
Nestled in Price, Utah, the Utah State University East Gallery is a hidden treasure along the familiar route to Southern Utah. The drive to the gallery itself invites a moment of reflection, encouraging you to consider your place within the broader landscape. As you approach, you pass through the quaint city of Price, crossing under a bridge, over train tracks, and above the Price River—features you might not immediately recognize but which become integral to the experience. Arriving at the building itself, you find hard lines and airy aesthetics that harmonize effortlessly with the rugged surroundings, echoing the stone and mountainous terrain while maintaining a distinctly human presence. Stepping inside the gallery, you’re enveloped by the natural light that floods through the expansive ceiling windows.
Place / Time / Proximity, Gallery East’s most recent exhibition, offered a quiet reflection on how these elements converge to shape human experience and artistic expression. Featuring the works of two faculty members and six graduate students from Brigham Young University, the show presented a compelling exploration of how surroundings, histories, and relationships inform our sense of self and the narratives we see through our lens. The works bridged personal and collective experience, inviting viewers to contemplate the proximity of their own stories to the art before them; whether intimate, everyday realities or abstractions shaped by time and distance.

Madeline Rupard, “Sun Shower,” 2024, acrylic on panel, 48×72 in.
A Dreamscape in Passing: Madeline Rupard
Madeline Rupard’s paintings transform the American landscape into a site of tension and wonder, juxtaposing the suburban with the sublime and the sacred with the mundane. Her work mirrors the experience of traversing memory and space, where ancient elements coexist with the man-made, raising questions about permanence and change. “Sun Shower” captures a quintessential Utah scene with remarkable sensitivity: a luminous sunset framed by looming clouds and the imposing silhouette of a mountainous form. The work invites viewers to pause and consider a landscape that many of us rush past at 80 miles an hour, its quiet grandeur often unnoticed amid the urgency of travel.
Rupard’s piece achieves a compelling tension between the ephemeral and the eternal. The sublime palette of her radiant hues that feel both ethereal and grounded contrasts with the mundane yet strangely poetic elements of roadside Americana. Gas stations and highway stops, rendered in their glistening mix of sunlight and fluorescent light, punctuate the scene with a sense of the transience. These familiar beacons of rest and reprieve, often overlooked, take on a surreal quality under Rupard’s brush, blurring the lines between memory, perception, and imagination.
What makes “Sun Shower” particularly captivating is its ability to evoke both comfort and introspection. The work gently suggests the fleeting nature of these roadside encounters, moments suspended in time as we move through them. Yet, rather than lamenting their impermanence, Rupard imbues them with a dreamlike quality, transforming what is often a utilitarian space into a stage for reflection.
Through her nuanced depiction, Rupard compels us to reconsider the landscapes of our journeys not merely as backdrops to our motion but as dynamic spaces filled with wonder and memory. “Sun Shower” offers a subtle but profound reminder: the places we pass through are more than temporary; they hold the potential for connection, contemplation, and even transformation if we take the time to truly see them.

Rebeca Ozaeta, “Searching a Reflected Effort,” oil on panel
Layers of Memory and Reflection: Rebeca Ozaeta
Adjacent to Madeline Rupard’s vibrant landscapes, Rebeca Ozaeta’s three works stand in quiet contrast, offering a contemplative and abstract exploration of pattern, memory and perception. At first glance, Ozaeta’s pieces appear non-representational, their subdued palettes and ambiguous forms requiring a sensitive and deliberate eye to uncover their layered meanings. However, as one lingers, her works reveal nuanced connections that challenge us to reflect on the interplay of similarity and difference in our own experiences.
The arrangement of the pieces creates a conversation within itself: the largest work anchors the collection, flanked by two smaller pieces that engage in subtle dialogue. The pieces on the left share a harmonious palette, their strokes and patterns suggesting compatibility and coherence. Yet, within this connection lies a tension—an invitation to compare and contrast their forms and gestures. These subtle variations evoke moments in life where what feels familiar is also intriguingly distinct, calling into question the nature of routine interactions and unnoticed nuances.
The third piece, painted in deep blue tones, introduces a shift in tone and focus. It moves toward the ethereal, featuring abstracted forms that evoke distant memories, dreamscapes, and fleeting impressions. Hints of photographic reflections and silhouetted shapes emerge, but only just enough to anchor the viewer in a space of partial recognition. This ambiguity is Ozaeta’s strength, prompting us to think about our own dreams, their fleeting clarity, and the significance we assign to such ephemeral experiences.
Ozaeta’s work demands time and introspection. The brushwork and layering techniques do not immediately reveal themselves, requiring viewers to engage deeply and patiently. These are not pieces that offer quick gratification; instead, they pull us into a quieter, more contemplative rhythm, where meaning unfolds gradually. The subtle interplay of optics and textures mirrors the way memories resurface layered, fragmented, and often obscured, yet rich with significance for those willing to look closer.

