Platform focused on exposing up-and-coming artists and creatives associated with Las Vegas
Eri King is a multimedia conceptual artist from Las Vegas, who currently resides in New York City. She received her MFA at Hunter College in 2017. Her work focuses on everyday objects that are often over looked and transforms these various objects into a different concept that goes beyond what is normally viewed of the object(s).
ERI KING | https://eriking.net/
INSTGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/eriking/
Meet Las Vegas electronic music producer, David.cuf. The freshly 21-year old found his calling to music as a means of escape from the mundaneness of life. After moving to Las Vegas, he found roots at 6th&Music–an artist development camp in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas–where he produced his latest EP, Thea. You can catch him playing around the valley with Las Vegas’ one-and-only beat collective, The Rabbit Hole.
Check out the latest episode to learn about the inner workings of this talented and truly humble artist.
Sonia Barcelona (aka Seelinger) represents Las Vegas as a musical muse who celebrates the beauty of brown skin, true friendship, and love in her lyrics. Her voice is smooth as honey and as cool as a Sade classic.
I had goosebumps listening to her performance during her April 1st video release party for her newest single “Higher.” Joining Barcelona, we’re local artists David.cuf, Elmer Albapo, and Rasar of The Lique. The collective came together to put on an amazing performance at Zet Gold’s studio (The Bakery).
During our interview, Sonia revealed that she was a late bloomer when it came to music but she always had a natural talent for it. “I played the flute and didn’t practice…but somehow I was first chair [in high school],” Sonia said with a smile and a shrugged.
Growing up, Sonia helped her mom with her shop at the Broadacre’s Swapmeet, which was one of the reasons she never committed to music in her youth. She was wearing mala beads that she wore as a lucky charm to remind her of how far she’s come in life. “I’m grateful to be playing music for what I do now,” Sonia stated. She continued, pointing to the mala beads, “I remind myself that I could be in 100-degree weather for six hours so things could be a lot worse.”
Sonia just finished touring the West Coast, stopping through San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland. Next up, Sonia makes her way to San Diego to record some new gems.
MUSE MOMENTS is an interview series that focuses on the stories of creative women to help inspire and enlighten others.
Take a moment w/ Angela Johnson. She is an artist, creative director at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the President of AIGA. Angela shares her journey of success despite facing major obstacles, as well as discussing her artwork centered around connecting with people.
Josh Walker is the founder of a new exciting event held at PublicUs, called Group Hug. Held every second Saturday of the month, Walker’s goal is to help fuel the art and music culture in Las Vegas. After living in Los Angeles for six years, Walker wanted to emulate the art shows and DJ performances he experienced out there. “One of my passions is to bring people together, but my biggest passion is music,” Walker said.
PublicUs helped aid in his vision after it became a staple for Walker when he moved back to Las Vegas two years ago. “I would come in every day when I lived in the area and the owners, Kimo and Lane, we’re unbelievably kind.” The idea sprung into fruition when Walker discovered a small event space adjacent to the main coffee shop. “I thought that I could raise awareness for PublicUs, because it’s an amazing local shop that everyone should know about,” Walker said.
The featured artists, Zet Gold, Angela Johnson, and Ian Racoma, brought on an electric array of art that the crowd continually circled around to observe. With Walker and Tony Comfort spinning groovy tunes throughout the evening, Group Hug was a successful night of art, music, and good vibes.
Meet Gabe Allred and Holly Rae Vaughn, the creative masterminds behind Battle Born Pins. What started as an obsession for Gabe, turned into an overnight success for the couple. After releasing their unicorn pin, inspired by Blade Runner, the duo was shortly discovered by Vice’s, The Creators Project. Get to know more about how they started, their creative process, and more in our Light Leaks interview.
Nica Moten (aka Fashionnica) has been spotted doing everything from modeling clothes for local brands (like Crykit’s Playhouse and KYNEW), hosting RAW Femme’s first inaugural artist showcase and empowering women with her new business, HER Collection. She is a model, freelance fashion stylist, and an online shop boutique owner. To top it all off, Fashionnica is proud to be launching her self-named clothing line in November.
Meeting Nica for the first time, her warm, bubbly, and enthusiastic personality is refreshing and up-lifting. During our interview, she described herself as someone who loves her city and is someone who wants to contribute to the growth that Las Vegas has been experiencing. “Vegas has been unique all along. We are slowly changing the way our culture looks at our city. Not for the sin, but for the beautiful structure and substance we have from all the amazing artists this city harbors,” Nica said.
