Meet the artist and enjoy an evening of art, archives, and complimentary refreshments!

Join the Special Collections and University Archives department in welcoming writer and visual artist Todd Gilens for an evening discussing his artistic process using archives for the creation of a public artwork. Confluence: Stream Science, Handwriting, and Urban Curbs, was installed on the sidewalks of Reno in fall, 2023, and uses a cursive font based on the handwriting of deceased Federal Water Master Claude Dukes. Gilens will describe his process of researching and creating the font, which began in 2015 and took him to archives and rare book collections in California and Nevada, as well as Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Northern Ireland.

The archival source materials for Confluence will be on display and refreshments will be provided. Q&A will follow the talk.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

• Register to let us know you're coming - it helps us order the right amount of food.
• The display opens at 5:00 pm with the talk beginning at 5:45.
• Parking is free in the Brian J. Whalen parking complex after 5 pm.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: 

Todd Gilens works with writing, drawing, and photography to create unique, site-specific artworks for public and private spaces. Through commissions and self-initiated projects, he has made artworks for transit systems, botanical gardens, arts and conference centers, factories, wilderness areas, and urban yards among other places. His work has been acknowledged through residencies, commissions, and grants, including from Nevada Humanities, Nevada Arts Council, Adobe, Andy Warhol, and San Francisco Foundations, Dumbarton Oaks Library, the National Forest Foundation, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University and lives in Richmond, California.