The couple that creates together, stays together and thrives together. That could easily be the mantra of Bill Wright and his wife, Lisa Faulkner-Wright, who moved from Lake Tahoe to Las Vegas in 1990, eventually settling in Summerlin in 1998. The Wrights, whose artistic creations have been featured in the Summerlin Festival of Arts since 2001, are veterans of the art festival world, traveling all over the Southwest U.S. to showcase their works for the past several years.
Bill, a potter who is also serving as President of the Nevada Clay Guild, has a fully furnished ceramic studio in their home, complete with kiln and pottery wheels. His expertise, coupled with a recent surge in in-home pottery studios fueled by the pandemic, has created yet another career for Bill as a ceramic and kiln consultant. Today, his services are sought by DIY potters throughout Southern Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
Lisa, a painter, who transitioned from pottery to painting around the time the couple moved to Las Vegas, now works in two mediums – oil and watercolor. She also boasts her own in-home studio, but says she prefers plein air painting outdoors. Ironically, Lisa’s start as an artist was as a potter. She graduated with a BA from Cal State Sacramento and then an MFA in ceramics and print making from University of Wisconsin Madison before launching a teaching career at Sierra Nevada College in Tahoe, where she met Bill in a Raku workshop. Today, the couple’s work is featured in the Worthington Gallery in Springdale, Utah, just outside of Zion National Park.
While it was a job in the thriving construction industry that drew the couple here, it’s the quality of life they enjoy in Summerlin that keeps them in Southern Nevada. The couple walks almost daily on the trails near their home, and according to Bill, they don’t even have to cross a street to get in a good long stroll. Bill says they adore the community’s beautiful landscaping, and while the mountain views are different than those in Tahoe, they have come to appreciate the ruggedly gorgeous Red Rock peaks to the west of their home where they also love to hike.
Parents to three grown children and five grandchildren, the Wrights’ youngest daughter, Elizabeth attended the Alexander Dawson School before graduating from Palo Verde High School. Today, all three children live and work in Las Vegas, each inheriting from their parents an artistic bent. Daughter Melissa is a gifted craftsperson, quilter, costume maker and seamstress; son Eric excels at drawing and photography and daughter, Elizabeth is a talented musician.
While the Trails Village Center is the couple’s go-to spot for coffee, grocery shopping and errand-running, Downtown Summerlin is another hot spot for the Wrights with The Apple Store, Lazy Dog (Lisa’s favorite), Macy’s and Dillard’s topping their list of favorite shopping and dining places.
With the urge and drive to continue creating in their respective mediums, the Wrights are the quintessential artistic couple. Celebrating 33 years of marriage and hundreds, if not thousands of paintings, pots and ceramic works of art between them, the Wrights are looking forward to sharing with the community their latest creations at the Summerlin Festival of Arts in October 2021 – when things are a little more “Wright” with the world.
