Twice a year — generally around the equinoxes — Poor Yorick Studios opens its doors to thousands of Utah art lovers for their open studio event. Located in South Salt Lake, the studio complex comprises four adjacent and connected buildings and is home to dozens of artists working in just about any medium you might think of. But it has been more than two years since Poor Yorick last opened its doors (in September, 2019). The outbreak of the COVID pandemic in March 2020 slammed the door shut on that year’s Spring open house, and subsequent waves of the pandemic have kept the doors closed to the public.

For our 2021 version of “Best Of,” we decided to slip in to Poor Yorick to see what some of the artists have been up to and for them what has been the best of 2021:

LISA MCAFEE

“It has been very quiet in the halls here at Poor Yorick Studios,” says Salt Lake City artist Lisa McAfee.  Originally from the California coast, McAfee earned her BFA from California State, Long Beach, before coming to Utah. She works with painting, printmaking and mixed media to depict “expansive landscapes, objects, and animals integrated with personal symbolism.” During the pandemic, she has retreated, when possible, “to the Pacific Northwest and also visited our treasure, the Great Salt Lake.” She has been working mostly on “small watercolors, tiny books, small collagraphs and monotypes, and a variety of mixed media pieces.”

When not at the studio, you’ll find her teaching art for the Granite School District.

You can view more of the artist’s work at https://www.lisa-mcafee.com/

Best Of

15 Bytes’ end-of-the-year feature asking Utah artists, “What was the coolest thing that happened to you this year?”