Recently deceased Utah artists remembered by their friends and colleagues, published in 15 Bytes, Utah’s art magazine.
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 the Utah Symphony Chorus for years; has several songs in the […]
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, […]
“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, circular perforations or […]
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 […]
When she turned 90 in July, Anna Campbell Bliss was, as always, active. She had a show up at CUAC that she shared, as she did most everything, with her husband, Robert, and was hoping to begin new work soon at her west-side studio. I gave her a […]
Emma Lou Thayne, beloved Mormon poet, English teacher and essayist, died earlier this month of congestive heart failure at age 90. Casualene Meyer, who recently interviewed Thayne, files this memorial for 15 Bytes. * “Out of my life of being loved and encouraged, lavished with kindness and understanding, […]
Edie Roberson was at work until the end. When she died on August 14th, 2014, at the age of 85, a large canvas with multiple figures sat on her easel. It was her latest work-in-progress, coming just a few months after a March exhibit at David Ericson Fine […]
It is often only when someone passes that we come to realize the breadth of their influence, and so it was for us, when at a recent memorial service for our colleague and friend Sarah Thompson, we came to understand the variety of people whose lives she touched. […]
