Stop by the Bristlecone Art Galleries to see two new exhibits this spring: Mimic and Creative Expressions Beyond the Bars on Western Nevada Colleges Carson City campus.

Creative Expressions Beyond the Bars brings a different perspective to the atrium and hallway galleries in Bristlecone this spring. Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are featured in this exhibit and the work ranges from self-described scribble sketches to paintings, drawings, yarn arts and more.

The artists work has been donated for the exhibit, which will culminate in an online auction to support WNCs Higher Education in Prison Program. Five percent of the net proceeds will be utilized to purchase art supplies for the Warms Springs and Northern Nevada correctional centers in honor of those who donated work.

One of the highlights of the exhibit is the artwork of Ismael Santillanes, who was formerly incarcerated and has become a well-known poet and artist. These works were donated by Karen Gedney, MD, who commissioned the art to be used in her book, 30 Years Behind Bars: Trials of a Prison Doctor.

The exhibit will run through April 30. The fundraiser auction is now open and bidding closes on April 29 at 5 p.m. Visit https://events.readysetauction.com/westernnevadacollege/creativeexpressions to check out the auction page and place your bid! If you walk through the gallery, you will see each item has a QR code on the title card posted next to it. Each QR code will take you directly to the page for that item on the auction website, so hopefully that will make it easier to bid on the items that catch your eye.

Artist Ahren Hertels portrait and landscape paintings are being presented by the Capital City Arts Initiative in the main gallery through April 23. His paintings reveal his interest in great expanses and his relationship with nature. Hertel was able to see some of the world outside of the United States growing up as his father, a geologist, moved his family to Chile and Bolivia.

Landscape is a participant in forming our identity and setting the stage for our relationship with nature, he said. A bond strong enough to compel us to shroud ourselves in a representation of that place. Our cities in the west are islands surrounded by an ocean of terrain, a great expanse, a distant horizon on a sea of sagebrush. Im interested in that space. How we see the land, how we remember a place and how we show reverence to something that is so much a part of us.

The Bristlecone Art Galleries are located at 2201 W. College Parkway and are open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Because of public health concerns created by the COVID pandemic, there wont be a reception for the artists.

For more information on art shows at WNC, go to facebook.com/wnc.art.galleries or email artgallery@wnc.edu.