Reno Playa Art Park

Identity Awareness Family

You will encounter sculptures and murals around every corner in Reno. The downtown Reno Playa Art Park—across from the Circus Circus casino murals at 520 N Virginia Street—is a place surrounded by painted walls that features a yearly changing assembly of sculptures. These are installations you, or your children, can walk through and climb on. As the name of this urban sculpture sanctum suggests, the objects give a playful Burning Man flair.  Once, they actual were part of a Burning Man event.

The Reno Playa Art Project was a Burning Man 2017 Global Art Grant recipient. The art piece called Identity Awareness Family, shown above, was created by Shane Pitzer, who has experienced Burning Man with his whole family. The large heart is kept in balance by family members signifying love and support for each other. Next to the heart stands the sculpture named It's A Chicken And Egg Situation by Andrea Greenless and Andy Tibbetts.  Here, children climb the chicken frame; while it was on the Playa, the chicken contained pillow-like, foam-filled eggs for Burners to lie on, hug or contemplate about the traditional chicken-and-egg riddle.

Lumpy the Gate Skull was created for the 2017 Burning Man by Reno locals,  Jeremy Evans and Bill Tubman. The skull was placed at the Playa entrance. It was the first peace of art seen by participants and will return to the Playa event of this year.

Climbing the skull: Lumpy the Gate Skull

The experimental installation Trasparenza (frequently misspelled Transparenza) by Andrea Greenlees is made from laser-cut, clear cast acrylic panels. This Leonardo-da-Vinci-inspired, seethrough sculpture can be entered. The imagery of geometric patterns can be enjoyed from both inside and outside. 

Temple of Transparency: Trasparenza

Another acrylic-based sculpture is the Electric Dandelion by Abram Santa Cruz. Actually, there are two. These LED-animated structures come to life at night, when they simulate a firework show. 

One of the two Electric Dandelions

Note:  My brief descriptions of the Playa Art Park creations are based on the onsite #renoplayaartproject board.

Bandalooping down Reno's City Hall

Renoites love the verticals. The downtown climbing wall has been a spectacular hotspot for years. After a vertical dancefloor rehearsal on June 30, Artown 2018 was opened the next day with an amazing performance by Bandaloop from Oakland, California. The cloud-reflecting windows of the south-facing side of the Reno City Hall served as the vertical platform—or should I say background—for the aerial dancers. Here are a few snapshots.