In 2021, Kate Jarman-Gates started Clever Cucumber, a free community art studio for her neighbors on Salt Lake City’s west side. At the heart of its operations is a workshop, ingeniously nestled within Jarman-Gates’ garage, which can accommodate a dozen individuals. This space is a treasure trove of crafting supplies, ranging from meticulously organized stained glass to an array of materials like ribbon, string, and vinyl, all aimed at fueling the artistic spirit. The essence of Clever Octopus is not just in providing a space but in the communal sharing of an extensive collection of tools, including a button maker, bookbinding tools, and woodworking supplies, all accumulated from Jarman-Gates’ teaching career, community donations, and personal acquisitions.

The artist’s community-minded spirit is also evident in her two works on display at 35×35. Three forms of prayer from three different faith traditions are represented in “Interconnected 5” and the triangular form of the three glass works form a structure in which during the run of the exhibition, a small sprout has been growing. In “Interconected 2” the multi-media work is built to form a heptagram star, an important symbol in cultures across the world. In between each point of the star, the artist has included small booklets of community drawings, with the various artists involved in each drawing identified by different colors.

“My work is a two-sided coin, revealing the connections between what appears separate,” she says. “On one side, I glue, tie, and solder broken artifacts together. Rather than working ex nihilo, I recontextualize existing fragments of paper and glass by joining them anew. On the other side, I tie broken people together with new experiences.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST AND VIEW MORE OF HER WORK

Artists of Utah’s 35×35, Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, through Feb. 23

15 Bytes

UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.