There is a particular kind of quiet in a gallery before a show opens. On the ground floor of the Las Vegas Civic Center at 525 S. Main St., that quiet is about to be broken by a DJ, a crowd, and the small, deliberate noise of people meeting the women whose work fills the walls.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, from 5 to 7 p.m., the city invites the public to an artists reception for "Her Story Through Art: Las Vegas Women Artists," a community-centered exhibition celebrating the creativity and impact of women-identifying artists contributing to the cultural fabric of Las Vegas. There is no ticket, no capacity cap, and no cost. You walk in, you look, you stay as long as you like.
The show is curated by two women with very different vantage points on the city's art scene. Joan De Santis serves as a Las Vegas Arts Commissioner, working inside the civic machinery that decides which artists get wall space and which stories get told. Amanda "Rawky" Lozano comes from the other direction — she founded Raw Femme Media in 2013 as an online publication meant to empower women through art, and has since built it into a cultural media platform and community that, by its own count, has celebrated more than 4,300 artists, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, designers, and entrepreneurs. The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Rachel Aston made an Emmy-winning documentary short, "Raw Power," about her. Lozano was named a Women of Impact honoree in 2024.
Together, the two curators assembled 17 artists working across generations, disciplines, experiences, and creative practices. The roster runs from Rita Deanin Abbey, Clarice Tara Cuda, Joy Goldstein, Nancy Good, Sze Jones, Wendy Kveck, Alina Lindquist, Marianna Romero, Julie Notaro, Cristina Natsuko Paulos, Taylor Pierce, Janel Raihl, Robin Slonina, Mad Watson, Shereene Wolford, Xochil Xitlalli, and Starrr Zahra.
The anchor of that list is Abbey, who died in 2021 at 90 and whose presence in the show is a reminder of how far back this history reaches. Born Rita Deanin in Passaic, New Jersey, to Polish immigrant parents, she moved to Las Vegas in 1965 to teach at UNLV, becoming one of the university's first art professors. She stayed 56 years. Over that time she worked in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, porcelain enamel fired on steel, stained glass, and computer art — an abstract expressionist who refused to settle into a single medium, and who contributed several large-scale public artworks to the city. She had more than 60 individual exhibitions. For this exhibition, the museum notes, the show includes previously unseen artwork by Abbey — a chance to encounter a part of her legacy that has not been on public view.
At the other end of the generational span is Robin Slonina, a world-renowned artist whose work has appeared in galleries and museums globally and who founded the Las Vegas body-painting studio Skin City. She also served as a judge on the Game Show Network's body-painting competition series "Skin Wars." Slonina and fellow exhibiting artist Janel Raihl are behind the reception's interactive centerpiece: mailboxes placed throughout the gallery, with heart-shaped cut-outs on which guests are invited to write uplifting messages of encouragement and drop them in. It is a small gesture, but it turns the reception from a viewing into a collective exchange of kindness and creativity — the kind of thing that only works if strangers participate.
Music comes from DJ Lo Dino, described by the Queer Music Agency as a DJ, producer, curator, and community organizer known for genre-blending sets that move through trap, bass, Jersey club, and underground electronic music. Light refreshments will be served, and the artists themselves will be on hand to meet visitors.
Parking is across the street at the 500 S. Main St. garage, and attendees get a complimentary two-hour validation. The gallery sits in the heart of downtown, and the city describes its mission in terms that fit this show well: a space where art and community intersect, showcasing Las Vegas-based artists while fostering dialogue and civic engagement.
If you cannot make the reception, the exhibition continues through Dec. 30, 2026, with gallery hours 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, excluding holidays. Viewing is free, and the two-hour parking validation for the 500 S. Main St. garage is offered during those hours as well.
What the show amounts to is an argument, made in paint and porcelain enamel and whatever else these 17 artists work in, that Las Vegas culture was not built only by the headliners. It was built by a New Jersey transplant who arrived in 1965 to teach and never left, by a body painter who took her craft to national television, and by 15 others whose names most visitors will be encountering for the first time. The reception is the moment to meet them. After that, the walls do the talking through the end of the year.