The year was 2002, and Utah was host to the Winter Olympics …

When the Springville Museum of Art was selected as the official venue for an exhibition of Utah art, a group of artists decided to go rogue and stage an exhibit closer to the action and UtahArt2002 opened in the Norman Building in Salt Lake City.

The spirit of promise was in the air that year and Salt Lake City was to home to a flurry of gallery initiatives in 2002:

In the heart of the city, Pam O’Mara opened Utah Artist Hands, a gallery dedicated to Utah artists, including Native American artists and artists from the southwest of the state, rarely seen in Salt Lake City galleries.

Stephen Teuscher opened Fables Fine Art at Exchange Place (Shawn Stradley reviewed their Celebrating the Human Form exhibit in July).

Jim “Meats” Meier, a local painter and digital artist, transformed the Gladstone Furnishings building on 17th South into an art gallery.

Artspace Forum gallery opened up kitty-corner from the construction site of The Gateway project, and was home to some great exhibits that year, including Layne Mecham and Artists of Utah’s inaugural 35×35 exhibition.

TRASA, the Urban Arts collective, found a home in the Pickle Factory, on the west side of downtown.

Nearby, Brad Slaugh finished his first iteration of Poor Yorick Studios.

David Ericson moved into a new home, a 19th-century brick house located next to a liquor store. It’s now his old home — he recently sold that building and this month opened a show for Brian Kershisnik in his new space.

Of course, Salt Lake City wasn’t the only place where stuff was happening:

In Bountiful, Lamplight Gallery celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Michael Bingham began Paint Utah in Logan.

Rosy optimism wasn’t the only emotion on offer, and we followed a variety of controversies that year:

A huge piece of granite that for years had served as an informal public art project for the community at the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon was buried by a developer.

Art enthusiasts and art professionals were urging the state legislature to reinvest in the state’s public art program after the percent-for-art was furloughed in 2001.

Jamie Clyde’s “Christ figures” stirred controversy when they were shown at Angles Gallery.

Our Artist Profiles celebrated artists from across the state:
Pilar Pobil
Ruby Chacon
Mark England
David Delthony
Joe Venus
Bevan Chipman

And we reviewed exhibits big (Bob Olpin reviewed the Spring Salon for us) small ( the Coaster Project at the The Gallery at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center ) and everything in between. Check out:
Brian Hoover
The Nature of Abstraction
The Eccles Black & White Exhibit
ZION at St. George Art Museum

15 Bytes

UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.