that the time had come for the three of them to do a festival on a larger scale. They replied simply,… “OK.” And First Friday in its current form was born.

“The mayor was already onboard to do anything that goes on downtown,” Cindy tells me. “That’s his baby (downtown) and he wants it to be very successful as an area. So we started talking to him about First Friday and he was very excited. Then we started working with the Cultural Division and it’s just grown each month.”

In May of 2003 the city closed down the streets surrounding the district and continues to do so every month now. In October of this year, on the festival’s two year anniversary, the crowd swelled to upwards of 7,000 visitors. From about 300 people in the beginning, this number is the measure of the event’s success and the work of these three patrons.

There are still plans to enhance the growth. “What we’d like to see is more performance art, and more artists participating,” Cindy tells me. “Although we’re getting a good number of artists these days and there’s a lot of little galleries and studios popping up everywhere. With more (artists) lofts opening up soon, we expect that to be a big part of First Friday. We just see this whole area filling in.”

The filling in has already begun to take form…

Across the street from The Funkhouse, a small collection of lofts house artists and doubles as their personal galleries. Dray’s Place, instantly recognizable by the larger than life painted angel spanning the width of his bungalow, was the first of its kind to be established after Funkhouser talked local property owners into renting to artists.

Dray, originally from L.A., is at home in his little corner of the district. He was the first to respond to a request for artists to come in and set up shop. At first there was a slow response, but now with more buildings slated to become studio/galleries, there is a waiting list.

“First Friday went no further than The Funkhouse,” says Dray, “but now it’s like people (artists) come in here and they see the wood floors and the whole vibe over here and they see that this is what Vegas needs. I was the first person to get here and everybody just followed suit. It’s funny how things work out. It’s starting to feel like there’s really an artist’s district.”

Around the corner on Main Street, we find Godt-Cleary Projects, not the first large gallery to arrive in the area, but arguably the most prestigious.

Funkhouser had this to say concerning their presence, “Of course we’re quite thrilled because it brings a great deal of credence when a gallery like Godt-Cleary moves into the area. Michelle Quinn is the director and she is on our First Friday advisory committee and is very helpful in all the things that we do.”

Co-founder Naomi Arin, along with partner, Jerry Misko own and operate the Dust Gallery next door - Misko says their gallery was designed for the “emerging artist,” and so far things are going “just great”. Dust was the first gallery to break out of The Arts Factory located just around the corner on Charleston.

The Arts Factory seems to have become a hub of activity, housing multiple galleries as well as a small theatre aptly named SEAT (Social Experiment and Absurd Theatre). In the reception area of the Arts Factory, Dianne Bush calls for last bids on an auctioning off of art donated to benefit AIDS research. The corridors and rooms of the building buzz with activity and excitement. Out back a crowd is gathered socializing while makeshift newsletters are handed out, camera’s snap memories and music wafts on the cold December air.

A creative vibe is bubbling all around, and disconnected artists of all genres have found a haven to meet and find fuel for inspiration; to talk shop; let out steam; and oh - perhaps make enough to continue contributing ideas and art to the growing sense of culture in our city - without sacrifice.

With one more stop at the Ice House for the “Get Back” after party on my to-do list, I become aware of the growing spirit wrapping itself around the streets and sidewalks of this area and I, for one, am glad to have found it.