Reno Playa Art Park approved for vacant lot on N. Virginia St.

Wednesday, the Reno City Council voted to enter into a lease agreement with ARTECH and the Northern Nevada Urban Development and Management Company to install art that was featured at the 2016 edition of Burning Man in the area where two blighted motels were recently demolished.

And while we don’t yet know what will permanently occupy the space, art is something Mayor Hillary Schieve had mentioned when I talked to her earlier this month.

“It can be a little difficult when you talk about what their vision is when you have more than one owner,” said Schieve September 6. “That’s why we want to do pop-up shops or something with arts and culture and really revitalize this crown jewel of our city.”

With the addition of the "Believe" sculpture to the city plaza and Burning Man sculptures already up west of downtown on first and Ralston, the idea is not new, but one that seems to be catching on.

According to the City of Reno five new sculptures would be added to the vacant lot near Circus Circus which will be called the "Reno Playa Art Park." Those include:

"Imago" is a group of 4 mirror-steel blue butterflies made of mirror-polished stainless steel, each measuring 10 to 11 feet high.

"StarWay" is a star thrown to earth with two of its points sticking into the earth. It is a star made of over two hundred individually lit stars that twinkle internally

"Electric renaissance" is a tribute to Cadillac Ranch, suggesting that the automobile is being reborn as an environmentally-friendly descendant of gas-guzzling ancestors.

"Electric Dandelions" are three 25- to 27-foot-tall light posts made to look like dandelions during the day and fireworks at night

"Good Luck Horseshoe" is a sculpture that wishes citizens good luck on their journeys on the playa and in life.

A grand opening celebration for the Art Park is planned for Thursday, November 10.