Índex per Autumn 2019 a Chic Compass

Situated now on the grounds of The Neon Museum’s outdoor “boneyard”—a collection of historic signs from Las Vegas’s glittery past—is a domed structure that looks like it’s straight from NASA. Walk inside the rotunda, and there is a mysterious glowing visage that reappears every few seconds on the front of a life-size slot machine. “Who is that famous female face?” I ask everyone within earshot. I’m guessing Marion Cotillard, Eva Green, or maybe Helena Bonham Carter? Tim Burton—the daring director behind classic fright flicks Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas—flew to France to film the actress but won’t fess up. Believe me, I tried. Burton’s illuminating piece of art is just one of over 15 brand new works found in “Lost Vegas,” a significant, first-of-its-kind art exhibition in the history of…

The name Anna means grace and Anna Stewart Billings is indeed a woman of grace. She was born in Bisbee, Arizona of German, Mexican, Cherokee Indian, and Scottish descent. She is impeccably dressed in an aura of empowerment that exudes the belief that everything is possible. Her mom would say to her “If you want that beautiful dress you can have it, if you work hard.” As she watched her mother raise her five siblings, she learned what it meant to take positive action to get things done. Her mother is her inspiration and the light that has guided her to achieve greatness. She married her sixth-grade sweetheart. He had long blond hair, and a handsome bad boy look. Anna’s green eyes sparkle with passion when she talks about her…

Although I think of Liz Gini each time I view the purse in my closet, which she created several years ago, it was nice to walk through her front door and see her smiling face in person. It didn’t seem possible that so much time had passed since I’d seen her last. Surprisingly, as soon as we began to talk, it seemed like it had been only yesterday. We’d originally met more than 10 years ago when she first began to create her cigar box purses to sell. Once I walked through the door and looked around, immediately I was drawn back to that time when I’d struggled amid so many choices to pick out the purse that I have now. Cigar box purses were everywhere—different sizes, different shapes, different…

Designs: David Tupaz American Coutour Photography: Mark Gunter New York Fashion week presents the latest styles and statement pieces from designers across the country. The Industry Fashion Show organization produces one of the fashion industry’s runway shows every season. The roster includes some of the most exciting and established designers while also featuring up-and-coming designers as well. The Spring/Summer 2020 looks on the fashion runway evoke a modern variety and approach to style from tailored femininity, ethnic cultural influences, classic elegance, and a touch of avant garde. Chic Compass covered the Industry Fashion Show in New York last September to share with you the newest season trends. The Industry Fashion Show Designs: Lisa Nicole Collection Photography: Mark Gunter The Industry Fashion Show Designs: David Tupaz American Couture Photography: Mark Gunter…

Are you a “culture vulture” starved for an endless banquet of arts and entertainment offerings across the Vegas Valley? Then EatMoreArtVegas.com is your guide for whatever whets your appetite - from theatre, music and the visual arts to dance, opera and the literary arts. It’s the perfect one-stop “shopping spot” to satisfy all your cultural cravings. “The challenge across the Valley isn’t lack of cultural options. it’s competition for promotion,” says EMAV founder and local theatre director, Sarah O’Connell. A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, she struggled to connect at first with her peers when she moved to Las Vegas from San Francisco in 2002 with her A-list lighting designer husband, Axis de Bruyn, whose credits include a long list of star performers like Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Elton…

I was curious to meet Quentin Abramo—the man who had set up the Savidan Gallery so that he could honor his 90-year-old mother and display a portion of her more than 600 posters she’d collected during her years in Europe and the United States. After all, who doesn’t want to meet a man who demonstrates the love of his mother in that way? It’s an interesting story. In 1929, Suzanne L’Hostis Abramo was born in Brest, France, but lived in Morlaix during the war years. In 1947, after attending and graduating from secretarial school in Paris, Suzanne was employed at a glove factory there. The small room where she was living was bare and needed decoration. So began Suzanne’s poster collecting. In the beginning, the posters were given to her…

The Neon Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. The Neon Museum campus includes the outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard, a visitors’ center housed inside the former La Concha Motel lobby, and the Neon Boneyard Gallery which houses additional rescued signs and is available for weddings, special events, photo shoots and educational programs. Dedicated individuals from the private sector, as well as corporate and government entities, worked collaboratively to promote the preservation of these national treasures as significant pieces of artistic and historical importance. Each sign in the Neon Museum’s collection offers a unique story about the personalities who created it, what inspired it, where and when it was made,…

We asked Angela to join our team at Chic Compass and to tell us what the magazine represented to her. Angela M. Brommel is a Nevada writer with Iowa roots. Mojave in July (Tolson Books) is her debut full-length poetry collection. In 2018, her chapbook, Plutonium & Platinum Blond, was published by Serving House Books. Her poetry has been published in The Best American Poetry blog, the North American Review, The Literary Review’s TLR Share, and many other journals and anthologies. A 2018 Red Rock Canyon Artist in Residence, Angela served as the inaugural poet of the program. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, and an MA in Theatre from the University of Northern Iowa. You can also find her at The Citron Review as Editor-in-Chief.…

Durette Candito is the owner of the Urban Ranch General Store, which opened here in Las Vegas on April 2011. Simply by the name alone, you can deduct that her store is unique, and once you meet Durette in person, you realize why. She is a many-faceted, talented person. The name Urban Ranch represents the pull between city and country, and she calls it a general store for modern city dwellers. There is an art to be able to pull that off, and Durette has done a great job of doing that. If you visit her store’s location on West Cheyenne Avenue and step inside, I’m sure you’ll feel as I did. I was struck immediately by the calming created by the balance of the masculine and feminine energies reflected…

Let me paint you a picture. A portrait of a talented and provocative woman. Imagine a writer with an artistic bent invited to script a piece focused on a fine art master painter. Then, visualize the imagery of a newcomer to Las Vegas whose blank canvas began in Bielsko - Biala, Poland, her hometown. Other than metropolitan cities like Warsaw, Kraków, or Gdańsk, plus one of my favorite vocalists, Basia Trzetrzelewska, this writer was unaware of the culture, sights, sounds, culinary taste, let alone the rich art history of Poland until meeting Katarzyna Kociomyk. The first Impression was absolutely influenced by sight seen. Kasia [Kaz-chia], as she is known, is a statuesque woman with flowing brunette hair. Like her art, something intriguing compels one to know more of the story…

Las Vegas NEWH Glamp 2019 (Photos courtesy of Mike Sosa) Las Vegas Jazz Society Picnic in the Park at Winchester Center Summerlin Arts Festival Nancy Moon Higgins and Curtis McCoy Chic Compass Magazine Launch at diptyque (Photos courtesy of Stanley TRAN Photography) Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay Art Showing for Katarzyna Kociomyk (photos courtesy of Talbot Snow / TalbotSnow.com) The Smith Center Very Vegas Showcase with The Las Vegas Philharmonic and Composer Showcase (photo courtesy of Jonathan Scott)…