Although born in San Diego, Nica moved to Las Vegas at a young age and has always appreciated the diversity of cultures she grew up around. “In high school, every ethnic culture was at my school…since it’s a transit town, everyone is in and out but while people are here they bring their values, cultures, and art from their hometowns. It’s a beautiful thing,” Nica said.
Always growing her repertoire of talents, Nica received her cosmetology license from Euphoria, attended Fashion Careers International in Los Angeles for merchandise marketing where she also received her fashion buyers license. Sometime in mid-November, she will be presenting her own clothing line, Fashionnica. Highly inspired by the 90s and elements in nature, the Fashionnica line will have a mix of basic pieces and edgy pieces.
Nica was gracious enough to collaborate on an interview and styling video with me to showcase her talents. Watch our interview to learn more about the boss babe and check out how she styles summer pieces into Fall appropriate outfits.
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Here’s a little photo diary from the week of Life is Shit and Life is Beautiful:
Big thanks to Bad Moon Booking and Life is Shit for putting together a night that locals could throughly enjoy. If you’re up for seeing more great local shows here’s what Bad Moon Booking has coming up:
For more, check out this interview with the Director of Life is Shit and founder of Bad Moon Booking, Tsvetelina Stefanova: http://wp.me/p6r9vr-m7
Zet Gold’s art is playful, childlike, and occasionally backed by clever puns. She calls the process of creating art “birdwatching” which expresses stories made from daily observations.
Born in Saudi Arabia, Gold grew up praying in underground churches with styrofoam windows. Her father moved from the Philippines to Saudi Arabia for work, where he was also a missionary pastor. Concealing her Christian faith in a Muslim country gave Gold an interesting perspective to view the world from. After burying their Bibles in the ground, Gold and her family left Saudi Arabia for San Diego, then eventually to Las Vegas.
Gold recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a BFA in graphic design and has exhibited countless art shows. The Bakery, is where you can find her creating most of her work—she shares the studio with her brother, Miah (fashion designer), and Jasmin (fashion photographer). She credits street graffiti as her doorway into the art world. “It kinda started off just hitting up trains with my brother, then a year after I started to take art more serious,” Gold said.
Besides “birdwatching” Gold has collaborated with various local artists, musicians and businesses—Flora Pop, Echo Stains and Chase R. McCurdy to name a few. Her next show will be a The Bakery on November 12th with musician, Sonia.
Tsvetelina Stefanova (Tsvet, for short) has a heap of titles under her belt and is impressive, to say the least. First, she’s a badass musician and has played with a slew of bands. Same Sex Mary is her main project which she started six years ago with her boyfriend, James Howard Adams. Furthermore, she is the entertainment director at The Dillinger, the sponsorship manager for the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, the director for the Life is Shit Music Festival and the founder of Bad Moon Booking.
Most major cities have thriving music scenes ingrained in their culture, but Las Vegas has been out-of-the-loop since the days of the Rat Pack and Sinatra. Five or six years ago, you couldn’t find many local or independent bands playing in Las Vegas—let alone playing for free. Maybe you could catch a few bands at The Huntridge Theatre or The Sanctuary, but those days are long gone.
As of recent, Las Vegas has cultivated solid musical talent and venues, like The Griffin and The Bunkhouse. For the past year and a half, Bad Moon Booking has organized free shows with a ton of amazing local and touring bands. From years of touring, Tsvet made countless connections throughout the South Western states and found herself frequently setting up bands with gigs in Las Vegas. Booking acts became a passion for her which led to the birth of Bad Moon Booking. This October, Bad Moon Booking is showcasing an exciting mini-series at the Plaza Casino & Hotel’s outdoor venue—equipped with a beer garden. The shows are during the first, four Saturdays of October. So be sure to mark your calendars.
Life is Shit Music Festival is another project Tsvet became a part of during the fest’s second year. Founder Jack Johnson created Life is Shit as a direct counter-music festival to contrast with the mainstream, Life is Beautiful Music Festival. According to Johnson, Life is Beautiful “displac[ed] another local-run festival and rubb[ed] a lot of people the wrong way.” To repair that loss, the one-day fest was created for the Las Vegas locals to enjoy for free during Life is Beautiful. “I just wanted Life is Shit to be something inclusive and organically created by locals, for locals…Life is Shit has become a product of not just a few people and a cool bar with a ridiculous festival name, but a community,” Johnson said. The fest consists of local bands with a few astounding established touring acts on the bill.
During our interview, Tsvet talks about what to expect at the festival hosted at The Dive Bar on September 23rd.
Light Leaks 