Growing up in Nevada, gaming has always been the prevalent “theme” of the state, but I always saw it as being in the background. In Bright Lights, Little City I invite the viewer into my experience of having a non-casino related upbringing, yet still recognizing the symbols associated in the games and the blinking lights that highlight the sample-size architecture here in Northern Nevada. Using clay and cyanotype I bring together my chosen mediums, making the heart, spade, diamond and club my canvas for memories of my youth and my home cities (Sparks and Reno). The seminal tumbleweed is glorified by blinking lights reminiscent of the facades, current and past, that entice visitors to downtown. As an adult, participation in gaming has brought all this closer, yet still at a distance from my daily life. It remains something “in the background” that if I choose, I can gamble on.

Teri Barnes is a 4th generation Northern Nevada artist who works with various mediums, including ceramics, photography, and sculpture. She uses abstraction and patterns to bring texture and visual interest to her work and shares her vision of the details in our daily lives that viewers might normally overlook. Teri received a Master of Fine Arts degree at Sierra Nevada University in 2021 and received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with ceramics emphasis and BA in photography at The University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 and 2013 respectively. Teri currently teaches ceramics at Western Nevada College and The University of Nevada, Reno. Instagram: @barnesteri.