• Carson Now on Facebook
  • Follow Carson Now on Twitter
  • Follow Carson Now by RSS
  • Follow Carson Now by Email

'Maya's Mind' 20-foot art sculpture installed Saturday in the downtown Carson City area

On Saturday afternoon, a new art installation was brought to downtown Carson City thanks to a small group of art lovers who wanted to help bring more culture for all of the public to enjoy.

“Maya’s Mind” created by artist Mischell Riley was installed at 377 S. Nevada Street in the yard of what is currently Fairway Independent Mortgage Company.

The owners of the building, Andie Wilson and Brad Bonkowski of NAI Alliance Carson City, couldn’t be happier to lend a piece of their property to a large public art installation.

Mischell Riley is also the artist behind “The Mind of DaVinci,” the large public art sculpture currently on display in front of the Carson City Community Center.

Maya’s Mind was first displayed at Burning Man in 2017 before it was brought to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for display as a part of their “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” art show.

Maya’s Mind is made up of a 20-foot high bust of Maya Angelou set on a stack of books.

The idea behind Maya’s Mind, according to Riley, was to build monuments of inspirational women in order to increase representation of women of all races and religions. The series will continue in the future with Jane Goodall and Amelia Earhart.

According to Wilson, she is thrilled to be able to display the art on one of her properties, although she is not the owner; Maya’s Mind is still up for sale.

“I would have been thrilled to see this piece anywhere, in front of the legislative building, in front of city hall, but it’s much more complicated to make it happen (on public property),” said Wilson. “Whereas Brad and I own this property, Jennell is a tenant and is totally open to it, so we thought, ‘cool, what do we need for a base? How can we make this happen?’ It was still a hundred steps, but a hundred as opposed to a thousand.”

Jennell Peck is the Branch Sales Manager at Fairway where the piece is being installed. She is also very happy to be able to look out her window and see the sculpture of an inspiring woman like Angelou, who then inspires her as a woman to be her best.

"It's a great message," said Peck. "No matter what, she still rises. That's amazing. To have a monument of a woman in front of an office full of women, it's very inspiring. When I'm having a difficult day now I can look out at my monument and think, 'I can handle this.'"

Wilson also said that the installation comes at an important time following the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shut down, but now that people are starting to reemerge within the community, this adds as something else for them to experience.

“There’s a lot of activity down here and we knew that we were going to come out of COVID; the world is going to come back to life. This is a good thing for the community,” said Wilson. “It’s such a gift that we’ve had (Riley) here and so if Maya ends up being here for three years, great, 10 years, 20 years; if she ends up selling the piece then she’ll move on, but we’re just happy to help.”


Riley is planning on an upcoming move to Canada, and shipping Maya’s Mind would have been time consuming as well as costly, so having a place for the piece to be until it is sold worked out well both for Riley as well as the Carson City community as a whole.

You can see the piece in the downtown area, about two blocks behind Comma Coffee, located at 377 S. Nevada Street.

To learn more about Riley, visit https://bronzesbymischell.com/ and to learn more about Maya’s Mind, click here.

Top Stories

... or see all stories

Dollar Tree, a popular discount variety store, will open as the new tenant at the former 99 Cents Store on William Street in Carson City.

Carson City Sheriff's Office deputies made four misdemeanor arrests since Monday.

Gusty winds and low humidity has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag Warning for Carson City and surrounding counties from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space is reminding residents that Prison Hill Off-Highway Vehicle Area and the trails and areas beyond the motorized trailhead/staging area located on Golden Eagle Lane will be closed during Red Flag Warning days.

Last summer, Americans issued a collective gasp of horror as images of trash mounds left on Lake Tahoe’s beaches following Fourth of July celebrations flooded traditional and social media.

Keep Memory Alive’s annual Summer Festival & Rodeo at Shakespeare Ranch, a private Lake Tahoe estate in Glenbrook, Nev., returns on Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30 for another weekend of rodeo excitement to raise funds in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases and recognize local philanthropist and entrepreneur Kern Schumacher with the Community Leadership Award.

Greater Nevada Credit Union (GNCU) has announced the recipientsof its first Live Greater Grant program. This year, $289,000 was awarded across 37 community organizations.

Congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Carson City are pleased to announce several voluntary representatives (young men and women) who have received mission calls and will soon embark on a journey of faith, service and personal growth.

The Carson City Planning Commission will hold its monthly meeting Wednesday, June 26 beginning at 5 p.m. in the Bob Crowell Board Room of the Community Center, located at 851 E. William St.

