Utah Artist Profiles published in 15 Bytes, featuring magazine length profiles of Utah artists.
Shelby Weaver (U.S., b. 1953) is a Utah outsider artist in a state where outsider has special meaning. He grew up in the small northern Utah town of Hooper. When asked what made him want to make art, he replied, “It was clouds, seeing shapes in clouds, saying, […]
Aïsha Lehmann emerged on the art scene rather dramatically last October with Mixed, a sensational exhibition at Finch Lane Gallery. Mixed featured nine large portrait figures, and while “mixed media” may no longer be a useful term, due to its nearly universal use by artists today, in this […]
For many of us, our first experiences with art come in the form of crayons, markers, or chalk. We would crudely draw stick figures, flowers and animals, which we then displayed, proudly, to friends and family. But this experience is not the case for artist Sara Lynne Lindsay, […]
On Dec. 17, Park City’s Gallery MAR will open an exhibition by Sarah Winkler titled Mountain Glow. Winkler, a Manchester, England native who also grew up in Malawi and Brunei, studied Art and Earth Science at William Paterson University. Working from a studio at 9000 feet in the […]
Since retiring from a career working as a graphic designer for KUED-TV, Doug Wildfoerster has given full rein to his personal artistic vision. The self-taught watercolorist has had his work featured in solo shows at Alpine Art, the Chapman Library, the Day-Riverside Library and the Duchesne County Library, […]
It seems a small studio for a stone sculptor — just 85 square feet, Jonna Ramey says — tucked at the back of the family garage, but it’s brightly lit, even on this dreary Sunday, with a wall of cheery windows and decent overheads. The space is OCD […]
An embracing couple is captured in front of a narrowing, leaf-covered path. Slightly off-center in the composition, we see one figure’s back, while the other figure is facing us, gazing confidently in our direction, one arm cradling the lower back of her partner, while the other hand just […]
What silent desert landscapes and mirific skyscapes have we missed in the years Martin Blundell spent at his business — at work in the real world — while his artwork lay fallow? Martin Blundell is a tall, quiet man who can please a small crowd with a deep, […]
(This article was written while Annie Blake was in hospice. On Dec. 16 her husband announced on Instagram that she had passed.) “How could it be possible to take in all the sad stories and become big enough to hold them all? Or to compress them […]
When historians scramble to find physical evidence for understanding a culture or period, they may consider utilitarian fine art as a harbinger of a new century, a reflection of a nation’s existential crisis, evidence of a major war, or proof of an economic recession; but, generally, crafts and […]
Never underestimate the influence of teachers, wherever you may find them. Connie Borup, now one of Utah’s best-known landscape painters, hadn’t the slightest inclination of becoming an artist until she met an art history teacher in Germany. Borup was raised in Kaysville, Utah, a town that was still a largely rural community dominated by fields in the 1950s. Growing up in that environment has its advantages, but Borup always knew she wanted “to get out.” Which explains why she jumped at the chance to become an exchange student. “That was such an eye-opener,” she recalls. “A 17-year-old Mormon girl leaving her town and going to Germany.” At the gymnasium in Cologne, she met Herr Beppo, who opened her eyes to art. “I made a decision right then — I’m going to be an artist.”
Art majors may start out thinking they just want to learn how to make art. When they study with Kim Martinez, they learn a lot more: how to work collaboratively, how to build community, how to secure grant money, and how to invest their art with meaning. Within […]
“You’re just an appropriator.” That’s what a young, huffy art student said to Joe Ostraff in 1993 when he was a finalist for his current teaching position at Brigham Young University’s art department. Negative comments like that typically bounce right off him. In fact, although he’s sure he […]
A photograph shows a little girl standing in front of an easel painting; she seems delighted to have been caught in the act of creation. Now grown, Beth Krensky reflects that this moment captured on camera typifies her childhood affinities and early interest in art. “While other children […]
“To live in these times is in a lot of ways scary, and in all of my recent works I’m working to acknowledge that, and to overcome it,” says Ogden artist Matthew Choberka, whose paintings are ablaze with nearly-neon color, informed abstraction, and monstrous figures that push, […]
Downy Doxey-Marshall has a tough time making up her mind. Lately, for example, she’s been signing her paintings “Downy,” but for years she fluctuated between “Downy Doxey” and “Downy Doxey-Marshall.” (She thinks maybe she’s back to “Downy Doxey.” Or not.) And while the youngest Marshall child has the […]
“The strange and disconnected are the stuff of my creations.” – Marcee Blackerby Like Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince, Salt Lake City author and artist Marcee Blackerby, born in Castle Dale 75 years ago, followed her star and left this planet around 1:15 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2019. […]
“In Sanpete County, as in other rural towns, you have to build the community you want to be a part of,” says artist Amy Jorgensen. Build she has.
Since 2005, Jorgensen has worked as an associate professor of visual arts, and photography area head, at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, transforming the department from one with a strong focus in process to one informed by conceptual art practices. During her tenure there, she has founded the Art Talks series, established two permanent student galleries, and developed the now thriving photography and media program from the ground up.
