- On this edition of ARTEFFECTS, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of this series with some of my favorite local stories, starting with a fantastic blend of art and baseball.

- We've enjoyed the dialogue that's come, because it creates a new conversation that's never happened here at the ballpark.

- [Beth] Beauty and tradition woven into Native American regalia beadwork.

- [Teresa] So when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

(subtle bright music) - [Beth] The electric side of Reno's history.

- When you think about a business, a lot of what you remember is the sign.

We're basically collecting these stories, letting these legendary businesses live on.

- [Beth] And the lasting impact of "Hello Hollywood Hello."

I don't think Reno would've been exposed to quite as much art if it wasn't for "Hello Hollywood."

(tranquil music) - It's all ahead on this edition of ARTEFFECTS.

(subtle bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for ARTEFFECTS is made possible by: Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors; Heidemarie Rochlin; in memory of Sue McDowell, the Carol Franc Buck Foundation; and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

- Hello, I'm Beth Macmillan, and welcome to ARTEFFECTS.

We are so excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this locally produced series.

Since its debut on PBS Reno in 2016, we have produced 289 episodes of ARTEFFECTS and 258 unique segments featuring local painters, sculptors, musicians and more, plus several arts and culture events unique to Northern Nevada.

168 of these local segments have aired on other PBS stations around the country.

And to date, ARTEFFECTS has earned 25 Communicator Awards and nine Telly Awards.

(soft jazz music) Now let's watch some of my favorite locally produced segments featured on ARTEFFECTS.

First up is a profile on Aces and the arts, a hugely successful partnership at Greater Nevada Field in Downtown Reno, where art was created, the arts were celebrated, and baseball was played, all within a couple of hours.

(gentle music) (crowd cheering) - [Announcer] Play ball!

- The Reno Aces is our AAA baseball team located here in Reno, Nevada.

One of the big things that we've done this year is incorporate local art into the ballpark.

- The Aces were looking for a way to engage the community.

They know that they've got the baseball crowd, they know they've got the sports crowd, but they really wanted to make sure that the whole community felt comfortable coming to Greater Nevada Field.

And so they reached out to a few of the arts organizations in town, and they said, "We need to change what we're doing.

We need to make sure that the community feels like it's their ballpark."

- It started with Sierra Arts Foundation and working with Annie Zucker and her team, and bringing local artists into the ballpark.

She brought the people she felt were the right artists to the table.

She was absolutely right, understood the artist community, and knew what would work here.

- They really wanted to make it that it wasn't, you weren't just coming to a baseball park; you were coming to see all sorts of things and to engage in different ways.

And so we ended up working with 21 different artists in the community to curate work to put up in those owners' boxes.

So now every box has a different piece of artwork from a local artist.

The box owners get to see this art every day.

But we wanted to make sure that when people walked into the stadium, they knew that it was their stadium.

And we thought, "What better way than to paint these walls and do some very large murals."

- The biggest things that we've done are the two murals at our home plate entrance gate, as those two murals welcome you.

You recognize that you're not coming into a sterile environment.

This is a live, vibrant environment.

And it sets the tone for what you're gonna see the whole night.

(subtle bright music) - [Annie] The murals reflect the culture of Reno, because we chose artists that are from Reno.

We chose these artists because they have grown up and seen what Reno has grown from.

When you have Bryce Chisholm painting a picture of a kid in the street playing baseball, he was that kid playing baseball on the street, and then watched the stadium being built for our community.

- It was about growing up playing baseball as a kid, and just being outside, having fun with your friends, you know, running around in the streets.

- His colors are very bright, very engaging.

We've seen a lot of people taking selfies in front of the art.

They love what he did.

Erik Burke is very well known in town as well.

And he went back and he did some research and came up with the fact that Theodore Judah was the civil engineer that pioneered the transcontinental railroad to come through the Sierras and open up Sacramento to Reno.

So that's why you see Theodore Judah and his very vibrant eyes in the mural above the train tracks.

- Art's always been a part of the ballpark.

You've seen the the glowing baseball at the center entrance.

It's something we've always tried to do.

But we haven't ever brought raw art into the ballpark before.

And so we're really excited about Artown night at the ballpark.

I've always enjoyed the idea of of sports and art combining.

The Aces are wearing jerseys themed after the poster for Artown.

During the game, 12 plein air artists are actually gonna be surrounding the facility painting live scenes that they're watching during the game.

So we're really excited to see what that comes out like.

And just the experience for our fans, to see artists creating art that's a part of what they're experiencing.

(subtle bright music) We don't expect that every sports fan is an art fan or that every art fan is a sports fan, but we hope that we can share and engender an appreciation between the two.

So that even if you don't necessarily love art or art is not your thing, you can see how it enhances the experience here.

And it gives you something to talk about.

- Even baseball enthusiasts that didn't understand it at first are now embracing it as theirs.

- Another favorite segment highlights the beauty and detail of Native American regalia.

I love to sew, and seeing the detail of Native American regalia creation leaves me in awe of this incredible art form.

Let's visit Teresa Melendez of Sparks and appreciate her dedication to her craft.

(contemplative music) - My favorite form of Indigenous artwork is beadwork.

I really enjoy beading.

I find it relaxing.

I enjoy thinking about the designs and the type of materials that I want to use, the look that I want to create.

I also really enjoy making beadwork, because it's functional artwork.

(laughs) Beadwork is a form of traditional Native American artwork.

So anywhere around the country, as you visit different Tribal Nations, you'll see different styles of beadwork.

I've been making beadwork since I was about 15.

And usually, when I design beadwork and I create beadwork, it's for use for cultural events or ceremonies or powwows.

So I'm a powwow dancer.

I'm a fancy shawl dancer.

I like to dance jingle and traditional from time to time too.

But my kids and I, we powwow dance.

And so a lot of the beadwork that I make is for our powwow outfits or our regalia.

So when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

So I'm really thinking about the person that I'm designing for, and then the use of the final product and the look that I want to create.

I like to lay everything out on graph paper, and then I'll translate that paper to material.

And I'll sew it down to the material so that I have a pattern to work with, and then just start beading.

Beadwork is incredibly time-consuming.

As you look at these different beaded pieces, you know that each one of those beads was handsewn on.

Different artists will have their own techniques.

And so I like to put on four beads and then go back through two.

Every single bead is touched by that artist at least once, with sometimes multiple times depending how they tack it down.

And so the larger pieces, they could have hundreds of hours of man-time.

I would say one of my favorite parts about beading is watching the piece come together.

'Cause you have this vision, and a lot of times your vision is pretty true to the final product, but sometimes it's not.

And so it's fun watching the piece come together.

But actually seeing the colors come together and the designs come together, it's really exciting.

And it provides me a lot of motivation, because I'll be like, "Two more hours, and I can have this piece complete."

And I can finally see what it's gonna look like.

(tranquil music) When I make beadwork, I make it for really specific purposes.

So my husband and I got married about seven years ago.

I wore a traditional woodland outfit for our wedding, and then my husband wore a traditional Payu outfit for the wedding.

And then our daughters, they wore some beaded pieces also.

My 14-year-old, her name is Siyabi, which means wild rose.

And so you'll see in those pieces that there's a image of a rose.

And then Pasitiva, our little one, her name is wild iris.

And so there's a iris beaded into her hair ties.

And then in my bandolier bag, there's several different flowers that are beaded in that.

There's a flower that represents me, my favorite flower, and then my husband's favorite flower.

And there's a hummingbird which symbolizes love.

And then going up the straps are the flowers of our kids.

So Busceppi, his name is red earth.

I beaded a red star-like flower for him.

(tranquil music continues) One of the pieces I brought was the medallion I made when I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

I went to Michigan State University.

The medallion is in the shape of the Spartan S, with a little sash across, with the abbreviation SOC for sociology, and then the year I graduated, because I graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology.

So it's common in Indigenous artwork to see things like that that are symbols that are very specific to the individual or specific to that ceremony.

All of my beadwork that I create has a lot of symbolism.

It feels good to wear our traditional artwork, because I know it comes from a special place.

I know that there's a lot of meaning behind the pieces.

But I also think it's important, as Americans, that we see the Indigenous people who live here and who've always lived here.

Here in Nevada, there are 27 federally recognized Tribes.

That's a lot of Tribes (chuckles).

That's a lot of Tribes.

Most states don't have 27 federally recognized Tribes.

Sometimes when we think about Indigenous cultures or Indigenous arts, We think about them as history, something that's in the past and something that's not current.

There's all kinds of beautiful work that's being done by artists around the country, where they're capitalizing on contemporary materials, themes.

It's beautiful to see art evolving, even Indigenous art.

'Cause what's Indigenous is also contemporary.

- Up next, we meet Will Durham of Reno, and check out his impressive neon sign collection.

The heart of Reno's history is told through this amazing art form that is very complex and sometimes taken for granted.

Lucky for us, Durham has preserved this history with iconic signage and imagery.

- Neon signs are magic.

There's just something about the glow and the colors.

It's kind of like candy.

It's something you want to touch, the detail, the craftsmanship.

A lot of different artists collaborate to make these.

And they're designed to excite people, entice people.

My name's Will Durham.

I'm the director of the Nevada Neon Project.

We've been preserving and restoring neon signs all over Nevada for the last 20, 21 years, with the ultimate goal of developing a neon museum here in Reno.

We've preserved close to a hundred signs.

The Buffalo Bar, it's one of the best signs I've ever seen.

It's got a martini glass pouring out the figure of a buffalo.

This sign is from the El Rancho Casino in Wells, Nevada.

It's really neat because it's an animated sign.

He's pulling the handle on the slot machine.

And perpetually cheerful.

And it seems like he's winning.

This sign is just the top part of the El Cholo Cafe in Las Vegas, which was one of the first Mexican restaurants on the Strip.

This sign is originally not from Nevada.

It was from a place in Northern California called Van Ness Auto.

I think he's really interesting, because he's very well dressed with his bow tie and his waistcoat.

And he's very welcoming.

But if you look at one hand, he's welcoming; and then if you look at the other, it looks like he's crossing his fingers.

So it makes you wonder what he has in store for you.

We'd been storing signs in semi-trailers, storage units.

Some of the signs are at my house in my garage.

One of the signs that I was happiest to be able to preserve was from the Nevada Club.

The Nevada Club was just a small little club on Virginia Street right next to Harolds Club.

It was an interesting little club, but the most important thing, I think, was the sign Bucky Buckaroo.

He was designed by Lou Heimer, a very famous illustrator from Reno.

And he's in the shape of the state of Nevada with his giant hat and big chaps, and with always a very cheerful wave greeting people.

- I think a lot of people in Reno have very strong memories of some of these casinos and their big neon signs.

The Mapes is one that just comes to mind.

- [Will] The Mapes, it was a very elegant hotel with the Sky Room.

And part of their logo was these twin cowboys that guarded the entrances.

So it's really interesting the way they're designed, 'cause they're standing together with their chaps, and their inner leg helped form the M.

- That was just such a terrific sign, such a whimsical and fun sign, but also really captured, I think, what Reno was going for, which was this combination of a real cowboy Western culture.

And then this urban glamor, this urban appeal.

So that's one of everyone's favorites.

- I was born and raised in Reno.

We lived fairly close to downtown, enough to actually see the glow.

I was originally attracted to neon signs because they always represented something exciting.

As I became more aware of neon, I started realizing that there was a lot that was coming down.

It was a real time of change in Reno.

I felt like there should be someone that was saving this.

The first neon sign that I got was from the Zephyr Motel, and part of it was a woman in a bathing cap diving into the pool.

It said "heated pool, swim."

It really gave you the feel of being on a long road trip and seeing that pool sign.

It was just kind of a neat thing to have.

One of the most recent signs that we were able to preserve was from the Golden West Motel.

And it was from a section of Virginia Street across from Circus Circus, where there was a cluster of motels with great neon signs.

The sign was a little bit difficult to take down.

It was built probably 60 years ago, and it was built to last for hundreds of years.

And so it was a real puzzle on how it was constructed and how it would be removed.

You know, it's amazing what they used to do in the old days.

They never built these signs to be taken down.

They expected that when they came down, it would be with a bulldozer.

And so it was an interesting process to get it down.

It took all day.

There is no ordinary removal.

At the end of a removal job, you'll be dirty, tired, bleeding.

By the end of the day removing it, I always say to myself: "Why do I do this?

Like, this is awful."

But at the end, you know, when I see it's safe, it's like, "Okay, this is worth it."

There's something really exciting about putting your hands on 'em, because they're some of the most delicate things you'll ever be around.

And they're also some of the most durable, the way the metal feels after it's aged, with the paint kind of chipping and the way the glass feels.

The glass is always super smooth, and there's real elegance to the glass.

And there's the sturdy frame.

I think it's a nice compliment.

People are starting to see these in a new way, because there's a lot of different layers of artists: the original illustrators, the craftsmen that make the signs, there's the sign painters.

The final most noticeable layer is the neon.

I feel like these signs, they're very important artistically and historically.

They've done their time in the sun.

And so I think that they should be displayed in a manner that kind of fits their importance.

I always talked about, you know, these should be in a museum someday.

Ann Wolfe from the Nevada Museum of Art asked if I would like to have the feature show: Light Circus: The Art of Nevada Neon.

That was an amazing experience, because I was able to see what a museum show would look like, that this could work as a standalone museum.

- These are not just symbols, they're not just works of art, but they're part of a community.

And if we bring them to the public, they become part of a community again.

And it helps that community continue that memory and then make its own memories.

- We have enough signs, and enough very important signs, that we have enough to do, you know, a world-class museum.

I see it being a real strong fit in Downtown Reno.

We're working with the city of Reno to identify possible locations.

We know that a lot of people are really excited, but that needs to be shown to the city council and the mayor.

- I would love to see nothing more than a big, beautiful neon museum here in Reno.

