LAS VEGAS LOCALS ON LONNIE

Local Photographers Linda Alterwitz and Heather Protz Document

the Home of a Local Legend, Lonnie Hammargren

(Las Vegas, NV) July 2, 2010 — Las Vegas artists, Linda Alterwitz and Heather Protz, have teamed up with a new photography exhibit entitled, “Lonnie,” at the Sahara West Art Gallery July 15 to September 19.  The works document the home of Dr. Lonnie Hammargren, a celebrity neurosurgeon, NASA flight surgeon, and Nevada’s former lieutenant governor.

Since 2008, Alterwitz and Protz have been photographing Hammargren’s private residence with unprecedented access.  The images not only document the eclectic and eccentric collections of Dr. Hammargren, but also the blending of religion and culture with the natural and physical sciences as found in his assembly of the items, which is informative, educational, imaginative, and very often touched by Hammargren’s humor and wit.  The images, like the collection, probe into the foggy area where fact and imagination merge.

“I saw similarities to my work in Lonnie’s collections, which seem to blend art and science,” says Alterwitz.  “To me they represent the challenge of balancing the logical and creative sides of the brain.  Lonnie is an artist in his own right.”

Hammargren’s once single unit dwelling, built in the 1960s, has been expanded and transformed into a two-acre residence filled with Hammargren’s unique collections that include replicas of spacecraft, landscape dioramas with constructed cavemen and taxidermy animals, various items belonging to Liberace including a full staircase, and authentic Las Vegas memorabilia including the “High Roller” roller coaster from the top of the Stratosphere.  Alterwitz and Protz are depicting a place that has been created by the vision and spirit of one man, and like that man it is constantly changing and evolving.

“This has been a unique opportunity to share and explore a passion and to be part of what moves someone,” comments Protz.  “My collaboration with Linda came about from our interest in Las Vegas culture.  Lonnie has acquired many pieces of our history that may have otherwise vanished.”

This is not the first collaboration between Alterwitz and Protz.  Last year, they exhibited their photography in a show entitled, “6 Months: Shared Ideas Stolen Spaces,” at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas.  “Lonnie” opens at the Sahara West Art Gallery at 9600 West Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas on July 15 and will show through September 19, 2010.

For more information on the exhibit, please contact the Sahara West Gallery.  A complete listing of the artists’ work can be found at www.lindaalterwitz.com and www.heatherprotz.com.

In early 2009, while pursuing further exploration of her ongoing series, Beneath the Surface, Linda sought a different sort of image (in addition to medical imaging) that also lived beneath the surface. She eventually found these images on Jason Oyadomari's website entitled "Images of Freshwater Algae from the Keweenaw Peinsula, Michigan." Check out Jason's website at www.keweenawalgae.mtu.edu.  The images that Jason has collected since 2001 were mind blowing! Not only did he collect, identify and categorize the algae, he also collected specimens from others and organized it in this vast website that even a non-scientist can appreciate.  Not having a scientific background herself, Linda appreciated the depth of the diverse visual imagery and could see how these images would work together with her own photography to create a unique collaboration of art and science.  

On a personal note...thank you to all of the people who have donated their medical images to me throughout the years.....our vet, opthamologist, radiologist, algae scientists, cardiologist, and endocrinologist. This also includes my family and friends who thought of me before returning their radiographs and MRIs to the doctor's office!