Gallery in the Market LV has something for every art taste

If art can heal, then Lois Greer has to be the healthiest person at Tivoli Village.

As owner and curator of Collective Souls Fine Art & More, she is surrounded by the beauty of art every day. The gallery opened in the Market LV at Tivoli Village, 420 S. Rampart Blvd., No. 150, in early summer and attracts all types of people who peruse the art and comment on it.

“I love when the little children come in,” she said. “Little children are truthful and speak from their hearts.”

Collective Souls offers limited edition giclee prints as well as original paintings and artist’s proofs. Custom framing is available. There also are handcrafted glass dishes, wall sculptures and items that promote well-being, such as singing bowl sets from Tibet. The bowls are made of seven different metals and have been around for thousands of years, Greer said.

Nic Cantu, a yoga enthusiast, stopped in and was drawn to the singing bowls and asked about them. Greer set one on her palm, picked up the wood stick that accompanies it and began running the stick along the rim, around and around. The room was soon ringing with the single note — not a loud sound, but one that reverberated deep in the body. Cantu closed his eyes, leaned back and breathed in deeply.

He said he hadn’t expected to find something like that in a traditional art gallery but that, on second thought, having an item such as the singing bowls wasn’t that surprising as the Market LV is known for its boutique shops.

“I see it incorporated more and more into the art world,” he said of other culture’s influences. “I was pleasantly surprised (to find this here). These people know their stuff.”

Greer is not an artist, but she said she’s always had an interest in art. Opening a gallery seemed the right thing to do, she said.

“I didn’t want a place where you walk in and there’s just one artist — yawn — something you’d see anywhere,” Greer said. “I wanted a bunch of different ones, diverse paintings. One might be an impressionist, one might be an expressionist, or realism. I wanted a cool vibe. And if people come in and they only have $15, they can come here. I didn’t want it where only high society, wealthy people could come. I wanted anyone with any budget to come in and shop.”

She said buying a piece of art that you appreciate and hang in your home means feeling happy every time you see it. Happy people, she said, are more balanced in their lives.

When word got out that she was going to open a gallery, artists started approaching her, she said. A series of coincidences led to finding many of the ones whose work she features.

“I felt like I was collecting all these souls from all these artists, so that’s how I came up with the name,” Greer said.

Some people who approached her claimed to be artists, she said, but often, when she saw their portfolio, it didn’t pass muster.

“You almost have to be like Simon Cowell on ‘American Idol,’ ” she said of turning them down. “Only, I’m not mean like him.”

Instead, she told them she had high standards and takes only the “top of the top, the cream of the crop.”

One of her artists is Paul Vincent, whose father was painter Larry Vincent Garrison. Vincent is known for his paintings of masted ships from yesteryear, usually shown forging their way through storm-tossed seas.

“I can see that in someone’s library or office,” Greer said, pointing to one of them. “It’s funny. He’s so calm and sweet, but he does these dramatic paintings.”

C Delle Bates is from Texas, Greer’s home state. She first carried his angels series and now has his Jerusalem-inspired works. She also features artist Mike Miller, who worked on Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and “101 Dalmatians” and was an illustrator for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His paintings often depict the Old West with trail-weary cowboys and snow-covered peaks.

“This guy is amazing,” Greer said of Miller. “I said to myself, ‘I had to have his Western art here.’ ”

Nicole Paraskevas’ handcrafted glass plates have 18- to 22-karat gold leaf and come with a notarized certificate of authenticity. Each one is different, Greer said.

Greer is also a fan of Dale Chihuly, whose glass flowers adorn the Bellagio’s ceiling. Her gallery carries an artist, Patrick (he goes by a single name), whose glass works have a hint of Chihuly’s tendency to them.

“I like shiny things, as you can probably tell, so glass is a big thing,” she said. “The blown glass and the rocks, the gemstones, and the singing bowls. To me … that’s art.”

Greer’s gallery represents 14 artists, including photographer William Carr, rock painter M-J de Mesterton, glass artist Gale and painters Kristine Lomboy and Gigi Boldon.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, visit artgallerylv.com or call 702-773-8177.

Contact Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.