Meow Wolf's Area15 In Las Vegas

Meow Wolf is a phenomenon. An art company that creates interactive immersive art projects, that has opened a veritable art complex right off the I-15. Area15 is a collection of big art, experiences, food, drink, and shopping. I have been following their social media for years waiting for their Las Vegas museum to open and it didn't disappoint.

Though we were there for Omega Mart, our ticket came with entry to Area15, too. The grounds are chock full of huge art and you basically walk through a sculpture garden to get there. In fact, you walk right through this arch by Davis McCarty called Pulse Portal. You can see all the gorgeous colors it creates in the sun.

I'm sorry if, like my mom, you are sick of seeing this t-shirt in my pictures. I did bring other shirts with me and also wore them, but you'll be seeing this one for at least one more post. 

 

Many of the pieces are welded metal, like this dragon called El Scorcho (ha!), created by Ivan McClean. The detail is wonderful and the size is pretty imposing, making you wonder how large he would be if you were blessed with an entire dragon body.

Next is one of Tyler Fuqua's fallen robots. You've, no doubt, seen his brother Mechan X downtown, either in person or in pictures. This one is Mechan 9 and is dedicated to other robots, including Iron Giant, C-3P0, and Optimus Prime.

Omah the owl is a newly acquired piece from Alchmey Arts based out of Portland, Oregon. 

If you're looking for something a little romantic, then you'll find this very tall silver couple by Michael Benisty entitled In Every Lifetime I Will Find You. Are they naked? Just barefoot? Aliens? Whatever the answer, this piece is pretty powerful and stands 25 feet tall. 

Just before heading inside, you see this apocalyptic Las Vegas sign. Did I mention all this art is also for sale? So, if you're in need of a holographic geometric archway, or a huge rusted robot, or an infinity room in a small shipping container, and you have the money, you can totally own it.

Look at this door! All sides of the warehouse space is gorgeous and different. This made you feel like you were going somewhere exclusive, and even inside you got the same feeling, even though it was teeming with people. 

After entering into a short hallway that resembled the airlock of a space ship, the doors slide open and you're blasted by thumping music and this fantastic skull that pulses in time to the music. Not literally, but the artwork on it is ever-changing. 

This piece is entitled Shogyo Mujo by Bartkresa Studio and Josh Harker. You can watch a short video on YouTube. I wish I had taken one, but I was so enamored by things I didn't even think about it. This is not the place to go if you easily succumb to sensory overload.

Every inch of wall is covered in signs or art or a doorway into an eatery, shop, or other experience. This bar in the middle of the large warehouse space is covered by a light-up tree. To the side you can see part of The Sanctuary, a piece brought from a previous Burning Man that creates a lovely seating area, made with sustainably-sourced bamboo and dreamed up by Balinese artists from Ibuku Design Studio.

The mural above this one and this one are both larger than life and colorful and gorgeous. Though completely different, they totally work in the space, and I honestly can't wait to return to see more of it.

Admission to Area15 is free, but you must have a ticket to get in, which you can do on their website. If you want to see more pics that I took on this trip, you can see them on Instagram or you can stay tuned for Saturday's post, where I try to explain Omega Mart.

Do you prefer unconventional art or going to a traditional museum?

Free Art in Las Vegas

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know my road trip was full of free art, including street art, building murals, and large sculptures across the city. In the last decade or so, Sin City has become a real mecca of amazing artists from around the world. The annual Life is Beautiful festival is a 3-day event that mashes awesome music, art, and food together, and one day I hope to attend.

The aim of Life is Beautiful is to unite people around artistic experiences, and even though we've never actually gone, we get to soak up the art that sticks around. If you head downtown, you'll find Fremont Street, and the blocks surrounding it packed with murals and sculptures, all of which are more impactful for being surrounded by the desert and city landscape than I feel they would be in a museum, and many are much larger than would even fit into a traditional museum.

I think this is why I love free, public art so much. I don't have to hang out in a museum and I have the chance to see more of a city by walking around. By going downtown, we found some new shops, one of which enabled me to support a 13 year old Black girl who started her own business at the age of 8. I also finally got a try a coffee shop that's been on my list for the last 3 trips. The drinks and food were delicious, and I can see why they are so popular. 

