Artists' Top Five: Michael Ogilvie

Valley of Fire. Photo Mikayla Whitmore. 

Top Five Favorite things about Vegas:1.)    Family and friends: wife, siblings, in-laws and friends. This is the good Vegas for me.

2.)    Mt. Charleston: after a fresh rain, a hike up the mountain - either on a trail or trail blazing - clears the mind and unruffles the feathers of the soul. And in the dog pant heat of summer it is 20 degrees cooler on the mountain.

3.)    Valley of Fire: Fall or Spring, an off the trail hike is like nothing else. I am careful to use identifying agglomerations of rocks to way find. This helps keep one alive. 

4.)    Winchester Cultural Center: the amount of great music and great art that continually happens at this place, the only Cultural Center for a population of over 2 million people, is phenomenal. Sadly every day I talk with people who know nothing about it. In a way that is great, it is a best kept secret. Plus the park is a nice cozy respite from suburbia.

5.)    Alternate Reality Comics: a wellspring of contemporary narrative art is available for purchase. The owner Ralph is well read and very knowledgeable about what he stocks. Though I don’t patronize the establishment as I once use to, it is still a favorite place to go when I get an itch to read a good comic.

Michael Ogilvie, Territorial Legends, Father Meinecke, pen and ink, originally Appeared in Desert Companion magazine. 

Nevada native Michael Ogilvie managed numerous percent for the art projects while working at the city of Las Vegas, and Clark County. He received a BA in Art from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an MFA in painting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has exhibited his art nationally and internationally and has been published in numerous magazines and newspapers. He has also self-published five graphic novels, the most recent being CHUM (www.chumbook.net). Michael is currently the Public Art Director for the City of San Jose. He lives in Fremont, California. 

Artists’ Top Five is an ongoing series sharing short lists of artists’ favorite things to do or see in Las Vegas. In some cases, these lists become more nostalgic or idiosyncratic musings about a city we call or have called home.