The agenda includes renewal of a proposed multifamily project permit, a radio tower appeal, among other items.

On Friday, June 28, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will conduct an alcohol compliance checks. Underage volunteers will be sent into local businesses in Carson City and attempt to purchase alcohol using their real identification.

Cruise down US Highway 395 with local author J. Butler Kyle. Imagine your journey begins with the rugged scenery of Reno on the north end of the eastern Sierra Nevada, over mountain passes such as Deadman Summit, through unique towns along the route like Lone Pine, and down amongst the barren beauty of the Mojave Desert, to its terminus in Adelanto at Interstate-15.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Tahoe City man pled guilty Monday to one count of smuggling amphibians into the United States, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Saturated color spreads across the sky over Carson City Sunday evening.

The impact of wildfires in the Western United States on homeowners and condominium insurance will be highlighted Friday at a town hall meeting hosted by the Nevada Division of Insurance.

A 29-year-old man was arrested Saturday for suspicion of domestic battery, according to a Carson City Sheriff's Office booking report.

Mile High Jazz Band with vocalist Jakki Ford will perform two free big-band concerts in Carson City. The first, on Friday, June 28, is from 6 to 9 p.m. at Mills Park, 1111 E. William Street. It is part of the weekly Family Fun Fridays, featuring live music, food trucks, and family activities every Friday through August 9.

Every year throughout our region, pets are found dead in cars due to heat exhaustion, including those with windows cracked.

With outside temperatures often in the 90s and above, internal car temperatures can reach anywhere from 114 degrees after 10 minutes, to 140 degrees after an hour. Cracking a window often does nothing at all as rolling down the windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car, according to the Humane Society of the U.S.

UPDATE: The 'S' on the side of the hill in southeast Carson City that commemorates the Stewart Indian School, and has been there for decades, was vandalized over the weekend. It has since been restored.

Looking for a place to take your little ones this week? Look no further! Here is a list of family-friendly (and fun!) activities and events happening this week around Carson City.

Social media awareness and the dangers that may be imposed on youth will be the focus of a parent and youth education night happening Tuesday, June 25 in Carson City.
Rugby wanted poster

The Carson Tahoe Rugby club is looking for players. The teams started back in 2019 and has grown every year and looking to have you join the team and show off your skills. Currently practice is every Thursday from 5:30 - 7:00. Reach out with any questions or for more information.

UPDATE: The fire was extinguished. NV Energy power in the area has been restored.
***
Carson City Fire Department and sheriff's deputies were called Sunday evening to a possible structure fire and brush fire in the 1200 block of Mountain Park Drive off of Marian Avenue.

Dear honorable neighbor, it’s no longer us or them. We are one big quarreling family trying to get along. Compassion lingers as our common bond, yet we sometimes bow to feelings, and mistake those feelings for thinking.

Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, the extreme-value grocery retailer, today launched its 14th Annual Independence from Hunger Food Drive, to combat food insecurity and support families in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities throughout America. From June 26 to July 31, 2024, Carson City Grocery Outlet is teaming up with the Northern Nevada Dream Center, to collect food and cash donations in-store.

Today I started pruning out the water sprouts in my four crabapple trees. Some people might call these “suckers,” but suckers grow up from the bottom of the trunk and water sprouts grow in the upper parts of the tree. I have been training three of these trees into a somewhat flattened umbrella shape for almost 20 years. The water sprouts just ruin that effect. So, out they come.

Unquestionably one of the most entertaining groups of celebrities at the pro-athlete dominated American Century Championship this year is the star-studded lineup of comedians playing in the July 10-14 edition of the tournament at Edgewood Tahoe.

The plants and trees are on their best behavior at Greenhouse Garden Center in Carson City as they celebrate their 50th anniversary of this awesome garden center, where flowers are in full bloom, trees are standing strong and tall in their pots, vendors are available to give gardening pointers, and there's lots of outdoor decor to make your garden more vibrant and interesting.

Carson City Fire Department, sheriff's deputies and Nevada State Police were called Sunday morning to a vehicle crash at the intersection of US-50, US-395 South Carson Street and I-580.

The much-anticipated Carson-Tahoe Home & Garden Show is happening this weekend, featuring an impressive array of vendors offering everything from home improvement services and products to health and beauty services and products, ensuring there is something for everyone. Admission is free to the public.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of June 24-30, 2024. Closures are expected at the following locations due to road and utility work: