Mojave Art Collective Mural with Artists Hanna Horvat and America Grafton, located at Dam Roast House/Mojave Art Collective
America Grafton is a leader. She was valedictorian at Boulder City High School just a couple years ago. This past summer, during her break from her college studies at Hamilton College in upstate New York, she founded the Mojave Art Collective.
The Collective was an idea that evolved from a career development program in April. America began gathering potential artists to discuss objectives. Soon, the Mojave Art Collective was quickly ramping up to ambitiously execute not only murals, but additional environmental education too.
In July, at the Boulder City Library and online via Zoom, America and her artists hosted a series of environmental education sessions with different age groups:
Ages 2-8 and 9-13 met at the library to learn about endangered species and to participate in a craft related to the species discussed. Adults 14 and older met on Zoom to talk about the endangered species listing process, the differences between conservation and preservation, and related topics.There was a fourth meeting scheduled at the Senior Center to explore more environmental concepts and art, but unfortunately this had to be canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. To learn more about the educational component of the project, click HERE.
The first mural they began was the Mount Charleston Blue Butterfly. You can find this mural at the Boulder City Company Store, located at 525 Avenue B. The butterfly, which was listed as endangered in 2013, is known only to live in the high elevations of the Spring Mountains.
The second mural features three endangered species: the Southern Willow Flycatcher, Armagosa Niterwort, and the Steamboat Buckwheat. This mural is located at the Dam Roast House/Browder’s Bookstore, located at 554 Nevada Way.
They are currently preparing to create another mural at the corner of Nevada Way and Wyoming Street. The proposed artwork hasn’t been developed yet, but will feature more of Nevada’s endangered flora and fauna. They also completed a kayak for Venture Out Vegas! See it HERE.
The Mojave Art Collective currently consists of artists Aaron Bunch, Hanna Horvat, Christine de Lota, Jessica Merzei, Tracey Amanda Norkus, and Sovereign Tindall, in addition to America Grafton. You can find their bios HERE. They are very active on the web and at their social media accounts. You can follow the action here:
The Mojave Art Collective is still looking for artists of any skill level, in any medium to participate in their ongoing projects. Financial donations to cover supplies are welcome as well. You can reach America Grafton HERE. The artists request that if you take photos of their work to post to social media, that you tag Mojave Art Collective so they can see the community involvement with their work! Community art is to be created, shared and enjoyed by all and we are happy to see these beautiful works of art come to life around Boulder City!
