For several years Paul Crow’s art was about the outside world. The Weber State University professor’s work was frequently lens-based, passing through and observing the world, whether it be urban, ex-urban or rural. “Before, during and for a several years after art graduate school [MFA, University of Southern […]
It was 2020 and the pandemic was raging. Kristina Lenzi was teaching an online drawing class through Weber State University. The students were confined to their rooms and had been assigned an art kit that lent itself to mixed-media drawing: black and white acrylic paint, brushes, charcoal pencils, […]
In a feature we are introducing this month called Variant of Concern, we ask a Utah artist about a body of work that falls outside their normal practice. For Laura Ekerson’s upcoming exhibit at Writ and Vision, you can expect to be wowed by an appropriately Spring […]
With an unknown number works of art accepted, the Spring Salon at the Springville Museum of Art — far and away the exemplary annual show, at the definitive repository of homegrown Utah art and artists — defies imagination. Because it occupies almost the entire main floor, flowing from […]
“The best poems change all the while,” says Brenda Sieczkowski in this recording for our Poetry in Pajamas series. And she provides an example in the work of Kathryn Cowles, who, Sieczkowski says, has influenced her as a poet and a person. Cowles, a Provo native who studied […]
A beautiful wooden boat sits on clear, deep, blue water against a background of rugged mountains. The vibrant, blue sky is only interrupted by fluffy rolling clouds and the boat’s colorful but simple design is reflected in the water. At the bottom of the boat is a turquoise […]
The youngest poet featured in this year’s installment of Poets in Pajamas, Chelsea Guevara discovered poetry in high school, but she had to wait until college before she heard the work of anyone not white or male. She discovered Rita Dove in her first semester at the University […]
“Nephi taught that by clinging to the word of God we would be able to avoid temptation and not lose our way in darkness” – Joseph B. Wirthlin “The truth you believe in and cling to makes you unable to hear anything new.” – Pema Chodron These two […]
Ken Sanders has been dealing knowledgeably in antiquarian books for half a century. (That’s why he has appeared on “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS for the past 17 years.) His downtown bookstore, at 268 S. 200 East, where Sanders has been located for 25 years, is treasured by aficionados […]
An arts community becomes especially vibrant when the people help managing it are part of it. Willy Palomo’s job at the Utah Humanities is running the Center for the Book, whose mission is to “foster a love of books as well as the exploration of contemporary issues through […]
Renato Olmedo-González is a proud queer immigrant who is passionate about the arts and social change. Born and raised in Guadalajara, México, Renato came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant when he was 15 years old. While still a student at the University of Utah, he […]
“I could not do this in my head,” Jerrin Wagstaff says as he passes an open palm over “Ultrascape #21,” the latest of his new paintings. This is a man who has spent half his life doing something most people rarely do, which is to create pictures of […]
Nancy Takacs’ fourth full-length poetry collection, Dearest Water (Mayapple Press 2022, 77pp.) continues the poet’s journey toward the spiritual center of wilderness, whether encountered out-of-doors (on a desert clifftop, say, or under a star-studded Western night sky) or glimpsed interiorly, after an argument with a beloved husband or […]
Stories, history, and culture weave themselves into the quilts currently on display at the UMFA’s Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts. Organized by Luke Kelly, the museum’s associate curator of collections, and Katie Seastrand, coordinator of school and teacher programs, the exhibition of 18 quilts, comprising early traditional […]
My neighbor, Eduardo Alvarez, asked my husband and me to come by and give him input regarding his work for 0 Tolerance, his show at Provo’s Writ & Vision gallery. I had spoken with Ed at church regarding Matthew Barney, Cindy Sherman, Gaudí, and Marina Abramovic (rare subjects […]
UMFA’S KATIE SEASTRAND NAMED UTAH’ TOP MUSEUM EDUCATOR
Katie Seastrand, manager of school and teacher programs at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) at the University of Utah, has been named Utah Museum Educator of the Year. Seastrand received the award Saturday, March 26, at the Utah Art Education Association (UAEA)’s Spring Conference held online.
“Katie does excellent work to connect K-12 students and teachers to the diverse world of art and creativity,” said Annie Burbidge Ream, co-director of learning and engagement at UMFA. “We truly are so grateful to get to work and learn alongside her, and we look forward to seeing all of the wonderful ways she will continue to enrich people’s lives through engaging art experiences.”
Hired in September 2019 to travel and teach in K-12 classrooms throughout Utah, Seastrand completely re-envisioned school outreach after COVID made in-person Museum tours and classroom visits impossible. Looking for new ways to safely support teachers and students, Seastrand focused first on immediate needs. She worked with classroom teachers and her colleagues in UMFA Learning and Engagement to develop and distribute 1,500 “Art Kits” of supplies to Salt Lake area schools and to Whitehorse High School in San Juan County. She then reimagined and expanded UMFA’s relatively new distance learning efforts into five new programs that have brought UMFA artworks and art-inspired experiences into classrooms virtually.
In two and a half years—most of that time under COVID restrictions—Seastrand has worked with more than 6,000 students and 550 teachers statewide to connect classroom core subjects to UMFA’s global art collection. These programs help students and teachers make connections between objects and their own lived experience, and they give underserved populations some of their only opportunities to experience the visual arts.
“Using art in classrooms not only provides opportunities for students to learn on their own terms but can also help with stress and social-emotional learning,” Seastrand said. “Students need room to be free and creative, to bring what they want to the paper, canvas, clay, or other medium. Art education is an empowering space and outlet for whatever emotions, anxieties, or experiences that may not easily be expressed through words.”
Seastrand grew up in Salt Lake City and graduated from Olympus High School. She has a bachelor’s degree in art history and curatorial studies from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in museum education from George Washington University. While in graduate school, she interned at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Abracadabra Preschool in Alexandria, Virginia, before returning to Salt Lake City and joining the UMFA.
Baldwin Radio Company and the Flynn Artipelago
And if you’re an artist and want a booth at the centennial celebration this August, visit our Opportunities section.
Samantha daSilva (born 1978 Santos, São Paulo, Brazil) is a professional artist and educator living and working in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
As a third generation artist, daSilva was inspired at an early age by her copiously artistic family, namely; her grandmother, a portrait artist, her aunt, an accomplished jewelry designer, and her mother, a watercolorist, who influenced da Silva to experiment with a variety of mediums.
“Water is an intrinsic part of my process. Straight from the tube, acrylic paint is tight, rigid. With the addition of water, the paint relaxes, takes a long, deep breath, begins to move and dance across the canvas. I tilt and manipulate the canvas so that shapes begin to form. I respond to these shapes intuitively. For this reason, my work is never preconceived. I prefer to have the work direct me instead. Fearless Abstract Painting is a process of adding and subtracting to create balance and harmony on the canvas.
My work is a celebration. Once, I identified myself as a victim. Broken, deficient, lacking. Today I am empowered, grateful, anew. Through my work, I attempt to illustrate the redemptive power of choice.”
To discover more artists, visit our Utah Artists Directory
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