JULIE HENSON SELECTED AS NEON MUSEUM’S 2019 NATIONAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Left: Neon Museum 2019 National Artist in Residence, Julie Henson and Right: An image of her featured work.

JULIE HENSON SELECTED AS NEON MUSEUM’S 2019 NATIONAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

LAS VEGAS (April 2019) – The Neon Museum is proud to announce the selection of Julie Henson as its 2019 National Artist in Residence. Henson was selected out of a list of 82 applicants and will be joining the museum for eight weeks this summer. During her Neon Museum residency, she plans to create a series of works based on the signage, graphic design and advertising from the collection of the Neon Museum and around Las Vegas. She will investigate the ways in which myth and narrative are employed in signage to express desire, risk, luck and fortune.

Her residency will take place from June 26 to August 21 and will encompass several opportunities for public engagement, including an open studio event Friday, August 16 for the benefit of Southern Nevada residents. The full-residency programming schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Henson currently works and lives in Los Angeles. Incorporating both sculpture and digital technology, her work calls into question the pervasive messages of desire, fame, and success to reveal how media shapes the perception of ourselves and our culture. Henson received her bachelor of arts in Sculpture and Art History from the College of Charleston in 2005 and her master of fine arts from California College of the Arts in 2011. She has had solo exhibitions at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; and Yes Ma’am Projects, Denver. Henson has participated in group
shows including the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Ben Maltz Gallery Los Angeles and the Torrance Art Museum. Her work has been featured in Artforum, Elephant Magazine, and Hyperallergic.

ABOUT THE NEON MUSEUM
Founded in 1996, the Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. It has been named “Best Museum” by Las Vegas Weekly, one of “Sin City’s Best Retro Sites” by MSN, “No. 1 Las Vegas Museum Sure to Entertain and Educate” by USAToday’s 10best.com, “One of the Top 10 Coolest Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do” by Forbes.com, one of the “Top 10 Historic Spots in Las Vegas” by Vegas.com; one of “15 Most Fascinating Museums in the U.S.” by
VacationIdea.com; and earns a consistent 4.5 out of 5 rating on TripAdvisor. On its 2.27-acre campus, the Neon Museum houses an outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard (“boneyard” is traditionally the name for an area where items no longer in use are stored); the North Gallery, home to the nighttime augmented-reality, audiovisual spectacle, “Brilliant!”; the Boulevard Gallery outdoor exhibit and event space; and its visitors’ center, housed inside the former La Concha Motel lobby. The
museum collection also includes nine restored signs installed as public art throughout downtown Las Vegas. Public education, outreach, research, archival preservation and a grant-funded neon sign survey represent a selection of the museum’s ongoing projects. Both the Neon Boneyard and the La Concha Visitors’ Center are located at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North in Las Vegas. Click here for tour schedules and pricing information. Follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Christina Cober/ Erika Pope
The Vox Agency
christina@thevoxagency.com, erika@thevoxagency.com
(541) 778-2738, (702) 249-2977

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