Not all, but a lot of the metal sculptures downtown have been rehomed from Burning Man. My favorite is The Mantis, by Kirk Jellum that greets people at the entrance to the Container Park. It comes alive at nighttime, and if you missed it, here's my short video from a previous trip. Make sure you turn up your sound. 

You may have also saw this piece in my past posts, but this is the first time I've seen it in the daytime. Big Rig Jig was made from two actual semis by Mike Ross and moved to Las Vegas as part of the 2016 Life is Beautiful festival. It's cool in photos, but really impressive in person. 

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Pieces have transitioned over the years, so no two visits to Vegas are the same. Here are some of my other favorites. And if you think this must be an exhaustive list, you would be wrong. There are so many pieces everywhere you look, and I truly can't wait to return to explore some more.

Container murals by Snipt

I can't seem to find the artist for this one, but I'll update when I do.

Black Girl Magic by Criola

Next, I'll be talking about OmegaMart and Area15, but until then, remember...

Ricardo Gonzalez from It's A Living

Do you have a favorite city for art, public or otherwise?

Snapshots of a Road Trip - Part 2

Our road trip was a big success and we had a great time, even with as much time as we spent in the car. There's so much to see and do if you know where to look. I did a lot of research in the weeks leading up to our trip to know where I wanted to stop and see notable things. We would have done more out-of-the-way things if we had more time, but we only gave ourselves a day to drive to Reno, then to drive to Vegas, and the same on the way back. 

Here are some of the things we saw/did that I'll probably talk more about in future posts, because at least a few of these are worth the detour to check out.

Just me chilling at  a good rest stop. We stopped at different ones on the way back and I particularly liked this one that didn't have real parking, but had some big rocks as features in between the picnic tables in the picnic corral. I don't know what they call it, but that's what I called it, since they were in a fenced in circle, then the road was on the outside, then the restrooms and a gas station on the perimeter.

4 miles from our route was a free museum. Goldwell Open-Air Museum is a great place to stretch your legs and see some out-of-the-box sculptures.  

One of the coolest things you'll see anywhere is this Last Supper 1984 by Albert Szukalski. He creates his works with "ghosts", which is really impactful. There are two other of his ghosts here that are much smaller than this focal point, but you should stop for the variety in the handful of pieces on the grounds. 

There's also this metal boxes installation. It changes from all different angles. From The Last Supper, it looked like doorways, closer up it looked like a square, and closer still, you saw all of it and it's contrasting colors. It made some great photo ops.

There's clearly a lot of desert in Nevada, and I'd love to spend a little more time Beatty, besides the awesome nut and candy shop. Apparently, it's the gateway to Death Valley...and also their sign is cool.

On my last road trip through the area, I missed stopping in Goldfield both ways, because on the way there it was super late and on the way back it was super early. It's very small, but cute...though I'm not sure what they want me to do when I'm staying awhile, because their sign is keeping me in suspense.

Right outside of Goldfield is the International Car Forest, which I've been wanting to visit for a long time. The guy who started it acquired cars and then buried them in the ground. Artists have come and put their artwork on large portions and other people have added their own flavor, making each car unique and cool in its own way. 

There was a full-size bus, and also what appeared to be a delivery van that you could open the back of and see all the graffiti inside. All of it was amazing. There's even a little welcome shack that accepts donations and has a guest book you can sign.

We passed by and over a lot of bodies of water, but none were so pretty as this marina. The clouds gave it a surreal quality and the colors were so bold, you'd swear that they were fake. This is exactly how it showed up on my phone camera.

This town wasn't anything special, but their local football(?) team was geese that they called honkers and this sign made me giggle so hard on our way through the first time that I was determined to get a picture on the way back. They also had a bar called Jock's. Right on the edge of town was a fantastic restaurant with fresh-made food that served us the biggest drinks we've ever had (that you can see at the end of this post.

I don't know what this was, but there were a lot of empty buildings and remnants of buildings. I thought this one had some good character. I'd love to know what it was in the past.

Walter Lake is a beautiful area that I've stopped at in the past. Sportsmans Beach has these awesome camping spots for RVs with these cool covered picnic tables to shelter you from the wind and rain. It's right off the highway, but it's really quiet and overlooks the lake and even has public restrooms.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for more posts on what happened in between the road, including OmegaMart, The Museum of Dream Space, and all the amazing art we saw around Vegas and Reno.

What's been your favorite road trip and what made it special for you?