Nevada Museum of Art in Nevada, USA

The Nevada Museum of Art is an accredited art museum in downtown Reno with collections and research programs shaped by a long-standing interest in relationships between art, people, and the environment. Its permanent holdings are organized around four thematic areas rather than a single period, region, or artistic style, while the museum’s Institute for Art + Environment maintains archives and research resources devoted to creative work involving natural, built, and virtual environments.

How the Museum Developed

The institution began in 1931 as the Nevada Art Gallery. Its early history is closely connected with Dr. James E. Church, a University of Nevada, Reno professor whose work also involved snow and climate research in the Sierra Nevada, and with members of the Latimer Art Club, a group of painters associated with regional landscape art.

Charles F. Cutts, a friend and fellow supporter of the organization, helped establish a foundation for its permanent collection by leaving his residence, rare books, and artworks to the gallery. The institution later moved through several locations and identities as its collection and programs expanded.

In 1978, the Nevada Art Gallery acquired Hawkins House overlooking the Truckee River and adopted the name Sierra Nevada Museum of Art. A new 15,000-square-foot facility supported by the E.L. Wiegand Foundation opened in 1988, when the institution became the Nevada Museum of Art/E.L. Wiegand Gallery.

The museum received accreditation through what is now the American Alliance of Museums in the 1990s. In 1999, it received the National Award for Museum Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The museum’s present building opened in 2003 as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts.

Collections Organized by Theme

The permanent collection is divided into four principal areas. This thematic approach allows works from different periods and media to be examined together when they address related subjects.

• Altered Landscape Photography examines how human activity changes, uses, interprets, and documents land. It is the museum’s largest focus collection and contains more than 1,000 contemporary landscape photographs.
• Art of the Greater West considers art connected with the cultural and physical geography of the western United States and neighboring regions.
• Modern and Contemporary Art includes work by artists operating across modern and present-day practices and media.
• The Work Ethic focuses on artistic practices in which process, repetition, labor, and making form an important part of the work itself.

The museum presents works from its own holdings alongside temporary and traveling exhibitions. Because gallery installations change, visitors looking for a particular artist or exhibition can check the museum’s official exhibition listings before traveling.

The Institute for Art + Environment

A defining part of the Nevada Museum of Art is the Institute for Art + Environment, a museum-based research center studying creative interactions between people and natural, built, and virtual environments. Its work extends beyond gallery exhibitions into archives, scholarship, commissions, publications, and research access.

The Institute preserves archive collections connected with artists, organizations, and projects working in environmental and land-based art. Its holdings include documentation, correspondence, sketches, models, photographs, and other materials related to artistic processes. Artists represented in the archives include Lita Albuquerque, Walter De Maria, Helen and Newton Harrison, Michael Heizer, Amy Franceschini, and Ugo Rondinone, among others.

The Institute reports more than 200 individual archives containing over one million items. Its research library holds more than 10,500 books, with particular attention to artists and projects addressing relationships between culture and environment. The Thomas and Pauline Tusher Library is located on the museum’s first floor, while archival research requires arrangements through the museum.

The Institute has also been involved with commissioned projects outside the museum’s galleries. These have included Helen and Newton Harrison’s Sierra Nevada: An Adaptation, Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains near Las Vegas, and Trevor Paglen’s Orbital Reflector project.

The Will Bruder Building

The Nevada Museum of Art occupies the Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, designed by architect Will Bruder. The four-level building covers about 70,000 square feet and opened in 2003.

Bruder’s design drew inspiration from the geological character of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The exterior uses dark surfaces and irregular forms rather than a conventional symmetrical museum façade, while interior circulation, changing light, and views toward the surrounding landscape form part of the architectural experience.

The museum modified its fourth floor in 2016 by enclosing an existing outdoor plaza to create a space that could be used throughout the year. This upper level includes the Fred W. Smith Penthouse, Nightingale Sky Room, and Stacie Mathewson Sky Plaza, with views toward Reno and the surrounding mountains.

Visiting the Nevada Museum of Art

The museum is at 160 West Liberty Street in downtown Reno. Its galleries and shop are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thursday hours extend to 8 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays and national holidays.

General admission is listed at $15, with admission of $13 for students and seniors. Children ages 6–14 are $3, while children age 5 and younger enter free. The museum also lists free admission for Nevada high school students with valid student identification and for students from Truckee Meadows Community College, Western Nevada College, and the University of Nevada, Reno who present student identification.

Hours, admission categories, and temporary closures can change, so the museum’s official visitor information is the appropriate place to confirm arrangements before a visit.

A museum parking lot is located on the east side of the building. Additional free or metered street parking may be available nearby when the museum lot is busy.

Tours, Accessibility, and Visitor Facilities

The Nevada Museum of Art offers docent-led public tours of exhibitions, with reservations recommended for scheduled tours. Private guided visits can also be requested, and Spanish-language in-person or virtual tours are available by arrangement.

All public areas are wheelchair accessible. Elevators connect museum levels, and courtesy wheelchairs are available at the admissions desk on a first-come, first-served basis. The museum also provides assistive listening devices for programs in the Wayne and Miriam Prim Theater. Sign-language interpretation can be arranged with advance notice, and guide dogs are permitted.

The building also contains the E.L. Cord Museum School, which hosts art classes and educational programs, as well as a museum shop and Perenn at the Museum, a café and restaurant operating separately from gallery hours.