Jessica Kinsey. Courtesy Southern Utah Museum of Art.

You never know where an exhibition might take you. For Jessica Kinsey, Executive Director of the Southern Utah Museum of Art, an exhibition experienced in Oklahoma ultimately brought her to Utah.

Originally from Oklahoma and raised in Indiana, Kinsey returned to her birth state to study art history at the University of Oklahoma (OU), earning her undergraduate degree in 2011 and a master’s in museum studies in 2014. She gained experience at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, working in various roles, including curator of academic programs and director of public engagement, where she developed an interest in expanding audience participation.

It was there that she encountered Macrocosm/Microcosm: Abstract Expressionism in the American Southwest, curated by Dr. Mark White, now director of the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. The exhibition featured more than 60 works of Abstract Expressionism created from inspiration from the landscapes of Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. As materials for the exhibition stated it: “American art’s relationship to space and color was never the same.” And after the exhibition neither was Kinsey. “It was a pivotal exhibition for me to experience early in my museum career and personal life,” she says. “It initiated my love for the American Southwest and the high desert landscape, which later drew me to southern Utah.”

In 2016, Kinsey joined SUMA, attracted by both the desert landscape and the museum’s striking Brooks + Scarpa-designed building. At SUMA, Kinsey has prioritized accessibility and inclusivity in museum programming, spearheading community initiatives, curating exhibitions featuring regional and national artists, and overseeing significant growth in attendance. For several years, she also served as the museum’s chief curator. Kinsey says the Macrocosm/Microcosm inspired The Space Between: Visions of the Southwest, held at SUMA in Summer 2022. “The exhibition brought together works from four artists who represent the past, present, and future of abstract art forged in the creative crucible of the desert: Louis Ribak (American, b. Lithuania, 1902-1979) and Beatrice Mandelman (American, 1912-1998), the groundbreaking forces behind Taos Modernism; and Arlo Namingha (American, Tewa/Hopi, b. 1974) and Shalee Cooper (American, b. 1978), two exciting contemporary artists who embody the enduring legacy of their predecessors and the new visions emerging from this environment.”

Screen capture of the catalogue for Macrocosm/Microcosm: Abstract Expressionism in the American Southwest

Installation view of “The Space Between: Visions of the Southwest” at the Southern Utah Museum of Art in the summer of 2022.

Who Do You Love

During the month of February we ask Utah artists about a specific piece of art or artist, living or not, local or global, that has sparked their curiosity or influenced their work. We run their responses throughout the month.