If you ever find yourself needing evidence that America began as – and, for the most part, remains – a Puritan country, look no further than our collective societal attitude toward the human body. Kind of strange, in a way, to consider that the one thing that all of us, the whole roiling calamity of humankind, are guaranteed to share is also the one that we are taught is shameful and should be covered and hidden. (n.b. please do not take this as any sort of endorsement that we should take off our clothes and roam freely, please do not do that, thanks.) These notions of modesty are, of course, regularly overlooked within the confines of the studio and the gallery, which is a grand and embraceable thing, and Sierra Arts Gallery is doing its part this month with Nudes and Neon, an exhibition of, well, nudes – enhanced, in one case, by neon – by a trio of Reno-based female artists: Candace Nicol, Elaine Jason and Stephanie Hogen. (FULL ARTICLE: Geralda Miller, Reno Gazette-Journal)