Recently deceased Utah artists remembered by their friends and colleagues, published in 15 Bytes, Utah’s art magazine.
“Life is too short to eat bad food,” Robert Lewis Bliss, FAIA, always declared as he appreciatively dug a fork into a small plate of seared prawns in a Zürsun yellow split pea puree at Manoli’s fine Greek restaurant near Liberty Park; or when he hoisted a thin […]
Utah painter and sculptor Franz M. Johansen, who died Aug. 23 in Provo, found his artistic mission on an LDS church mission in the British Isles. There, his wife Josie Morris confirms, he learned about William Blake, who as a boy said he had seen God through a […]
Early on in our relationship, Tom Alder had to convince me on an important point: a lack of evidence should not get in the way of a good story. Evidence should be sought, Tom conceded, arguments for plausibility laid out, but ultimately, if nothing disproved a story or […]
When he was in his early 20s, (an age when the main accomplishment of many of us is drinking a lot of beer) Patrick Moore Hoagland was awarded the Thousand Points of Light Award for exceptional service to this community, by then President George H. W. Bush. Presidents […]
Photo by Nathalie van Empel, 2012. Courtesy BYU Museum of Art. The term “Renaissance man” is heard a lot, but Paul Anderson, who died suddenly the night of March 23, certainly ranks among them. An artist, architect, educator, curator and composer, he restored historic LDS buildings; sang in […]
In a 2002 piece for 15 Bytes, art historian and U of U Dean Bob Olpin wrote that the Springville Museum’s Spring Salon contained “one of the finest Bill Whitaker pretty girl paintings I’ve ever seen.” That was saying a great deal, considering the skill of this artist, whom […]
by Frank McEntire “Whimsical and humorous or elegant and monumental, Richard Johnston’s sculptures are always refined. Seemingly unyielding metals are finessed to draw out their cool, flexible, even fluid character. With considerable attention to detail, the artist delights in inventive points of articulation: notches cut in the metal, […]
Whenever I think of Suzanne Simpson, I think of sunshine. And on learning of her passing from breast cancer on Nov. 3, I find that I still do. We first met more than 20 years ago, when I was working at the photo mecca of Borge Andersen & […]
Edit someone’s words long enough and their voice begins to seep into your own. For 10 years, I worked with Ehren Clark, one of the most passionate voices in Utah’s art community, and his many verbal mannerisms — his cadences, syntax and lexicon — became so familiar, so […]
Renowned fantasy artist James C. Christensen passed away Jan. 8 after a long battle with cancer. He was 74. Born Sept. 26, 1942, in Culver City, California, Christensen studied at UCLA and BYU where he later earned his MFA and taught from 1976-1997. Artist and BYU Professor Joseph […]
Pat Eddington, 63, a Salt Lake City artist and much-honored teacher, died March 26 at University Hospital following a sudden illness. An artist with a distinctive visual style who had an expansive impact on our community, he was also a man consumed with teaching, with the world of […]
Within almost exactly a week, Utah has lost two fabled artists. Each, coincidentally, had a controversial work installed at the Salt Lake City International Airport: Anna Campbell Bliss was able to revise hers to satisfy what she called “the Breast Patrol;” Trevor Southey, a gifted and influential artist […]