Whitney Carr, “Echoes of Growth,” 2024, ceramic
A Call to Consideration: Whitney Carr
Whitney Carr’s work in this show explores a poignant interplay between form, function and the layered meanings of space and memory. Central to the exhibition is a house-like wooden structure, thoughtfully stained and crafted, that serves as both a container and a stage for smaller ceramic works. This piece feels deeply connected to notions of domesticity and personal history, offering viewers a tactile reminder of the intimate relationship between the objects we house and the spaces we inhabit.
On the opposite side of the gallery, two larger vessels invite a contrasting experience. These earthen forms are adorned with ambiguous, plant-like structures and feature circular viewing portals that reveal layers within. These works echo themes of origin and transformation, suggesting a dialogue between natural and constructed worlds. The surfaces, rich with earthen textures, evoke a sense of being “of the earth, for the earth,” grounding the viewer in the materiality and permanence of clay while simultaneously prompting reflections on time and space.
The juxtaposition of these works, ceramics nested within a wooden home and larger vessels standing independently, creates a conversation about scale, purpose and context. The housed ceramics resonate with ideas of familial bonds and the universality of shelter, while the standalone vessels remind us of the enduring relevance of functional forms, even as they carry historical weight. Through these works, Carr challenges us to consider how objects and spaces shape our connections to the past, the present, and each other, blending metaphorical and practical significance in a way that feels both grounded and expansive.

Melanie Fischer, “Be that Light,” 2024, glazed ceramis, wood, fire
How We Interact: Melanie Fischer
Melanie Fischer’s work exudes a quiet, humble presence, inviting viewers to reflect on lingering, unspoken thoughts. Her ceramic pieces, predominantly dark in hue, carry an air of mystery and depth. In “Be that Light,” Fischer examines the ripple effects of individual decisions and their influence on others, exploring themes of projection, interaction, and shared experience. The somber tones evoke a sense of unresolved endings, hinting at the complexities of absence, the voids we feel, and the weight of what we attempt to carry—both physically and emotionally.
These objects occupy a functional scale, suggesting vessels or tools meant for use, yet their practicality is subverted by the presence of holes or gaps, making them symbolic rather than utilitarian. Crafted from earthen ceramics and paired with found sticks, the pieces evoke a raw, organic connection to the natural world, blending traditional craftsmanship with the impermanence of found materials. This interplay between utility and impracticality invites reflection on the fragility of what we rely on to carry our burdens. Fischer’s work delves into ideas of significance, connection, transformation, belief, and participation, fostering a dialogue about personal journeys, moments of change, and the ways objects in our lives shape and reflect our experiences, often beyond our control.

Eli Kerns, “Stick House,” 2024, inkject print, rice paper, ink, wax
A Connection in Cartographic Memory and Yearning: Eli Kerns
In Eli Kerns’ works, “100 Million Springs” and “Stick House,” recurring themes emerge, weaving a compelling narrative of place, memory and the natural world. Kerns employs a gridded system, both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally through folds, evoking the structure of a map or the concept of measured distance. Yet, rather than remaining flat or rigid, the pieces exhibit a subtle dimensionality reminiscent of an unfolded map, nostalgically bridging the precision of cartography with the unpredictability of exploration.
This tension between control and organic form creates a fascinating dialogue about the natural world and our relationship with space. In “Stick House,” images of forests, complete with leaf litter encircling trees in their natural habitats, are partially obscured by drawn overlays. These layers are further complicated by the inclusion of sticks, layered on waxed paper, blurring the line between natural and constructed.
Kerns explores memory and experience, and the distance between the two, with a nuanced sensitivity rooted in his personal history while maintaining a collective ambiguity that resonates universally. His use of natural objects, organic mediums, and earthy substrates anchors the work firmly within the natural world, evoking a sense of belonging. The pieces seem to ask: When was our last hike? Our most recent immersion in nature? Or even our last dream of such a connection?
By juxtaposing the organic with the structured, Kerns creates works that not only reflect his personal experiences but also invite us to question our own relationships with nature, memory, and the spaces in between.

Fidalis Buehler, “Coyote Hustle,” 2022, mixed media
Memory Gained, Lost and Rediscovered: Fidalis Buehler
Fidalis Buehler’s works, “Coyote Hustle” and “Garden Nap,” carry a sense of nostalgia and accessibility, achieved through refined yet deceptively simple elements. These pieces introduce two characters: a coyote-like figure with long, almost human legs, wearing boots, and a reclining figure nestled amidst monopodial plants. Both characters seem connected through their shared setting yet distinct in their activities, forming a subtle narrative thread.
In “Garden Nap,” the colors are both vibrant and subdued, utilizing a complementary color scheme that highlights the sleeping figure. The scene feels tranquil and intimate, evoking the atmosphere of an evening or late afternoon moment. Conversely, in “Coyote Hustle,” the energy shifts dramatically. The active, marauding animal moves across a high-key grid, creating a sense of dynamism and restlessness. This juxtaposition of activity and repose imbues the works with a layered emotional complexity.
The details in each piece are intentionally restrained, evoking the hazy quality of dreams or the fragmented clarity of memories. Symbols within the works suggest connections to heritage-based narratives, inviting viewers to interpret their significance through their own experiences. The interplay between reductive and additive techniques creates a push-and-pull effect, reflecting the ever-shifting nature of memory, what is preserved, what is lost, and what is reconstructed.
Though small in scale, Buehler’s works are deeply evocative. Their intimate size draws the viewer in, while their broader themes of change and continuity provide a contemplative distance. This tension between the personal and the universal makes “Coyote Hustle” and “Garden Nap” profoundly resonant, urging viewers to explore the interplay of memory, identity, and the stories we carry.