This is one of those arts initiatives that could be a game-changer in a lot of ways.

I think it could bring in a lot of tourism.

They've seen it in Las Vegas, they've seen it in California with their neon museums.

But ours would be truly tremendous for Nevada history and preserving that.

- Ultimately, the project will happen.

To be able to show this art the proper due and to represent it in the way that we feel it's worth, there's work to be done, and we're ready to proceed.

- We have an exciting update to the story.

Durham has selected the National Bowling Stadium in Downtown Reno for his Neon Sign Museum.

To learn more, visit thelightcircus.org.

My final favorite segment features a behind-the-scenes look at "Hello Hollywood Hello."

This groundbreaking production brought people from across the world to Reno to perform on stage at the MGM Grand Hotel, including yours truly.

Let's pull back the curtain and discover the mark left behind by "Hello Hollywood Hello."

(dramatic music) - When Donn Arden's MGM "Hello Hollywood Hello" opened in Reno in 1978, it was billed as the biggest show in the world, on the biggest stage in the world, in the biggest little city in the world, which of course is Reno.

It was a big deal.

And that wasn't just hyperbole, that was fact.

- Our stage was an acre big.

It had state-of-the-art elevators.

It had a living curtain that came down full of dancers.

It had a passerella that went from one side of the stage to the other, high up in the air.

I mean, it was groundbreaking back in the day.

♪ So just be aware - I went to Las Vegas thinking I was signing up for a personal audition with the producer of this show.

I walked into one of the biggest cattle calls I had ever seen.

and the producer called me down, and he says, "We'd like you to come sing for us in Reno."

And I said, "Great.

Are you offering a contract?"

He says, "Yes, we are."

And he shoved a contract across the table.

Looked great, so I signed that contract.

I said, "By the way, where is Reno?"

(laughs) - I mean, when I flew in here and I saw this desert landscape with neon and one really tall building called the MGM Grand, everything else was this desert landscape.

And look at it now.

Look what we've got in downtown.

(relaxed jazz music) "Hello Hollywood Hello" is a very important work of art, really.

And it ran for 11 years, twice nightly.

That's huge for a small town like Reno.

And it was really part of the evolution of the arts industry in Reno.

- Just all the phenomenal talent that was brought to this area, and who stayed here 'cause this was what was wonderful.

So many people said, "This is a great area."

So many of the dance studios and, you know, the technicians and wardrobe people and musicians, they stayed in this area.

- Some of them became dance teachers, some of them became directors of Artown.

There's so many professions that the cast went into.

- This will be my 22nd anniversary of purchasing the "Hello Hollywood Hello" costumes.

And so that's my passion now, that I lecture at, you know, schools and Truckee Meadows Community College, in universities.

Again, of these costumes telling the history of arts, culture, and entertainment.

- It definitely changed the culture of the art scene in Reno because of the quality of these performers from all over the world that settled here in Reno.

- We took advantage of the fact that we had imported wonderful talent from all edges of the globe.

And that can't help but change the community a little bit.

- I don't think Reno would've been exposed to quite as much art if it wasn't for "Hello Hollywood."

(cinematic music) We had a big 40th reunion.

On the last day, we had the mayor of Reno come, and she proclaimed that June 24th was gonna be "Hello Hollywood Hello" day.

- Do you know what was so special for her was that her mother was one of the photography girls in the showroom when she was a little girl.

So really, "Hello Hollywood Hello" affected everybody's life in Reno.

(cinematic music continues) - When we all came over here, we were young.

We were from all over the world.

We didn't have a family, so we formed our own family.

- And even now, my Christmases and Thanksgiving and New Years are spent with my friends/family from "Hello Hollywood Hello."

Our children are like cousins.

- The show deeply affected us.

You don't feel the full impact of that until you go through a 40th anniversary and you have all these people come back together.

And we're still family.

Every last one of us feels the same way.

- Reno may just seem like the biggest little city in the world, but it's really history like this and people like us who have stayed.

And we've really been a key part of the vibrant art scene that you see today.

I am so proud to have played a part of the extraordinary theatrical run of "Hello Hollywood Hello."

It's what brought me to Reno, and it's where I met my husband.

This production truly made an iconic mark in our region.

And that wraps it up for this 10th anniversary special of ARTEFFECTS.

Remember to subscribe to the PBS Reno YouTube channel to watch the segments featuring local artists.

And don't forget to visit pbsreno.org to watch complete episodes of ARTEFFECTS anytime.

Until next week, I'm Beth Macmillan.

Thanks for watching.

- [Announcer] Funding for ARTEFFECTS is made possible by: Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors; Heidemarie Rochlin; in memory of Sue McDowell, the Carol Franc Buck Foundation; and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(light music) (light music continues)