Longtime local finds his artistic identity

It's taken Mike Nole more than 30 years to realize art is where his heart is.

He stumbled across sculpture in the early 1970s, when as a Vietnam veteran, he responded to President Nixon's order to bomb Cambodia. The result was a metal sculpture, depicting a half bird, half fighter jet object on a catapult. It won him an award at an art show in Lorenzi Park.

Back then "Millhouse Dove of Peace Phase Two" was a little shinier, a little younger. Today it sits in Nole's back yard, awaiting the chance to be shown again. He is exhibiting the piece, along with others, during his show "Organic Intentions" at the Clark County Government Center rotunda, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, now through Sept. 17. A reception with the artist is set for Thursday from noon to 2 p.m.

"I didn't want to throw it out, and nobody wanted it," Nole said of the piece. "It's been following me around for all these years."

Nole, a 1964 graduate of Western High School, still lives in the same house he moved into as a 14-year-old boy from Fresno, Calif. He started an apprenticeship in carpentry, but left to take a job as a stagehand on the Strip. He was encouraged by his father, a relief musician, and his mother who worked in the wardrobe departments of Strip hotels.

"I had a big sense of satisfaction punching a hole in this two-by-four with a screwdriver," said Nole of his fascination with construction as a child. "My dad always said forget about the money. Think about the spiritual."

A year later, Nole was drafted into the Army in 1968, and went to Vietnam.

When he returned, he picked up where he left off backstage and went to work at the Dunes. His roommate, a scenic artist, turned him on to painting and from there, three-dimensional metal artwork. The "Millhouse Dove" was created. Nole toured with Frank Sinatra as a sound engineer, and art took a back seat.

Then "I got married and forgot about art all together," he said. "And then I got divorced."

At the urging of a friend, he entered work into the Blue Diamond Canyon Arts Show in 1996. He was eventually spotted there by Diane Bush, cultural supervisor for Clark County. Nole was slated for a show in October. But another artist gave up the summer spot, and Nole took that spot.

"Finally the waiting is over," he said.

"Organic Intentions" is mostly made up of wood, finely sanded from junk wood given to Nole by a friend. There are pieces made from alabaster and soap stone as well.

"I started whacking on things to see what happens. It's like archaeology. You keep digging down (in the wood) and you find things," Nole said.

He also dabbles in computer graphics, etching and glass. "I like all kinds of stuff. It's whatever strikes me at the moment. I experiment a lot. The wood is the most satisfying, and the stone."

Two of the pieces were named by his mother, who died in 2001. Others he named for women he's known and loved, in one form or another, in his life. There is one named for his ex-wife, one for an acrobat he fell in love with 30 years ago and others for co-workers and old friends.

"None of this was planned. It's almost a compulsion to make stuff. It's therapy is what it is," he said. "I always thought I would be a late bloomer. Nothing came easy for me. I had to work for everything. I just told myself 'hang in there, buddy.' "


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