Laurel Cannon Alder

There was no headline-grabbing announcement when Laurel Cannon Alder decided to leave the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. As grants manager, she wasn’t the public face of the division but rather one of the many art professionals who work in the community behind the scenes. And not just at UA&M: during her thirty-year career, she has started organizations and grassroots fundraising campaigns and served on and chaired several nonprofit boards. At UA&M, she oversaw a $7.5 million budget that was distributed to grantees throughout the state, though many may only have interacted with her via email (possibly a frantic one, the day a grant or evaluation was due). Alder did send out an email to her list of grantees, thanking them for the opportunity to work together and announcing her career change.

At the beginning of this month, Alder took on her new role as the Deputy Director for the Salt Lake City Arts Council. “There are a whole host of things that excite me about this new role,” she says. “The Salt Lake City Arts Council is thriving and in a time of growth and impact. Mayor Mendenhall is supportive of creating an artistic and vibrant city, and Felicia Baca is a thoughtful, visionary leader. There are many projects that I am excited to support, including the Wake the Great Salt Lake project, an upcoming temporary art project about preventing the decline of the Great Salt Lake supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The varied programming that takes place in the summer, the Finch Lane Gallery space, and the grant support are all important, from the public art that animates Salt Lake City’s landscape to the artistic programming.”

As excited as she is for her new role, she says she’ll miss working for the state. “The team that I am leaving is dedicated, smart, resourceful, and has been my family for the past decade. To say that I will miss them is an understatement. I am proud of the work that we have done together. I will also miss having a focus on the entire state. Some of my favorite work took place in the most rural communities throughout Utah, working with great people throughout the state.”

This moment of transition seemed an opportune time to bring Alder into the spotlight for a moment with our On the Spot feature:

Sculptures by Larry Cannon

Is there a piece of art in your house growing up that sticks in your mind?
There are many. I grew up in a household that valued the arts. My brothers are talented potters. My dad is a sculptor of wood and stone. My mother’s art forms were in the written word, in her garden, and in collecting a broad variety of beautiful objects. My nieces are both 2D artists. So, there were many different forms of artwork that filled my childhood home. The piece that first comes to mind is a beautiful Native American woven rug. My mom taught me the idea that there was a belief that a “mistake” would be deliberately included in a weaving to represent the imperfection of life and to create a place to allow the spirit to escape the artwork. I loved that she shared that reverential belief with me, and it gave me an important way to think about the intentionality of embracing imperfection.

What hangs above your mantel?
I technically can’t hang artwork above my mantel, so I will share what lives in the focal point of my living room. I have two stone sculptures carved by my dad that flank both sides of my fireplace. His sculpting was inspired by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. I also have one of my newest painting acquisitions hanging on this wall. My in-laws gave me a piece from their collection by Larry Wade, which I have always loved. It depicts people dancing in the street in downtown Salt Lake. The idea of dancing at the intersection of South Temple and State has always made me think of Alice Merrill Horne and the legendary tea parties she hosted in the street downtown to raise awareness for the need for a state arts collection. That arts collection eventually became the first arts council in the nation and is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

Painting by Larry Wade

If you could choose one person to paint or sculpt your portrait, who would it be?
This is a hard one for me to answer because I would not choose to have a portrait painted of myself. I would, however, jump at the opportunity to have a portrait painted of my children. So, I will answer this question literally. I chose Kathleen Petersen from Spring City, Utah, to paint my three children a few years ago, and it is one of the most treasured pieces of art in my home. It is not a portrait per se, but what I love about it is that it captures the relationship that exists between my three children.

What is the last artistic thing you created yourself?
I am a fiber artist. This began with my fascination with lost needle arts. When I was a teenager, I received one of the first Apprenticeship Grants from Utah Arts & Museums to continue my study of tatting, netting, and bobbin lace. As a teen, I also learned to smock clothing, which is stitchery on top of finely pleated fabrics. I learned to do the German traditional stitching called hardanger, and my grandmother taught me to knit. Currently, it seems that I always have a knitting project at the ready. Right now, I am knitting a pair of socks with geese on them (a nod to the Utah Arts & Museums Change Leader goose mascot), I am tatting a piece of yellow lace, and I am piecing a quilt top of Rifle Paper Company fabrics.

Kathleen Peterson’s portrait of Laurel Cannon Alder’s children

What are you reading lately?
I always have a few books in my queue. I listen to more books than I read with my eyes, but that does not mean that I don’t always have a significant pile of books by my bedside. I am currently reading Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark and Radical Candor by Kim Scott. I also usually have a mystery at the ready for an escape.

All images courtesy of Laurel Cannon Alder

On the Spot

This is our chance to check in with members of Utah’s art community to see what they’ve been reading, seeing, doing.