Industrial Art: Sports Edition

Embracing the area's manufacturing community, the Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] announces its exhibition, "Industrial Art: Sports Edition", at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery from June 9 – September 28, 2017. CCAI will host a reception for the show on Friday, June 9, 5-7pm including a short introduction of the exhibition participants at 5:30pm. The Courthouse is located at 885 E Musser Street, Carson City. The reception and the exhibition are free and the public is cordially invited. The gallery is open to the public Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm.

"Industrial Art: Sports Edition" features the design work by five northern Nevada sports equipment designers and manufacturers. The participating businesses include Aviso Surf/Solution Marine, Burns Machining/Dirt Tricks, Sports Attack, The Cable Connection, and UCS Spirit. Each of these companies manufacture products with innovative design that apply to an array of sports equipment. CCAI presents these products as items to be admired in their own right for their design, precision, and beauty.

Aviso Surf makes carbon fiber surf boards, and Solution Marine makes carbon-fiber foils and other parts for ocean-going sailboats. Burns Machining specializes in laser cutting and its companion business, Dirt Tricks, specializes in after-market rear sprockets for dirt bikes. The Cable Connection manufactures the Ultra-tec® line of stainless steel cable railing hardware which has been used in public arenas and buildings including the San Francisco 49er’s new Levi Stadium and the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan. Sports Attack’s baseball pitching and football snap/pass/kick training machines help everyone from youngsters to professionals hone their skills. UCS Spirit’s builds track and field equipment including handmade vaulting poles for high school to Olympic athletes. Each of these firms relies on product design and research to keep them on the cutting edge of their individual productions.

The show includes vaulting poles by UCS Spirit, a collection of Dirt Trick’s jewel-like sprockets, Sports Attack training machines, a sample of The Cable Connection’s cable fencing, and Aviso Surf’s boards — all to showcase the diversity of design and broad reach of northern Nevada’s manufacturing community.

Artist and writer Chris Lanier has written the exhibition essay for Industrial Art: Sports Edition. He has a background in both traditional and digital media, and has worked in multimedia performance, digital animation, web production, and comics. Mr. Lanier is also an essayist and critic whose art criticism has appeared in a variety of online and print publications. He is an Associate Professor of Digital Art at Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada. Lanier earned his M.F.A. in Studio Art at the University of California, Davis in 2007 and his B.A. in Art and Society at the New College of California, San Francisco in 1994. He lives in Reno with his family.

This exhibition is supported by a lead donation from the Western Manufacturing Alliance. Gerd Poppinga, Jr. with Vineburg Machining Inc. curated the exhibition.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area's diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.

CCAI is funded in part by the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, City of Carson City, Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, U.S. Bank Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and John and Grace Nauman Foundation.

For additional information, please visit CCAI’s website at www.arts-initiative.org.