Up the hill

St. Mary’s Art and Retreat Center is housed in a building similar to others in Virginia City. For one thing, the building—formerly known as the St. Mary Louise Hospital—is quite old. It’s also been adapted from its original purpose. Built in 1876, the 137 year-old structure has been renovated and updated several times since then, and has been transformed from a hospital into an international art gallery and artist retreat (“Virginia [City] is for [art] lovers,” RN&R June 6).

“It’s been part of the history of Nevada for a long time,” says Frances Melhop, the new creative director and curator of the center. Melhop, an artist who spent more than 10 years in Italy as a fashion photographer, took over as director in late September.

Some of Melhop’s plans include bringing the facility into the 21st century by “redoing the computer systems” and maintaining an online presence. She’s also working on making the building more functional for artists, turning an open, well-lit room into a print-making station, allowing the darkroom to be kept dark and used only for photography.

The building has four floors, each with a long hallway and several bedrooms on each side (36 rooms total). Currently, the rooms are used during overnight workshops that last between two and five days. Past workshops have included narrative illustration and painting.

“Everyone stays here during workshops, and it helps because you don’t defocus,” Melhop says. “It’s really quite fun.”

Melhop envisions the top room and workspace on the fourth floor functioning as a year-round artist residence.

She’s also working to bring in global artists, including a Danish filmmaker coming in February. Two English artists worked in the building last July.

The opening for the next round of 2013-2014 exhibits is Nov. 8. Photographer Nolan Preece’s work will take over the main gallery. Several of Preece’s photos capturing aspects of St. Mary’s renovations are already hung in the building. The new exhibit will display the results of Preece’s “Nolangram” process, in which he uses substances like soot and oil to create patterns on glass, and then photographs the results. The outcomes are colorful, abstract and surreal.

Also opening is work by painter Nate Clark and sculptor/painter Nancy Peppin.

Melhop notes that Clark, who is also this year’s emerging artist, is “definitely one to watch.” Clark, a Washington native who attended University of Nevada, Reno’s bachelor of fine arts program, creates paintings focused on shapes, pairing sharp, straight lines with curved ovals. The artist is also an avid cyclist—he’s crossed the country solely by bike, and the themes of movement are present in his paintings, which resemble the shapes and colors seen quickly while passing by on a moving vehicle.

Peppin’s series, called “24 DiaDeLosMuertos San Tunike” deals with the passage of time, using the art of the Spanish tableau to convey the impact of a lifespan—or perhaps, the lack of—on Twinkies. Within a tableau, she situates small skeletons, spiders and other Dia de los Muertos imagery around the dessert snack. Peppin is a graphic designer and animator at International Gaming Technology.

“Even when the tableaus are on display for more than a year, there’s no mold on the Twinkies,” Melhop laughs.

And an entire display featuring Nevada artists, facilitated by Nevada artists as part of a collective Dusty Roads exhibit, will also be up in the Nevada artists gallery.

“There’s a lot of artists inspired by the area,” Melhop says. “We hope to bring more of that to St. Mary’s, and also look beyond just Nevada.”