Emily Hawkins, “Dancing Dango,” 2024, inkjet
Inkjet Introspection: Emily Hawkins
Emily Hawkins’ piece “Dancing Dango” is a large-format inkjet print that transports viewers into a dreamlike realm. The work features a centrally composed arrangement of objects that appear to defy gravity, evoking a sense of the familiar while remaining strikingly otherworldly. Set against a blurred green background, the vivid colors reds, pinks, creams, and greens create a primarily complementary palette that draws the eye and enhances the composition’s surreal quality.
The stacked objects in “Dancing Dango” present a variety of textures: one resembling the sponginess of cake, another suggesting a bread-like form, and six glossy, sticky spheres that evoke dango, a traditional Japanese sweet. While the arrangement feels edible, it is presented in such an alien and abstract manner that it resists simple categorization. This ambiguity invites reflection on consumption, preparation, and our relationship with food in an increasingly globalized and industrialized context.
The crisp clarity of the print enhances this reflection, prompting viewers to consider the complexities of the modern food chain. Hawkins explores the disconnection many of us feel from the origins of what we eat, highlighting how abstract and unfamiliar this process can seem despite the ease and availability of food in our lives. The piece encourages a pause, asking us to question our place within this intricate system of production and consumption.
The choice of inkjet printing as the medium feels integral to the work’s meaning. Just as the objects in the composition challenge our understanding of food and its preparation, the digital precision of the inkjet process mirrors our detachment from the tactile, nuanced origins of what we consume. “Dancing Dango” skillfully bridges the gap between the tangible and the abstract, inviting viewers to reflect on both the materiality and the metaphorical implications of its construction.

Francisco Ricardo Fierro Merchan, “Untitled 2,” photography
Memory and Reality: Francisco Ricardo Fierro Merchan
Francisco Ricardo Fierro Merchan presents a thought-provoking dialogue through his photographic works, “Untitled 1” and “Untitled 2.” Both pieces feature a collection of small, almost collectible images, each offering a unique perspective on the landscapes depicted. The works invite viewers to step into the frame, their compositions set at a standard height that gives the impression of standing within the scene, quietly observing.
In “Untitled 1,” we encounter a series of tranquil vistas captured at varying times of day and under shifting light conditions. These spaces are pristine, devoid of human presence or disruption. The horizons align seamlessly across the images, creating a sense of continuity and uniformity. This careful composition suggests a quiet reverence for the land, inviting us to revisit these places for their beauty and sense of optimism. Yet beneath the serenity, there is an awareness of the fragile balance of nature, a recognition of its vulnerability to time and change.
In stark contrast, “Untitled 2″ shifts the tone entirely. The scenes here are marked by discarded objects; a rug, a tire, a lone wire partially buried in sand. The landscape feels barren and desolate, evoking a sense of abandonment or loss. The vertical orientation of this piece adds to its tension, with the upright format amplifying a sense of unease and caution. Unlike the horizontal calm of “Untitled 1,” the verticality of “Untitled 2″ heightens the disquieting themes of disruption and decay.
Together, the works explore a poignant duality: the serenity of untouched nature versus the stark reality of human impact. The contrast between the two pieces encourages reflection on the passage of time, the footprints we leave behind, and the ways in which we engage with—or neglect our environments. The subtle yet deliberate compositional choices elicit questions of self, place, use, observation, and preservation.
Merchan’s work is not merely a documentation of landscapes; it is a meditation on presence and absence, on beauty and its fragility. By presenting these images in juxtaposition, he challenges viewers to consider their role in shaping the world around them, urging a deeper awareness of the quiet transformations that define both memory and reality.
Ultimately, Place / Time / Proximity offered a profound meditation on the interconnected elements of time, place, and memory, urging viewers to slow down and reflect. There is a shared desire to challenge conventional understandings of place, memory, and identity, asking us to reconsider our relationship with the familiar, find new meaning in our own stories, and embrace the layered complexity of our shared human journey.
All images by the author

Raised in a creative Michigan household, Nolan Patrick Flynn developed an early passion for art. He moved to Utah to pursue an MFA at the University of Utah and continues to create art out of his Salt Lake City studio and teach high school art at Stansbury High School.
Categories: Exhibition Reviews | Visual Arts