Laura Henkel
Laura Henkel (born 6 February 1967) is a sexologist and contemporary [...] arts gallerist. She is best known for her work with [...] museum curation and for her Downtown Las Vegas arts venues.
Education and background
Born in Miami, Florida, Henkel spent her formative years in Irving, Texas. She would later attended John F. Kennedy University where she earned a Bachelor's degree in the Liberal Arts. She continued her studies at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, earning a Doctorate in Human Sexuality and a Ph.d in Erotology.
Curation and galleries
[...] Heritage Museum
After demonstrating expertise in the appraisal and sourcing of vintage [...] items, Henkel was asked to open and curate the nonprofit [...] Heritage Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. The project initially became her Ph.D dissertation and later involved the professional curation and management of a 17,000 square-foot arts and history exhibition area and an additional 7,000 square-feet of revolving art installations. She was periodically sent by museum management to parts of Europe and Asia to collect, appraise, and transport items for official EHM exhibits.
The facility received international recognition, named one of the World's 12 Sexiest Museums in 2010. Under Henkel's direction, the museum was also host to a variety of art-related functions, including an uncensored Shakespearean presentation and a variety of performance art shows.
Henkel would later file suit against the museum's founder, Robert Theodore (Ted) McIlvenna, for alleged misconduct. The suit was later settled and its terms sealed from disclosure.
Sin City Gallery
Laura Henkel's "Sin City Gallery" began as Laura Henkel Fine Arts, a small contemporary gallery which continued Henkel's exploration of human sexuality through the arts. The space would later rebrand as Sin City Gallery, becoming an internationally recognized venue with exhibits and installations across a variety of mediums by artists including Hajime Sorayama, New Zealand videographer JK Russ, fine art photographers Bunny Yeager, Steve Diet Goedde, and Justice Howard, among others.
In 2013, Sin City Gallery was awarded "Best Gallery in Nevada" from the nationally considered American Art Awards.
12 Inches of Sin
In 2010, Laura Henkel began the "12 Inches of Sin" annual juried [...] arts show and competition as an effort to promote her Sin City Gallery. With its call for entries judged by a panel of international experts of the field, the show quickly gathered a worldwide following and brought artists from all over the globe into the Las Vegas Arts District, beginning with 40 submissions of art from five countries in its first year and growing to 300 submissions and 20 countries in its fourth.
In 2015, Henkel folded the success of the "12 Inches" venture into a fully funded Kickstarter campaign, raising funds for the publication of a CoFFEE table book featuring various works of the show in a four-volume set entitled "12 Inches of Sin: So Much Art You Can Barely Fit It All In".
Other curation
As arts curator and appraiser, Laura Henkel has independently organized and managed a number of educational lectures, exhibits, and art installations, including the 2013 cross-cultural US opening of South Korean sculptor Wook Jang Cheung, which she coordinated through Chinese liaison Shunmei Jin.
Henkel's educational lectures includes the 2014 "Queerly Provocative" panel, a discussion of LGBTQ community issues as they relate to the world of art.