A bust of Joseph Smith, Jr. by Andrey Sledkov foregrounds this image of the Vern G. and Judy N. Swanson Gallery at the Springville Museum of Art’s 38th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah exhibition. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

Not having done similar computations for every other gallery in the museum, I don’t know if the Dumke Gallery is representative of the entire exhibition—but if you’re inclined to walking in straight lines it’s the first one you’ll come across, so—in it, out of 23 works on display, you’ll find only three that depict deity: two represent a male and female divinity together (“Heavenly Mother” and “Heavenly Father” in Latter-day Saint circles), and a third, small work depicts the Madonna in a classical icon style.

If you’ve never been to Springville Museum of Art’s Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah exhibition, held every year in the fall, you may have no idea of what to expect. Or you may have an idea. It may also be wrong. Yes, you’ll find images of divinity, mostly the Christian variety; you’ll find illustrations of scriptural stories, mostly the Biblical variety; and you’ll find depictions of religious leaders, mostly of the LDS variety; but all of these, in the context of the entire show, which occupies six large galleries and more than one hallway on the museum’s ground floor, make up only a minority of the works on display. For all three categories combined, maybe 25 percent?

A partial view of the Katherine W. and Ezekiel R. Dumke, Jr. Gallery at the Springville Museum of Art gives an idea of the variety of works on display. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

If some professor had had the foresight to put their art history students to the task of a longitudinal, quantitive study—or if museum director Emily Larsen had wanted to give a member of her staff some busy work—we might be able to say to what extent, compared to previous years, that percentage represents an increase or decrease (and spin out some conclusions regarding what it says about our culture, the museum, its exhibition, the state’s artists, etc.). I’d put my money on the latter. I’d also wager it’s less than what you had imagined, if you’ve never been before.

Laura Erekson’s “If I Could Bottle You Up,” surrounded by several works in a salon-style hang. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

What else will you find? Landscapes, still-lifes and self-portraits, serving, in this context, metaphorical or symbolic roles related to the exhibition’s general theme. Also, narrative works expressing broad spiritual concepts. More than a couple of trees. Some sacred geometry. Architectural photography. Much of it carrying obvious religious and spiritual connotations. But if that’s not your thing, if you’re the sort who wants trigger warnings for religious imagery when entering an exhibition, you could still pick your way through the more than 250 works and find plenty to intrigue you.

Mary Crabtree’s “Lacy Under the Surface,” an assemblage of a figure encased within a box, her body and the box wrapped in lace, evokes themes of identity and introspection, but nothing overtly religious. You might find it at any exhibition in the state. Ditto Laura Erekson’s “If I Could Bottle You Up,” a grid of jar lids encasing delicate objects like keys, flowers, and organic forms. The “Spiritual” of the title does most of the lifting in this exhibit.

Spin an artist statement and lots being produced by Utah artists today could slip into this exhibition. Take Ondre Pettingill’s “Tomorrow’s News.” Along the lines of a series of works I remember him doing years ago, a single person is shown surrounded by industrial machinery—in this case printing presses. The way the light reflects off paper and steel is great and the man is slightly dwarfed by the industrial setting. Spiritual? Religious? Pettingill’s statement points out that the Deseret News devotes a section to “Faith.”

Ondre Pettingill, “Tomorrow’s News (Deseret News),” 2021, oil on canvas

 

Pamela Beach, “Preparation of The Last Supper,” 2024, oil on panel

And if the spiritual and religious is your thing, you won’t get bored by homogenity. If you’re into angels, you’ve got your traditional feathered variety, but there’s also an umbrella-wielding pet cat. There’s a massive painting of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth in the Jordan River where the models are fashion-model good-looking. By contrast, Frank Baker’s depiction of Christ is raw and visceral, in a Basquiat sort of way. Depending on how you roll, you might be offended by either. Pamela Beach’s interpretation of The Last Supper, where she shows women preparing the meal while only a portion of da Vinci’s famous version of the men is glimpsed through a doorway, is a bit saucy but, well, dead on.

Finally, here’s the thing: wander through these galleries and you might just discover something that stops you in your tracks. Who knew there was this artist, Thomas Knight, up in Nibley who, for more than a few years at least, has been making works like this:

Thomas Knight, “Feast for the Maimed, the Blind, the Halt,” 2023, oil on canvas

38th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art of Utah, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, through Jan. 8, 2025

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.