Resident Artist Program in Silver City takes pause during repairs

Silver City, Nevada - Nearly 10 years ago, my husband Theo McCormick and I launched the Resident Artist Program in Silver City, Nevada. We were inspired by Frances Melhop’s brilliant artist-in-residence program at St. Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City, and Capital City Arts Initiative’s visiting artist programs.

Our own Program includes a unique house - McCormick House - where visiting artists from around the world have stayed. Located on the Comstock within a National Historic Landmark District, the house is surrounded by nearly 5 acres of land with hiking paths that follow naturally occuring wildlife corridors and views of the Sierra Nevada and Pine Nut mountain ranges. Many decades ago, we bought the unusual house that my husband’s father, UNR art professor Jim McCormick, designed and built in 1972. "Being inside is like walking in a giant sculpture: unexpected and aesthetically compelling,” Lisa Gavon wrote in a 2017 Record-Courier feature on the history of McCormick House. “The light reverberates with a lyrical elegance across the triangular components, making the space continually magical."

Since 2015, dozens of artists, musicians and writers have lived at McCormick House for up to several months in exchange for offering free public concerts, exhibitions, workshops, poetry readings, etc. in Silver City and other communities in the Northern Nevada region.

The artists who’ve had residencies in the historic community have contributed enormously and have left a lasting impact long after they’re gone. A few examples: David Lee, Utah’s first and longest serving Poet Laureate, has been a visiting artist at McCormick House seven times since 2016, offering well attended poetry readings. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet dedicated his 2019 book “Mine Tailings” to the people of Silver City. Several of his poems set in Silver City, such as “Silver City Dawn Psalm” and “Aubade,” are in his 2022 collection “Rusty Barbed Wire” as well. Frances Melhop, a New Zealand-born photographer and artist now based in Nevada, held several photo shoots between 2013-2017 for her award winning Comstock Portrait Project. Her 2016 residency in Silver City resulted in dozens of large-scale portraits of Comstock folk and houses that have been featured in exhibitions at Lake Tahoe College and University Nevada Reno, and in galleries in Chicago, Carson City, South Carolina, etc. Brian Schorn, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Michigan, was a resident artist in both 2015 and 2022. His "Comstock Wabi Sabi", a series of two dozen assemblages made with objects found on the Comstock, has been featured in 12 solo exhibitions in Reno, Virginia City, Silver City, Sparks and Michigan since 2015. His assemblage “Sunrise: a Portrait of the Artist in Silver City,” was requested for an exhibition at the Nevada Governor’s Mansion in 2021. New Zealand artist Sophie Scott’s painting, based on an 1860s photo of Silver City, was selected for display at the Nevada Legislature during the 2017 session. Sophie generously gifted that painting and a number of other artworks from her second residency to our permanent collection. Artist Scott MacLeod's ship assemblage, created in collaboration with Silver City denizens, was given to the community and is "moored" inside the local library, along with a donation of his published books. Scott’s gifts of many other paintings and assemblages to our Program and townsfolk have made Silver City a sort of unofficial home to Scott MacLeod art. A gorgeous podium, which incorporated local found objects into its design, was created by the marksearch Oakland duo Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas with local craftsman Doug Beverly Brown and gifted to the Silver City School House, where it’s often used during events and meetings. David Cote, an award winning opera librettist, arts journalist and playwright based in New York City, drafted a 90-minute monologue called Saint Joe during his residency. The play was read by actors Tom Staggs and Moira Stone in a live performance in 2021. David also contributed a sketch to Silver City called “Revitalize” in which a character called Al Dorado gives a rousing speech to the townspeople that in effect exposes the "greed and delusions of companies trying to capitalize on the mythologies of the past."

We’ve funded the Program ourselves without grants or foundation funding because we’ve simply loved meeting artists from around the world. Providing opportunities for the public to enjoy the artwork, poetry, music, and photographs artists created during their residencies has been a joy. We’ve also been delighted that our visiting artists have provided dozens of free workshops over the years where people of all ages and abilities created their own art and writing.

Nearly a decade into its development and after sponsoring more than 30 residencies, the Program is switching gears. Starting this August, the Program is taking a break from hosting artists-in-residence at McCormick House. We’ll be catching up on repairs needed for the unique 51 year old house. However, during this break we’ll also be creating virtual exhibits, collaborating with artists on several outdoor art pieces on the five acres surrounding McCormick House, and further developing permaculture projects on those acres. Further, we are working on projects related to poet Irene Bruce, who lived in Silver City from roughly 1958-1971, and creating an illustrated book showing what the generous visiting artists contributed to Silver City and Nevada during their residencies. Finally, we’re documenting the Program’s collection of art, partly so that museums and arts organizations can borrow pieces for exhibitions.

Although our Program has been self-funded, we could not have done it without the support of many individuals and groups. We’re endlessly grateful for the tremendous in-kind support the Program has received in many forms such as work by community volunteers, gifts of art and supplies from visiting artists, and supportive relationships with local and regional groups.

Organizations such as the Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities, Double Scoop, Silver City Arts group, Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties, Carson City Cultural Commission, St. Mary’s Art Center, Carson City Culture & Tourism Authority, KNVC community radio, and Sierra Nevada Ally, have partnered with the Program to add support to exhibitions, displays, advertising, lectures, poetry festivals, concerts, receptions, etc. We appreciate the work of Lyon County Facilities and Parks employees who beautifully maintain the local public park and the Silver City School House community center where many of our resident artists’ events have been held.

The Program has also benefited greatly from the work of gifted summer interns such as Kembria Burnett and Marielle Toll, and “friends of the program” such as Fred Swanson, Mark Salinas, John and Kathy Tresise, Dale Robins, Nancy Calvert, Sam Toll, Mylo McCormick, and Las Swanson.

The Program has also benefited from a crackerjack team of advisors including photographer/artist Frances Melhop, artist Stephen Reid, Christy McGill (degrees in Drama/ Theatre and English), Allison Rasmussen (culinary arts advisor for receptions), Kerry Rossow (our social media advisor is a best selling author and co-founder of the She Said project); Ella Isaac (our youth engagement advisor is with the championship marching arts ensemble Phantom Regiment), and dancer Jessica Sanford.

Although we’ll be taking a break from hosting residencies while we make repairs to McCormick House, we plan to continue with several projects during this time. We hope to present virtual exhibitions, publish a book about the contributions of our previous resident artists, and document our permanent collection in a searchable database so that arts organizations can borrow selected pieces. In the meanwhile, we send our sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported and participated in the Resident Artist Program in Silver City, Nevada.